here’s how I reccomend to get started for this example:
#install required tools - make, arm-none-eabi-gcc, python
git clone --recursive https://github.com/sparkfun/AmbiqSuiteSDK
cd AmbiqSuiteSDK
cd boards_sfe/{board}/examples/ble_cordio_tag/gcc
make # build project
make bootload_asb # bootloads using the Ambiq Secure Bootloader - overwrites SparkFun Variable Loader
I sensed that BLE functionality was still a ways off, so I started a search for something else and came across the SparkFun Pro nRF52840 Mini - Bluetooth Development Board
(https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15025) I just received one today, so I haven’t spun it up, but can’t help but notice how similar it looks to the Artemis Nano which I’m working with. If you could guess, how far away are you from getting a similar level of functionality to something like this:
https://github.com/sparkfun/nRF52840_Br … Button.ino
Again, I am not well versed on the finer points of all this (github, SDK’s, make files, etc.) so maybe that’s the wrong question, but that’s where my head is at.
When you say that there no standardized serial connection profile, that confuses me (likely because I know so little about it!) I was the one who menitoned the BlueSmiRF, but maybe I underestimated the similarities between something like it and the Artemis. Can you shed some light on that?
Maybe the best way forward is for me to explain my application and you tell me how feasible it is right now and into the future:
I am building a product that will interface with hundreds of users/day with each interaction lasting a couple minutes. The user would approach it, connect to it with an app on their phone from a short distance away, the user’s unique identifier would be transmitted from the phone to the Artemis via an app and the device would “armed.” The Artemis would then deal with various other inputs, and then provide a result to the phone over BLE.
I can’t help but think this is realistic for the Artemis. The question is when will the “programmability” approach that of something like the SparkFun Pro nRF52840 Mini?
Thanks!
I’ve been researching Apollo3 and Artemis Module for about a week getting ready to prototype a BLE-based embedded device. Was really hoping to take advantage of Arduino here, but seems like that’s a bit off for this platform. Correct me if I’m wrong – it looks like there’s BLE support via HAL which I understand is accessible via Arduino Core for Apollo3. Can I just use the HAL APIs in my sketch to get BLE functionality?
I love sparkfun products, used some in commercial products. I want to replace my current BLE chip with Artemis but it seems Artemis is not ready for commercialization for the main point we need it for BLE.
My application does not need a lot of fancy BLE stuff but it does need a dependable platform.
Keep up the work, I look forward to using it.
I’ve also been using SparkFun components for quite awhile and I use them in a lot of our products. For the past 5 years I’ve been using the Red Bear Labs Blend and it has accomplished most of my needs, but now I am looking for a BLE 5.0 board set that can do simple I/O to an iPhone app or Android app. I was using the Red Bear Blend v2, a BLE 5.0 board, but they were quickly bought out by Particle and retired their boards.
Red Bear Blend had a great tutorial page and really walked the developer through how to program an iOS / Android app. The issue we eventually encountered is Red Bear Labs lack of FCC / CE certification. This is where I think SparkFun could really shine. Artemis with BLE 5.0 and a tutorial on how to do I/O with Xcode (iOS) and Android would really be a great addition and we would use this platform for all of our IoT products.
I encourage you to continue development in this direction. It would be a great addition and fill a gap that is vague in developing IoT platforms.
Agree!!!
Hi all,
has there been any progress in the BLE connection for the Artemis redboard? I am trying to run the example code BLE_LED with the 1.0.2 version but the nRF app is not picking up anything.
Thank you so much for all the work that’s been devoted to this project, it would be super cool to see it developed!
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your insight!
I wanted to ask if anyone was able to use the preliminary BLE LED example linked below to enable your Artemis to send data via Bluetooth?
https://github.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Apo … 1_ble-beta
Thank you so much!
srossi3:
Hi all,has there been any progress in the BLE connection for the Artemis redboard? I am trying to run the example code BLE_LED with the 1.0.2 version but the nRF app is not picking up anything.
Thank you so much for all the work that’s been devoted to this project, it would be super cool to see it developed!
