Bluetooth module for EK-TM4C123GXL LaunchPad Evaluation Kit

Karel,

If you go to http://www.ti.com/boosterpacks you can browse all the BoosterPacks that are a part of the LaunchPad ecosystem.  You can also find some community-driven BoosterPacks at http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/BoosterPacks. Specifically, the EDB-BLE Bluetooth® Smart Board for Mobile Control Development may fit your needs.

Best Regards,

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

thanks a lot for your reply. Indeed, there are BoosterPacks available. I've reviewed them all and found that EDB-BLE is BLE 4.0 only, but I'd rather prefer classical Bluetooth 2.1 and up. Anyway, in the mean time I've already ordered EKS-LM4F232 together with PAN1323EMK just to find later that I'll need to solger some headers, copacitors and crystal on board myself. That's indeed a pity as the parts are not available here and paying for postage from USA is more than Sensors BoosterPack which I hope provides the headers already. Fortunately on my first order I've also put EK-LM4F120XL into a basket just to see how this little cheap board looks like and I hope the sensor boosterpack will be usable with it and provide a way to connect PAN1323EMK into it. If not, then I'll give up and order parts from USA and hope that I'm able to soler them well...

BTW: Someone should definitely modify http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Stellaris_Bluetopia_Basic_Demo_APPS and warn clearly that hardware modification is necessary and that the parts should be ordered based on the list provided in user manual. If I would know that I would order everything together and save on posting...

Let's hope EK-LM4F120XL + BOOSTXL-SENSHUB + PAN1323EMK will fly...

Thanks!
Karel

Hello Karel,

I am about to start a design project that integrates a few analog front-ends with the TI Tiva C Series launchpad (TM4C123G). I want to then send this data over Bluetooth to a mobile device (probably iOS). I also don't want to use Bluetooth LE so the EDB-BLE is not an option (not designed for continuous streams of data).

My concern is regarding ease of development with the PAN1323 module. Is there an available Bluetooth stack that will make programming it easier? 

Would you recommend the solution of TM4C123G+SensorXL+PAN1323?

Thanks,

Alejandro

Hello Alejandro,

please note that I'm not TI employee. Anyway, if to use or not use TM4C123G+SensorXL+PNA1323 depends on if you are able to solder crystal onto SensorXL board or not. The issue is that if you do not solder it there, then PAN1323 simply does not work at all. See Bluetopia on Stellaris LM4F120 Launchpad + BoostXL Sensor Hub + PAN 1323 ETU thread here: http://e2e.ti.com/support/low_power_rf/f/660/t/274967.aspx

Karel

Fellows,

I'd not let, "fear of soldering" so limit your choices - or actions.  So - how can you add this capability?

Might a nearby university, or local "tech club," or small, close tech business be an option?  Hobby groups also often have (or develop out of necessity) this capability.  (even model airplane, rotary wing clubs - now have this ability)

Beyond this - many reasonably sized distributors have this capability - or at least may be able to refer you to proven sources.  And - this vendor's nearest, regional office or others should know, "who & where" - in your local area - may assist.   Cannot hurt to ask around - rather than, "assume the worst..."

Seek w/in proper channels - and ye, "might find..."   Bon chance...

Soldering may not be the biggest issue. The biggest issue may be price. The required crystal is not available in EU so for sending $4 item from US I've spent $80 IIRC just on postage. Also I do not understand why such thing is not part of quite expensive LM4F232 board which I've bought as a first and with single-jumper not be available for switching on...(together with connectors this should be +10$ price increase)

This is really where TI disappointed me, otherwise TI's support on forum, TI's software support, doc, etc. Everything is very nice (although Bluetopia does not support M4F yet! But on fortum you quickly find workaround).

Karel

"Accident of stateside birth," does have some advantages.

Nothing in earlier, "How to gain smt soldering capability post" prevented those suggestions from extending into, "Group purchasing - cost savings,"  which provide financial benefits to you - and similar others. 

Finding (or forming) a local "tech club" - which makes "regular purchases" can spread those shipping costs among many - yielding substantial savings to all involved.  Indeed - "last minute/rush" purchases may not "fit" - but the extra discipline which a regularly scheduled, purchase routine demands - has worked well.  (our USA firm uses - and enforces this method)

And - working w/these advanced MCUs in isolation may not always prove best.  Group project review, shared purchase of more advanced "tools and/or test gear," and greater responsiveness from vendors and other resources - usually result.

"Work-arounds" may assume many forms - a goup w/similar interests/goals - seems most useful in your situation...

I've recently had a request to investigate integrating Bluetooth into a design I am working on. I was disappointed to read the above, as I really would prefer to stick with the Tiva LaunchPad as my design already has a large part working with this development platform.

Anyway I am hoping to get some clarification.

So, I have the following choices if I want to develop a Bluetooth solution with the Tiva MCU:-

1. DK-TM4C123G+SensorXL+PNA1323 and then solder  a crystal and headers onto the SensorXL board.

Or 

2. Stellaris LM4F120 Launchpad + BoostXL Sensor Hub + PAN 1323 ETU - Which is not an option for me, as my device required USB host support, which the Stellaris LaunchPad does not provide. 

or

3. Another combination???

So that leaves me with option 1 and 3 (if there is another combination)

So now onto the next important question, and that is regarding the Bluetooth Stack and sample code. I notice it clearly states in the Bluetopia wiki the following. Note: Only the Stellaris M3 Supports the A2DP Demo. This is the profile I need to use, so that is obviously a concern.

