X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1: BLE expansion board

Overview

The X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 is a Bluetooth Low Energy evaluation board based on the SPBTLE-RF BlueNRG-MS RF module to allow expansion of the STM32 Nucleo boards. The SPBTLE-RF module is FCC (FCC ID: S9NSPBTLERF) and IC certified (IC: 8976C-SPBTLERF).

The X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 is compatible with the ST Morpho and Arduino UNO R3 connector layout (the user can mount the ST Morpho connectors, if required). The X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 interfaces with the host microcontroller via the SPI pin, and the user can change the default SPI clock, the SPI chip select and SPI IRQ by changing one resistor on the evaluation board.

IMPORTANT NOTICE : This shield is not compatible out of the box with Arduino UNO R3 connectors. Adaptation is required on most boards for compatibility. Please refer to “Hardware configuration” section.

X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1

More information about the board can be found at the X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 website 1.

Hardware configuration

Out of the box, X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 shield expect SPI SCK to be available on pin D3 instead of usual Arduino UNO R3 SPI SCK D13. Adaptation should be done on shield or board configuration to restore compatibility. Shield configuration could be modified by moving resistors as follows:

  • SPI SCK: to use D13 instead of D3, remove R4 and add R6

Additionally, depending on your host board, some modifications of the BLE expansion board could be made:

  • CS: To use D10 instead of A1, remove R2 and add R7

  • IRQ: To use D9 instead of A0, remove R1 and add R8

You could check Figure 3 in X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 databrief 2 for more details.

The stm32mp157c_dk2 board is known to need this IRQ pin modification.

Hardware

X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 provides a SPBTLE-RF chip with the following key features:

  • Bluetooth Low Energy FCC and IC certified module based on Bluetooth ® SMART 4.1 network processor BlueNRG-MS

  • Integrated Balun (BALF-NRG-01D3)

  • Chip antenna

More information about X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 can be found here:

Programming

You can use the X-NUCLEO-IDB05A1 as a Bluetooth Low-Energy controller shield with an SPI host controller interface (HCI-SPI). Activate the presence of the shield for the project build by adding the -DSHIELD arg to the build command:

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b your_board_name your_app -- -DSHIELD=x_nucleo_idb05a1

Alternatively, set use of this shield in the project’s CMakeLists.txt file:

set(SHIELD x_nucleo_idb05a1)