1.2. Features .............................................................................................................................................. ..........4
This document describes the hardware and software for the ISSC BM77EVB evaluation kit.
The BM77EVB allows the designer to evaluate and demonstrate the capabilities of the ISSC BM77 Dual Mode
Bluetooth RF Module. The evaluation board includes an integrated configuration and programming interface for
plug-and-play capability. It also includes on-board connection and data status LEDs enabling rapid prototyping and
fast time to market.
In addition to BM77EVB hardware, several software applications are provided to demonstrate Bluetooth data
connections to the onboard BM77 module. The demonstration software consists:
BM77EVB provides rapid prototyping and developing for Bluetooth data applications for Classic SPP or Bluetooth
Low Energy . It can be powered via USB host or external battery Li-Battery . The BM77EVB utilizes the BM77 module,
a fully certified Bluetooth 4.0 dual mode RF module supporting Bluetooth Classic SPP (Serial Port Profile) and
Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) – providing a Bluetooth serial data connections. The BM77EVB provides a USB
UART converter allowing flexible interface to host PC, a PC terminal utility and SmartPhone APPs to drive both
classic SPP and BTLE data connections.
The diagram below shows a simplified block diagram for the BM77EVB. For more detailed information please refer
to BM77EVB schematic in Appendix B, BM77EVB Schematic.
The following sections describe how to establish Bluetooth serial data connections using the BM77EVB. The
purpose of the exercise is to d emonstra te th e ba sic d at a cap ab ilities of the BM77EVB, an d interoperability w ith other
Bluetooth devices. Please note that in all these demonstrations, the BM77EVB is a Bluetooth slave waiting for a
connection initiated by the Bluetooth master device.
For this demonstration, the following hardware and software is required:
Required Hardware:
BM77EVB Evaluation Kit, p/n EV77SPPS3MC2A available on www.microchipdirect.com
Bluetooth enabled Smartphone or Tablet
o Android device runn ing Android 4.3 or later
o iOS: iPhone 4S or later, iPad3 or later, must support Bluetooth Low Energy
Windows Host PC with USB port
Required Software:
The software applications needed to demonstrate the BM77EVB is show below:
BT Chat Tool, “BT Chat v004.exe” available at www.microchip.com/BM77
Android Chat Too l, “BTChat_V1.0.3.apk” available www.microchip.com/BM77
iOS Terminal “BLETR”, available on Apple AppStore™
MCP2200 dri ver for Windows, available at www.microchip.com/MCP2200
4.1. Bluetooth SPP connection to Android Smartphone/Tablet
In this demonstration a Bluetooth (SPP) data connection will be established between the BT Chat Tool, across
BM77EVB to the Smartphone application. For the SPP demonstration an Android 4.3 or later smartphone or tablet is required.
As illustrated below, the host PC runs a BT Chat Tool application, which transfers serial data over a COM port (USB
virtual COM port) to BM77EVB, where it is transmitted over a Bluetooth connection to the remote Bluetooth host,
which is this example is a Smartphone application.
Step 1. Verify JP2 is configured for USB power.
Default is using USB as the main power supply.
Step 2. Verify SW1 switches are set to Application mode.
Make sure the SW1 is under the Application Mode. 1: OFF, 2: OFF, 3: OFF
Step 3. Verify SW5 button is in the ON (pushed down).
Step 4. Using the micro USB cable, connect the BM77EVB to host PC USB port to power up EVB.
The blue connection LED1 indicates connection state as follows:
Stand-by State- the LED1 of EVB will blink once at a time. (Blue)
Pairing, Connected State- the LED01 will blink twice at a time.
Step 5. Verify Virtual COM port is created
If a virtual COM is not observed in the Device Manag er port list, it may be necessary to install Microchip
MCP2200 driver. (Search Internet by typing keyword”
Microchi p MCP2200 Driver”)
Step 6. Run the BT Chat Tool.exe on your PC and make sure the COM Port is connected.
g. The Black text are sent from PC tool (Bluetooth EVB)
h. The Red texts are sent from smart phone
i. Click the check box ofBurst Sendwill be continuous to send text from this tool.
j. Repeat column means the how many times these texts will be resend.
Interval means the interval between two records.
k.
l. Clear button will clear up the texts on the screen.
Step 7. Install the Android BT Chat APP on the Android device.
The installation is performed by copying or downloading the “BTChat_V1.0.3.apk” file onto the Android device. The
APK file can be copied onto Android device by using an SD Card to transfer file, or plugging Android device into host
PC where Android device mounts as external USB drive (Android MTP is required on host). Once the APK file
copied onto Android device, follow the instructions below.
a. As shown below in left illustration, use and opening from file from Android File Manager “My Files” App. It
may be necessary to enable the “Unknown Sources” in Device Security settings.
b. After successful install, the BtChat APP is displayed in Application view
Open Settings/ Bluetooth page and ON the Turn On Bluetooth.
a.
b. Press Scan the button in step 2 to initiate the Bluetooth Device scan
c. Find the BM77EVB device named “Dual-SPP” and select it to start the pairing process.
d. Once paired, the Dual-SPP (BM77EVB) device will be listed in paired device list.
