- BLE 5.1
- USB
iNode Serial Transceiver USB
BLE-to-USB adapter, recognised as a serial port, for communicating with BLE devices from any system.
- BLE
- USB
- MicroPython
- WebUSB
iNode BLE-USB is a Bluetooth Low Energy to USB adapter that can be programmed in Python. The PHY6212 BLE chip has a built-in MicroPython interpreter with its own bluetooth module and file system, so scripts – for example, scanning the surroundings, reading iNode sensors, broadcasting beacons or running a custom GATT server – run directly on the adapter.
The USB bridge provides the computer with a standard serial port and a WebUSB interface. As a result, the adapter works on Windows without driver installation, on Linux as /dev/ttyACM, and the console and firmware upload are possible directly from the browser. Via a USB-OTG adapter, it also works with a phone or tablet running Android – with a browser application launched in Chrome, without installing additional programs. Popular tools for working with scripts are also available: Thonny and mpremote.
The adapter supports the central and peripheral roles, connections to iNode devices with AES login, and deep sleep with timer wake-up – it is suitable both as a programmable BLE gateway for a computer or Raspberry Pi and as a prototyping tool.
Applications
- programmable BLE gateway for a computer and Raspberry Pi
- reading data from iNode sensors and beacons with your own scripts
- beacon or device with a custom GATT service
- prototyping and learning Bluetooth Low Energy in Python
- service tool for connecting to iNode devices
Technical specifications
| BLE module | |
|---|---|
| Chip | PHY6212 (ARM Cortex-M0, 48 MHz, adjustable 16–96 MHz) |
| Radio communication | Bluetooth Low Energy 2.4 GHz roles: advertising (beacon), passive and active scanning, central (GATT client), peripheral (GATT server) MTU up to 247 B logging in to iNode devices (AES) |
| Encryption | AES-128 (ECB, hardware CCM) |
| Software | |
| Interpreter | MicroPython 1.29 |
| Modules | machine (Pin, UART, PWM, RTC, WDT), bluetooth, aes, os, time, json, binascii, random, math, struct |
| Program memory | 64 KB heap, 256 KB file system (littlefs) |
| Tools | Thonny, mpremote, mpy-cross (.mpy files), WebUSB console in the browser |
| USB | |
| Interface | USB 2.0 Full Speed – serial port (CDC) and WebUSB Windows: no driver installation required (WinUSB) Linux: /dev/ttyACM Android: via USB OTG adapter, browser application in Chrome (WebUSB) |
| Firmware upload | via USB, without a programmer (also from the browser) |
| Power supply | |
| Power supply | 5 V DC (USB) |
| Current consumption | continuous operation without sleep – approx. 15 mA deep sleep with computer connected – approx. 7 mA (USB bridge consumption) deep sleep with advertising every 1 s, powered from USB power supply – approx. 120 µA (USB bridge in sleep mode) |
| Power saving mode | deep sleep BLE advertising (beacon) works during sleep – the chip wakes up automatically for the duration of each advertisement the program is woken by a timer, the RTC clock, BLE events or an edge on a GPIO input |
Downloads
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