Low-Cost Bluetooth® Smart Starter Development Kit launched by CSR

Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)

USD $99 SDK enables developers to bring Bluetooth Smart devices to market quickly and cost-effectively


18 Dec 2013


CAMBRIDGE, UK AND SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA


CSR plc (LSE: CSR; NASDAQ: CSRE) today announces the launch of a new low-cost development kit aimed at developers looking to get Bluetooth® Smart prototypes up and running fast then move quickly to production. Based on the proven CSR µEnergy® platform, the Starter Development Kit provides a complete environment for developers who are looking to create their first Bluetooth Smart products and get them to market rapidly with a low initial investment.
Priced at USD $99 and now available globally via Digikey, Broadband and local CSR authorised distributors, the Starter Development Kit provides excellent value. It offers unlimited compiler and debug tools, removing restrictions from developers and enabling them to innovate with the full power of the CSR µEnergy platform. Some competing offerings require developers to purchase a separate development environment which incurs a significant additional cost.
“This SDK offers a low barrier to entry for developers looking to create fully-featured Bluetooth Smart products such as wearable, human interface, fitness, medical and IoT devices,” says Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President, Business Group at CSR. “We want to give developers access to our highly optimised hardware and software solutions at a cost-effective price so that we can ease their efforts in bringing their innovative ideas for products to market as simply as possible.”
Accelerating hardware development
The CSR Starter Development Kit also accelerates hardware development due to the inclusion of FCC and ETSI RF certified reference module designs which are supported with full design files. In addition, CSR’s Starter Development Kit comes supplied with a hardware development board, a CSR1010™ module, mini USB cable, setup and quick start guides straight out of the box. No additional monetary investment is required from developers nor is there a need to download and install additional tools or purchase further software licenses.
Rapid software development support
The CSR Starter Development Kit includes a full suite of profiles and example applications to run on-chip. These are coupled with example source code for iOS and Android to give developers a starting point for their application development. Developer support is provided by the newly launched CSR developer forum and wiki.
Product Highlights
The CSR Starter Development Kit provides a complete set of tools for software development, board design and production testing, including:

• Target board with CSR µEnergy IC on a reference module, a USB programming interface and interfaces for breaking out I/O to application-specific sensors and actuators. The target board is normally powered from the host USB connection but can also be run standalone from an on-board coin cell (not included) to allow power measurements to be made
• Application development is enabled by the CSR µEnergy Software Development Kit which provides full stack support with GATT level interface
• Fully licensed CSR xIDE software development environment
• Example applications for popular Bluetooth Smart profiles such as heart rate sensors, alert tags, mice and keyboards, cadence sensors and many more
• Example host applications for iOS and Android platforms
• Datasheets for CSR μEnergy ICs
• Hardware design guidelines
• Manufacturing packs for module reference designs
• Production test and configuration tools

For additional technical support, visit forum.csr.com or wiki.csr.com
Webinar
Developers can find out how to get started creating innovative products with the Starter Development Kit by attending a CSR webinar, ‘Getting Started with Bluetooth Smart’, on Thursday 23rd January 2014.

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Notes to editors
Supporting video content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IewsfxeQzzc



Multimedia resources

Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)

I haven't had a chance to check it out yet but it may be fun to interface it with a Prop2 and a Android or iOS App.

Clock Loop

I haven't done any part ordering or the dev kit.

But I made a design using this chip.

If anyone wants to check it out and comment / give some tips.

I want this device to be able to program props by using two of these devices, one connected to a prop plug, and the other to a prop.

The circuit is 1inch square, and follows the reference design exactly.

Its powered by a COIN CELL battery, and the bottom header follows the prop plug pinout.
The prop plug pinout is also mirrored on the bottom header so this bluetooth device can be used on both the prop plug side and the prop side to be a seamless link between a prop plug and a propeller (as long as you configure both units to link to eachother prior to use)

ALL usefull pins on the CSR1012 are brought out to headers.

Files are attached.

Unique parts have digikey part # on the schematic.

Oh, the coin cell holder digikey part# BC-2003-TR-CT-ND link: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BC-2003-TR/BC-2003-TR-CT-ND/5027938


The ZIP file contains the .pcb .sch and .prj files to open it up in PcbArtist.
Get PcbArtist Full version FREE to use the files. http://www.4pcb.com/free-pcb-layout-software/

Clock Loop

Please note that my pcb layout totally violates the recommendations by CSR. (more ground vias under chip, etc)

Please see attached APP notes to understand why.

Also I don't have an antenna on the pcb.

I'll probably address these things eventually and change my pcb/schematic when I get around to it.

CSR has two design references documents on their wiki site (which you need to register to get)

They have a pdf on : Designing an Inverted-F Antenna.pdf‎
I wanted to upload my copy here but they watermarked it with my name and email. (its just simple rf info anyway, nothing specific to CSR)

Clock Loop

I used the wrong footprint for the main IC. I used a QFP.
The part is a QFN.  These are totally different, so the PCB design is bad.
Eventually I will upload a fix.