Developing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Products

8/15/2019 Developing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Products

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ARGENOX

Developing Bluetooth Low

Energy Products

©2016 Argenox Technologies, LLC. All Rights Reserved.


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wwCopyright © Argenox Technologies. All Rights Reserved

• Gustavo Litovsky

• 10 years of wireless designs

• Formerly at TI’s Connectivity group – Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Gsupporting companies (Nike FuelBand, Motorola, GE,

• Left to develop products at other companies• Consulting

• 2013 – Started Argenox for Wireless development

Who Am I?

@agusnox


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CONFIDENTIAL wwCopyright © Argenox Technologies. All Rights Reserved

Argenox

Complete IoT Solutions

• Hardware, RF, Antenna Design andOptimization, Plastics

• Extensive Embedded Firmware

• Mobile Apps – iOS, Android

• Manufacturing

Helping Customers add connectivity to products

Connected Product Development

• Complete Reference Designs

• Proven and Fully Customizable

Low Powe

Faster Time to Market Turnkey Designs Full ProductDevelopment


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• Control something remotely,from anywhere

• Get alerted when somethinghappens

• Get data to the cloud

• Place devices anywhere

• Location

• Reliability – no mechanical limit

• Add new features, bug fixes

• Smartphone as Interface

Wirelessly Connecting Devices

Benefits

• Increased Cost• Increased Comple

Design and Manu

• Regulatory Certifi

• Limited Range

Challenges


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What Happened to Bluetooth Clas

• Headsets / Speakers

• High Speed Data (2Mb/s, 3Mb/s)

• High Power consumption, High latency

• More complicated Development, Testing• MFI required for Data on iPhone

Still Here

Not ideal for low power devices


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• Low Energy (LE) added to Bluetooth v4.0 Spec• Mass adoption after Apple adds to iPhone (2011)

• Direct connection to Smartphones

• Easy to Use

• Low Power

• Cheap

• People Know Bluetooth Brand

Introducing BLE

Ideal Technology for Connecting Low Power Devices


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Comparing BLE

Physical

Medium

Power Consumption Data Rate

Bluetooth Low

Energy

2.4GHz

AFH

40 Channels

10mA Running

1.5uA Sleep

1Mbps raw

~100kbps

Bluetooth Classic 2.4GHz

80 Channels

30mA Running 2-3Mbps raw

1-2Mbps

Wi-Fi 2.4GHz 100mA – 200mA Running

10uA-50uA Sleep

~10Mbps Embedded

Wi-Fi

Thread/Zigbee 2.4GHz 250kbps

Sub-1GHz 433MHz

915MHz

A few mA to 100mA+

depending on output power

9.6kbps to 3-4Mbps

~2000m~220mAh

400uA avg Current


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Device Example

BLE Enabled Accelerometer

BLESOC

Coin Cell Battery

Accelerometer I2C


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Is BLE Good for Me?

• Uses 2.4GHz Band – Worldwide• Range can be extended to 400m+

• Highly resilient to interference – Adaptive Frequency H(AFH)

• Simplifies building products on top

• Very low power – Coin cell

• Direct connection to Smartphones and gateways


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BLE Evolution

Bluetooth v4.0 Bluetooth v4.1 Blue

• Original Spec • Adds ability to act multirole • Packet L

• Secure C

• Improved

2010 2013


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Product Architecture

BLE as Core

BLE as Network Pr

BLESoC

Power

Sensors

• System Already Exists

• BLE SoCs CPU not enough

• Features in other devices

• More development

Buttons /

LEDs

• BLE SoC Handles Bluetooth and All Processing

• Lowest Cost

Main Processor Power

Sensors


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• Trend to provide complete SoCs

• Most use Cortex-M3, Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M4 processors

