Description
The BLEPad is an Arduino compatible microcontroller development board based on the ATmega32U4 IC with Bluetooth 4.0. a.k.a. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), built in. You can choose board type LilyPad Arduino USB from Arduino IDE to start programming. It's the easiest way to get Bluetooth 4.0 in your project!
The BLEPad differs from previous LilyPad boards in that the ATmega32u4 has built-in USB communication, eliminating the need for a separate USB-to-serial adapter. This allows the BLEPad to appear to a connected computer as a mouse and keyboard, in addition to a virtual (CDC) serial / COM port. It also has other implications for the behavior of the board;
Getting Started
In the Getting Started section, you can find all the information you need to configure your board, use the Arduino Software (IDE), and start to tinker with coding and electronics.
Features
- Built-in ultra mini size DA14580 BLE module
- ATmega32U4 running at 3.3V/8MHz
- Supported Arduino IDE 1.6.x
- On-Board micro-USB connector for programming
- 4 x 10-bit ADC pins
- 9 x Digital I/Os (4 are PWM capable)
- Rx and Tx Hardware Serial Connections
- A JST connector for a 3.7V LiPo battery
- A reset button
- An external antenna pin for BLE module
- Application BLE sensor/iBeacon simulation
Specification
Microcontroller | |
Operating Voltage | 3.3V |
Input Voltage | 5V (USB) |
Clock Speed | 8MHz |
Connectivity | WIFI |
Flash Memory | 32KB (of which 4 KB used by bootloader) |
SRAM | 2.5k |
EEPROM | 1k |
Dimensions | 31mm x 31mm |
I/O Pins | 18 |
Communication
The BLEPad has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer, another Arduino, or other microcontrollers. The 32U4 also allows for serial (CDC) communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the computer. The chip also acts as a full speed USB 2.0 device, using standard USB COM drivers. On Windows, a .inf file is required>. The Arduino software includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent to and from the Arduino board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being transmitted via the USB connection to the computer.
A SoftwareSerial library allows serial communication on any of the BLEPad's digital pins. The BLEPad also supports I2C (TWI). The Arduino software includes a Wire Library to simplify use of the I2C bus. The BLEPad appears as a generic keyboard and mouse, and can be programmed to control these input devices using the Keyboard and Mouse classes.