design range of Beacon applications. These may either use Apple’s iBeacon standard or be based on a proprietary specification based on Bluetooth Smart. The kit contains a beacon which, with a diameter of 20mm, is hardly bigger than the CR1632 button cell battery attached to its rear, supplying the beacon with power for months on end. The nRF Beacon App is available for free download in the Google Play Store on Android, while the app for Apple devices is available for manual download on the Nordic Website. The beacon is then immediately ready for operation; the preinstalled setup is an art gallery scenario. Developers can modify this quickly and easily to make the smartphone display, for example, the operating instructions for a machine instead of details on celebrated paintings. The firmware is available from Nordic in source code form, which makes it possible to construct sample scenarios so that product ideas can be tested. The over- the-air device firmware upgrade service (OTA-DFU) for the nRF51822 allows for updates to the beacon firmware even while in the field. The new version 7.0 of the S110 SoftDevice also enables OTA to make flexible firmware upgrades, something that is not possible on the alternative, Industrial Electronics static ROM/OTP-based ULP wireless SoCs. So upgrades to stacks and application firmware for the nRF51822 and nRF51422 SoCs can be carried out quickly and easily via the device’s own wireless connection. The OTA- DFU function enables full upgrades to applications as well as protocol stacks and is not restricted to partial upgrades and troubleshooting. To determine distance, Nordic’s beacon technology uses the S110 SoftDevice Proximity Service by Nordic. This uses the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) values of the nRF51822 transceiver. The RSSI level differs according to the model of smartphone, but despite this the Smart Beacon kit’s tuning function ensures even performance. The beacon also promises low production costs, low energy consumption and a transmission range of several meters. The wide distribution of Bluetooth Low Energy means that it could be used increasingly in many different areas. t electronicspecifier.com 21