Do you offer a BLE chip that can be both host and device

RE: Do you offer a BLE chip that can be both host and device

RK — Thu, 21 May 2015 10:31:52 GMT

I don't know offhand of a chip which gives you a radio, UART, I2C and a stack with dual role flexibility which is much cheaper, but I haven't scoured the market. The old TI chip, the 2540 (I think) has a horrible programming environment and potentially requires you to buy expensive dev tools, their latest chip is even more powerful and correspondingly more expensive. You can get some pretty cheap pre-built modules (although you need to check which chip revision some of the cheap manufacturers are using).

I had a quick look at the SDK and I see a few functions for setting up an LL channel and sending data down it. I haven't used them but there's something there. Custom LL channels I thought were relatively new so support may currently be thin everywhere.

RE: Do you offer a BLE chip that can be both host and device

waynix — Thu, 21 May 2015 07:33:01 GMT

Thank you so much for your quick response.
It seems that the chip and SW offer much more than what I need in terms features, interfaces and processing power/memory, hence cost may be a concern. My targeted app involves large amount of BLE "nodes" each with minimum feature (e.g. findme) but stringent power requirements. Also I wonder how much customizability the nRF51 ADK offers. I am thinking about the ability to send customized LL packets.
Thanks.

RE: Do you offer a BLE chip that can be both host and device

RK — Wed, 20 May 2015 08:03:46 GMT

Nordic's BTLE chip nrf51822 has UART and I2C (plus more) and when loaded with the S130 softdevice (you can read the specs from the Nordic site) can function as central and peripheral at the same time with 1 x peripheral and 3 x central connections, plus concurrent observer and broadcaster roles.

Does that cover all that you need?