Experiments with BlueTooth

For a work project, I have been experimenting with BlueTooth wireless transceivers. I purchased a few of the BlueSmirf devices from Sparkfun. Following some instructions on the web, we got the units programmed and communicating to each other as well as to a cell phone and a PC dongle. Very nice. They act like serial cable extension cords without the wire.

We ran a stress test and broadcast data as fast as we could and read it on the other end for accuracy. Not a single failure. I will be looking forward to using these in the future for home projects.

We did come across two issues. If the rise time of the power supply is too slow, the unit will hang. Without an external reset line, the unit becomes unresponsive. You need to consider either a fast rise time on power, tacking on a reset line to the RF module, or a FET to turn power on and off quickly.

The second issue was that although the RF module would establish a link with a micro sending it data, that data would not make it to the remote. Establishing the connection without the unit being hammered by data seems to work just fine. Small glitch that I can live with.

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