Overview
EFR Connect Overview
EFR Connect is a generic BLE mobile app for fast and easy Bluetooth® Low Energy development.
You can quickly test and debug your BLE embedded application code, Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware update, data throughput, and interoperability with Android and iOS mobile devices.
Troubleshooting with EFR Connect is a breeze. The app indicates when your setup is ready to go. Its many features help you to fix bugs in no time and test data throughput and mobile interoperability with a tap of a button on the app. The out-of-the-box demos familiarize you with EFR Connect and the entire Silicon Labs development ecosystem. For an in-depth analysis, you can use our Network Analyzer to see the packet trace data.
EFR Connect works with all Silicon Labs Bluetooth development kits, SoCs, and modules.
Here is how to find more valuable EFR Connect information and code for embedded development:
Source code - Get EFR Connect source code on GitHub.
More details - Read EFR Connect Release Notes.
Related blog - The First BLE Mobile App with Throughput and Mobile interoperability tests!
Podcast - How can an embedded developer squeeze the most value out of a BLE Mobile App?
EFR Connect - Demo View
The EFR Connect BLE mobile app is divided into two main functional areas, the Demo view and Develop view. The Demo view provides you with demos for quickly testing sample apps on the Silicon Labs GSDK, which is available via Simplicity Studio.
EFR Connect includes the following demos:
- Blinky Demo: The ”Hello World” of BLE – Toggling a LED is only one tap away.
- Throughput Demo: Measure application data throughput between the BLE hardware and your mobile device in both directions
- Health Thermometer Demo: Connect to a BLE hardware kit and receive the temperature data from the on-board sensor.
- Connected Lighting DMP Demo: Leverage the dynamic multi-protocol (DMP) sample apps to control a DMP light node from a mobile and protocol-specific switch node (Zigbee, proprietary) while keeping the light status in sync across all devices.
- Range Test Demo: Visualize the RSSI and other RF performance data on the app while running the Range Test on a pair of Silicon Labs radio boards.
- Motion: Control a 3D render of a Silicon Labs Thunderboard or Dev Kit that follows the phyiscal board movements.
- Environment: Read and display the data from the on-board sensors on a Silicon Labs Thunderboard or Dev Kit.
- Wi-Fi Commissioning: Commission a Wi-Fi device over BLE.
- Bluetooth Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL): Adds and commissions ESL tags to the system network by scanning the tag's QR code with the mobile device's camera and provides the user a UI to view the list commissioned tags and control them.
EFR Connect - Develop View
The Develop view contains several useful functionalities to help you create and troubleshoot embedded Bluetooth applications based on EFR32/BGM devices. Here is a rundown of the main functionalities:
- Bluetooth Browser: A generic and powerful tool for exploring the nearby BLE devices
- Bluetooth RSSI Graph: A graphical representation of RSSI for scanned devices
- Bluetooth Advertiser: Create multiple advertisement sets and enable them in parallel
- Bluetooth GATT Configurator: Create and manipulate multiple GATT databases;
- Bluetooth Interoperability Test: Verify interoperability between Silicon labs BLE hardware/software and your mobile device
Bluetooth Browser Key Features
Scan results with a rich data set
Connectable/non-connectable
Beacon type
Advertisement interval
RSSI
Bluetooth address
Ability to favorite devices on the scan list so that they surface to the top
Advanced filtering options to quickly identify the devices you want
Device name
Raw advertisement data
RSSI
Beacon type (iBeacon, Eddystone, AltBeacon)
Favorites only
Connectable only
Option to save filters for later use
Support for multiple connections
Ability to rename services/characteristics with 128-bit UUIDs (mappings dictionary)
Over-the-air (OTA) device firmware upgrade (DFU) with reliable and speed modes
Configurable MTU and connection interval
Support for all GATT operations
Bluetooth Advertiser Key Features
Supports legacy and extended advertising
Configurable advertisement interval, TX Power, primary/secondary PHYs
Start and stop advertisements manually, or stop based on time or event
Support for multiple AD types
Bluetooth GATT Configurator
Create and manipulate multiple local GATT databases on EFR Connect
Add services, characteristics and descriptors
Operate the local GATT via the browser when connected to a device
Import and export a GATT database between EFR Connect and Simplicity Studio GATT Configurator
Interoperability (IOP) Key Features
Run a sequence of BLE operations to verify interoperability: Scan, Connect, GATT discovery, GATT operations, Security, Throughput, OTA
Export results log
EFR Connect Intro Video
Check this video to get a 1-minute introduction through the EFR Connect features.
Downloads
Download EFR Connect App
Download EFR Connect app on your smartphone and speed up development now!
EFR Connect for Android can be downloaded here if Google Play is not available.
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