IC to send advertising broadcasts to passing smartphones via Bluetooth

Assume you are in a tourist location and would like to receive a broadcast to your smartphone on local information, Swiss chipmaker EM Microelectronic has made available a IC for designing such system. Below is the full release on the new Bluetooth IC from EM Microelectronic: EM Microelectronic, the semiconductor company of the Swatch Group today announced that they have successfully promoted their ultra-low power Bluetooth SmartController, the EM9301, powered only by harvested energy or low voltage, eco-friendly zinc-air batteries to send advertising broadcasts to passing smartphones. A variety of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells have been used to power the EM9301 and an EM6819 ULP 8-bit Flash microcontroller to send sensor data, such as temperature, light level and beacon/location information to an application running on nearby smartphones using Bluetooth low energy technology. Total cost was minimized through the use of an embedded microcontroller and a perfectly matched PCB loop antenna that is directly connected to the EM9301's antenna pins. These "emBeacons" were tested under real-world conditions; indoor lighting, periods of darkness, cold startup, etc… and performed consistently well. Since the EM9301 can operate from as little as 0.7V, and since the "emBeacon" consumes only 150 microjoules (μJ) per beacon event, nominally occurring every 5 seconds, zinc-air cap...