The S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module is a certified rhomb.io module that delivers rapid development of Bluetooth Low Energy solutions.
The S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module has been build around the BGM13P Blue Gecko Bluetooth Module from Silicon Labs. This module integrates an EFR32BG13 wireless SoC with a complete Bluetooth software stack and antenna connector to provide a complete, pre-certified plug-and-play Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth mesh solution, and support for Internet Security. It solves one of the major customer roadblocks for fast time-to-market as it integrates antenna connector, software and RF certifications, saving months of engineering effort and testing.
Applications:
- IoT end devices and gateways
- Health, sports and wellness devices
- Industrial, home and building automation
- Smart phone, tablet and PC accessories
- Beacons
Documentation
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Applications:
- IoT end devices and gateways
- Health, sports and wellness devices
- Industrial, home and building automation
- Smart phone, tablet and PC accessories
- Beacons
Module specifications
The S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module has been build around the BGM13P Blue Gecko Bluetooth Module from Silicon Labs. The fully certified module contains all components required for a system-level implementation of Bluetooth® Low Energy and proprietary wireless networks operating in the 2.4 GHz band.
The Module features an energy-friendly 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 MCU capable of working at 38.4 MHz with 512 kB Flash program memory, another 64kB to store data, and 64 kB of RAM. The integrated radio transceiver allows transmission power up to 8 dBm and reception sensitivity of -94.8 dBm. Transmission range can reach up to 200 meters.
With the supporting Simplicity Studio suite of tools, developers can take advantage of graphical wireless application development, BGScript for Python-like scripting, and visual energy profiling and optimization.
A wide variety of interfaces are accesible, and a bunch of GPIOs, interruptions and PWM signals make their way to the Rhomb.io connectors.
The following figure identifies the main components onboard:

The next figure shows the Block Diagram for the S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module:

