Silicon Labs Shrinks Wireless SoCs to Extend BLE to Miniature Devices

At Embedded World 2025, Silicon Labs unveiled a new wireless SoC for small, low-powered connected devices. Silicon Labs developed this SoC to expand the reach of wireless connectivity to applications previously limited by power, size, or performance constraints.

Although this demo was for a different chip, Clayton Daigle, senior director at Silicon Labs, talked to All About Circuits about the new BG29 SoC at Embedded World 2025.

It’s no secret that device connectivity is growing exponentially, with protocols such as Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth LE, or LoRA enabling new networks of sensor devices. This connectivity can come with drawbacks, however, especially in devices that must be extremely integrated or power efficient. This is the niche Silicon Labs hopes to target with its new wireless SoC.

Powerful Compute and Memory

Within Silicon Labs’ new BG29 wireless SoC (datasheet linked) are several key building blocks that can improve the compute and wireless performance of BLE-enabled devices. In terms of processing, the BG29 includes a 76.8-MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor and up to 1 MB and 256 kB of program and data memory. The processor is equipped with DSP instructions and an FPU to improve signal processing for sensing applications. The devices also include several peripherals, such as a 16-bit ADC, UARTs, and DMA controllers, in addition to a built-in DC-DC converter.

The block diagram of the BG29 highlights the number of features and the amount of memory available for next-generation wireless electronics. 

The chips support the BLE protocol and custom protocols. The maximum transmit power is +8 dBm, with a maximum sensitivity of -106.8 dBm at 125 kbps. This sensitivity, coupled with the extremely low power demand of the chip and improved security features, allows designers to incorporate the processing and radio blocks in all new applications that demand high power efficiency and robust data security.

Packing Performance into Small Packages

Perhaps the most vital feature of the BG29 is the chips’ small physical size. The BG29 chips will be available in 5 mm × 5 mm QFN and 2.6 mm × 2.8 mm WLCSP form factors, allowing designers to integrate high-performance wireless SoCs into extremely small devices. Compared to previous generations of Silicon Labs’ BLE chips, the BG29 features a similar size with a considerable boost in memory.

The small size of the BG29 allows it to be integrated into a vast array of smart healthcare devices such as pulse oximeters (shown), smart implants, or wearable health sensors.

This new ability to integrate wireless within small devices is something that Silicon Labs feels will set its BG29 chip apart. In terms of target applications, Silicon Labs believes that the improved processing and security, coupled with the remarkably small size of the chip, will make it instrumental in the future of smart healthcare devices. 

With the reduced size of wireless devices, applications like this wireless oral health monitor shown here can become a reality. 

Silicon Labs has already targeted applications such as continuous glucose monitors and smart implants as potential beneficiaries of its new chip, but the improved processing and wireless performance of the tiny chips could make them useful in a much wider range of applications.

The BG29 chips are expected to be available in Q3 2025.

All product-related images used courtesy of Silicon Labs.

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