Hardware Projects

New HDK arrived: Atmel D20 Xplained Pro

Hello everyone I has been a little quiet around here but this was not due to the fact that I’m no longer interested in what I did before, but just the lack of time. I read an article in elektor magazine issue 1/15 bout the ARM board from Atmel. The Atmel SAM D20 Xplained Pro and just ordered it from the elektor shop for just EUR26. I just arrived and I started to read the article in elektor to get an initial hands on.

BLEBee v2.0.0 prototype hardware and firmware finished. Works great !

Hello everyone, I was a little quiet lately. I was not sleeping but working on a few hardware designs and another iOS BLE application. After I created new versions of the BLE-Shield, the BLEBee is the another hardware that needs an update. The BLEBee v2.0.0 is now designed to use the BLE113-256k module which will enable OTA firmware updates without additional SPI flash. Moreover the power consumption will be slightly lower.

Presenting new Hardware on Maker Faire Rome 2014

Hello everyone, I’m happy to announce that I will present some new MiKro-Labs branded designs together with BlueKitchen (http://www.bluekitchen-gmbh.com) at Maker Faire Rome 2014. I partnered up with Matthias Ringwald, the author of BTstack <(http://www.btstack.org>) to create some BLE Shields which are running his Low Energy part of BTstack. I have not dropped support for Bluegiga based shields. They were not yet finished in time. There is a BLE-Shield v3.0.0 based on a BLE113 and a v3.

BLE Joystick powered by the BLEbee and some more parts...

Hello everyone, after creating the BLE-Shield and the BLEBee I decided to work a little more on gadgets. In this blogpost I will show you how to create a joystick kind of gadget that is connected to an iPhone running BLExplr over a BLE connection. In order to setup the BLE-Joystick you need the following parts: Arduino Leonardo (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardLeonardo) DFRobot Input Shield v2 (http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=35_124&product_id=62) Seeedstudio Solar Charger Shield v2 (http://www.

The final hardware DropBeacon is available on github

Hello everyone, after I promised it to a few guys, the DropBeacon is now available on github. I added more details to the DropBeacon page on this blog: http://www.mkroll.mobi/?page_id=1693 You can find the Schematic and Board files as well as the BGScript Project to compile the firmware using Bluegiga’s SDK v1.2.2 on github: https://github.com/michaelkroll/DropBeaconThanks, Michael.

The MiKro - An Arduino UNO form factor based board using the ATmega 1284p micro controller

Hello everyone, some people have noticed on twitter that I was trying to compile the optiboot boot loader for the ATmega 1284p for the 5V/16MHz configuration. I finally succeeded and created the MiKro board which is described in a little more detail on it’s dedicated project page: http://www.mkroll.mobi/?page_id=1696 Although the the MiKro is work in progress the schematic, board and board definition files for the Arduino v1.0.5 IDE are already available on github: https://github.

First look on BlueGiga's new DKBLE Development Kit

Hello BLE developers, today I received the new DKBLE Development Kit today and will give you a quick summary whats included and what I think is really cool in this version. The box is not very interesting, but as you can read on the sticker it is now the “DKBLE Development Kit” without additional module number. After opening the box, I was totally impressed. The contents of the box is listed below:

Hardware DropBeacon v1.0.0 finished.

Hello iBeacon enthusiasts, after some weeks of development, design adjustments, enclosure designs, firmware iterations and battery tests I finished v1.0.0 of my hardware DropBeacon. You might have read about the DropBeacon iOS app acting like a virtual DropBeacon but where is the real one? Here is version 1.0.0 of the DropBeacon: The DropBeacon uses a BLE112 module from Bluegiga. The DropBeacon is designed with an additional SPI flash to enable OTA upgrades of the DropBeacon’s firmware.

CC-Debugger TagConnect (TC2030) Adapter

Hello everyone, some people already asked my how to reflash the firmware of a BLEbee. Well in order to make the BLEbee as small as possible and not wasting a 2×5 header costing $1.50 each, I decided to use the TagConnect 2030 to flash the firmware of the BLEbee. The PCB of the adapter I created is available from OSHpark using the following link http://www.oshpark.com/shared_projects/Ff2LiKQA  Moreover the eagle design files can be downloaded from my Hardware Tools github repository: https://github.

Alpha Version of the BLE-Shields v2.0.0 ANCS firmware and Arduino Library available

Hello everyone, since I’m preparing for a two week dive vacation right now and I don’t wanted to keep the current status of the ANCS firmware development secret any longer, I pushed the current status of the code to my github repository: https://github.com/michaelkroll/BLE-Shield/tree/master/firmware the corresponding Arduino Library can be downloaded from this link: https://github.com/michaelkroll/BLE-Shield/tree/master/arduino/Libraries The firmware and library is a work in progress version which is derived from the example provided by John Gallagher: https://github.