Canadian Internet of Things (IoT) company I-SYST is preparing to release a code-free embedded Bluetooth communication development module based on the Nordic nRF52832 system on a chip (SOC): BlueIO832-Mini.
“The BlueIO832-Mini and the free BlueIOWizard mobile app is an open source educational Bluetooth toolkit, and is the heart of the I-SYST BlueIO ecosystem,” the company explains of the impending launch. “It allows you to easily control and learn about your microcontrollers and electronics without having to write complex firmware. Try out new sensors or other hardware without writing any code, and go from proof of concept to product design in record time.”
The heart of the BlueIO832-Mini is Nordic’s nRF52832, a chip that gives the device a 64MHz Arm Cortex-M4F processor, between 32KB and 64KB of SRAM, and 256KB to 512KB of RAM. Flash, along with a Bluetooth 5.3 capable radio with support for Bluetooth Mesh and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mode.
The SOC is mounted on a compact, breadboard-friendly six-pin module, and its exact functionality is configured in the board’s companion app: all six pins can be used as general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins with configurable pull-up/down resistors and pin sensing; There is one UART configurable to 1M baud; I2C bus operating at up to 400 Kbps; And the SPI bus has a speed of up to 8 Mbps. There is also a configurable 8, 10, or 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with one differential mode, two independent channels, and an onboard RGB LED. The board also includes support for Near Field Communication (NFC) – saving you from getting and attaching an optional antenna.
It’s the companion app for BlueIOWizard, which is designed to make your board stand out from the competition. “This versatile Internet of Things (IoT) framework enables users, from their mobile device (such as a smartphone), to remotely connect to an electronic device through an easy plug-and-play interface,” claims I-SYST. “Just connect the sensor to BlueIO, select the sensor in the app and let them talk. After connecting to the target device via a desired serial interface, the BlueIO832-Mini streams the data on that physical interface to the BlueIO mobile app via Bluetooth 5.”
The integrated board features six configurable pins and a connector for an optional NFC antenna. (📷: I-SYST)
The BlueIO832-Mini isn’t I-SYST’s first crowdfunding communications module: in November 2018, the company closed a successful funding campaign for The Blast Nano, micro SMD featuring Arm Cortex-M4F processor, Bluetooth 5.0 with Bluetooth networking, 30-pin GPIO; In July 2020 funding for her successor expired, The BLYST840with support for Bluetooth 5.2, Thread and Zigbee as well as an enhanced 46-pin GPIO.
As with previous designs, I-SYST plans to crowdfund the BlueIO832-Mini via Crowd Supply, at a yet-to-be-announced price point; The schematics for the board are available as a PDF via Google Drive under an unspecified open source license; The source code for the project’s diving software is available on github Under MIT License Permitted.
Originally posted 2022-12-06 11:11:27.