I am on a really tight time-line for this prototype, and the more I look into it, the more I can see this is not a viable solution

Hi,

ad 1) it looks like DK-TM4C123G is just a modern (tiva rebranded) version of EK-LM4F232 which I do have here. If this is true, then you will need to solder crystal, headers and few missing capacitors to the board. You will not need SensorXL board.

ad 2) in case of either LM4F120 or Tiva rebranded EK-TM4C123GXL together with Booster Pack Sensor XL, you will still need to solger a crystal to the Sensor XL board in order to have PAN 1323 ETU working.

So I warn you, neither of those kits may be used "as is" with PAN 1323 ETU *unfortunately*.

Karel

Thanks Karel,

What about the software side? I think I can get someone to do the soldering if there are already available connections on the board and the details on where to do it are clear....but code is another matter.

Is there a Bluetooth stack available that will compile and work with the Tiva?

Is there any sample code that will work?

I just cannot imagine having to write all of this from scratch with code made for the MSP430. 

Glenn.

Yes, TI provides bluetooth stack (bluetopia) for their ARM processors. For Tiva, this means running bare-metal code as the RAM is too limited to hold any form of OS. It also means to patch few header files, but they are provided here on the forum. You will also need to compile for Cortex-M3 without FPU as the stack is not (or was not half year ago) recompiled for M4F yet. Otherwise I've tested just bundled SPP demo together with Bllueterm on android phone and it has run as expected...

OK, so I couldn't use TI-RTOS with Bluetopia? Hmmm, that's annoying, I have everything developed on TI-RTOS and SYS/BIOS.

"You will also need to compile for Cortex-M3 without FPU as the stack is not (or was not half year ago) recompiled for M4F yet. "

Sorry I don't understand what you mean by this...if I am using the M4F chip, how can I compile for the M3 chip and get it to work on the Tiva? 

Glenn.

SYS/BIOS is not supported or was not half a year ago. Bare-metal was the only way at that time and I don't see how this may change when there is no TIVA chips announced with more RAM. Honestly speaking I'm also struggling with that and looking for an option....

Compiling for M3 instead of M4F is just a matter of setup in CCS. Search the forum you will find the answer. The problem why you need that is that original bluetopia binary is compiled for M3 w/o FPU and looks like you cannot mixed binaries of M3 and M4F together. Of course M3 binary will run just fine on M4F chip -- which is our case...

Ok, so you can use M3 compiled libraries......is the source code available?

There is a new Tiva C chip with more memory, the TM4C129x, here are its specs....

Speed: 120Mhz
SRAM: 256k
Flash: 512-1025k 

More info here - http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontroller/tiva_arm_cortex/c_series/tm4c129x_series/products.page

Glenn.

No, Bluetopia was binary only, at least half-year ago.

Hola, this TM4C129x looks really promising! Exactly the chip I need and why I'm working with STM32F4 now! Err, why is not data sheet available without signing NDA? That's really a pity!

Karel

Yes the TM4C129x looks very promising, that extra memory will definitely come in handy.

I am sure you have seen the App Notes and User Guides available for the DK-TM4C129x located here - http://www.ti.com/tool/DK-TM4C129X#Technical Documents

But still there are many unanswered questions about the TM4C129x, I am most interested in volume pricing. But I guess these things take time.

Can you point me to the information on where to solder the crystal/oscillator onto the Booster Sensor XL board?

Glenn.

Hi Glenn,

indeed, volume pricing of TM4C129x will be also interesting to know.

Anyway, w.r.t. soldering oscilator onto Booster Sensor XL pack, please download BOOSTXL-SENSHUB Sensor Hub BoosterPack user manual, this is SPMU290 document. On first page you see the picture of the board and just in the middle of the top edge you may locate "Y1". There is also a dot mark just above the "R12" there. When you scroll to the BOM page, you will see a line:

— Y1 0 32.768 kHz Clock oscillator, 2.5 x 3.2 mm Do not populate Do not populate

so this is missing crystal which you need to solder there in order to have bluetooth module working.

Cheers,

Karel

Thanks for that info, I have ordered what's required, decided to go with the Tiva C LaunchPad, Sense Hub Booster Pack and the PAN1323EMK combination.

I have just looked at the crystal and can see why you were concerned about the soldering, it is one of those surface mounts without the feet.....how do you solder them manually to a board? Any pointers?

Glenn.

Yeah! Surface mount soldering, that's exactly what put me off this for all the time, but it was not that hard at the end. Well, it's not profi work I done here, but it's working. :-)

If you look at the board you will see that there is enough tin on those points. So I've bought just special tip to my soldering tool. Put crystal on its place and then from the side put a tip to the tin switched on and pushed a crystal a little down. This on all four points. My crystal is still hanging in the air, but it's working. Good enough for software developer like myself, but general note to TI still apply: Guys, make live of bluetooth software developers a little bit easier, please. ;-)

Good luck!
Karel