LE Audio Evaluation Kit - from Laird Connectivity & Packetcraft

Recommended for New Design (RND)

Overview

New: Available now at Packetcraft.com!

The new EK-B02-BL5340 evaluation kit, brought to you by Ezurio and Packetcraft, delivers a complete Bluetooth LE Audio solution using our new BL5340 Series module and Packetcraft’s LE Audio software. This solution is ideal for engineers looking to evaluate LE Audio for emerging next generation Bluetooth LE audio applications.

The new LE Audio evaluation kits are comprised of Ezurio's (formerly Laird Connectivity) BL5340 Bluetooth 5.2 development boards, a custom audio interface board, and Packetcraft’s comprehensive software solution for LE Audio. The BL5340 is the most advanced, most secure and highest performing dual core MCU wireless solution available. This series of robust, tiny modules features the Nordic nRF5340 SoC and directly targets the highest performance with the lowest power budget.

Packetcraft’s LE Audio solution includes the link layer, host stack, and LC3 codec. Packetcraft’s software is Bluetooth qualified and designed specifically for ultra-low power resource-constrained embedded devices. Together, these solutions provide a platform that gives developers everything needed to start creating Bluetooth LE Audio products such as wireless microphones, broadcast audio for infrastructure, and much more.

Ready to Go - Right Out of the Box!

The EK-B02-BL5340 is pre-configured out of the box. Simply plug in power, audio input, and audio output, follow our one-page quick start guide to select your demo, and you're off testing LE audio applications with Packetcraft's industry-best LE audio software. 

The kit contains: 

  • 3 x Ezurio BL5340 DVKs
  • 3 x BL5340 AIB v1
  • 1 x ground loop isolator
  • 3 x audio cables TRS 1/8” (3.5mm)
  • 3 x USB cables for power
  • Pre-loaded LE Audio Eval Kit binary firmware
  • Quick Start Guide (QSG)

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ek-b02-bl5340-setup-diagram.png

Five Full-Featured Demos of Common Use Cases

The kit is ready straight out of the box to demonstrate broadcast music, unicast music, and dual-microphone applications with synchronized stereo or multiple left/right receivers. These serve the following common use cases: 

  • Personal Audio Sharing
  • Location-based Audio Sharing
  • Banded Headphones
  • Wireless Speakers
  • Conferencing, music, and gaming
  • Wireless microphone

Learn more in our product brief

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Specifications

Bluetooth Version
5.2
Development Kit Contents
3 x Laird Connectivity BL5340 DVKs
3 x BL5340 AIB v1
1 x ground loop isolator
3 x audio cables TRS 1/8” (3.5mm)
3 x USB cables for power
Pre-loaded LE Audio Eval Kit binary firmware
Quick Start Guide (QSG)
Applications
LE Audio
Part NumberAdditional Description
EK-B02-BL5340 - LE Audio Development Kit from Laird Connectivity and Packetcraft
EK-B02-BL5340
EK-B02-BL5340 LE Audio evaluation kit

Documentation

Name Part Type Last Updated
Product Brief - EK-B02-BL5340 All Product Brief 11/23/2021

FAQ

Does the BL65x or BL5430 support Matter?

Matter can be supported on the BL5340 (nRF52840) and the BL654 when using the Nordic nRF Connect SDK. However, due to the memory requirements of Matter it can not be used on the BL653, BL652 nor the BL651 given their flash and RAM memory footprint.The BL653 (nRF52833) has 512K of Flash and 128K of RAM and BL652 and BL651 has less than that.

There are instructions on how to reduce the memory footprint for Matter in the documentation on the nRF Connect SDK Main branch, Memory footprint optimization » Matter, but even using this you will not be able to get it down to a size fitting on the nRF52833. With the steps from the optimization page with the light bulb sample the size was reduced to approximately 730 kB of flash and 170 kB of RAM when building for nRF52840, which is still way too high for the nRF52833. Additionally, there are possibilities that the Matter flash usage will grow more before the official release, as more bug fixes and things from the Matter specification will be added.

Is it possible to send LE Audio and Data in parallel at the same time on the BL5340?

Yes, this is possible.

