This document discusses how to get started with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) development. It recommends starting with defining objectives, choosing a BLE radio or module, determining data flow needs, developing mobile apps for testing, and planning regulatory certification. Using a pre-certified BLE module can reduce costs and accelerate time to market versus designing a custom radio. Anaren's Bluetooth Smart Development Kit and Atmosphere online platform aim to simplify and expedite the BLE development process.

1. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Using Bluetooth® Smart
to Control Embedded Systems
with a Mobile Device
AIR@anaren.com
800-411-6596
+44-2392-232392

2. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Any device can send state/status
You forgot to Floss your
teeth yesterday. Today
you need to brush your
teeth for more time.
You didn’t complete your
10k steps goal yesterday.
Spend more time at the
gym today.
I am behind the sofa
cushion. Find me here..!!

3. Bluetooth SIG
Member
IOT: Base elements
Flow
On/Off
Light
Pressure
Open/
Closed
Temperature
(Hot/Cold)
Location

4. Bluetooth SIG
MemberHow do we connect every device
to the internet?
Portability /
mobility
Battery
Life
Expensive +
Battery life

5. Bluetooth SIG
Member
A gateway to the internet
Gateway

6. Bluetooth SIG
MemberWhat does a smart phone offer
as a gateway?
Standard Wi-Fi Bluetooth NFC
Mobile can be master? Yes Yes Yes
End Device Broadcast Yes Yes No
Scanning No Yes No
Battery Life of
End Devices /Slaves
Few hours
[3.0] Few
Hours
[LE] Few Year
Years
Bandwidth provided Video
State [LE]
Voice [3.0]
State
Asynchronous Data
transfer by End Devices
Not Supported Supported
Not
Supported
Range of connection 75-120 m 10 – 100 m 10cm
Relative Cost of
Implementation
Low Lower Lowest

7. Bluetooth SIG
Member
What is BLE?
• Bluetooth low energy technology is an evolution in technology
that enables new applications in wireless devices that are able
to last months or even years off a small, button-cell battery
• Ultra-low power consumption
• Low cost
• Multi-vendor
interoperability
• Enhanced range
relative to classic
Bluetooth
* Graphic courtesy of Bluetooth® SIG

8. Bluetooth SIG
Member
BLE technical specifications
• Uses FHSS spread Spectrum technology to overcome interference
• Operates at 2.4 GHz ISM band which is accepted worldwide
• Very Low Duty Cycle:
– Radio spends very little time in TX/Rx mode
– Radio shuts down very fast
• Asynchronous Connectionless MAC
– Small Packets [MTU = 20 bytes]
– Uses only 3 channels for advertising hence less time to establish link
– Fast Connection and teardown in < 6ms
*Graphic Courtesy of iebmedia.com

9. Bluetooth SIG
MemberWhat can a Bluetooth Smart
connection do for you?
• Connect your embedded device to a smartphone:
- monitor & collect data
- control operation and adjust settings
- field service interfaces
- over-the-air software updates
- and more
…all touch-free & without opening a cabinet!
• Easy to change the HMI controls and gauges –
it’s all software
• Secure: Control and limit access

10. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Product objectives
• Time to Launch to market = 1 month / 3 months / 6 months
• Customer never needs to replace battery
• Over the AIR update: no need to plug any wires
Marketing
Objectives
• Lower Bill of Materials
• Low NRE / Engineering Costs
Operations
Objectives
• Sell the product worldwide
Sales
Objectives
• Where do I start?
Engineer
objectives

11. Bluetooth SIG
Member
•Range and Data throughput
•Battery Life and Sleep current
•Over the AIR update
BLE Radio Objectives
•Design the Radio or go with a Module?
•Application Firmware: Integrate with BLE stack or Separate
Applications Processor?
Application Objectives
•GATT Model
•GATT Specification: Profiles, Characteristics, Services
•Custom GATT profiles
Determine Data Flow
Needs
•Testing product using Generic Applications
•Generic Apps on PC / Mobile
•Cross Platform mobile app development
Mobile App Objectives
and Testing Product
•Regulatory Certification
•Bluetooth SIG Qualification
•Benefits of pre-certified and pre-qualified modules
Go to Market
5-step checklist to start your design

12. Bluetooth SIG
Member
1: BLE radio objectives
BLE Range: up to 100 meters
• 2.4 GHz is attenuated heavily by human body
• Placing radio in metal enclosure or right on top of coin cell
battery will cause multipath/ reflections and packet loss
BLE Data throughput: Radio data : 1Mbps, BLE spec: .27Mbps
• It is designed for sending small chunks of data or ‘state’ of
the device
• Given the low duty cycle, it not optimized for large file transfer
or streaming

13. Bluetooth SIG
Member
1. BLE radio objectives (cont.)
Battery Life:
Assuming a transaction of 3ms,
Tx/Rx avg. current consumption: 17mA
Std. CR2032 coin cell battery: ~220mAh
Calculations:
= 220mAh/17mA /.003s
= ~ 13 hours = ~15.5 mil. Packet transactions
Important contributors to extend battery life
• Sleep current modes: BLE radio are in Sleep mode for almost all the times
a. Sleep with OSC on
b. Sleep with Timer On
c. Sleep with External Interrupts On Deep sleep
• Adding DC-DC converter helps reduce power consumption in TX/RX mode
No. of End
Device packet
transmission
per minute
Estimate
d Battery
Life on
CR 2032
Estimate
d Battery
Life on
std. AA
[~1Ah]
1 24 year 100 years
12 2 years 10 years
60 0.5 year 2.5 year

14. Bluetooth SIG
Member
OTA (Over the Air Update)
- Supported by most radio vendors
- While choosing Flash size
* double of the firmware size
* future addition of features
1. BLE radio objectives (cont.)