Communication Protocols | Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 5) |
Frequency Range | 2.4 GHz |
Receiver Performance | -103.2 dBm sensitivity at 125 kbit/s GFSK |
Peripheral interface | UART / USB / I2C / PI / I2S / GPIO |
Internet Security | -Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
-True Random Number Generator (TRNG)
-2 × Hardware Cryptographic Accelerators (CRYPTO) |
Op. Voltage | 1.8 V to 3.8 V (integrated DC-DC) |
Op. current | RX: 9.9 mA — TX: 8.5 mA |
User interfaces
The following table indicates the available serial interfaces of the Rhomb.io standard used in this Module. This table relates the interfaces of the Rhomb.io standard with the net names of the schematic and with the components to which they are connected.
Rhomb.io Interface |
Schematic Signal |
Component |
Component Pin |
UART-A |
UART-A_TXD |
BGM13P |
PF0 |
CP2102N |
RXD |
UART-A_RXD |
BGM13P |
PF1 |
CP2102N |
TXD |
UART-A_RTS |
BGM13P |
PF3 |
CP2102N |
CTS# |
UART-A_CTS |
BGM13P |
PF2 |
CP2102N |
RTS# |
UART-B |
UART-B_TXD |
BGM13P |
PB11 |
UART-B_RXD |
BGM13P |
PB13 |
I2C-A |
I2C-A_SCL |
BGM13P |
PC11 |
Crypto Memory |
SCL |
I2C-A_SDA |
BGM13P |
PC10 |
Crypto Memory |
SDA |
SPI-A |
SPI-A_MISO |
BGM13P |
PC7 |
Flash Memory |
SO |
SPI-A_MOSI |
BGM13P |
PC6 |
Flash Memory |
SI |
SPI-A_CLK |
BGM13P |
PC8 |
Flash Memory |
SCK |
SPI-A_CS0 |
BGM13P |
PC9 |
SAI-A |
SAI-A_SDO |
BGM13P |
PF0 |
SAI-A_SDI |
BGM13P |
PF1 |
SAI-A_BCLK |
BGM13P |
PF2 |
SAI-A_LRCLK |
BGM13P |
PF3 |
USB |
USB_N |
CP2102N |
D- |
USB_P |
CP2102N |
D+ |
SWD |
SWCLK |
BGM13P |
PF0 |
SWDIO |
BGM13P |
PF1 |
SWO |
BGM13P |
PF2 |
- UART-A: transmission and reception can be done by one Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (USART) interface. This interface can be programmed to support full duplex asynchronous UART communication with hardware flow control, and is tied directly to the Rhomb.io standard UART-A bus.
- UART-B: the Low Energy Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (LEUART) interface includes all necessary hardware to make asynchronous serial communication possible with a minimum of software intervention and energy consumption. This interface is tied directly to the Rhomb.io standard UART-B bus.
- I2C-A: the I2C interface provides communication between the Master and a serial I2C bus. It is capable of acting as both a master and a slave and supports multi-master buses. Standard-mode, fast-mode and fast-mode plus speeds are supported, allowing transmission rates from 10 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s. This interface is tied directly to the Rhomb.io standard I2C-A bus.
- SPI-A: an SPI interface is accesible too, connected to the on-board flash memory, and to the Rhomb.io standard SPI-A, QSPI and SDIO buses.
- SAI-A: USART interface is also connected to the SAI-A bus so the user can configure it to stablish communication with devices supporting I2S interface.
- USB: an USB to UART bridge has been added to facilitate the connection to a computer.
- SWD: a SWD interface is used for firmware update and debug purposes. You can find this lines connected to the Rhomb.io standard SWD bus.
GPIOs and Control Signals
The following table summarizes the GPIOs and Control Signals used on the S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module. This table relates the signals of the Rhomb.io standard with the net names of the schematic and with the components to which they are connected.
Rhomb.io Signal |
Schematic Signal |
Component |
Component Pin |
IO0 |
IO0 |
BGM13P |
PA1 |
IO1 |
IO1 |
BGM13P |
PA2 |
IO2 |
IO2 |
BGM13P |
PA3 |
IO3 |
IO3 |
BGM13P |
PA4 |
IO4 |
IO4 |
BGM13P |
PA5 |
IO5 / 1WIRE |
IO5 |
BGM13P |
PF4 |
IO6 |
– |
– |
– |
IO7 |
– |
– |
– |
AD0 |
LESENS_CH5 |
BGM13P |
PD13 |
PWM0 |
WTIM0 |
BGM13P |
PA0 |
#RESET_IN |
#RESET_IN |
BGM13P |
RESETn |
RESET_OUT |
RESET_OUT |
BGM13P |
PF5 |
INT0 |
INT |
BGM13P |
PF6 |
#NMI |
#NMI |
BGM13P |
PF7 |
SDIO_DATA3 |
(SDIO_CS) |
BGM13P |
PD14 |
QSPI_CS0 |
(SPI_MEM_CS) |
BGM13P |
PD15 |
- IO0 – IO5: each GPIO pin can be individually configured as either an output or input. More advanced configurations including open-drain, open-source, and glitch-filtering can be configured for each individual GPIO pin. The GPIO pins can be overridden by peripheral connections, like SPI communication. Each peripheral connection can be routed to several GPIO pins on the device. The input value of a GPIO pin can be routed through the Peripheral Reflex System to other peripherals.
- IO5 / 1WIRE: This signal can be used to read the ID Memory if SJ5 Solder Jumper is shorted.
- AD0: the Low Energy Sensor Interface LESENSE is a highly configurable sensor interface. By controlling the analog comparators, ADC, and DAC, LESENSE is capable of supporting a wide range of sensors and measurement schemes, and can for instance measure LC sensors, resistive sensors and capacitive sensors. LESENSE also includes a programmable finite state machine which enables simple processing of measurement results without CPU intervention.
- PWM0: the PWM mode of the TIMER supports generation of pulse-width modulation (PWM) outputs of arbitrary waveforms defined by the sequence of values written to the compare registers, with optional dead-time insertion available in timer unit WTIM0 only. This signal could be used to drive the on-board LED if SJ3 Solder Jumper is shorted.
- INT & #NMI: the GPIO subsystem supports asynchronous external pin interrupts.
- Chip Selects: one of the BGM13P GPIOs is used as chip select line for the on-board flash memory (and is tied to the Rhomb.io standard QSPI bus chip select too). Another GPIO is used as chip select for the Rhomb.io standard SDIO bus, if used in SPI Mode.
Nevertheless, the versatility of the Blue Gecko module lies in the multifunction of all of its pins. The above table is an adaptation of the module pinout to the Rhomb.io standard pinout. Be sure that most of the pins of the S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module have way more functions than the ones shown in the schematics.
For more details, check the Module Schematics and the BGM13P manufacturer documentation.
Power
The S100 Master – Blue Gecko BGM13P Module can use the 1.8V, the 2.8V or the 3.3V rail. You can choose the voltage shorting the corresponding Solder Jumper. Make sure this rail is enabled on the motherboard you are going to plug this Module.
Below you can find the current consumption when using the transceiver, which is the case where the Module is expected to need more power (typical conditions are: VDD = 3.3 V. T = 25 °C):

Mechanical specifications
Board

Warranty
- Precaution against Electrostatic Discharge. When handling Rhomb.io products, ensure that the environment is protected against static electricity. Follow the next recommendations:
- The users should wear anti-static clothing and use earth band when manipulating the device.
- All objects that come in direct contact with devices should be made of materials that do not produce static electricity that would cause damage.
- Equipment and work table must be earthed.
- Ionizer is recommended to remove electron charge.
- Contamination. Be sure to use semiconductor products in the environment that may not be exposed to dust or dirt adhesion.
- Temperature/Humidity. Semiconductor devices are sensitive to environment temperature and humidity. High temperature or humidity may deteriorate semiconductor devices characteristics. Therefore avoid storage or usage in such conditions.
- Mechanical Shock. Care should be exercised not to apply excessive mechanical shock or force on the connectors and semiconductors devices.
- Chemical. Do not expose semiconductor device to chemical because reaction to chemical may cause deterioration of device characteristics.
- Light Protection. In case of non-EMC (Epoxy Molding Compound) package, do not expose semiconductor IC to strong light. It may cause devices malfunction. Some special products which utilize the light or have security function are excepted from this specification.
- Radioactive, Cosmic and X-ray. Semiconductor devices can be influenced by radioactive, cosmic ray or X-ray. Radioactive, cosmic and X-ray may cause soft error during device operation. Therefore semiconductor devices must be shielded under environment that may be exposed to radioactive, cosmic ray or X-ray.
- EMS (Electromagnetic Susceptibility). Note that semiconductor devices characteristics may be affected by strong electromagnetic waves or magnetic field during operation.
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