Discover New Applications For Low-Cost Solutions Discover ... - Xilinx
Discover New Applications For Low-Cost Solutions Discover ... - Xilinx
Discover New Applications For Low-Cost Solutions Discover ... - Xilinx
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y Jim Beneke<br />
Director of Technical Marketing<br />
Memec<br />
jim_beneke@mei.memec.com<br />
Dennis Schlaht<br />
Director of Technical Marketing<br />
Insight Memec<br />
dennis_schlaht@ins.memec.com<br />
After several false starts, Bluetooth shorthaul<br />
wireless connectivity technology<br />
for embedded systems finally seems ready<br />
for prime time. Bluetooth technology is<br />
just now beginning to gain momentum,<br />
and we expect it to grow significantly in the<br />
coming years.<br />
<strong>For</strong> that reason, Insight Memec and<br />
Memec Design have developed an<br />
Embedded Bluetooth Development Kit featuring<br />
a <strong>Xilinx</strong> Spartan-IIE FPGA coupled<br />
with a <strong>Xilinx</strong> MicroBlaze<br />
soft-processor core.<br />
Bluetooth Basics<br />
Bluetooth technology is a frequency hopping<br />
spread spectrum (FHSS) system that<br />
operates in radio frequencies in the 2.4 GHz<br />
to 2.5 GHz ISM band, and it has a maximum<br />
data throughput of 723.2 Kbps.<br />
As with most standards, interoperability<br />
is key to success. The Bluetooth Special<br />
Interest Group’s goals include maintaining<br />
an open specification, delivering voice and<br />
data capability, and providing worldwide<br />
usability for short-range wireless solutions.<br />
The specification defines the protocols and<br />
profiles used by Bluetooth-certified products.<br />
Usage models define the real-world applications,<br />
and these usage models result in profiles<br />
as defined in the Bluetooth specification.<br />
Profiles are basically instructions for<br />
implementing usage models. The profiles<br />
assure interoperability by providing a welldefined<br />
set of higher layer procedures and<br />
uniform ways of using the lower layers of<br />
the Bluetooth protocol. The serial port profile<br />
(SPP), for example, provides basic RS-<br />
232 serial cable emulation for Bluetooth<br />
devices. Legacy applications do not have to<br />
be modified to use Bluetooth technology;<br />
they can simply treat a Bluetooth link as a<br />
serial cable connection.<br />
RF<br />
Radio<br />
Baseband<br />
Processor<br />
Bluetooth Transceiver<br />
Adding Bluetooth capability requires<br />
the key elements shown in Figure 1. The<br />
RF radio and the baseband processor are<br />
typically available as an integrated<br />
Bluetooth transceiver solution.<br />
The transceiver chip provides a serial<br />
interface to the host processor via USB or<br />
UART ports. The host processor typically<br />
executes the upper protocol-specific functions<br />
defined by the Bluetooth standard.<br />
These protocol functions are known as<br />
the Bluetooth protocol stack and can be<br />
licensed in processor-specific binary or<br />
independent source code formats from<br />
stack providers, such as Stonestreet One.<br />
Integrated <strong>Solutions</strong><br />
In a Windows or PocketPC-based environment,<br />
a Pentium or ARM processor<br />
actually executes the upper stack functions,<br />
which are usually included as part of some<br />
Bluetooth software applications.<br />
In an embedded application, the<br />
Bluetooth upper stack and host processor<br />
function must be accounted for in some<br />
other way, typically with an embedded core.<br />
The host processor performance<br />
requirements for supporting the<br />
Bluetooth protocol are minimal, usually<br />
less than 1 MIPS. Thus, it is very easy to<br />
add Bluetooth support to an embedded<br />
application if the host<br />
processor has processing<br />
bandwidth and a Bluetooth<br />
stack is available for the targeted<br />
processor.<br />
The 150 D-MIPS performance<br />
of the MicroBlaze<br />
soft-processor core means<br />
the additional 1 MIPS of processing<br />
overhead can often be accommodated<br />
with relative ease.<br />
The availability of the Bluetooth protocol<br />
stack presents a bigger obstacle, because<br />
the stack must be ported to the targeted<br />
embedded processor. However, with the<br />
introduction of the Memec Design<br />
Embedded Bluetooth Development Kit,<br />
this issue has been addressed for any<br />
MicroBlaze-based system.<br />
Host<br />
Processor<br />
Figure 1 – Key elements of a typical Bluetooth application<br />
Windows PC<br />
HyperTerminal<br />
Optional<br />
RS-232<br />
P160<br />
Bluetooth<br />
Module<br />
Spartan-IIE<br />
Board with<br />
MicroBlaze<br />
Figure 2 – Bluetooth Development Kit with wireless link<br />
The Embedded Bluetooth Kit<br />
The Memec Design kit provides all the<br />
necessary components to build and test a<br />
Bluetooth system:<br />
• An evaluation version of the Bluetooth<br />
stack ported to the MicroBlaze core<br />
• A Spartan-IIE development board<br />
• Two P160 Bluetooth modules<br />
• An evaluation version of the<br />
BTExplorer Windows application<br />
• <strong>Xilinx</strong> EDK software<br />
• Cables<br />
• Power supplies<br />
• Documentation.<br />
Figure 2 shows a typical setup of the<br />
Bluetooth kit.<br />
P160<br />
Bluetooth<br />
Module<br />
Fall 2003 Xcell Journal 65<br />
USB<br />
or<br />
RS-232<br />
Windows PC<br />
BTExplorer
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