15. Bluetooth SIG
Member
2: Embedded application objectives
Design your own radio or go with a module?
• RF expertise
• Time consuming: PCB Design
• Upfront Engineering cost
• Easy to make changes
• Module: Fast prototype and low annual
volumes where time to market is
important
• DIY: Post proto and high volume production

16. Bluetooth SIG
Member
2: Source a BLE radio
Application and Stack on
single BLE Chip
Separate Applications and BLE
Processor

17. Bluetooth SIG
Member
3: Determine data flow needs
The BLE Stack: GATT Model
• Based on attributes
• Simple to use
• Key terms:
• Central / peripheral
• GATT specifications
– Services
– Characteristic
– Profiles
Physical Layer [PHY]
Link Layer [LL]
L2CAP
Host Controller Interface [HCI]
ATT
GATT
User Applications
SMP
GAP

18. Bluetooth SIG
Member
GATT specifications
Service: Human Readable specification of set of characteristics,
eg. Glucose Monitoring, Blood Pressure Monitoring
Characteristics: Defined attribute types that contain a single
logical value. These are machine readable only, eg. Battery
voltage
Profiles: Define how services can be used to enable an application
or use case. Profiles enable interoperability among products made
by different manufacturers, eg. Healthcare, Proximity Sensing
3: Determine data flow needs (cont.)

19. Bluetooth SIG
Member
• Bluetooth SIG has adopted numerous profiles to make it easier
for developers. Can be found at Bluetooth developer site
• But what if the existing profiles don’t work for you? You can
create custom profiles
• How? Push / Pull / Broadcast
– Product sends to smartphone (Push)
– Smartphone Connects/Reads/Writes (Pull)
– Product broadcasts data even when not connected [indicators /
notifications]
• Security :
– Button pairing
– Pin code
– Unique key pairing
3: Determine data flow needs (cont.)

20. Bluetooth SIG
Member
4: Mobile app objectives & product test
Concurrent Code Development
Embedded code
Mobile app code
iOS &
Android
mobile;
PC; etc.
App. c Main. c
Hardware
prototype
Your
embedded
device
To market

21. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Embedded Device to Mobile DeviceEmbedded Device to PC
Image courtesy : TI and Punchthroughdesign.com
Test product using a generic interface
4: Mobile app objectives & product test (cont.)

22. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Packet sniffer
4: Mobile app objectives & product test (cont.)

23. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Packet sniffers
* Image courtesy of Frontline
4: Mobile app objectives & product test (cont.)

24. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Cross platform mobile apps
4: Mobile app objectives & product test (cont.)

25. Bluetooth SIG
Member
5: Go to market
Regulatory Certifications :
• Verification that the operation of a device meets set limits or
performance expectations within a given country or geographical
region
Americas
Canada
European
Union
China
Japan
Australia

26. Bluetooth SIG
Member
5: Go to market (cont.)
Bluetooth SIG qualification Process:
• all Bluetooth products must be qualified to use the Bluetooth trademark/logo
• fully qualified product is listed as End Product Listing (EPL)
* Graphic courtesy of Bluetooth® SIG

27. Bluetooth SIG
Member
5: Go to Market (cont.)
Benefits of using a pre-certified
module
Discrete Design Pre-Certified / Pre-Qualified
Modules
Fees for Regulatory Tests Approvals
[FCC/ETSI/IC]
25000 9000
Software Dev. Costs for Test
Firmware
20000 1000
Additional Countries 20000
(approximate)
1000
Bluetooth Qualification * (Associate
member)
4000 4000 [only EPL]
Total Costs 70,000 15,000
* Bluetooth SIG Fees are based on membership levels Adopter: $8k / Associate : $4k / Innovation
Incentive Program (companies with annual revenue <$1 m USD): $2.5k USD (2 products max.)

28. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Summary: How to get started
• Project objectives influence the product design & development process
• Regulatory compliance can significantly delay product launch & raise
costs
• Pre-certified module can reduce time to market, simplify prototyping,
streamline compliance & eliminate need for RF infrastructure
• For complex applications, use the co-processor approach for proof of
concept and initial prototypes
• For mobile development, use of generic cross-platform application
development compilers
• Perform regulatory compliance tests and obtain Bluetooth EPL listing to
use the Bluetooth logo

29. Bluetooth SIG
Member
A word about Anaren’s BLE solution

30. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Bluetooth Smart Development Kit
• Works with Atmosphere web-based development platform
– Simultaneously creates & compiles embedded code for
demo board and code for mobile app creation
– Examples based around the AIR-for-WICED multi-
sensor
development board with exposed GPIOs, UART, SPI
and I2C connections
• Includes:
• Unlimited access to the online Atmosphere
collaborative development platform
• Multi-sensor dev board
• USB cable (probably Type A to Micro B)
• 2 single-row header pins
• Quick Start Guide
• Regulatory Guide
Part #: A20737x-MSDK1

31. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Atmosphere online development
platform
• Enables developer to
simultaneously generate
embedded code & mobile app
code in one, environment
• Public site & community at:
https://atmosphere.anaren.com
• Users accesses tool via free
account registration (agrees to
T&C & use of AIR for WICED
modules)
• Downloads & installs on
PC/Mac/Linux device
• Mobile app to be available
on App Store & Play Store

32. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Where you can learn more
References :
• https://atmosphere.anaren.com
• http://anaren.com/airforwiced
• http://developer.bluetooth.org/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy
• https://mentor.ieee.org/802.18/dcn/13/18-13-0049-00-0000-
fcc-modular-transmitter-guidance.pdf

33. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Questions?
AIR@anaren.com
800-411-6596
+44-2392-232392

34. Bluetooth SIG
Member
Thank you for your time!
AIR@anaren.com
800-411-6596
+44-2392-232392