Bluetooth Low Energy module

Technical specifications:

• Protocol: Bluetooth v.4.0 / Bluetooth Smart

• Chipset: BLE112

• RX Sensitivity: -103 dBm

• TX Power: [-23 dBm, +3 dBm]

• Antenna: 5 dBi antenna options

• Security: AES-128

• Range: 100 meters (at maximum TX power)

• Consumption: sleep (0.4 uA) / RX (8 mA) / TX (36 mA)

• Send broadcast advertisements (iBeacons)

• Connect to other BLE devices as Master / Slave

• Connect with smartphones and tablets

• Set automatic cycles sleep / transmission

• Calculate distance using RSSI values

• Perfect for indoor location networks (RTLS)

• Scan devices with maximum inquiry time

• Scan devices with maximum number of nodes

• Scan devices looking for a certain user by MAC address

Figure: Waspmote Bluetooth Low Energy module

BLE modules use the 2.4 GHz band (2402 MHz -- 2480 MHz). It has 37 data channels and 3 advertisement channels, with a 2MHz spacing.

Figure: Channel distribution on the BLE standard

In the same way as Bluetooth classic modules, other BLE modules can be identified by their MAC address and public name. Also, the RSSI is provided to show the quality of each link.

Related API libraries: WaspBLE.h, WaspBLE.cpp.

All information on their programming can be found in document: Bluetooth Low Energy Networking Guide.

All the documentation is located in the Development section in the Libelium website.