Simple Broadcaster
Table of Contents
Introduction
The simple_broadcaster project demonstrates non-connectable beacon applications, such as Apple iBeacon™ and Google Eddystone™. See Bluetooth low energy Beacons Application Note (SWRA475) for more information about Bluetooth low energy beacons.
This document discusses the procedure for using the Simple Peripheral application when the FlashROM_StackLibrary configuration is used. The FlashROM_StackLibrary_RCOSC configuration is discussed in the RCOSC section of the BLE5-Stack User’s Guide.
Hardware Prerequisites
The default Simple Broadcaster configuration uses the LAUNCHXL-CC2640R2. This hardware configuration is shown in the below image:
For custom hardware, see the Running the SDK on Custom Boards section of the BLE5-Stack User’s Guide.
Software Prerequisites
For information on what versions of Code Composer Studio and IAR Embedded Workbench to use, see the Release Notes located in the docs/ble5stack folder. For information on how to import this project into your IDE workspace and build/run, please refer to The CC2640R2F Platform section in the BLE5-Stack User’s Guide.
Usage
This application uses the UART peripheral to display messages. The UART is only used to display messages.
This application is configured to broadcast sample advertising data out of the box. It sends non-connectable advertisements.
This document will use PuTTY to serve as the display for the output of the CC2640R2 LaunchPad, and it will use BLE Scanner as the phone app that will scan the device to show that it is advertising. Note that any other serial terminal and smart phone BLE application can be used. The following default parameters are used for the UART peripheral for display:
| UART Param | Default Values |
|---|---|
| Baud Rate | 115200 |
| Data length | 8 bits |
| Parity | None |
| Stop bits | 1 bit |
| Flow Control | None |
Once the Simple Broadcaster sample application starts, the output to the terminal will report its address and the fact that it is advertising, as shown below:
Advertising is enabled by default upon startup, so there is no need to physically press a button to start advertising. Using BLE Scanner to scan for the device, you should see a device with the name of SimpleBLEBroadcaster (note that the navigation might be slightly different depending on your mobile application):
If there is more than 1 device called SimpleBLEBroadcaster, the RSSI value in the colored circles on the left can be used to find which device you are looking for. The device name is being sent from the Simple Broadcaster device in the scan response data that is sent when the device is scanned by BLE Scanner. The Simple Broadcaster device is sending out non-connectable advertisements, so it cannot be connected to by the smartphone application (or any other central device). Pressing “connect” in BLE Scanner will not do anything.
TI’s SmartRF Protocol Packet Sniffer can be used to see the advertising data that is being broadcasted:
The information in the “AdvData” field shows the advertising data that is being broadcasted. This data can be changed by making changes to advertData in simple_broadcaster.c. Also, note that defining BEACON_FEATURE in the project will change the data that is being advertised.
The information in the “AdvA” field shows the address of the Simple Broadcaster device. This will match what was shown in BLE Scanner.
The information in the “Adv PDU Type” shows that the advertisements are discoverable and non-connectable.