Intermediate
20 min

Integrate dual-mode Bluetooth (BR/EDR and LE) wireless capabilities into your projects with BM78 and STM32F103RB

Fully certified 2.4GHz Bluetooth Classic (BR/EDR) and Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) wireless solution

BM78 Click with Nucleo 64 with STM32F103RB MCU

Published Oct 08, 2024

Click board™

BM78 Click

Dev Board

Nucleo 64 with STM32F103RB MCU

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

STM32F103RB

Enable dual-mode Bluetooth wireless connectivity for IoT, secure payment systems, home automation, and industrial applications

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

BM78 Click is based on the BM78, a fully certified 2.4GHz Bluetooth (BR/EDR/LE) wireless module from Microchip. It is designed to integrate dual-mode Bluetooth wireless capability into various projects easily. The BM78 is built around Microchip's IS1678 Bluetooth Dual mode SoC, specifically the ROM-based BM78SPPX5NC2 version. The module includes an on-board Bluetooth stack, power management subsystem, 2.4GHz transceiver, and RF power amplifier. It supports GAP, SDP, SPP, and GATT profiles, enabling data transfer through transparent UART mode for easy integration with any MCU with a UART interface. This makes it ideal for connecting products to smartphones or tablets for convenient data transfer, control, cloud application access, and local connectivity for IoT, secure payment systems, home automation, security, industrial applications, and data logging. BM78 Click provides flexibility with two operational modes: Auto-Pattern and Manual-Pattern. These modes use different state machines and can be selected by setting the appropriate value in the EEPROM memory. By

default, the BM78 module operates in Auto-Pattern mode. The board also includes a MODE SEL switch that allows users to set the module in one of two modes: application mode for normal operation or test mode to change EEPROM values. The module operates normally when all three switches are in the HIGH position. The module enters test mode if only the first switch (1) is in the LOW position. As mentioned, communication between the BM78 and the host MCU is made through a UART interface, standard UART RX and TX pins, and hardware flow control pins (CTS and RTS) for efficient data transfer. The BM78 Click also features a reset (RST) pin for hard resetting the module and two status indicators on the ST1 and ST2 pins. These pins provide various status indications to the host MCU, such as Power-On, deep state, access state, and link state indications, showing whether UART data is being transmitted or not. In addition, this board also includes a SW BT switch, which acts as a software power button, allowing the user to power the BM78 module ON (high) or switch it OFF (low) into Deep Sleep mode to reduce power

consumption. Also, the board features a WAKE button, which transitions the module from Sleep mode to Standby mode, a user-configurable red LED indicator labeled LD2, which indicates various statuses such as standby, link back, low battery, inquiry, or link, and two unpopulated 1x3 headers that provide access to several I/O pins of the BM78. These pins can perform multiple functions, including low battery indication, RSSI, link drop, UART RX, pairing key, and inquiry control, among others. This Click board™, and the module itself, can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. For this reason, in addition to being powered via a mikroBUS™ socket, users can also opt for external battery power, with power selection managed through the VCC SEL jumper. 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.

BM78 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Nucleo-64 with STM32F103RB MCU offers a cost-effective and adaptable platform for developers to explore new ideas and prototype their designs. This board harnesses the versatility of the STM32 microcontroller, enabling users to select the optimal balance of performance and power consumption for their projects. It accommodates the STM32 microcontroller in the LQFP64 package and includes essential components such as a user LED, which doubles as an ARDUINO® signal, alongside user and reset push-buttons, and a 32.768kHz crystal oscillator for precise timing operations. Designed with expansion and flexibility in mind, the Nucleo-64 board features an ARDUINO® Uno V3 expansion connector and ST morpho extension pin

headers, granting complete access to the STM32's I/Os for comprehensive project integration. Power supply options are adaptable, supporting ST-LINK USB VBUS or external power sources, ensuring adaptability in various development environments. The board also has an on-board ST-LINK debugger/programmer with USB re-enumeration capability, simplifying the programming and debugging process. Moreover, the board is designed to simplify advanced development with its external SMPS for efficient Vcore logic supply, support for USB Device full speed or USB SNK/UFP full speed, and built-in cryptographic features, enhancing both the power efficiency and security of projects. Additional connectivity is

provided through dedicated connectors for external SMPS experimentation, a USB connector for the ST-LINK, and a MIPI® debug connector, expanding the possibilities for hardware interfacing and experimentation. Developers will find extensive support through comprehensive free software libraries and examples, courtesy of the STM32Cube MCU Package. This, combined with compatibility with a wide array of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), including IAR Embedded Workbench®, MDK-ARM, and STM32CubeIDE, ensures a smooth and efficient development experience, allowing users to fully leverage the capabilities of the Nucleo-64 board in their projects.

