Electronic – Bluetooth module (BLE112) USART: do I need to use its own microcontroller

bluetoothbluetooth low energymicrocontroller

I am looking into the this module.

All I need it for in my design is USART connection to my MCU (TX/RX connections). I don't care for the internal microcontroller (yet).

My question: if I connect, with my host MCU, TX <—> RX and vise versa, do I need to use the BLE112 internal microcontroller at all to initialize functionality, or can I just be up and running with my host MCU over USART?

Thanks.

Best Answer

If you look at the block diagram on page 20 of your linked datasheet, you'll see that all of the I/O, including the USARTs, go to the 8051 controller. The 8051, in turn, is the only path to the Bluetooth radio section.

Therefore, I'd say that the internal microcontroller is required for the module to function.

Related Topic