The CC2540 USB Evaluation Module Kit contains one CC2540 Bluetooth low energy USB Dongle. The dongle can be used to enable Bluetooth low energy on your PC. It can also be used as a packet sniffer for analyzing the BLE protocol and for software and system level debugging (use the free tool SmartRF Packet Sniffer). Description The CC2540 USB Dongle is a complete example of how to use the USB enabled Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Wireless MCU. The reference design can be used to enable Bluetooth Smart and Internet of Things applications on any system that contains a USB host. CC2540 USB dongle Drivers Available: Operating System Driver Provider Driver Version; Download Driver: Windows 2000 (32 bit) Texas Instruments: 2.50.0.0.

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The Bluetooth low energy (BLE) Device Monitor is a Windows application that serves as a monitoring and control application for TI SensorTag devices. In addition it offers some functionality that applies to all BLE devices.

4BLE Device Monitor first use
- 4.2Finding the correct COM port
5Connecting to a SensorTag (or any Bluetooth low energy device)
7Using the SensorTag tab
8Using the LaunchPad tab

Introduction[edit]

BLE Device Monitor connects to a BLE Central Device (Host) via a serial port. The following TI modules may serve as BLE hosts: CC2540 USB dongle, CC2650 LaunchPad, CC1350 LaunchPad and CC2640R2 LaunchPad. The host firmware is the HostTestApplication and is the same that BTOOL uses. The host firmware for all platforms is bundled with BLE Device Monitor.

BLE Device Monitor is available for download here.

The application (latest version 2.9.0) has been tested on Windows 7 and Windows 10.

**BLE Device Monitor** functionality
Feature	BLE Generic	TI BLE Devices	CC2541 SensorTag	CC2650/CC1350 SensorTag	Launchpad (CC2650,CC1350,CC2640R2) **
Device discovery	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Connect	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
GATT explorer	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
OAD	-	Y	Y	Y	Y
Display firmware revision	Y*	Y	Y	Y	Y
Display battery level	Y*	Y	-	Y	Y
Display Sensor Data	-	-	Y	Y	-
Control LED	-	-	Y	Y	Y
Control Buzzer	-	-	-	Y	-
Visualize button activity	-	-	Y	Y	Y
Visualize relay activity	-	-	-	Y	-
Visualize light intensity	-	-	-	Y	-
Wake On Motion	-	-	-	Y	-
Device reset	-	-	-	Y	Y
External Flash erase	-	-	-	Y	Y
Test Panel	-	-	Y	Y	Y

(*) Providing service is available

(**) Requires Out-of-box firmware

Installation[edit]

After downloading the ZIP-file, unpack and run installer (Setup_BLE_Device_Monitor.exe) and confirm when Windows asks for permission to install executable and drivers. When the installation is complete there will be a short-cut to the application on the Windows Desktop.

Host Firmware[edit]

Before the application can be used it needs to connect to a BLE Host on either a CC2540 USB Dongle or a CC2650/CC2640R2 LaunchPad. The recommended platform is one of the Launchpads, they come with a built-in programming interface and are thus more straightforward to get started with.

Programming the BLE Host
Board	Programming SW	Programming HW	FW File *)
CC2650 LaunchPad	SmartRF Flash Programmer 2	-	firmwarecc26xxlaunchpadcc2650lp_host_test_rel.hex
CC2640R2 LaunchPad	SmartRF Flash Programmer 2	-	firmwarecc26xxr2launchpadcc2640r2lp_host_test.hex
CC2540 USB Dongle	SmartRF Flash Programmer	CC Debugger	firmwarecc254xCC2540_USBdongle_HostTestRelease_All.hex

) Path relative to the applications installation directory. Default: C:Program Files (x86)Texas InstrumentsSmartRF ToolsBLE Device Monitor

The Virtual COM port driver for the CC2540USB dongle and the LaunchPads can be found in (default): C:Program FilesTexas InstrumentsSmartRFToolsdriversvcp.

BLE Device Monitor first use[edit]

Serial port driver installation[edit]

On Windows 7 and 10 the serial port driver installs automatically when the BLE host is connected for the first time. The COM-port number is displayed when the installation completes. The installation should normally not require any intervention from the user.

In the unlikely event that the driver installation files, the device is probably listed as an unknown device. Select the unknown device, right click and install the driver from: C:Program Files (x86)Texas InstrumentsSmartRFToolsdriversvcp.

Finding the correct COM port[edit]

Start application with no BLE host connected[edit]

Open Device Monitor from: C:Program FilesTexas Instruments (x86)BLE Device Monitorble_devmon.exe or from the Windows Start Menu, or from the Desktop shortcut. There will be a message that no TI USB Serial Device is connected.

Connect the BLE Host to a USB port and the application will automatically open it.

Start application with BLE host connected[edit]

If the host is connect before launching the application, it will fail to open the COM port, as the predefined COM port is COM1. This will only happen the first time the application is launched.

If this happens, go to ‘Options’ and ‘Serial Port’ and select the desired COM port and click ‘OK’. This will start communication with the BLE Host.

BLE Host startup[edit]

Ti Cc2540 Dongle Driver

When a BLE Host is detected, the BLE Device Monitor will display the message 'BLE Host found' and some other messages in the event log. Then it will by default start scanning for BLE devices. Automatic scanning after start-up can be enabled/disabled by the Autoscan checkbox.

Connecting to a SensorTag (or any Bluetooth low energy device)[edit]

Connect CC2541 SensorTag[edit]

Insert a CR2032 (coin cell) battery in the SensorTag and click on the side button to enable advertising. The LED (D1) should start to blink rapidly to indicate that it is ready to communicate with the BLE Device Monitor. If no connection is established within 30 seconds the LED will stop blinking and the SensorTag will go back to sleep. If that happens, push the side button again to make the SensorTag advertise for another 30 seconds. Advertising on/off can be toggled via the side button any time.

Connect CC2650 or CC1350 SensorTag[edit]

Insert a CR2032 (coin cell) battery. The device will first undergo a self-test, and when the test is complete it will start advertising. On the CC2650 SensorTag this indicated by the green LED blinking every second, on the CC1350 SensorTag the red LED serves the same function. The device advertise