This branch is to provide BLE concurrent Central and Peripheral using Nordic SoftDevice S130.
This is a work in progress which add support for Arduino IDE to allow compiling nRF51822 firmware.
This add-on also provides BLE API for the nRF51822 SoC to act as BLE Central/Peripheral role designed for SoftDevice S130.
- nRF51822 deveopment board, here we will use RBL nRF51822 as an example.
- Arduino IDE version 1.6.5 (currently tested version).
- PC with one of the following OS:
- Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) / 10.10.4 (Yosemite) (current tested version).
- Windows 7 and 8.x (current tested version).
- Linux (current tested on Ubuntu 14.04).
Note: If you have changed the USB interface firmware (MK20 chip) for some reasons, follow the instructions inside the MK20 folder to restore it in order to use this add-on for Arduino IDE.
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Get Arduino IDE version 1.6.5 from Arduino website and install it to your PC
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Start the IDE and from the Menu, click "Preference...", add the following line to "Additional Boards Manager URLs"
https://redbearlab.github.io/arduino/package_redbearlab_index.json
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Install the "RedBearLab nRF51822 Boards" add-on via Boards Manager from the Menu: Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager ...
Get this driver and install it if you are using Windows, so that you can use the USB CDC (Virtual COM Port).
https://mbed.org/media/downloads/drivers/mbedWinSerial_16466.exe
Note that you do not need any driver for OSX and Linux platforms.
In the "bootloader" folder, there is a firmware (bootloader.hex) for the RBL nRF51822 board, it allows you to load firmware using Arduino IDE.
To load the bootloader, connect the board to your PC using a micro USB cable, it will prompt a drive, drag the bootloader firmware to the drive.
Note that the bootloader has OTA feature and you can follow the OTA session for instructions.
The RBL nRF51822 board supports loading firmware using USB MSD (Mass Storage Device) method by default. However, to have better user experience as traditional coding, compiling and uploading firmware style using the Arduino IDE, we created a bootloader that makes use USB CDC method to upload firmware.
The board is similar to Ardino Leonardo upload style, when you press "upload" in the Arduino, it will open the USB virtual serial port using 1200bps, the USB chip on the RBL nRF51822 board will reset the nRF51822 chip and it will enter the bootloader, the Arduino IDE will repoen the serial port at 115200bps and the bootloader will wait commands and data from your the Arduino IDE, and upgrade its application area in the flash.
- Select board and serial port
Select the RBL nRF51822 board in the menu of Arduino IDE and serial port.
Menu > Tools > Board > RBL nRF51822
If you are using our BLE Nano board,
Menu > Tools > Board > BLE Nano
- Blink
To test the board, we suggest you to load the Blink example to see if it works.
Menu > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink
- BLE Examples
There are some BLE examples you can try.
Menu > Examples > BLE_API
This is an Heart Rate Monitor demo, it simulates Heart Rate detection. You can use Nordic nRFToolBox App to play. For BLEController, SimpleChat and SimpleControls, you can use RBL BLE Controller App to play.
This is to implement Apple's iBeacon, you can try it with our BeaconTool available in the AppStore for iOS and PlayStore for Android.
This sample shows how to define your own protocol and to control the I/O of the board from a Central (e.g. iPhone) using BLE Controller Apps.
This sample allows you to send text message from the board to your central device such as iPhone or Android using our BLE Controller Apps.
This example allows you to use our BLE Controller Apps (available for iOS and Android) to control the pin state such as High, Low, PWM, Analog, etc.
This example allows you to exchange data with your central device (e.g. iPhone 5) and the data will be redirected to the UART.
The bootloader allows you to load firmware Over-the-air. Everytime, if you reset the board by hitting the button on the board, the bootloader will broacast the OTA service via BLE for 5 sec waiting for a connection to be made. Otherwise, it will start the pre-loaded firmware.
You can use the "export" feature from Arduino IDE 1.6.5 to get the firmware for OTA.
Menu -> Sketch -> Export Compiled Binary
Try the blink example, the firmware is named "Blink.cpp_OTA.BLE_Nano.hex".
You can send this firmware to your phone, e.g. iPhone, using Air-Drop and use Nordic "nRF Toolbox" App to open it, then select file type "application" and select a device (you should see DFU_S130_V1.0 in the device list). Select it and click upload, the App will transfer the firmware to the board via BLE.
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Serial Interface
As Arduino does not have flow control in serial port implementation, the Serial port (Pin 0 and 1) is limited to 9600bps since the BLE stack require flow control in order to support higher speed. If you are not going to use BLE, you can use higher speed.
Copyright (c) 2013-2015 RedBearLab
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