Step 10. Setting up Bluetooth SPP connection to the BM77EVB device
a. From BT Chat APP main window, pre ss the Android menu button to open BT Chat menu options. Select the
“Connect a device” button to open pai red device list .
b. Select the “Dual-SPP” device to open an SPP connection to BM77EVB.
c. After connection is established the status message is displayed in main window.
Step 11. Transferring data from BM77 to Android Device via Bluetooth SPP connection
Launch the Bluetooth Chat application on host PC tool and set the correct COM port corresponding to the
BM77EVB.
a. Enter text to send in BTChat Android APP
b. C lick “Send” to transmit text to BM77 connected to Bluetooth Chat on PC
c. Observe received text in red font color on Bluetooth Chat PC
d. Enter enter text to send in Bluetooth Chat PC
e. Click “Send” to t ransmit text to Android BTCha t Android APP
f. Observe received text in BTChat Android APP
4.2. Bluetooth Low Energy Data Connection to iOS Device
This demonstration show how serial data is transmitted from BM77EVB (via PC Chat) to an iOS devic e using
Bluetooth Low Energy connection. This demonstration uses ISSC BLETR APP to connection to the BM77EVB.
Bluetooth Low Energy is utilized since iOS devices do not support Bluetooth Classic SPP data connections. A key
feature of the BM77 is transparent serial data connection from BM77 UART to an iOS device.
a. Using an iPhone 4S or later, iPad3 or later device, download and install “ISSC BLETR” APP . As illustrated
below, the BLETR App is available on the AppStore.
b. Turn on the Bluetooth radio in iPhone, iPod or iPad Settings application.
c. Go to Settings/ General/ Bluetooth Page.
d. Turn ON the Bluetooth.
e. Launch the iSSC BLETR APP and it will scan th e Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral devices and list them. If
the device does not appear press the “Refresh” button to res tart the BTLE peripheral scan. Find the
Dual-SPP BTLE peripheral device. Select it to start a connection to the BM77EVB named Dual-SPP.
f. After a successful connection to BM77EVB, BLETR will display the device as connected as shown below.
To send data from BLETR iOS device to the BM77, select the input text box. The soft keyboard will be displayed as
shown below. Enter text in the input text box. Click “Send” button to transmit text to BM77.
After clicking “Send” the text is received via the BM77 UART and displayed in the BT CHAT text window.
In addition to Raw mode (ASCII) the Transparent data view als o has Timer and Echo features. The Timer feature
allows the BLETR to send a repeated test pattern to BT CHAT for test throughput and data transfer test.
An example of the “Timer” test feature is shown below.
BLETR configured to transmit a 100 test blocks of 20 characters, every 1000ms. BT CHAT tool receives the test
pattern data and di splays it in red text. The line break indicates a Bluetooth Low Energy packet break, meaning a
transmittted test block was fragmented into multiple BLE packets.
Clicking the “Start” button initiates the data transfer.
Another test feature similar to the Time r feature is the “TX File” tra nsfer. The “TX File” functions transfers files, which
as embedded in the BLETR APP, to the BM77. The steps to use this feature are as follows:
a. Click the “TX File” button to open a dialog with list of file sizes to transmit
b. Select the file size to send
c. Observe the file received on BT Chat.
The Echo feature is an optional function for the Transparent data view. When Echo is enabled, any data rece ived by
BLETR is echoed back to sender.
The example below show text sent from BTCHAT being echoed to BLETR when the Echo mode is enabled.
The Device Information view displays the characteristics associated with Device Information service. The Device
Information service is available to all Bluetooth 4.0 low energy host that access the BM77EVB. It exposes the
information identifying information about the BM77 peripheral device. These values can be programmed using a
configuration tool descr ibed in the application note.
The Proprietary view demonstrates the capability to change Bluetooth Low Energy connection parameters remotely
via BLETR application. These parameters only affect Bluetooth Low Energy connections.
1. Max Interval: time (ms) between communication interval between BM77 and Bluetooth LE Central device.
2. Connection Timeout: time (ms) between communication events before a connections considered lost
3. Latency: Number of connection events peripheral (BM77) is allowed to skip
4. Bluetooth LE Name used to advertise Peripheral name to scanning Central devices. Enter new name in text
1. Is the BM77 Module Data Sheet available?
Yes. Contact your Microchip representative to request additional information about the BM77 module.
2. When I connect the BM77EVB to the host PC the COM port does not appear?
Try resetting the MCP2200 by pressing SW4.
3. What is maximum supported baud rate of BM77 UART?
The maximum baud rate is 921600 with used with of 16MHz crystal.
4. How do you change Bluetooth parameters such name, Device Info, COD, rate, inqu iry and pa ge scan w indows?
The configuration settings are accessed using a “UI Tool” software utility. Contact your Microchip representative
to request additional configuration tools and documentation for BM77.
5. What is default security mode for SPP?
SSP/It Just Works
6. Is there an Android BTLE demonstration application?
At this time Android support for dual-mode Bluetooth devices, such as the BM77, is limited to Bluetooth classic
SPP data service.
7. Is the source code for iOS and Android APP available
Contact your Microchip representative to request the source code packages for the smartphone Apps.