Bluetooth Low Energy

BLEBee v2.0.0 prototype hardware and firmware finished. Works great !

Hello everyone, I was a little quiet lately. I was not sleeping but working on a few hardware designs and another iOS BLE application. After I created new versions of the BLE-Shield, the BLEBee is the another hardware that needs an update. The BLEBee v2.0.0 is now designed to use the BLE113-256k module which will enable OTA firmware updates without additional SPI flash. Moreover the power consumption will be slightly lower.

BLE-Shield v3.0.0 and BLE-Shield v3.0.0 LR (Long Range)

Hello everyone, Initially I wanted to show the BLE-Shield v3.0.0 and the BLE-Shield v3.0.0 LR (Long Range) at Maker Faire Rome 2014, but they didn’t make it in time for a presentation in rome. Now I was able to solder the BLE113 and BLE121LR module using a simple hot plate successfully. Since both modules are equipped with 256kb flash, there is no need for additional SPI Flash memory chips or a USB port to support upgrading the firmware.

Presenting new Hardware on Maker Faire Rome 2014

Hello everyone, I’m happy to announce that I will present some new MiKro-Labs branded designs together with BlueKitchen (http://www.bluekitchen-gmbh.com) at Maker Faire Rome 2014. I partnered up with Matthias Ringwald, the author of BTstack <(http://www.btstack.org>) to create some BLE Shields which are running his Low Energy part of BTstack. I have not dropped support for Bluegiga based shields. They were not yet finished in time. There is a BLE-Shield v3.0.0 based on a BLE113 and a v3.

BLE Joystick powered by the BLEbee and some more parts...

Hello everyone, after creating the BLE-Shield and the BLEBee I decided to work a little more on gadgets. In this blogpost I will show you how to create a joystick kind of gadget that is connected to an iPhone running BLExplr over a BLE connection. In order to setup the BLE-Joystick you need the following parts: Arduino Leonardo (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardLeonardo) DFRobot Input Shield v2 (http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=35_124&product_id=62) Seeedstudio Solar Charger Shield v2 (http://www.

The final hardware DropBeacon is available on github

Hello everyone, after I promised it to a few guys, the DropBeacon is now available on github. I added more details to the DropBeacon page on this blog: http://www.mkroll.mobi/?page_id=1693 You can find the Schematic and Board files as well as the BGScript Project to compile the firmware using Bluegiga’s SDK v1.2.2 on github: https://github.com/michaelkroll/DropBeaconThanks, Michael.

First look on BlueGiga's new DKBLE Development Kit

Hello BLE developers, today I received the new DKBLE Development Kit today and will give you a quick summary whats included and what I think is really cool in this version. The box is not very interesting, but as you can read on the sticker it is now the “DKBLE Development Kit” without additional module number. After opening the box, I was totally impressed. The contents of the box is listed below:

Finally the DropBeacon v1.0.1 iOS App is approved

Hello iBeacon enthusiasts, after a little struggle with the Apple Review Team, DropBeacon v1.0.1 was approved for the Apple App Store. You might have read the blog post at beekn.net about Apple locking down iBeacon: http://www.beekn.net/2014/05/apple-closed-system-apple-slowly-locking-ibeacon/. The DropBeacon update was affected by this as well. The updated to v1.0.1 has no longer a UUID editor included. Apple somehow forced me to remove the editor functionality to get the update approved. I asked them what about adding the three UUIDs which has beed added to the AirLocate sample provided by Apple at WWDC2013.

Hardware DropBeacon v1.0.0 finished.

Hello iBeacon enthusiasts, after some weeks of development, design adjustments, enclosure designs, firmware iterations and battery tests I finished v1.0.0 of my hardware DropBeacon. You might have read about the DropBeacon iOS app acting like a virtual DropBeacon but where is the real one? Here is version 1.0.0 of the DropBeacon: The DropBeacon uses a BLE112 module from Bluegiga. The DropBeacon is designed with an additional SPI flash to enable OTA upgrades of the DropBeacon’s firmware.

CC-Debugger TagConnect (TC2030) Adapter

Hello everyone, some people already asked my how to reflash the firmware of a BLEbee. Well in order to make the BLEbee as small as possible and not wasting a 2×5 header costing $1.50 each, I decided to use the TagConnect 2030 to flash the firmware of the BLEbee. The PCB of the adapter I created is available from OSHpark using the following link http://www.oshpark.com/shared_projects/Ff2LiKQA  Moreover the eagle design files can be downloaded from my Hardware Tools github repository: https://github.