Nucleo 64 with STM32F103RB MCU double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M3

MCU Memory (KB)

128

Silicon Vendor

STMicroelectronics

Pin count

64

RAM (Bytes)

20480

You complete me!

Accessories

Click Shield for Nucleo-64 comes equipped with two proprietary mikroBUS™ sockets, allowing all the Click board™ devices to be interfaced with the STM32 Nucleo-64 board with no effort. This way, Mikroe allows its users to add any functionality from our ever-growing range of Click boards™, such as WiFi, GSM, GPS, Bluetooth, ZigBee, environmental sensors, LEDs, speech recognition, motor control, movement sensors, and many more. More than 1537 Click boards™, which can be stacked and integrated, are at your disposal. The STM32 Nucleo-64 boards are based on the microcontrollers in 64-pin packages, a 32-bit MCU with an ARM Cortex M4 processor operating at 84MHz, 512Kb Flash, and 96KB SRAM, divided into two regions where the top section represents the ST-Link/V2 debugger and programmer while the bottom section of the board is an actual development board. These boards are controlled and powered conveniently through a USB connection to program and efficiently debug the Nucleo-64 board out of the box, with an additional USB cable connected to the USB mini port on the board. Most of the STM32 microcontroller pins are brought to the IO pins on the left and right edge of the board, which are then connected to two existing mikroBUS™ sockets. This Click Shield also has several switches that perform functions such as selecting the logic levels of analog signals on mikroBUS™ sockets and selecting logic voltage levels of the mikroBUS™ sockets themselves. Besides, the user is offered the possibility of using any Click board™ with the help of existing bidirectional level-shifting voltage translators, regardless of whether the Click board™ operates at a 3.3V or 5V logic voltage level. Once you connect the STM32 Nucleo-64 board with our Click Shield for Nucleo-64, you can access hundreds of Click boards™, working with 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels.

Click Shield for Nucleo-64 accessories 1 image

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Module Status Indicator 1
PC0
AN
Module Reset / ID SEL
PC12
RST
UART CTS / ID COMM
PB12
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Module Status Indicator 2
PC8
PWM
UART RTS
PC14
INT
UART TX
PA2
TX
UART RX
PA3
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

BM78 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Click Shield for Nucleo-64 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Nucleo 64 with STM32F103RB MCU as your development board.

Click Shield for Nucleo-64 front image hardware assembly
Nucleo 64 with STM32F401RE MCU front image hardware assembly
EEPROM 13 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
Nucleo-64 with STM32XXX MCU MB 1 Mini B Conn - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Clicker 4 for STM32F4 HA MCU Step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output via Debug Mode

1. Once the code example is loaded, pressing the "DEBUG" button initiates the build process, programs it on the created setup, and enters Debug mode.

2. After the programming is completed, a header with buttons for various actions within the IDE becomes visible. Clicking the green "PLAY" button starts reading the results achieved with the Click board™. The achieved results are displayed in the Application Output tab.

DEBUG_Application_Output

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for BM78 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • bm78_eeprom_send_cmd - This function is used to send specific EEPROM command by using UART serial interface.

  • bm78_eeprom_write - This function is used to write data into the EEPROM location specified by the address parameter.

  • bm78_flash_eeprom - This function is used write default configuration into the EEPROM.

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief BM78 Click Example.
 *
 * # Description
 * This example demonstrates the use of BM78 click board by processing
 * the incoming data and displaying them on the USB UART.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initializes the driver and performs the click default configuration by writing it into the EEPROM.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * Reads and processes all incoming data from the Serial Bluetooth Terminal smartphone application and displays them on the USB UART.
 *
 * ## Additional Function
 * - static void bm78_clear_app_buf ( void )
 * - static void bm78_log_app_buf ( void )
 * - static err_t bm78_process ( bm78_t *ctx )                  
 *
 * @note
 * We have used the Serial Bluetooth Terminal smartphone application for the test. 
 * A smartphone and the click board must be paired in order to exchange messages with each other.
 *
 * @author Stefan Ilic
 *
 */     
            
#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"            
#include "bm78.h"

// Application buffer size
#define APP_BUFFER_SIZE             500
#define PROCESS_BUFFER_SIZE         200

static bm78_t bm78;
static log_t logger;

static uint8_t app_buf[ APP_BUFFER_SIZE ] = { 0 };
static int32_t app_buf_len = 0;

/**
 * @brief BM78 clearing application buffer.
 * @details This function clears memory of application buffer and reset its length.
 * @note None.
 */
static void bm78_clear_app_buf ( void );

