Intermediate
30 min

Eliminate the hassle of cords with the ANNA-B112 module and PIC18F26K20

Embrace the 'Bluevolution'

BLE 8 Click with EasyPIC v8

Published Nov 01, 2023

Click board™

BLE 8 Click

Dev. board

EasyPIC v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18F26K20

Our Bluetooth solution empowers you to enjoy wireless audio, transfer files, and interact with smart devices, all while experiencing unmatched reliability and efficiency

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

BLE 8 Click is based on the ANNA-B112, a standalone Bluetooth 5 low-energy module from u-blox based on the nRF52832 chip. The nRF52832 is the mid-range member of the nRF52 Series SoC family. It meets the challenges of a broad range of applications requiring Bluetooth 5 feature sets, protocol concurrency, and a rich and varied set of peripherals and features. In addition, it offers generous memory availability for both Flash and RAM. It is operated by a set of AT commands over the UART interface, which makes the BLE 8 click very easy to use. By integrating most of the critical components on the chip, the ANNA-B112 allows the module to overcome any imperfections of external discrete components, allowing signal transmission power of up to 5dBm, and -92 dBm

sensitivity for the receiver, using the on-chip antenna. The ANNA-B112 module is built around an ARM® Cortex™-M4 CPU with a floating point unit running at 64 MHz. It has NFC-A Tag for use in simplified pairing and payment solutions and numerous digital peripherals and interfaces, such as PDM and I2S, for digital microphones and audio. It is also fully multiprotocol capable with full protocol concurrency. It has protocol support for Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth mesh, ANT, and 2.4 GHz proprietary stacks. Besides the mikroBUS™ socket, BLE 8 click also features two optional 6-pin header mounts with marked pin labels. All of these pins can be externally connected and used for various purposes. SWDCLK and SWDIO pins are reserved for the SWD interface, which the ANNA-B112 series

modules use for flashing and debugging. The rest of the external pins, labeled as IO1-IO10, are general purpose IO type and can be programmed according to the users' needs. The onboard buttons T1 and T2 and the RGB, LED LD2 (labeled SYS) are also user programmable and can be used for various purposes for basic user interaction without any external components required besides the BLE 8 click. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used, as a reference, for further development.

BLE 8 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

EasyPIC v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports many high pin count 8-bit PIC microcontrollers from Microchip, regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, EasyPIC v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access anywhere and under any

circumstances at any time. Each part of the EasyPIC v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition to the advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module, which offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment, the board also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB DEVICE, and CAN are also included, including the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, two display options (graphical and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets. These sockets cover a wide range of 8-bit PIC MCUs, from the smallest PIC MCU devices with only eight up to forty pins. EasyPIC v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

EasyPIC v8 horizontal image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

64

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

28

RAM (Bytes)

3936

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Data Terminal Ready
RA3
AN
Reset
RA0
RST
UART CTS
RA5
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Data Set Ready
RC1
PWM
UART RTS
RB1
INT
UART TX
RC6
TX
UART RX
RC7
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
2

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

BLE 8 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyPIC v8 as your development board.

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly
Rotary B 2 Click front image hardware assembly
MCU DIP 28 hardware assembly
EasyPIC v8 28pin-DIP - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly
NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Necto DIP image step 7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Necto PreFlash Image hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for BLE 8 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • ble8_reset - This function allows user to reset a module

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * \file 
 * \brief Ble8 Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This example reads and processes data from BLE 8 Clicks.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initializes driver and wake-up module.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Reads the received data.
 * 
 * ## Additional Function
 * - ble8_process ( ) - Logs all received messages on UART, and sends the certain message back to the connected device.
 * 
 * *note:* 
 * <pre>
 * The all possible commands, module configuration and specification can be found in the 
 * related documents:
 *     [1] ANNA-B112 System Integration Manual, document number UBX-18009821 
 *     [2] u-blox Short Range AT Commands Manual, document number UBX-14044127 
 *     [3] ANNA-B112 Getting Started Guide, document number UBX-18020387 
 *     [4] ANNA-B112 Declaration of Conformity, document number UBX-18058993
 * </pre>
 * 
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "ble8.h"
#include "string.h"

