Laird Technologies has announced the release of its new APG BT (News - Alert) W400 wireless access point gateway.

For the purpose of remote data acquisition and control, the APG is designed to act as a network node and can bridge most common types of wireless, network, and serial data protocols. It is an ideal product solution for the M2M market segment, particularly Bluetooth Point of Sale (POS), scanners, and handheld devices for retail and healthcare applications, the company stated in a press release.

“The APG W400 features a multi-radio modular architecture and builds on Laird Technologies’ family of Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (News - Alert) radios, including the BISM2, or an optional LT2510; and integrates Bluetooth, Ethernet and 802.11b/g in a compact form factor,” said Sachin Andhare, Laird Technologies Product Manager, Telematics & Wireless M2M. “The gateway is an innovative platform that can bridge two different networks, aggregate data from up to 28 nodes, enable data processing using custom application scripts and log to a remote server”

Via Ethernet or WLAN interface, the new gateway is ideal for M2M wireless communications and for connecting Bluetooth enabled devices in a Personal Area Network to IP network. This gateway offers four class 1 BT modules, Ethernet and WLAN communication as a standard package based on Laird Technologies’ (News - Alert) Bluetooth platform. Using Lua scripting language and optional support for Python, and Java (JVM), the device supports application development and customization, and is built on an embedded Linux operating system.

The company recently introduced its new High Power LT1110 900 MHz wireless module. Based on proprietary FlexRF technology, the module offers more than forty times the output power of the current low power LT1110. The new module features a higher output power, up to 24 dBM conducted, in the same small surface mount or pluggable form factor as the original LT1110. It also includes an integrated antenna or U.FL for an external antenna.