Bluetooth Low Energy: The Developer’s Handbook

Just a short post to let everybody know about a new BLE book that’s recently become available, Bluetooth Low Energy: The Developer’s Handbook, by Robin Heydon.  I ordered it months ago when I first heard about it, and it finally arrived a few days ago.  As far as I know, it’s the first (and only) book written on the subject, although please let me know via comments if you know of any other BLE books.

Since it only arrived a few days ago, I haven’t had much of a chance to look through it, but I’ll be sure to write a review after I’ve spent some time reading it.

connectBlue cB-OLP425i-26

connectBlue BLE Platform Module cB-OLP425i-16

I recently discovered the OLP425 BLE module from Swedish company connectBlue, based on the CC2540 chip from Texas Instruments.  While there’s a wide variety of BLE modules available today based on the CC2540, such as the BLE112 from Bluegiga, most of them are quite similar – they simply provide a more accessible hardware interface to the CC2540, as well as the necessary radio and telecommunications certifications. Unlike other basic BLE modules, the connectBlue BLE Platform Module OLP425 is available in a configuration with the following additional options:

Programming the BLE112 using BGScript

Following on from the previous post describing how to use IAR to write custom C code for the BLE112, in this post I’m going to walk through creating a very basic program to toggle an LED on/off using BGScript on a Windows machine (sorry, no Linux instructions yet).

The bare minimum equipment needed is the following:

• CC Debugger ($49 from Texas Instruments)
• Bluegiga BLE112 module ($18 from the semiconductor store)

And that’s it. You’ll have to figure out some way to connect the CC Debugger to the BLE112, or you could buy a breakout board from Jeff Rowberg and connect it to a breadboard.

Programming the BLE112 with C code using IAR

Despite the terrible soldering job, it actually works!

I’ve heard it mentioned a few times that it’s not possible to program the Bluegiga BLE112 with IAR, but there’s absolutely no reason I can see why this would be the case, considering that it’s just a TI CC2540 with all the necessary components connected to turn it into a module. Since we can program the TI CC2540 on the keyfob using IAR, we should also be able to program the CC2540 on the BLE112 using IAR.

Bluetooth Low Energy discussion forum

I’ve been getting quite a few messages asking me questions related to Bluetooth Low Energy that I have no idea how to answer, and seeing as there doesn’t exist a general BLE discussion forum, I figured it was time to start one.

So for any questions related to Bluetooth Low Energy development, whether it be software or hardware related, please visit BLEForum.com and post your questions there.

Adam

Electronics for beginners – Thoughts on edX 6002x

A few months ago, I discovered that MIT was going to be beta testing a free online version of their undergraduate Circuits and Electronics course, 6002x.  I figured it would be worthwhile to sign up, since I’m a complete beginner when it comes to electronics, and I thought it would be useful to help me better understand circuit diagrams and electronics in general.  So I decided, along with 154,763 other online applicants, to enrol in the course.

Texas Instruments releases Motorola RAZR CC2540 demo

Exciting news for Android developers who wish to interface with the TI CC2540 Bluetooth Low Energy chip.  Texas Instruments has just released a video demonstrating a Motorola RAZR communicating with a CC2540 in a BLE heartrate monitor.

CC2540DK-MINI received

CC2540DK-MINI Keyfob

I recently picked up the CC2540DK-MINI, since it was one of the cheapest dev kits at $99 (including FedEx 2-day express shipping to Australia!) and I was really impressed by their recent video displaying the CC2540 keyfob interacting with the iPhone 4S.

The kit comes with a keyfob, USB dongle, CC Debugger, USB cable and an interface cable to attach the CC Debugger to the keyfob or USB dongle.

The keyfob has a VTI CMA3000-D01 accelerometer functioning in SPI mode, two buttons, an LED which flashes both red and green, a buzzer, and a retainer for a CR2032 battery.  The USB dongle contains just a CC2540 chip, and this can be used to act as the master peripheral (similar to the role that a Bluetooth Smart Ready mobile phone such as the iPhone 4S would play).

iPhone 4S says goodbye to MFi for Bluetooth Smart Devices

TI BLE CC2540 iOS app

Big news from Texas Instruments, they’ve just released a video demonstrating the keyfob included in the CC2540DK-MINI dev kit communicating with the Iphone 4S using the GATT interface through the new Core Bluetooth API.

This is a particularly big deal because it shows the CC2540 interacting with the iPhone 4S using the stock 2540 mini dev kit without an authentication chip.

iPhone 4S released with Bluetooth 4.0 support

iPhone 4S Smart Ready

I was one of the few that wasn’t disappointed by the new iPhone 4S being released today.  While it may not be the iPhone 5 that everyone was expecting, there’s some important new technology under the hood, namely Bluetooth v4.0 support.  It seems as though most people were so enraged by the lack of an iPhone 5 announcement, that they disregarded this new addition.  However, the inclusion of Bluetooth v4 support in what’s arguably the world’s most popular smart phone, marks a major milestone for Bluetooth Low Energy adoption.  I’m sure we’ll start to see all sorts of innovative low energy wireless devices become available in the coming months.