Bluetooth dev kit accelerates industrial design

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

STMicroelectronics has released the STEVAL-IDB008V1M Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.0 evaluation platform to help designers accelerate application development with modules featuring the company’s BlueNRG-2 BLE system-on-chip (SoC).The SoC supports Bluetooth 5.0 certification for power-efficiency privacy with Link Layer Privacy 1.2 and up to 2.6× higher throughput with LE Data Length Extension.

The BlueNRG-2 SoC contains an Arm Cortex-M0 core operating at up to 32 MHz to handle the Bluetooth stack and application processing. It integrates new features ,including a 32-kHz ring oscillator, 24-KB RAM, and 256-KB flash program memory. It consumes only 0.9 µA in sleep mode with active Bluetooth stack and full RAM retention.

The  BlueNRG-M2SA module, housed in a 13.5 × 11.5-mm form factor, integrates the BlueNRG-2 SoC with a ceramic antenna, RF balun circuit, and 32-kHz crystal oscillator and SMPS inductor to further reduce power consumption. The module offers 5-dBm RF output power and an operating temperature range of −40°C to 85°C. The module is well suited for industrial applications.

STMicroelectronics said that the module reduces engineering costs and enables designers to create wireless devices with minimal RF engineering expertise. The BlueNRG-M2SA is qualified as a Bluetooth End Product, which eliminates the need for additional testing to complete product qualification, and is pre-certified according to U.S. FCC, Canadian IC, European RED, and Japan TYPE radio-equipment regulations. The module will also meet China SRCC requirements when those are finalized, said the company.

The STEVAL-IDB008V1M plug-and-play kit leverages the BlueNRG-M2SA module, which can be powered directly with a pair of AAA batteries or any power source from 1.7 to 3.6 V. The board combines the BlueNRG-M2 module with sensors including a MEMS pressure and temperature sensor and motion sensors suitable for a nine-axis sensor-fusion library. There is also a low-latency, low-power ADPCM codec, ready to use with BlueVoice middleware for voice over BLE streaming. Arduino R3 connectors allow access to all the module’s peripherals and the addition of expansion shields. It also simplifies the integration of the module with ST’s STSW-BNRG-MESH software for industrial and smart-building designs. The STEVAL-IDB008V1M evaluation kit is available now.