External MCU with nRF51822

[tvu1020]

Hi,

I'm planning to use an external MCU to process my digital signals and send it through nRF51822. Do I need to develop an on-board antenna? TI has the module CC2541 from ChipCon where I don't need an antenna and can just send through via UART.

Please advise on any other solution with Nordic components!

Thanks, Trung

[Vebjørn]

The nRF51822 chip itself does not have an antenna, nor does the CC2541 chip. Both of the chips require some external components, like an oscillator and an antenna. However, there are several 3rd party companies that create small modules with these chips and the necessary components, see the link Alex posted. You can connect these modules to another MCU and it would work without any additional components. However, you would still need to program the module to make it do what you wish.

Alternatively you can get a premade module, for example this one: http://www.adafruit.com/product/1697.

Will there be an nRF51822 in the other end as well? You could also easily modify the ble_app_uart example in the nordic SDK to establish a wireless "UART" link. If you are designing a PCB, but don't want to design the antenna, you could use the modules from the link Alex posted

[tvu1020]

Update/Edit: Correction on CC2541, PAN1323 is the module I wanted to mention. They offer a module with the SoC on it, which make it easier to add the module on your board. I am working on an application where it would need a bigger processor (hence the external microcontroller) I would like to basically push the digitized data through the nRF51 and to a smart phone via BLE. I won't really need the M0 processor in nRF51. Is there any other option i could go with besides BLE module that Alex provided?

Thanks, Trung