STMicroelectronics introduces BlueNRG-2 development tool to unlock Bluetooth 5.0 performance and efficiency

     STMicroelectronics introduces the STEVAL-IDB008V1M evaluation board compatible with the Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0 standard to accelerate application development using modules based on ST's second generation Bluetooth Low Energy System-on-chip (SoC)BlueNRG-2.

     BlueNRG-2 supports Bluetooth 5.0 authentication, enables superior Secure Connections by supporting LE Secure Connections, and achieves higher performance Privacy protection by supporting link layer Privacy 1.2. Achieve up to 2.6 times the interaction rate compared to the original by supporting LE Data Length Extension. The system chip has an Arm® Cortex-M0 core with a maximum frequency of 32MHz for running the Bluetooth protocol stack and upper-level customer applications, and it also integrates a 32KHz ring oscillator, 24K RAM and 256K program ROM modules. Another highlight of the system chip is its ultra-low standby power consumption, which is only 0.9µA in sleep mode when the Bluetooth protocol stack remains responsive and the RAM data retention function is turned on.

     The BlueNRG-M2SA module measures only 13.5mm X 11.5mm, making it very compact. The module integrates BlueNRG-2 system chips, energy-efficient ceramic antennas, RF Barron circuits, 32K external crystals, and uses SMPS inductors to further reduce power consumption. The module can significantly reduce engineering costs and enable non-RF professionals to participate in the design of radio frequency products. The BlueNRG-M2SA module has passed the Bluetooth terminal product certification, thus reducing the work burden of the customer's own product certification. The module has also passed the United States FCC, Canada IC, European RED, Japan TYPE and many other wireless product certification specifications, and will soon pass the Chinese SRCC certification requirements.

     The STEVAL-IDB008V1M Plug-and-play development board accelerates functional evaluation and product development using BlueNRG-M2SA modules. In addition to the BlueNRG-M2SA module, the development board integrates a MEMS pressure and temperature sensor, as well as a motion sensor that supports the 9-axis sensor data fusion library, as well as a low-latency, low-power ADPCM codec, which is used with BlueVoice middleware bindings.

     It can realize the speech signal processing function based on Bluetooth low power consumption. Through the on-board Arduino R3 interface, users can access all peripherals of the module, and further expand other functions by connecting to other boards. The related development package, STSW-BLUENRG1-DK, includes a simple and intuitive BlueNRG-Navigator GUI (graphical user interface) that allows users to implement applications without an external programmer or hardware.

     The suite also simplifies the integration of the BlueNRG-M2SA module with ST's STSW-BNRG-MESH software, enabling developers to explore new application opportunities in the industrial and smart building markets. STSW-BNRG-MESH implements the Bluetooth SIG Mesh Profile v1.0 protocol to enable true bidirectional communication and wider mesh networking, leveraging the integration capabilities of the BlueNRG-2 SoC to improve network security.