Note: Ezurio maintains a partnership with Packetcraft for LE Audio SW Solution.

https://www.packetcraft.com/

My BL5340 DVK does not appear to power up (no LED) what might the problem be?

Check the postion of SW4 and make sure it it is set correctly. For example if powering the DVK from USB set the switch to USB_5V. from the factory it may be set to DC_5V.

What does the BL5340 DVK out of box demo do?

The BL5340 out of box demo scans for BT510 and BL654 BME280 sensors and sends the data to the cloud via ethernet with the data visualised on a webpage.

More details can be found here BLE_Gateway_Firmware/readme_aws.md at main · LairdCP/BLE_Gateway_Firmware · GitHub

 

Where can I download the BL5340 out of box demo firmware?

if you would like to download the out of box demo firmware then it can be found at the following link. you might want to do this if you have erased the flash on the BL5340 DVK.

https://github.com/LairdCP/BL5340_Firmware_Manifest/releases

How do you flash code to the BL5340?

Firmware can be flashed to the BL5340 using different methods including (click for details):

Does the BL5340 DVK come preloaded with firmware?

Yes, the BL5340 DVK comes preloaded with the out of box demo that allows you to use the BL5340 DVK as a Bluetooth to ethernet bridge, passing data to the cloud.

Where can I find sample applications for the BL5340?

A selection of sample applications for the BL5340 can be found in our Github repository.

https://github.com/LairdCP/BL5340_Sample_Apps

What is the BL5340 Edge Impulse Vibration Demo?

The Edge impulse vibration demo shows how the power of the dual core BL5340 can be used for artificial intelligence applications.

The demo has 3 main parts

  • Capture a training dataset
  • Train the neural network
  • Run the impulse

 The is a video overview of the demo available on Youtube

https://youtu.be/hmrx5gXm-YM

Where can I find the BL5340 Zephyr RTOS board files?

Board files can be found at

Ezurio BL5340 DVK — Zephyr Project Documentation

The BL5340 Development Kit provides support for the Ezurio BL5340 module which is powered by a dual-core Nordic Semiconductor nRF5340 ARM Cortex-M33F CPU. The nRF5340 inside the BL5340 module is a dual-core SoC based on the Arm® Cortex®-M33 architecture, with:

  • a full-featured Arm Cortex-M33F core with DSP instructions, FPU, and Armv8-M Security Extension, running at up to 128 MHz, referred to as the application core

  • a secondary Arm Cortex-M33 core, with a reduced feature set, running at a fixed 64 MHz, referred to as the network core.

The bl5340_dvk_cpuapp build target provides support for the application core on the BL5340 module. The bl5340_dvk_cpunet build target provides support for the network core on the BL5340 module. If ARM TrustZone is used then the bl5340_dvk_cpuapp build target provides support for the non-secure partition of the application core on the BL5340 module.

What is the BLE passkey for the BL5340 out of box demo?

When running the BL5340 DVK out of box demo the Pinnacle Connect smartphone app will attempt to pair with the BL5340 DVK. You will be prompted to eneter a pass key, the passkey is 123456 and is also displayed on the BL5340 DVK LCD screen.

Can I use a second BL5340 DVK as a sensor for the BL5340 DVK out of box demo?

Yes. The BL5340 DVK comes with a BT510 BLE sensor for use with the out of box demo. But you can also emulate a BL654 BME280 sensor for use with the BL5340 OOB demo by loading the ESS hex files available at the link below

https://github.com/LairdCP/BL5340_Firmware_Manifest

Once loaded the BL5340 will function as a BL654 BME280 sensor and advertise the same advert format.

This application acts as peripheral environmental sensor allowing central devices to connect and monitor temperature, humidity, pressure and dew point. Please note that this is supplied as a test application for the Pinnacle 100 development kit and is for evaluation use only, it has not been tested through PTS for confirming that it adheres to the ESS service specification.

More information can be found here Common_Sample_Apps/ess_demo at master · LairdCP/Common_Sample_Apps · GitHub

How do a develop code for the BL5340?

Unlike previous generations of Nordic based Laird BLE modules, the BL5340 does not support out Smartbasic programming language.  Development is therefore done in C using Zephyr RTOS or the Nordic nRF Connect SDK.

