The 2025 Touch Taiwan Smart Display Exhibition was grandly held from April 16 to 18, bringing together 312 leading companies from various countries. The exhibition covered a wide range of themes, including smart displays, smart manufacturing, Micro LED, smart cockpits, industrial materials, startups and academia, and net-zero carbon technologies. It served as a showcase of key technologies and innovative achievements in the fields of display and smart applications.

This year, Realtek Semiconductor collaborated with E Ink to jointly present a BLE low-power SoC electronic shelf label (ESL) solution. The solution was further enhanced by integrating Realtek's Wi-Fi IoT SoC, forming a comprehensive connectivity architecture between ESLs and ESL gateways, demonstrating the company's strong technical capability and integration strength in the smart retail sector.

BLE Low-Power SoC Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) Solution: RTL8752H Series

E Ink, the global leader in ePaper technology, has adopted Realtek's BLE Low-Power SoC Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) solution, the RTL8752H series, as the wireless core of its ESL products, fully leveraging its ultra-low power consumption and multi-protocol support capabilities. E Ink's ePaper displays feature extremely low power consumption when the screen is static, requiring almost no energy unless the content is updated. Combined with the RTL8752H's ultra-low current draw of just 1.6µA in deep sleep mode, the solution significantly extends the operational lifespan of the ESL, supporting battery life of up to five years.

The Realtek RTL8752H supports multiple wireless communication protocols, including Bluetooth 5.3, 2.4GHz, and IEEE 802.15.4. It integrates a 40MHz Cortex-M0+ processor, 120KB of SRAM, and 8Mb of Flash memory, providing stable and efficient wireless connectivity to meet the demands of frequent data exchanges and real-time updates. This wireless platform enhances the real-time price updating and versatile information display capabilities of E Ink's ESLs, such as promotional offers, origin, and inventory details, contributing to greater operational efficiency.

Realtek's next-generation electronic shelf label solution supports BLE 5.4 PAwR: RTL8762J Series

Realtek's next-generation Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) solution, the RTL8762J, supports BLE 5.4 and incorporates PAwR (Periodic Advertising with Responses), a technology designed to enhance communication efficiency and reduce power consumption in large-scale device networks. This feature is particularly well-suited for ESL applications, enabling bidirectional one-to-many communication without requiring device pairing or connections. It significantly improves broadcast efficiency across multiple devices, making it an ideal solution for smart retail environments.

The RTL8762J also supports a 4 Mbps PHY data rate, boosting data update speeds for applications that require frequent synchronization. With a built-in 720KB large-capacity Flash memory and an ultra-low standby current of just 1.4μA in deep sleep mode, it allows ESL devices to operate for years without battery replacement. This further enhances system stability and maintenance efficiency.

Combining high-speed communication, flexible memory architecture, and PAwR support, the RTL8762J introduces a new paradigm for electronic shelf labels and IoT applications - helping customers build scalable, energy-efficient, and high-performance smart connectivity platforms.

ESL and Gateway Applications: RTL8752H/RTL8721D

An ESL gateway serves as a critical bridge between electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and the retail management system. It is responsible for efficiently transmitting backend data to thousands of in-store ESLs and receiving real-time feedback from the labels - such as battery level and update status. To meet the demanding requirements of stable connectivity and low power consumption in gateway devices, Realtek offers the Ameba D+ (RTL8721Dx) Wi-Fi IoT low-power solution. This solution features an ultra-low deep sleep current of just 12.2µA and a dual-core architecture with clock speeds of up to 345MHz. It supports 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless protocols and delivers data rates up to 150Mbps, ensuring outstanding networking performance with optimized power efficiency.

Additionally, Realtek's BLE SoC RTL8752H can be seamlessly integrated with the RTL8721Dx, forming a dual-mode wireless platform that supports both BLE and Wi-Fi. This makes it particularly suitable for ESL gateway applications that require simultaneous control of a large number of devices. The combined solution not only enhances overall system connectivity but also provides retailers with a flexible, efficient, and energy-saving smart management platform.

At Touch Taiwan, Realtek showcased this integrated solution in collaboration with E Ink, demonstrating its wireless communication expertise and launching a new ESL technology. As the smart retail and IoT markets continue to grow, Realtek remains committed to delivering more high-performance, low-power, and easily integrable products, further expanding its presence and influence in the wireless application space.