Texas Instruments launches Bluetooth development kit
Texas Instruments announced a new Bluetooth wireless kit aimed at jumpstarting Bluetooth-enabled designs for consumer and industrial applications.
The solution combines TI’s CC2560 Bluetooth solution and Bluetooth stack within the company’s StellarisWare software — TI’s software suite that is designed to speed up the development of microcontroller applications.
Miguel Morales, worldwide marketing manager for TI’s StellarisWare, said that the Bluetooth wireless kit enables services such as streaming audio via smartphones and for industrial customers the opportunity to replace serial Y interfaces that traditionally are wired.
“Serial Y replacement will be of particular interest,” Morales said. One of the examples he cited is a data scanner in a factory remotely pulling data from network systems.
In addition, the kit is modular and can be combined with the same Stellaris DK-LM3S9B96 development kit that serves as a baseboard for other Stellaris wireless solutions. When coupled with the development board, the kit includes all hardware and software needed to jumpstart development. The Bluetooth protocol stack comes from Stonestreet One, which has licensed its Bluetopia protocol stack to TI.
The kit enables customers to have Bluetooth up and running in 10 minutes, according to Dana Myers, MCU platform marketing manager for TI’s Bluetooth, WLAN and GPS businesses.
“The goal is to use these new technologies without a lot of RF expertise,” Myers said “Bluetooth is offered through an FCC-certified module from Panasonic. … Companies just build the applications around it specifically to what they want, without having to hire someone.”
TI is better known for connectivity solutions as they relate to the smartphone, but the company has been branching out to bring its expertise in the mobile space into several different markets, including the industrial space, Myer said.
“We have a broad portfolio of technologies and we can pair them with other groups within TI,” Myers said.
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