Nordic Semiconductor Licenses and Deploys CEVA DSP in Low Power Cellular IoT SoC

CEVA core powers multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT communications in highly-integrated nRF91 SoC

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif, Jan. 03, 2019 – 

CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of signal processing platforms and artificial intelligence processors for smarter, connected devices, today announced that Nordic Semiconductor has licensed and deployed CEVA DSP technology in its nRF91® System-on-Chip (SoC) for low power cellular IoT connectivity. The CEVA DSP is at the heart of the multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT SoC, ensuring ultra-low power consumption and highly-efficient performance required for a wide range of cellular IoT use cases, including wearables, asset trackers, smart cities, smart metering and industrial IoT. The nRF91 SoC forms the basis of Nordic's nRF91 low power cellular IoT System-in-Package (SiP) Series, including the nRF9160 SiP, which was recently named a 2019 CES Innovation Awards Honoree.

"Cellular IoT connectivity is poised to take the world by storm, and through our nRF91 Series we're providing a simple and powerful solution to enable product designers to integrate LTE-M/NB-IoT connectivity with minimal complexity," said Svein-Egil Nielsen, CTO for Nordic Semiconductor. "In designing the nRF91 SoC, we were able to leverage CEVA's expertize in low power DSPs and parallel processing architecture to achieve outstanding power consumption, while retaining the flexibility to support multiple cellular IoT standards."

The nRF9160 SiP is a highly-integrated, low power, global multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT solution. The SiP integrates a complete low power cellular IoT system into a tiny 10 by 16 by 1 mm package that integrates the nRF91 SoC with a dedicated application processor and flash memory together with RF front end, power management, and crystal and passive components. With this level of integration, the nRF9160 SiP combines all the benefits of traditional cellular modules, including teleregulatory and cellular certifications, with ease-of-use, unprecedented integration, and the smallest form factor ever seen in the cellular industry to date.

"We are pleased to see Nordic Semiconductor address the burgeoning cellular IoT market with a compelling product offering powered by our DSP technology," said Michael Boukaya, vice president and general manager of the wireless business unit at CEVA. "We have a long and successful history in cellular, with our DSPs powering billions of cellular devices spanning terminals and infrastructure. Cellular IoT design wins for products like the nRF91 Series help to further expand our market reach into new and exciting areas."

About CEVA, Inc.

CEVA is the leading licensor of signal processing platforms and artificial intelligence processors for a smarter, connected world. We partner with semiconductor companies and OEMs worldwide to create power-efficient, intelligent and connected devices for a range of end markets, including mobile, consumer, automotive, industrial and IoT. Our ultra-low-power IPs for vision, audio, communications and connectivity include comprehensive DSP-based platforms for LTE/LTE-A/5G baseband processing in handsets, infrastructure and cellular IoT (NB-IoT and Cat-M1) enabled devices, advanced imaging and computer vision for any camera-enabled device, audio/voice/speech and ultra-low power always-on/sensing applications for multiple IoT markets. For artificial intelligence, we offer a family of AI processors capable of handling the complete gamut of neural network workloads, on-device. For connectivity, we offer the industry's most widely adopted IPs for Bluetooth (low energy and dual mode) and Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) up to 4x4). Visit us at www.ceva-dsp.com .

About Nordic Semiconductor

Nordic Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in wireless technology that powers the IoT. Nordic pioneered ultra-low power wireless and helped develop Bluetooth Low Energy, a widely-adopted wireless technology. The company's award-winning Bluetooth LE solutions have made it the market leader, and are complemented by ANT+, Thread, and Zigbee products. Nordic's reputation is built on the supply of leading-edge wireless technologies and development tools that shield designers from RF complexity. This approach extends to Nordic's latest technology, cellular IoT. Launched in 2018 after four years of development, this NB-IoT and LTE-M solution leverages cellular infrastructure to extend the IoT.