Low-Power, Tiny Footprint Connectivity and Edge AI at the Forefront of embedded world Wireless Innovations

embedded world remains the premier show for wireless connectivity innovation, and while not every leading Integrated Circuit (IC) and module vendor had announcements to share at the show itself, there were several key themes that emerged at the show via new product announcements, demonstrations, partnerships, talks, and discussions, as well as broader Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Microcontroller Unit (MCU) innovation that will contribute to improvements in the overall wireless solution performance and design process. Chief among these were improvements in efficiency and power consumption, smaller form factors, Radio Frequency (RF) and antenna innovation, new topologies, and extended range capabilities, all of which were aimed at improving performance, scalability, and accelerating time to market across different Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Focusing on power consumption and integration innovation, Synaptics launched its ultra-low power SYN461x System-on-Chip (SoC) family with support for Ultra Low-Power (ULP) Wi-Fi 2.4/5/6 Gigahertz (GHz), Bluetooth® Core 6.0 and Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE), and IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread). With support for Matter, Channel Sounding, LE Audio, and Auracast™ broadcast audio, the SoCs provide a highly versatile offering to better target a variety of consumer, enterprise, and Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications, including wearables, audio, smart appliances, security cameras, asset tracking tags, and industrial sensor devices. Furthermore, integrated Power Amplifiers (PAs), Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) and Transmit/Receive (T/R) switches can help reduce the size and cost, while other enhancements bring significant improvements to power consumption for battery-sensitive applications.

To enable wireless connectivity in smaller form factors, Silicon Labs unveiled its Series 2 BG29 family of Bluetooth® LE SoCs, designed specifically for adoption in wearable and medical devices, asset trackers, battery-powered sensors, and other size- and power-constrained IoT devices. Available in both Wafer-Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP) and Quad Flat No-leads (QFN) packages, the solution brings long battery life, and high memory and compute capacity, while enabling adoption in tiny devices such as battery-powered sensors, insulin delivery patches, disposable Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs), smart tooth implants, and other one-time use applications in healthcare settings. Meanwhile, while not strictly connectivity related, Texas Instruments unveiled the world’s smallest MCU, offering a 38% smaller size than competing MCUs at just 1.38 Square Milimeters (mm²), targeting similar applications.

Wi-Fi HaLow also had a significant presence at this year’s embedded world, reflecting continued momentum for the extended range Wi-Fi technology, but most notably this time around was the availability of a solution tailored to Europe and the Middle East’s unique regulatory situations. Morse Micro announced the MM8102, a new low-power variant of the MM8108 Wi-Fi HaLow SoC, which is optimized for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market, supporting 1 Megahertz (MHz) and 2 MHz channel bandwidths at 256-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), providing up to 8.7 Megabits per Second (Mbps) throughput over extended range. Meanwhile, Vantron announced the launch of the VT-USB-AH-8108 Wi-Fi HaLow Dongle aimed at simplifying deployment of HaLow in existing infrastructure. Murata also demonstrated two of its ultra-low power Wi-Fi HaLow™ modules (LBWA0ZZ2HK and LBWA0ZZ2HL) capable of achieving high throughput over distances of more than 1 Kilometers (km).

Beyond these announcements, STMicroelectronics demoed its latest STM32WBA6 MCUs, Nordic announced a partnership with Qorvo around a Aliro door lock reference design, alongside one with Panasonic for a new Matter-related module, while MediaTek introduced its latest Genio 720 and Genio 520 IoT platforms. Meanwhile, multiple vendors demonstrated their Ultra-Wideband (UWB) offerings for automotive access and radar, Bluetooth® Channel Sounding, and LE Audio. Finally, AI remained a key theme underpinning many of the connectivity-related innovations, with Qualcomm having announced its acquisition of Edge Impulse, bolstering its AI portfolio, ahead of the show, and Synaptics extending its Edge AI Portfolio with its SR-Series of high-performance adaptive MCUs for context-aware Edge AI. When combined, these innovations continue to highlight the rapid and ongoing innovation in the wireless connectivity market, alongside the enormous potential to enable new scalable applications within healthcare, IIoT, smart retail, smart metering, consumer, audio, smart building, smart home, and other IoT applications. However, this diversity of technologies and applications brings challenges in terms of how best to optimize product portfolios and tailor solutions to specific verticals. To achieve success in this industry, vendors must do the following:

• Select optimal connectivity offering and fill gaps in portfolio. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® LE, 802.15.4, and UWB will likely remain the four key pillars of short-range wireless connectivity for some time, and having a standalone or multi-protocol offering tailored to specific end markets will be essential.
• However, vendors should also investigate new Intellectual Property (IP)-native technologies such as Wi-Fi HaLow to enable new extended range experiences and additional throughput and capacity versus Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) and cellular IoT technologies.
• Vendors must also offer a converged AI strategy combining contextual awareness to further bolster performance of wireless solutions. Those who can combine compelling AI enhancements with optimized connectivity offerings will be successful.
• Vendors must offer tailored solutions that can better address the requirements of vertical markets. This will include market-specific enhancements such as tiny form factors, ultra-low power consumption, extended range capabilities, location awareness via UWB or channel sounding, additional security or market-specific qualifications, extended temperature range performance, interference mitigation, and radar and sensing integration, among other differentiators.
• Vendors should also develop or partner with module vendors to develop highly-integrated designs to speed time to market and reduce design complexity for long-tail IoT applications.
• Vendors should develop and leverage new design tools to help speed up time to market. For example, at embedded world 2025, Ignion unveiled its Oxion™ 2.0 AI-driven RF design tool that brings more features to save time and accelerate antenna integration for designers of wireless products.