RoadTest: Taiyo Yuden Bluetooth® LE EVK
Author: gustavovelascoh
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Nordic dev kits (boards and dongle), LAPIS Technology’s MK71521, Insight ISP3010
What were the biggest problems encountered?: Did not find any.
Detailed Review:
I would like to thank Element14 and Taiyo Yuden for letting me participate in this Roadtest, and also special thanks to Randall Scaszny, manager of the RoadTest program for his hard work.
For this Roadtest, I decided to evaluate the provided documentation but with the latest versions of the software tools (Segger Studio and Nordic SDK). I followed it step by step identifying some items where it should be updated to match the actual process. However, the documentation was very complete, comfortable to follow through and it was easy to complete even with the spotted differences. I will present a brief overview of the product, then will describe the first steps and finally, will show how to start using the EKSNSNZWW in an additional example.
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Taiyo Yuden’s Bluetooth product range is divided into three categories: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) basic modules, BLE Application Embedded Module and BLE Evaluation tools/Development Kits [1]. These modules are based on Nordic Semiconductors devices nRF51 and nRF52, the basic version is intended to be used with Nordic’s Software (SoftDevices and SDK) and the Application Embedded version includes embedded software provided by Taiyo Yuden.
The selected product for the Roadtest was the development kit EKSNSNZWW [2], but at first, this name did not make any sense, and every time I had to go through the website and documentation to know what it was. So below I explain the naming convention of Taiyo Yuden product range based on this document [3]:
E[1][2][3][4]N[5]W[6]
or
E[Y,B,K][S,A][G,L,N,H,K,P][DBCSJ]N[U,A,Z]W[B,Z,W,Y,X][-WX,-VX]
Y=Module, B=Eval Board, K=Eval Kit
S=Bluetooth, A=Bluetooth + Ant (nRF51422)
G=nRF51x22, L=nRF52810, N=nRF52811, H=nRF52832, K=nRF52840, P=nRF52833
D=9.6x12.9x1.3
B=10.0x15.4x2.0
S=3.25x8.55x0.85(1.00)
C=9.6x12.9x2.0
J=5.1x11.3x1.3
Z= Basic Module
A= UART
U= USB, SPI, ADC, UART
B=256, A=128, Z=64, Y=32, W=24, X=16
If you are not familiar with Nordic devices, fined below a brief comparison table. For more detailed information visit [4]:
The unboxing pictures for the EKSNSNZWW Evaluation Kit are presented below. The box contains:
The “How-to” guide provides information on how to access documentation from the website and also includes a password for accessing a confidential “Quick Start Guide”. For doing so, you need to register for an account and then you will be able to download it.
{gallery} Taiyo Yuden EK unboxing |
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As mentioned before, the quick start guide provided is confidential and password-protected, therefore I will limit this part of the Roadtest to an overall description of its contents.
This Quick Start Guide is compatible with modules EYSNSNZWW (The one we are Roadtesting) and the EYSNCNZWW. It is divided into 4 sections: an introduction of the requirements and software to be used, the preparation steps for Segger Embedded Studio (SES), the setup of a project from Nordic’s SDK and finally the usage of the NFR Toolbox UART application.
The total time I needed to complete this Quick Start Guide was less than 2 hours without taking into account the downloading time for the software tools. However, I had worked before with Nordic devices under Eclipse and command-line environment, but not with SES. So I was quite familiar with the tool.
The guide is written to be used with SES version 4.52a and Nordic SDK version 16, but for this Roadtest, I wanted to test it with updated versions and identify differences in the process. The versions I used were SES version 5.10a and Nordic SDK version 17.0. Now I will briefly list the steps provided highlighting the differences.
{gallery} UART over Bluetooth |
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Terminal window on the PC (minicom) |
Screenshot from nRF Toolbox UART app |
The Taiyo Yuden EYSNSNZWW is a good option for adding Bluetooth capabilities to your design. This and the other modules in the family are a compact solution for enabling wireless communication capabilities, based on the quality and reliability of Taiyo Yuden products and Nordic Semiconductor ICs. They offer a good cost-area balance and there is a diverse range of features that can suit specific needs.
The next project I plan to use the EYSNSNZWW in is to monitor voltage and temperature from a device that should be installed outdoors and without direct access to it or its battery (Installed on a mast at 3 or more meters high and battery could be +20m away in a closed room), so this module will be the perfect fit as it is compact, low power and reliable.