ARM module with both BLE and wifi? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ared38
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 09:04:56 pm
content: Hello! I'm making my own connected light system and I want my device to connect both to the my phone using BLE and to a server over wifi so I can make a web interface.I've found several modules with ARM+Wifi (like the STM32 SPWF04SA) and others with ARM+BLE, but the only module with both wifi and BLE I've seen is the ESP32 which uses the Xtensa architecture. I'd prefer sticking to ARM as it looks useful in more applications.Are there any similar ARM based modules? The ideal module would be M3/M4 based and come FCC/CE/RCM certified.

author: krho
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 07:00:24 am
content: AFAIK you are out of luck.Also you can do only WiFi Stuff and web file serving on ESP32 as it has more Flash available and everything else on STM.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 08:36:45 am
content: RaspberryPi 3 - has both Wifi and BLE-capable Bluetooth.But otherwise concur with @krho - there isn't really much like that on the market. Most likely because Wifi & Bluetooth normally interfere with each other, so you can't just put the chips next to each other on the same board and be done with it. Some more complex logic/synchronization needs to be done. Chips able to do that are intended to work with a SoC, though, not a microcontroller.

author: JVR
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2017, 10:40:33 am
content: uBlox Odin modules can do both.Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

author: krho
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2017, 04:07:47 pm
content: But the pricing is ridiculous. 24.5€ @ 500 PCS. ESP32 module is around 6€ in single piece QTY and now that the 2nd revision of chip is available they should get cheaper.

author: frozenfrogz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2017, 04:17:03 pm
content: There is theRedBear Duo, but it is also pretty expensive.I do not own one, nor have I tested it.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2017, 09:03:22 am
content: a CC3220?ARM, BLE and Wifi. And sub-1 GHz.edit: ah no, it's either. Not both...

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 17, 2017, 08:18:31 pm
content: What application would benefit from direct phone BT connection instead of being accessed through the network? Direct BT is usually a pain more than anything else.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 07:48:01 am
content: Quote from: Kilrah on April 17, 2017, 08:18:31 pmLots, especially if you can keep the wifi off most of the time - battery life is much better with BT. It is also much easier to configure than configuring the network and discovering the device over wifi. Schemes like MDNS/Zeroconf/broadcasting work in theory, in practice we had all sorts of issues with them because of the wifi access point bugs and configuration issues.BT on mobile (Android) is pretty painless compared to Windows or even iOS.So if the OP is building some battery powered gizmo that uses a phone/tablet as an interface, Bluetooth could be a very logical choice.

author: jnz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 05:54:49 pm
content: I've never used the Tensillica chip in the ESP32... But honestly, given the price and support for those things, if I needed both I'd run one of those in a heartbeat.

author: FrankBuss
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 06:02:16 pm
content: Quote from: ared38 on April 14, 2017, 09:04:56 pmWhy does it need to be ARM? The ESP32 looks quite powerful with the dual core and 600 DMIPS. I ordered it from eBay, will try it soon.Should be no difference from a programmer point of view, you program both with the same C code. And you have to learn the IO registers, peripheral modules, and radio API for any chip, no matter if it is ARM or not.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 06:24:51 pm
content: I just received 2 of them ESP32 modules I'd thrown in an unrelated order, I agree there isn't really any valid reason why you'd want to absolutely stick to a particular architecture at this level.