Intermediate
30 min

Achieve fast data transfer with some Bluetooth magic thanks to the RN4678 and STM32F091RC

Break free from cables

RN4678 Click with Nucleo-64 with STM32F091RC MCU

Published Feb 26, 2024

Click board™

RN4678 Click

Dev Board

Nucleo-64 with STM32F091RC MCU

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

STM32F091RC

Explore how this wireless method serves as a convenient alternative to cables, empowering users with effortless data exchange and intuitive device management for enhanced connectivity and productivity

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

RN4678 Click is based on the RN4678, a Bluetooth® 4.2 dual-mode module from Microchip. This Click is designed to run on a 3.3V power supply. It communicates with the target microcontroller over I2C and UART interface, with additional functionality provided by the following pins on the mikroBUS™ line: AN, RST, CS, PWM, INT. The RN4678 from Microchip is a fully certified Bluetooth version 4.2 module. Use it to add Bluetooth wireless capability to your project.

The module includes an onboard Bluetooth stack, power management subsystem, 2.4 GHz transceiver, and RF power amplifier. Data transfer is achieved through Bluetooth by sending or receiving data through SPP in Bluetooth (BT) Classic mode and Transparent UART in BLE mode. The RN4678 contains an integral ceramic chip antenna. The RN4678 module has strong AES128 Encryption. 128-bit encryption is one of the most robust encryption algorithms. AES stands for

Advanced Encryption Standard, a symmetric encryption algorithm. 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.

RN4678 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Nucleo-64 with STM32F091RC 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 STM32F091RC MCU double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M0

MCU Memory (KB)

256

Silicon Vendor

STMicroelectronics

Pin count

64

RAM (Bytes)

32768

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

Software Button
PC0
AN
Module Reset
PC12
RST
UART RTS
PB12
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Sleep Wake
PC8
PWM
UART CTS
PC14
INT
UART TX
PA2
TX
UART RX
PA3
RX
I2C Clock
PB8
SCL
I2C Data
PB9
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

RN4678 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 STM32F091RC 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 RN4678 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • rn4678_enter_command_mode - Enter the command mode function

  • rn4678_exit_command_mode - Exit the command mode function

  • rn4678_set_device_name - Set the device name function

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 
 * \brief RN4678 Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This example reads and processes data from RN4678 clicks.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initializes the driver and configures the click board.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Checks for the received data, reads it and replies with a certain message.
 * 
 * ## Additional Function
 * - rn4678_process ( ) - Logs all the received messages/responses on the USB UART, 
 *                        and if it receives "Hello" string it sends the certain message 
 *                        back to the connected device.
 * 
 * @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 MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "rn4678.h"
#include "string.h"

#define PROCESS_COUNTER 20
#define PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE 100
#define PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE 100

#define PROCESS_RSP_ERROR  -1
#define PROCESS_RSP_OK     1
#define PROCESS_NO_RSP     0
#define PROCESS_LOG_RSP    0

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

static rn4678_t rn4678;
static log_t logger;

uint8_t DEVICE_NAME_DATA[ 20 ] = { 'R', 'N', '4', '6', '7', '8', ' ', 'c', 'l', 'i', 'c', 'k' };
uint8_t EXTENDED_STRING_DATA[ 10 ] = { 'S', 'l', 'a', 'v', 'e' };
uint8_t PIN_CODE_DATA[ 10 ] = { '1', '2', '3', '4' };
static char current_parser_buf[ PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE ];

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

static int8_t rn4678_process ( char * response )
{
    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;
    int8_t rsp_flag = 0;
    
    // Clear current buffer
    memset( current_parser_buf, 0, PROCESS_PARSER_BUFFER_SIZE ); 
    
    while( process_cnt != 0 )
    {
        rsp_size = rn4678_generic_read( &rn4678, 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, "ERR" ) ) {
                Delay_100ms( );
                rsp_flag = PROCESS_RSP_ERROR;
                break;
            }
            
            if ( PROCESS_LOG_RSP != response )
            {
                if ( strstr( current_parser_buf, response ) ) {
                    Delay_100ms( );
                    rsp_flag = PROCESS_RSP_OK;
                    break;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                rsp_flag = PROCESS_RSP_OK;
                process_cnt = 1;
            }
            
            if ( strstr( current_parser_buf, "Hello" ) ) {
                rn4678_generic_write( &rn4678, "MikroE\r\n", 8 );
                Delay_100ms( );
                break;
            }
        } 
        else 
        {
            process_cnt--;
            
            // Process delay 
            Delay_ms( 100 );
        }
    }
    
    if ( PROCESS_NO_RSP != rsp_flag )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, "%s", current_parser_buf );
        log_printf( &logger, "\r\n---------------------------\r\n" );
        return rsp_flag;
    }
    
    return PROCESS_NO_RSP;
}

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

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    rn4678_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.

    rn4678_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    RN4678_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    rn4678_init( &rn4678, &cfg );

    rn4678_enable ( &rn4678 );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    rn4678_hw_reset ( &rn4678 );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "Configuring the module...\n" );
    
    do
    {    
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Command mode --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_enter_command_mode( &rn4678 );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "CMD" ) != 1 );
    
    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Device name --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_set_device_name( &rn4678, &DEVICE_NAME_DATA[ 0 ] );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "AOK" ) != 1 );

    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Status string --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_set_extended_status_string( &rn4678, &EXTENDED_STRING_DATA[ 0 ] );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "AOK" ) != 1 );

    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Operating mode --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_set_operating_mode( &rn4678, 0 );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "AOK" ) != 1 );

    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Authentication --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_set_authentication( &rn4678, 1 );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "AOK" ) != 1 );

    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Pin code --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_set_security_pin_code( &rn4678, &PIN_CODE_DATA[ 0 ] );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "AOK" ) != 1 );

    do
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " --- Exit command mode --- \r\n" );
        rn4678_exit_command_mode( &rn4678 );
    }
    while( rn4678_process( "END" ) != 1 );
    
    log_printf( &logger, "The module has been configured.\n" );
    
    rn4678_set_cts_pin( &rn4678, 0 );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    rn4678_process( PROCESS_LOG_RSP );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}


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

Additional Support

Resources

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