I have built a prototype that uses RedBear Lab's Blend micro board (http://redbearlab.com/blendmicro/). The board combines Arduino and a BLE chip (Nordic nRF8001). The application is fairly simple
- iPhone finds and connects to BLE chip
- When user presses a button on iPhone a message is sent to the Blend Micro board
- Based on the message (3 choices) the Arduino reads analog input from one of the pins
- The reading is passed back to the phone via BLE
Everything works well. My question is
- If I were to evolve this into something that can be taken closer to production, do I need the arduino? Seems like the Arduino is only adding a small amount of value in interpreting the message from phone and transmitting the reading
- If I don't need Arduino, how do I program the BLE chip (Nordic nRF8001) directly? I have seen some kits on the internet and they all seem much more complex than programming Arduino.
I am a newbie to H/W - deep background in S/W engineering - but definitely motivated and interesting in making my project a reality. Advice and guidance are appreicated.