You can say one thing for the Internet-of-things movement: It is bringing an impetus for wireless connectivity electronics that is both small enough to tuck into wearable appliances and which can be deployed without obtaining approvals from the FCC or equivalent agencies in other countries.

Among the latest examples demonstrating the trend is a low-energy Bluetooth module from TAIYO YUDEN. Measuring a mere 8.55 × 3.25 × 0.9 mm, it is a self-contained Bluetooth LE circuit and printed-circuit antenna. The fact that an antenna is onboard eliminates the need for sending products incorporating the module out for EMI/RFI testing, as long as they don’t add other antennas or radiating elements.

The Taiyo Yuden module, dubbed EYSHSNZWZ, will run Bluetooth5 when it ships this spring. (The company also says it will make versions of the module able to run the ANT wireless protocol.) The module itself includes a Nordic nRF52832 Bluetooth IC, an ARM Cortex M4F 32-bit processor, a 32-MHz oscillator, 512-kB flash and 64-kB RAM. The module includes interfaces for I²C, UART, SPI, I²S, and PDM. It also has a 12-bit ADC and supports near-field communications (NFC-A) Touch-to-Pair schemes.

The modules work from 1.7 to 3.6-V supplies and have an output power of 4 dBm. As yet, there is no word about module power consumption.