This post is older than 2 years and might not be relevant anymore
More Info: Consider searching for newer posts

info

Hi

For a new project I'm looking for a cheap bluetooth chip.
All my software resides in a PIC, because on PIC I have a lot of experience and I don't have the time to dedicate myself to learning new development systems.

The need is to send and receive data packets, "NO AUDIO", sending said data preferably with i2c system, alternatively with spi system to the chip which will simply serve as a radio rx - tx fullduplex

Thanks

Parents
  • Hi 

    Are you planning to take this project to mass production?

    Except for our very first Bluetooth device released 10 years ago all our devices have on board MCU's, and will need to be flashed with some code to operate. 

    We have a serialization library in our SDK which connects the Bluetooth stack to one of the serial interfaces, and makes it relatively simple to set up a device to be connected to some external host processor, but the API is similar to the API of the Bluetooth stack, and you will need to run some code on the host processor to configure the various host layers of the stack (what connection/advertising parameters to use, which services to enable, crypto handling if needed etc). 

    Also, the serialization examples only support SPI, UART and USB. Not I2C. 

    There might be some modules available that simplify this procedure, being provided pre-programmed, but if low cost is important then a module solution might not be ideal. 

    Best regards
    Torbjørn

Reply
  • Hi 

    Are you planning to take this project to mass production?

    Except for our very first Bluetooth device released 10 years ago all our devices have on board MCU's, and will need to be flashed with some code to operate. 

    We have a serialization library in our SDK which connects the Bluetooth stack to one of the serial interfaces, and makes it relatively simple to set up a device to be connected to some external host processor, but the API is similar to the API of the Bluetooth stack, and you will need to run some code on the host processor to configure the various host layers of the stack (what connection/advertising parameters to use, which services to enable, crypto handling if needed etc). 

    Also, the serialization examples only support SPI, UART and USB. Not I2C. 

    There might be some modules available that simplify this procedure, being provided pre-programmed, but if low cost is important then a module solution might not be ideal. 

    Best regards
    Torbjørn

Children
  • Hi,
    thanks for the reply, but as I explained I am in the initial phase of a new consumer project with interesting annual volumes, so the costs of the components are important.


    Searching the internet I saw that your IC nRF24L01 is more suitable for my application, I found on the net some modules that contain this IC and I bought them to do some tests.

    The RX / TX operating range that I have to use is very small, max 3 meters.

    The nRF24L01 solution is certainly cheaper than bluettooth, I looked at the datasheet and I noticed that there are all the tips on how to make the PCB to integrate nRF24L01 into my hardware.

    I will use nRF24L01 together with a PIC16FL18324 and a PIC PIC16FL18344, the object that will be produced will be sold in pairs, an RX / TX master which will have a unique factory code and an RX / TX slave which will be associated from time to time by writing the code unique in the PIC flash of the slave.

    All the advice you will want to provide for a correct use of nRF24L01 are very welcome.

    For example, if you have interconnection schemes nRF24L01 / pic demonstration code etc.

    A consumption of 50,000 nRF24L01 / year is expected which equates to 25,000 objects.

    Thanks

  • Hi 

    First off you definitely want to use the nRF24L01+ (aka nRF24L01P) rather than the nRF24L01. 

    When it comes to modules for development it is important to know that there are a lot of counterfeit modules available using fake nRF24L01 chips, and these might perform quite differently from the genuine Nordic parts. Both for development and production it is important to make sure you buy your devices from one of our registered distributors, to know that you are getting valid parts. 

    How to integrate the nRF24L01+ with your PIC controller I can't provide much help on, but I am sure there are software examples out there if you are looking for this. 

    The ESB protocol used by the nRF24L devices is quite simple, and any kind of frequency hopping, security, pairing etc that you want to implement will have to be handled on the software side. When using Bluetooth many of these features will be implemented in the stack itself. 

    To understand the workings of the nRF24L01+ device the best place to start is the product specification, in particular chapters 6 to 9. 

    These chapters go through the ESB protocol in detail, the various operating states of the device, the control interface and all the different configuration registers in the device. 

    Best regards
    Torbjørn 

Related