BLE Board
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Contents
Bluetooth Low Energy Board
Introduction
The BLE Board is based on Anaren's BLE Module A20737. This is one of the easiest to work with Bluetooth Low Energy Modules I have ever worked with, so I made a simple board to make it that much easier to get up and running with Bluetooth Low Energy in your next project.
- Uses the A20737 Module
- FCC certified with PCB Antenna, so no RF design needed
- Powerful ARM Cortex M3 Processor there to run the BLE radio and plenty of room for custom code. Programmable through a simple Serial Interface - no expensive JTAG debuggers needed, just a USB to Serial Converter
- FREE! Web based software to program the module and create an App called Atmosphere
- Free Offline SDK (WICED) available as well HERE
- On board LED, Reset Button, and Recovery Button
- UART, SPI, I2C, GPIO all broken out.
- Bread Board friendly on 0.1" headers
- Detailed tutorials coming soon on BLE to iOS/Android, Device to Device communication, and Beacon Functionality - it's going to be a fun ride! In the mean time, Anaren has tons of information:
Purchase
The boards are available through MKLEC and work nicely with the USB to Serial Converter
Pin Out
Tutorials
Getting Started
Start Here! This video gives an overview of the board, software installation, how to create a simple program and load it into the board, and even a few things to watch out for:
Resources for Getting Started: Atmosphere Portal Where to Download the Programmer Utility FTDI Drivers The .ATMO file used in the video that you can import into atmosphere.
Recovering the Board
Just a quick one here to show you how to recover the BLE Board's boot loader just in case it should ever get corrupted by cutting power during programming or if for some reason the board no longer accepts a program.
Resources: Anaren Guide for Recovering
Projects
This is an older video I made to show how easy it is to get up and running with the module:
Here I hacked my Remote Starter on my car:
Resources for the Remote Starter Project The Bluetooth Low Energy Module Code The iOS code here Broadcom SDK (don't forget to sign up) The Make Target Path: BLEBOARD_TEST-BCM920737TAG_Q32 BT_DEVICE_ADDRESS=random download DS18B20 Temp Sensor Video Ray Wenderlich for iOS tutorials Best Udemy Teacher
Support
You can contact me for design services HERE
Anaren has a lot of information on their Wiki and datasheets:
And make sure to check out the Forum HERE
Known Issues and Gotchas
Board doesn't retain program after power cycle
Check out the last few minutes of the getting started video. Did you leave the programmer plugged in during your power cycle? If so, then the board will power up in a reset state. Just re-program the board and you're good to go, or remove the programmer, power in via the power pins and it will boot up and run your program normally.
On Windows, Failure to Open Serial Port when Programming
Again, check out the last few minutes of the getting started video. There is a bug with programmer utility (v1.5.1), so just download v1.2.0 and everything should work. Anaren is aware of this and is working on a fix.
Disclaimer
I'm just a guy who designs boards, so I'll try my best to support you as much as I can and provide tutorials as I have time for. Every board that is sold has been functionally tested, so if something is not working on your end, it is not likely due to hardware problems. Most people blame the hardware when things don't work, but I have tested that each of these boards can be programmed, each pin works, and that the Bluetooth radio is functional. Also, these boards are for educational, hobbyists, DIYer, maker, and development use only. If you are interested in working this board into your product, please contact me for more information
