nRF51822 Central mode

[Vishal Nandanwar]

Hi,

I am adding BLE functionality to one of my existing product. I product will play the central role for which I am thinking to use nRF51822 based module.

I learned that central can be developed using softdevice S120. My current product already had micro-controller which will be main processor in the system. nRF51822 based module will be used only for communication.

1. Is this design possible? micro-controller communicating with nRF51822 based module over UART.
2. Is there any standard central application/project developed which I can use off the shelf?
3. If available then what is the protocol to talk with nRF51822 module?

Thanks in advanced.

Vishal N

[endnode]

Hi Vishal,

What you write is generally correct and can be achieved, there are examples in very old SDKs which show how to use S120 on nRF51. However in 2017 no one would pick this combination for new project. The best option would be to go with nRF52832 and S132 V3 or V4, there are examples of all three things in the latest nRF5 SDK V13.0.0 (GAP Central role, serialization over UART) and it will most probably have lower power consumption. If for whatever reason you need to go with nRF51 then choose S130 V2 and nRF5 SDK V12.3.0.

Cheers Jan