BLE Chipsets

BLE Radio

CPU

CortexM0/M3/M4

Flash Memory128kB / 256kB / 512kB

RAM16kB / 32kB / 48kB /

64kB

Timers GPIO ADC I2C / SPI / UART

Power

32kHz

High Speed

Oscillator

• Power optimized

• Minimal external comp

• Capabilities and design


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• Manufacturers moving to Bluetooth v4.2• More advanced CPUs – Cortex-M4 and M3 replacing M

and 16-bit

• Larger RAM and Flash to run more advanced applicati

• RF fully integrated in the device

• Advanced peripherals requiring less CPU intervention

• Multiple protocols in the same device

Trends in Chipsets

Some companies use BLE SoCs instead of microcontro


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• nRF8001, nRF51822, nRF52832• Very popular devices

Nordic Semiconductor

nRF52832

• 64MHz ARM Cortex™ M4F

• Bluetooth Smart v4.2 / ANT

• 5.5mA / 5.5mA TX/RX at 0dBm

• 1.7V to 3.6V• 512 kB flash memory + 64 kB RAM memory

• -96dBm, +4dBm Output Integrated Balun

• UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIO 12-bit ADC

• PDM and I2S for Audio

• NFC for Out-of-Band pairing

Di l S i d


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• DA14580, DA14680• Found in Wearables, Low cost devices

Dialog Semiconductor

DA14580

• 16MHz ARM Cortex™ M0

• Bluetooth Smart v4.1


• 1.7V to 3.6V• 512 kB flash memory + 64 kB RAM memory

• -93dBm, +0dBm Output


• PDM and I2S for Audio

• NFC for Out-of-Band pairing

NXP S i d t


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• KW40Z, KW41Z• Acquired Freescale in 2015

NXP Semiconductor

KW41Z


• Bluetooth Smart v4.2 / 802.15.4 Thread

• 1.7V to 3.6V, 0.9V to 1.795V

• 512 kB flash memory + 128 kB RAM memory

• -96dBm, +4dBm Output Integrated Balun

• UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIO 16-bit ADC and 12-bit DAC

C S i


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• PSoC 4 BLE, PROC 4 BLE• Recently acquired Broadcom

• Modules

Cypress Semi

PSoC 4 BLE



• 1.8V to 5.5V• 16.5mA / 18.7mA TX/RX at 0dBm



• Unique PSoC Programmable Digital and Analog

• Capacitive Touch, Op Amps, LCD,

• UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIO 12-bit ADC and DAC

Sili L b


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• Acquired Bluegiga

• Module vendor

Silicon Labs

Integrated Bluetooth Smart and

• ARM Cortex™ M4 with

• 256 kB flash memory /3

• Integrated high-efficienc

• UART, SPI, I2C, PWM,

• Crypto accelerator, 32-bBlue Gecko

• 40MHz ARM Cortex™ M4F


• 1.8V to 5.5V



• -94dBm, +3dBm Output or 8dBm

• Fully Certiofie

• UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, GPIO 12-bit ADC and DAC

T I t t


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• CC2540, CC2541, CC2630/40/50

Texas Instruments

CC26xx



• 1.8V to 3.8V




• Unique PSoC Programmable Digital and Analog

• Sensor Control Engine


BLE Chi t G ti


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CC2541

nRF51822

BLE Chipset Generations

CC2540

nRF8001

KW40Z

1st Generation

2011

PSoC 4 BLE

Picking a De ice


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Picking a Device

• Depends on your product requirements

• Hardware, Stack, Features, Support

• Some devices have unique features (PSoC, Periphera

Chip or Module?


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• Best performance – if done right• Customized – may fit better

• Lowest cost in high volume

• Engineering time and Cost – need RF expertise

• Design must be certified

Chip or Module?

