This article shows you how to use Bluegiga's BLE Dongle BLED112 with NB1600.
Since BLED communicates with the NB1600 host system over Abstract Control Model (ACM), a Subclass Specification of PSTN Devices, in the USB Communications Device Class specification, we require the cdc_acm kernel driver installed and loaded. The cdc_acm driver is present in NRSW since version 3.8. You can check it like this:
~ $ ls /lib/modules/2.6.36/cdc-acm* /lib/modules/2.6.36/cdc-acm.ko ~ $ lsmod | grep cdc_acm cdc_acm 15221 0
If the kernel module is not loaded, we need to load it and check again.
~ $ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.36/cdc-acm.ko ~ $ lsmod | grep cdc_acm
After plugging in the BLE USB dongle you should see some sign of life in the kernel messages.
dmesg | grep acm cdc_acm 1-1.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm cdc_acm: v0.26:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
Executing usb-devices will also confirm that the USB device is present and the cdc_acm driver for the device is loaded
usb-devices B: 1-1.2 T: Bus=01 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=01 Cnt=02 Dev#= 6 Spd=12 MxCh= 0 D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=02(commc) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=32 #Cfgs= 1 P: Vendor=2458 ProdID=0001 Rev=00.01 S: Manufacturer=Bluegiga S: Product=Low Energy Dongle S: SerialNumber=1 C: #Ifs= 2 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=74mA I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=02(commc) Sub=02 Prot=01 Driver=cdc_acm I: If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=0a(data ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=cdc_acm
You should now see a serial device named ttyACM0
~ $ ls /dev/ttyACM* /dev/ttyACM0
You will now be able to talk with the dongle via this interface. The protocol to talk will be BGAPI For a simple scanning test, there is a python script available on https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jrowberg/bglib/master/Python/Examples/bled112_scanner.py
Since Python is not on the box by default, we need to install it, see here.
Let us run it and detect for example the TI CC2541 SensorTag.
~ $ curl -k https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jrowberg/bglib/master/Python/Examples/bled112_scanner.py -o bled112_scanner.py ~ $ chmod a+x bled112_scanner.py ~ $ ./bled112_scanner.py ================================================================ BLED112 Scanner for Python v2013-04-07 ================================================================ Serial port: /dev/ttyACM0 Baud rate: 115200 Scan interval: 200 (250.00 ms) Scan window: 200 (250.00 ms) Scan type: Passive UUID filters: None MAC filter(s): None RSSI filter: None Display fields: - Time - RSSI - Packet type - Sender MAC - Address type - Bond status - Payload data Friendly mode: Disabled ---------------------------------------------------------------- Starting scan for BLE advertisements... 1426759308.658 -50 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105 1426759308.765 -43 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105 1426759308.873 -47 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105 1426759308.981 -51 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105 1426759309.078 -44 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105 1426759309.186 -43 0 BC6A29AB6203 0 255 020105
A python package for communicating with BlueGiga modules through their proprietary API can be found on github.