/**
 * @brief BM78 log application buffer.
 * @details This function logs data from application buffer to USB UART.
 * @note None.
 */
static void bm78_log_app_buf ( void );

/**
 * @brief BM78 data reading function.
 * @details This function reads data from device and concatenates data to application buffer. 
 * @param[in] ctx : Click context object.
 * See #bm78_t object definition for detailed explanation.
 * @return @li @c  0 - Read some data.
 *         @li @c -1 - Nothing is read.
 * See #err_t definition for detailed explanation.
 * @note None.
 */
static err_t bm78_process ( bm78_t *ctx );

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    bm78_cfg_t bm78_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * 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.
    bm78_cfg_setup( &bm78_cfg );
    BM78_MAP_MIKROBUS( bm78_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( UART_ERROR == bm78_init( &bm78, &bm78_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    uint8_t tmp_data[ 16 ];
    bm78_generic_read( &bm78, &tmp_data, 1 );  
    Delay_ms ( 100 );

    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " Place Click into Write EEPROM mode \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " By setting MODE SEL in the following configuration \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "         | 1 | 2 | 3 |             \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "         | H | L | L |             \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " Send YES once you placed Click into Write EEPROM mode \r\n" );
    #define WANTED_ANSWER "YES/r/n"
    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    while ( 1 )
    {
        log_read( &logger, &tmp_data, 5 );
        
        if ( 0 == strstr ( WANTED_ANSWER, tmp_data ) )
        {
            break;
        }
        else
        {
            log_printf( &logger, " Send YES once you placed Click into Write EEPROM mode \r\n" );
        }
    }
    bm78_hw_reset( &bm78 );
    log_printf( &logger, " Writing into the EEPROM \r\n" );
    if ( BM78_ERROR == bm78_flash_eeprom ( &bm78 ) )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " EEPROM Flash failed. " );
        log_printf( &logger, " Check Selected Click mode. \r\n" );
        for ( ; ; );
    }

    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " Place Click into Application mode \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " By setting MODE SEL in the following configuration \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "         | 1 | 2 | 3 |             \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, "         | L | L | L |             \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " Send YES once you placed Click into Application mode \r\n" );
    log_printf( &logger, " = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = \r\n" );
    while ( 1 )
    {
        log_read( &logger, &tmp_data, 5 );
        
        if ( 0 == strstr ( WANTED_ANSWER, tmp_data ) )
        {
            break;
        }
        else
        {
            log_printf( &logger, " Send YES once you placed Click into Application mode \r\n" );
        }
    }
    bm78_hw_reset( &bm78 );

    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
    log_printf( &logger, " Connect to the device using the Serial Bluetooth Terminal App \r\n\r\n" );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    if ( BM78_OK == bm78_process( &bm78 ) ) 
    {
        bm78_log_app_buf( );
        bm78_clear_app_buf( );
    }
}

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;
}

static void bm78_clear_app_buf ( void ) 
{
    memset( app_buf, 0, app_buf_len );
    app_buf_len = 0;
}

static void bm78_log_app_buf ( void )
{
    for ( int32_t buf_cnt = 0; buf_cnt < app_buf_len; buf_cnt++ )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, "%c", app_buf[ buf_cnt ] );
    }
}

static err_t bm78_process ( bm78_t *ctx ) 
{
    uint8_t rx_buf[ PROCESS_BUFFER_SIZE ] = { 0 };
    int32_t overflow_bytes = 0;
    int32_t rx_cnt = 0;
    int32_t rx_size = bm78_generic_read( ctx, rx_buf, PROCESS_BUFFER_SIZE );
    if ( ( rx_size > 0 ) && ( rx_size <= APP_BUFFER_SIZE ) ) 
    {
        if ( ( app_buf_len + rx_size ) > APP_BUFFER_SIZE ) 
        {
            overflow_bytes = ( app_buf_len + rx_size ) - APP_BUFFER_SIZE;
            app_buf_len = APP_BUFFER_SIZE - rx_size;
            memmove ( app_buf, &app_buf[ overflow_bytes ], app_buf_len );
            memset ( &app_buf[ app_buf_len ], 0, overflow_bytes );
        }
        for ( rx_cnt = 0; rx_cnt < rx_size; rx_cnt++ ) 
        {
            if ( rx_buf[ rx_cnt ] ) 
            {
                app_buf[ app_buf_len++ ] = rx_buf[ rx_cnt ];
            }
        }
        return BM78_OK;
    }
    return BM78_ERROR;
}

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

Additional Support

Resources

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