Discrete Module

• Quickest Time to Market• Good performance

• Higher cost in high volume

• Engineering time and cost

• Modules certified and ready to go

BLE Product Design Lifecycle


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BLE Product Design Lifecycle

Development Certification ManufacturingMobile App

System Design AntennaTuning

FCC / IC

Certification

Manufacturing

BT SIG

Certification

Testing / QAHardware

Mechanical

Firmware

UX / Graphics

Bluetooth

iOS

AndroidOther

Certifications

Certifications FCC


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Certifications - FCC

• Required for any wireless transmitter

• Document preparation

• Lab measures radio and produces a report

• Results submitted to TCB to obtain FCC ID

• Modules already have FCC ID which is reused by integrator

• Products using modules need Unintentional Radiator certification

FCC Part 15 - Intentional Radiator

Certifications BTSIG


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Certifications - BTSIG

• Required to use Bluetooth trademarks and IP

• Small companies (< 1MM and first declaration ) $2500, others $8000• Lab testing needed for discrete designs

Bluetooth SIG

Firmware / Software


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Firmware / Software

• Required to use Bluetooth trademarks and IP

• Small companies (< 1MM and first declaration ) $2500, others $8000• Lab testing needed for discrete designs

Bluetooth SIG

Blu

User

Drivers

Peripherals

BLE System Architecture


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BLE System Architecture

Central Peripheral

Peripheral

GATT Server

GATT Server

GATT Client

Profile

Service

Characteristic

Properties

Value

Descriptor

Characteristic

Properties

Value

Descriptor

GAT

GATT Table


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• Product designer defines the table – Services, Charact

• Bluetooth SIG defined standard set of services

• When standard services don’t fit, define your own

GATT Table

Device Information Service

Manufacturer Name String

Model Number String

Hardware Revision String

“Argenox”

“K221”

“1.1”

UUIDs


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• Unique Identifiers used to identify any characteristic or

• Bluetooth SIG uses 16-bit for their own services, whichrest of 96-bits are fixed

• For custom services, you use 128-bit numbers

UUIDs

Device Information Service

Manufacturer Name StringModel Number String

0x180A

0x2A290x2A24

Custom Service

Manufacturer Name String

Model Number String

5b0aba62-354e-4743-8fd3-18f754f6f30d

0x2A29

0x2A24

Getting the GATT Data


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1. Central device discovers peripheral

2. Central device connects to Peripheral

3. Central Device enumerates services and characterist

4. Central devices reads/writes characteristics

Getting the GATT Data

Discovering Peripherals


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• Peripheral devices must be advertising to be found andconnected

• Advertisement packets aredefined by the productdeveloper and can containmany things:• Device Name• UUIDs of Services Available• Custom Data

• Packet is defined by using APIs from the BLE stackdeveloper

Discovering Peripherals

Advertisements


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• Packets go out on 3 special channels called advertisingchannels

• Channels were selected to avoid Wi-Fi interference

• Packets sent at Advertising Interval

Advertisements

Connecting and Enumerating


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• Central device connects to a peripheral it discovers froadvertising packets, finds all services and characteristi

• Connection allows bidirectional data transfer between d

Connecting and Enumerating

BLE Security


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Connections can be encrypted and secured againsteavesdropping and data manipulation

YES and NO

• Bluetooth v4.0 and v4.1 devices are insecure if initialconnection and pairing are sniffed

• Bluetooth v4.2 is much more secure - both devices musupport LE Secure Connections

BLE Security

Is BLE Secure?

BLE Mesh


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• BLE is typically point to point, point to multipoint

• Mesh allows data to get data across distance using dev

• Mesh expected to be ratified by Bluetooth Sig in Septe

BLE Mesh


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Low Energy


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• Processor and Radio consume significant power

• Low power requires system to sleep as much as possib

• Use smart peripherals as much as possible

• Measure, Measure and Measure

Low Energy

Low Energy -

t’s in the name

Mobile Apps


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• Main user interaction point with devices

• Bluetooth Development

ob e pps

Gateways


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• BLE can connect to most BLE devices

• Routers starting to support BLE out of the Box

• Build your own

y

Apple HomeKit / MFI


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• Homekit allows communication with accessories in the• Discovery

• Configuration

• Control

• Actions

• Siri

• Specifications and Info under NDA

• Join Apple MFI program

pp

References


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Developing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Products