On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Kimball Larsen <[email protected]> wrote: >>> At work we develop devices that communicate over USB with custom software, >>> and are considering replacing the USB link with a bluetooth one. Thought >>> I'd ask here if anyone has experience with such a transition, and could >>> recommend a particular hardware path or approach? We need something that >>> is cross platform, and would prefer drop-in replacement for current USB, >>> which is handled by an on-board FTDI chip. >>> >> >> I assume that you already understand that the transfer rate for Bluetooth is >> much slower than USB. This may not matter to your software, but should at >> least be something you are aware of. >> > > > Yup, we are aware of the speeds involved... we don't need high bandwidth at > all. We just toss a few bytes back and forth at a time. >
Bluetooth is a rather heavyweight protocol, and you might end up adding a lot of cost unnecessarily. Do you need the flexibility of Bluetooth, or would a lightweight but non-standardized RF transceiver work for you? A lot of wireless keyboards and mice work this way, using a tiny RF to USB dongle to link to the PC. This part looks like a popular solution in this space: http://www.nordicsemi.com/jpn/Products/2.4GHz-RF/nRF24L01P They've got a dev kit for it that goes for a few hundred bucks, but Sparkfun has some much simpler boards based around it for much cheaper if you want to do a cheap prototype or experiment. --Levi /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
