SparkFun Partners with InPlay for Low-Power, Compact 2.4GHz NanoBeacon Dev Boards
New beacon boards include Bluetooth, Eddystone, and iBeacon modes, plus proprietary 2.4GHz operation.
SparkFun has announced the launch of two new NanoBeacon Boards, with which it aims to make deployment of low-energy 2.4GHz radio beacons as easy as possible, courtesy of a partnership with InPlay.
"[We] are happy to announce a new partnership with InPlay and with it our two newest IoT [Internet of Things] boards," says SparkFun's Chris McCarty of the company's two latest board designs. "Introducing the SparkFun NanoBeacon Boards! These two boards have been designed for easy development or production uses, each featuring the IN100 SoC [System on Chip]."
That InPlay IN100 IC is, at its heart, a radio module, but one designed specifically for low-power beacon use. It's not exclusively a Bluetooth radio, either: while it does, indeed, support operation as a Bluetooth beacon, it can also be used as a Google Eddystone beacon, an Apple iBeacon, or using a proprietary beacon mode.
"The InPlay NanoBeacon Config Tool allows for software-free programming of the IN100," McCarty adds. "This tool provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to select settings and configure the module removing any need to perform any tricky programming for advertising and pairing to send and receive data packets."
SparkFun has put the chip into two similar-but-distinct breakout boards. The SparkFun NanoBeacon Board includes pre-soldered 0.1" headers with four general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, two switch pins, and a 3.3V UART bus, plus a vertically-oriented Qwiic connector for external hardware, but lacks a power LED or reset button. The SparkFun NanoBeacon Lite Board, by contrast, comes with the 0.1" headers unpopulated but adds in the missing power LED and reset button. Both includes a CR1225 battery holder.
Whichever board you choose, it comes with a warning: once programmed, the device becomes locked. "When programming the IN100 with the InPlay NanoBeacon Config Tool," McCarty explains, "the 'Burn/Program' option uploads the settings and locks the module.
"Before selecting this option make sure everything is set up and working as you intend as you cannot undo this step and you may brick your IN100." A "Run in RAM" option allows for on-device testing of most functionality, except I2C operations on the Qwiic port.
The SparkFun NanoBeacon and NanoBeacon Lite boards are now available on the SparkFun store, priced at $5.95 each before volume discounts. More information on using the boards is available in the hookup guide.