Bluefruit LE UART Friend

A BLE bluetooth 4.0 interface available via UART

Would you like to have a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface for your robotic, artistic or electronic project? 
You fall right, BLE also includes a modem interface for smartphone and tablet, allowing the creation of a wireless serial interface via Bluetooth... a really cool option for Makers. 

Adafruit offers us the "Bluefruit LE UART Friend" (this product) that will easily add Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity to your existing projects. All you need, is a serial port (hardware or software). 
This board even has a hardware flow control, so you don't need to worry about potential data loss. Connect it to your Arduino, another micro-controller or even a standard FTDI cable for debugging and testing. 

This multi-function module can do a lot of things! Most users will be satisfied with the standard Nordic RX/TX UART connection profile. In this profile, the Bluefruit acts as a data pipe capable of transmitting "transparently" data to and from your iOS or Android peripheral. You can use the Adafruit iOS App or the Adafruit Android App, or write your own App to communicate with the UART service.

Is this a Wireless Serial adapter?

The board is able to go well beyond sending data by the air! Thanks to AT control set easy to learn, you can control how it works. This includes the ability to define and manipulate your own GATT service and its characteristics (governs the organization and exchange of data between peripherals). You can also change the way the peripheral announces itself to other Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral. You can also use AT control to get the temperature of the BLE component, check the battery voltage and more like checking the RSSI connection or MAC address and tons of other things (way too much to list!)

Download the Android/iOS app and get ready!

Using Adafruit's Bluefruit application for iOS or Android, you can quickly prototype your project to use your iOS and/or Android phone/tablet as a controller. You have a color picker, quaternion/accelerometer/gyro/magnetometer or rental (GPS), and an 8-button game controller. 

But you can do so much more!

• The Bluefruit can also act as a HID peripheral (keyboard) (for peripherals/devices supporting BLE HID)
• Becoming a BLE Heart Rate Monitor (a standard BLE profile) - you will just need to add pulsation detection electronics.
• Turn it into UriBeacon, The Google standard for Bluetooth LE beacons. Power it and your "BLE Friend" will emit a URL to all surrounding peripherals that have the UriBeacon application.
• Has an over-the-air bootloading feature so that Adafruit can offer updates with the latest firmware. Use any Android or iOS device to get and install updates!

Why use the Adafruit module?

There are many BLE modules all with a very variable hardware design quality. Why should we choose this model? 

One of the biggest benefits of Adafruit's Bluefruit LE family is that Adafruit has written the firmware on the peripheral (from Scratch!). Adafruit thus has the control of each line of code executed on the module... and is thus not at the mercy of the good will of a third party (more or less interested to maintain its own code or not taking into account the needs of its customers). 

Since Adafruit controls everything about this product, Adafruit has the ability to add important features to its customers, can solve problems (without the need for a third party), and can even completely replace the Bluetooth SoC if it becomes necessary! 

Technical details

• Heart ARM Cortex M0 cadenced at 16MHz
• 256KB of Flash memory
• 32KB SRAM
• Interface: 9600 baud UART (serial) with hardware flow control (requires CTS+RTS)
• Tolerant 5V input (Suitable for Arduino Uno, etc.)
• 3.3V Voltage regulator built into the board
• Boot-loader with support for OnTheAir update (via Bluetooth)
• AT control set easy to handle. For an easy and quick start.
• Dimensions: 21mm x 32mm x 5mm
• Weight: 3.4g
• Raytac Corporation Bluetooth module
• FCC ID: SH6MDBT40 (fccid.io)