I actually a different app call LightBlue instead of nRF Connect to get the example code to interact with my Artemis Nano
Yeah, I agree with everyone that SFE’s advertising is a little misleading. Perhaps they could have waited until the BLE functionality was properly built for the Arduino core, or just worked on that first instead of being able to drive a bazillion servos like in one of the example sketches. It’s great to see the company launch such a promising new module, but I’m worried that it might fizzle out with lack of development like so many other “great ideas”. That being said, my understanding (even though I wasn’t around back then) was that it took a whole lot of work from the early Arduino community (and a lot of diving deeper into problems) to give it the name and platform it has now. I don’t think we can just expect new boards like the Artemis to be plug and play without some work. But, I hope Sparkfun lives up to all the hype they’re putting out in those ads! Maybe it could be like the ESP8266 of BLE 
Paulito240:
This is where I think SparkFun could really shine. Artemis with BLE 5.0 and a tutorial on how to do I/O with Xcode (iOS) and Android would really be a great addition and we would use this platform for all of our IoT products.I encourage you to continue development in this direction. It would be a great addition and fill a gap that is vague in developing IoT platforms.
+1 SPE and is doing god’s work building packages and writing drivers for their solutions but getting this just a few inches further across the finish line would make this package so much easier to drop into other applications
I’m just starting work on a robotics project intended to use the RedBoard Artemis Nano with a Bluetooth control link to an Android app, probably written using the MIT AppInventor. The Bluetooth link is the only part of this that I’m not up to speed on. The intended control interface is a very simple bidirectional command/response set, with a pair of speed commands for wheel motors.
What’s the latest state of development of BT support for this board in the Arduino IDE, and its prospects for actually existing?
Am I better off giving up on the Arduino IDE for this task and using the Ambiq SDK instead?
I greatly appreciate all the obvious hard work that’s being put into supporting this chipset.
All of the AmbiqSuite SDK HAL (2.4.2) layer functionality is available directly through the Arduino IDE when compiling for Artemis / Apollo3.
Check out this topic for low-power info: viewtopic.php?f=169&t=50904
As an update about BLE - this continues to be our main focus. We are getting closer to using mbed to align with the ArduinoBLE api.
Thanks for the information. If I understand the situation correctly, all those Ambiq HAL functions are available out-of-the-box now that I’ve installed the Apollo3 Arduino core in my IDE. From there, I should be able to use the SDK HAL functions (including BLE support) from within the Arduino IDE. (Warnings about the complexity of dealing with Bluetooth comms are herewith taken on board.)
I think I’m going to implement the rest of my I/O functionality and get the core running before I try to add BLE comms. That should also give me a good sense of whether to use the Arduino IDE or jump straight to using the SDK in its native form. There’s nothing like a set of well-bruised knuckles to give one a sense of what wrench to reach for…
Wondering, if there is a working Arduino BLE example yet for the Artemis. Been holding off since October. I just checked the above posted links and did not see BLE yet under the Arduino section of github. Did I miss anything?
Thanks for asking! There is one example right now - look in Examples → Artemis Examples → Advanced → Example8_BLE_LED
We are working on enabling more BLE functionality and will notify everyone when it is ready
Hi. I am new to the Artemis and as many seemed to end up trying to get BLE working. I understand you guys are working hard on a unified library for the Arduino environment, thanks for that.
As you mentioned before, the HAL functions can be used in Arduino. Would it be possible to provide an example (Arduino sketch) of an Artemis periodically transmitting some simple data (for example sensor reading), maybe as a beacon? I have seen there are a number of examples in the SDK, but they seem overly complex and are intended for the official development boards.
Thanks again for your efforts.
Hi sebbad. Right now we do not have an example of that nature in the Arduino environment. There are, however, several places to look for guidance.
https://github.com/paulvha/apollo3/tree … tp_arduino
https://github.com/paulvha/apollo3
https://github.com/sparkfun/AmbiqSuiteS … b/examples
Some of those resources may require you to use Make and your own installation of the ARM cross compiler ([arm-none-eabi)
I can’t create an example like you are asking about for use in Arduino because it would delay the release of the general library (which would support the same thing) and the development efforts would be aimed in a very different direction.](Downloads | GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain Downloads – Arm Developer)
Hi liquid.soulder, just a follow-up on this topic. Are you close to release the Arduino lib for BLE on the Artemis? Do you have a timeline for it? I’m working on a project and really looking forward to having this available soon. Thank you.
We are close. We are building BLE support by supporting mbed-os. You can see our latest work on that here: https://github.com/sparkfun/mbed-os-amb … -apollo3-2
Shortly after that is complete we are planning to release a new version of the Arduino core that is based on mbed so you will have multi-threaded operation as well as BLE.