For more information on developing for the nRF53 based BL5340 modules see the following links

BL5340 Series - Multi-Core NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 + 802.15.4 WiFi Module (lairdconnect.com)

Welcome to the nRF Connect SDK! — nRF Connect SDK 1.6.99 documentation (nordicsemi.com)

Ezurio BL5340 DVK — Zephyr Project Documentation

 

What Smartphone app do I use for the BL5340 DVK out of box demo (OOB)?

The BL5340 out of box demo uses the Laird Pinnacle Connect app. This is the same app that is used with the MG100 and Pinnacle 100 out of box demos.


it is available from

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lairdconnect.pinnacle…

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/laird-pinnacle-connect/id1481075861?ls=1

is LE audio interoperable with BT calssic audio?

No. LE audio and classic audio are both subsets of BT audio but are not interoperable. In time it is likely that most BT classic audio use cases will be replaced by LE Audio.

Does the BL5340 support classic audio profiles such as A2DP?

No. The BL5340 is a single mode BLE only module. it does not support BT classic audio profiles such as HSP, HFP or A2DP.

However, LE Audio does support the same use cases and more but with new profiles and services.

Is LE Audio mandatory with BT5.2?

No. LE Audio is an optional feature of BT5.2. BT devices can be qualified to BT5.2 and not support LE Audio. It is possible to be qualified to BT5.2 errata only and not have LE Audio support.

What is the latency of LE Audio?

LE Audio makes use of a new codec called the Low Complexity Communications Codec.

This new codec provides lower latency then the standard BT Classic Audio coded (SBC).

Encoding time is in the region of 10ms for LC3.

This allows for a BLE Audio link using LC3 to encode, transmit and decode audio in he time sound travels in free space. This opens up application such as hearing aids that are very sensitive to latency.

How does LE Audio quality compare to Classic Audio quality?

Classic Bluetooth uses a codec called SBC. Its been used in BT classic devices for a very long time. Its also mandatory for audio applications, providing a common codec that all BT classic audio devices have access to, ensuring interoperability.

Other 3rd party codecs are also available such as aptX and AAC amongst others. These 3rd party codecs often provide improved audio quality or reduce latency but because they are no mandatory in the BT specification not all devices support them. Some are even proprietary to specific silicon vendors.

LE Audio introduces a new codec called LC3. LC3 gives developers options. With LC3 you can get the same or better audio quality at lower bitrates than with SBC or you can use higher bit rates and get even better quality audio.

A lower bit rate will result in less time on air and therefore potentially lower power consumption, which may be important for a battery powered device. Alternatively developers can choose a higher bit rate for maximum quality.

 

What topologies does LE Audio support?

LE Audio supports the following topologies

Unicast

  • Single peer to peer, which can be multichannel and bidirectional
  • Separate left and right (earbuds)
  • Multiple pairs of left and right (multiple earbuds)

Broadcast

  • Connectionless broadcast with no acknowledgements
  • Multiple channels
    • Stereo left and right
    • different language channels

Unicast allows for native stereo earbud type applications, built directly into BT5.2.
Broadcast allows for many new use cases such as public announcements in airports/railway stations. A cinema showing a film but with multiple language channels.

What audio scenarios can I test with the BL5340 audio evaluation kit?

The BL5340 Audio Evaluation Kit allows you to test out of the box the following scenarios

  1. Stereo Speaker: Stereo audio source to stereo audio sink 
  2. True Wireless Stereo: Stereo audio source to seperate left and right audio using LC3, 80kbps, 48hz and 7.5ms frame size

additional scenarios are available in advanced demonstration mode. Contact www.packetcraft.com/support for more details

What is the AIB in the BL5340 audio evaluation kit?

AIB stands for audio interface board. Three of which are supplied with the BL5340 Audio Evaluation kit and provide standard 3.5mm stero audio jack input/output for the evaluation kit.

Do I need any additional hardware for the BL5340 audio evaluation kit?

The BL5340 audio evaluation kit comes with three BL5340 EVK and 3 Audio interface boards with 3.5mm stereo audio jacks. The only additional hardware required is audio source with a suitable 3.5mm socket, such as an MP3 player or Smartphone and an audio sink(s) with suitable 3.5mm socket, such as a  (active) speaker.

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