Sentrius MG100 + BT510 Starter Kit

The BT510 sensor is configured using a smartphone via BLE out of the box. It is also possible for a developer to load their own C code onto the BT510 via a programming cable.

The BT510 board does not have an on-board J-Link debug IC as some nRF5x development boards, however, instructions from the Nordic nRF5x Segger J-Link; page also apply to this board, with the additional step of connecting an external debugger.

Laird Connectivity will provide the USB-SWD programming board that supports this connector layout, refer to the USB SWD Programmer product page

The Sentrius™ BT510 advertises events. An event can be a temperature measurement, an alarm ,a battery measurement, a button press, a door opening/closing, or movement. The configuration of a sensor determines what kind of events it generates.

Access to accelerometer values is not possible but it is possible to configure the accelerometer sensitivity. You can configure a sensor using a Bluetooth connection and the Laird virtual serial port (VSP) service. The protocol sent over the virtual serial port is JSON-RPC version 2. This allows you to add new commands and features without changing the Bluetooth interface. The BT510 accelerometer creates a movement event.
More details can be found in the BT510 user guide.

For analyzing overall performance patterns in your fleet, metrics can easily be collected using our Memfault integration with the Pinnacle 100 and Sentrius MG100. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever. 

• Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
• With additional integration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

The Sentrius™ BT510 sensors range is dependent on a number of factors some of which are under user control.
You can configure a sensor using a Bluetooth connection and the Laird virtual serial port(vSP) service. The protocol sent over the virtual serial port is JSON-RPC version 2.This allows you to add new commands and features without changing the Bluetooth interface.
This includes being able to configure

• Tx power
• LE Coded (Long Range) PHY

More details are available via the BT510 user guide.

It is also possible to extend the range of the BT510 using the Laird BL654 Repeater/gateway smartbasic programs this allows the Laird BL654 module to function as a repeater or gateway for adverts from Laird’s BT510 sensors. It can also operate in AT mode where it can advertise, scan, connect, and offer GATT client and server capabilities. This application is controlled with the industry standard AT command protocol over a UART interface.

• BT510 Repeater Mode–The module listens for adverts from Laird’s BT510 sensors or other BT510 repeaters and rebroadcasts over the air so that a range extension can be facilitated. All other adverts are ignored.
• BT10 Gateway Mode–The module listens for adverts from Laird’s BT510 orBT510 Repeaters and sends them out in hex format over the UART interface so that a host can process them. It could forward to the cloud if it has the appropriate connectivity. All other adverts are ignored.
• Generic BLE Client/Server Mode–The module can be made to advertise, scan, connect, and pair. In addition, it can enable the creation of a GATT server table on-the-fly and, conversely can be a GATT client to interact with remote GATT servers.

More details are available via the BT510 Repeater/Gateway user guide.
The source code for all of these applications is hosted on our GitHub page:

Everything needed to get started with our Out of the Box Demos for the Pinnacle 100 cellular modem and the MG100 cellular gateway can be found on GitHub

A demo video for the Pinnacle 100 is also linked on the Product page for additional reference.

You can use Memfault to remotely monitor the health of their devices and debug issues in both the Pinnacle 100 and MG100 Gateway designs. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever.

• Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
• With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

Yes, the BT510 Sentrius™ BT510 sensor is replaceable by removing the rear battery door cover.

The battery is a 3-volt lithium of CR2477 type.

The battery door cover has a gasket inside to keep out liquids.

The Sentrius™ BT510 is a Bluetooth 5 Low Energy multi-sensor and can last for months or years on its replaceable coin-cell battery. That battery life is dependent on lots of factors such as sleep time, ambient temperature, and more.

To estimate how long your BT510 application can go on a single battery, adjust the values at the BT510 battery life estimator

Yes!

You can configure a sensor using a Bluetooth connection and the Laird virtual serial port(vSP) service. The protocol sent over the virtual serial port is JSON-RPC version 2. This allows you to add new commands and features without changing the Bluetooth interface.

This includes being able to change the PHY to LE coded for long range applications.
The Laird BT510 smartphone applications allows a user to select LE Coded PHY.
LE Coded PHY can also be selected from your own smartphone application using JSON over VSP BLE connections.
Details can be found in the BT510 user guide

Laird customers get instant access to Memfault's device observability platform for up to 100 devices free forever. To get started with Memfault for remote debugging, continuous monitoring, and OTA firmware updates, sign up here.

• Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide
• With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird connected device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

We suggest using Visual Studio Code, please see the following for more information: https://github.com/LairdCP/Pinnacle_100_oob_demo/blob/master/docs/development.md

• We suggest using Memfault for an out-of-the-box fault debugging and device observability solution. Memfault integrates seamlessly with Zephyr on the Pinnacle 100 and Sentrius MG100. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever.
  • Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
  • With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

You do not need to build the OOB Demo on your own, if you have need to upgrade your OOB Demo version on your Pinnacle 100 modem or MG100 gateway, please use our official releases found here: https://github.com/LairdCP/Pinnacle-100-Firmware/releases.

Found at this link are several firmware file types depending on how you plan to upgrade, *.hex is for SWD while *.bin is used for BLE, UART, and HTTP over LTE. Additionally, 480-00052 is for the Pinnacle 100 and 480-00070 is for the MG100.

See the Firmware Updates section for how to upgrade over the different interfaces, BLE/UART/HTTP over LTE

To upgrade over SWD, use the JLINK USB port on the Pinnacle 100 DVK board, for the MG100 see the MG100 Hardware Guide section 5.4.4 to learn how to connect a J-Link debugger to the board for the upgrade using nRF Connect or Nordic Command Line Tools.

On Windows 10 when building firmware such as oob_demo firmware I am getting the following error: ninja: error: FindFirstFileExA(c/:/oob_demo/oob_demo/src): The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect can you help me to correct this?

The ninja: error: FindFirstFileExA(c/:/oob_demo/oob_demo/src): The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect, may be thrown if you have previously set up a Zephyr environment. This indicates ninja needs to be upgraded. If west update did not update ninja to the latest version enter choco upgrade ninja --force in cmd.exe as administrator to force the upgrade:

C:\Windows\system32>choco upgrade ninja --force

Out of the box the BT510 is configured via a smartphone app but this does not allow a developer to reprogram the BT510. However the BT510 can be programmed by a developer using Zephyr in C. More details can be found at the following link.

The Zephyr OS is based on a small-footprint kernel designed for use on resource-constrained and embedded systems: from simple embedded environmental sensors and LED wearables to sophisticated embedded controllers, smart watches, and IoT wireless applications.