#define PROCESS_COUNTER 5
#define PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE 100
#define PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE 100

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static ble8_t ble8;
static log_t logger;
static uint8_t data_mode = 0;

static char current_parser_buf[ PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE ];

// ------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS

static int8_t ble8_process ( void )
{
    int32_t rsp_size;
    uint16_t rsp_cnt = 0;
    
    char uart_rx_buffer[ PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE ] = { 0 };
    uint8_t check_buf_cnt;
    uint8_t process_cnt = PROCESS_COUNTER;
    
    // Clear current buffer
    memset( current_parser_buf, 0, PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE ); 
    
    while( process_cnt != 0 )
    {
        rsp_size = ble8_generic_read( &ble8, uart_rx_buffer, PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE );

        if ( rsp_size > 0 )
        {  
            // Validation of the received data
            for ( check_buf_cnt = 0; check_buf_cnt < rsp_size; check_buf_cnt++ )
            {
                if ( uart_rx_buffer[ check_buf_cnt ] == 0 ) 
                {
                    uart_rx_buffer[ check_buf_cnt ] = 13;
                }
            }
            // Storages data in current buffer
            rsp_cnt += rsp_size;
            if ( rsp_cnt < PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE )
            {
                strncat( current_parser_buf, uart_rx_buffer, rsp_size );
            }
            
            // Clear RX buffer
            memset( uart_rx_buffer, 0, PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE );
            
            if (strstr(current_parser_buf, "ERROR")) {
               return -1;
            }
               
            if (strstr(current_parser_buf, "OK")) {
               log_printf( &logger, "%s", current_parser_buf );
               Delay_100ms( );
               return 1;
            }
               
            if ( data_mode == 1) {
                log_printf( &logger, "%s", current_parser_buf );
                uart_write( &ble8.uart, "Hello", 5 );
                Delay_ms ( 1000 );
                Delay_ms ( 1000 );
                uart_write( &ble8.uart, "BLE8", 4 );
            }
        } 
        else 
        {
            process_cnt--;
            
            // Process delay 
            Delay_ms ( 100 );
        }
    }
    
    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    ble8_cfg_t cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );

    //  Click initialization.

    ble8_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    BLE8_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    ble8_init( &ble8, &cfg );

    ble8_reset( &ble8 );
    Delay_1sec( );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "Configuring the module...\n" );
    Delay_1sec( );
    
    ble8_set_dsr_pin( &ble8, 1 );
    Delay_ms ( 20 );

    do {
        ble8_set_echo_cmd( &ble8, 1 );
        Delay_100ms( );
    }
    while( ble8_process( ) != 1 );
    
    do {
        ble8_set_local_name_cmd( &ble8, "BLE 8 Click" );
        Delay_100ms( );
    }
    while( ble8_process( ) != 1 );
    
    do {
        ble8_connectability_en_cmd( &ble8, BLE8_GAP_CONNECTABLE_MODE );
        Delay_100ms( );
    }
    while( ble8_process( ) != 1 );
    
    do {
        ble8_discoverability_en_cmd( &ble8, BLE8_GAP_GENERAL_DISCOVERABLE_MODE );
        Delay_100ms( );
    }
    while( ble8_process( ) != 1 );
    
    do {
        ble8_enter_mode_cmd( &ble8, BLE8_DATA_MODE );
        Delay_100ms( );
    }
    while( ble8_process( ) != 1 );
    
    ble8_set_dsr_pin( &ble8, 0 );
    Delay_ms ( 20 );
    data_mode = 1;
    log_printf( &logger, "The module has been configured.\n" );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    ble8_process( );
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}


// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

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