Adding BT connectivity to Arduino

Question

I was wondering if it is possible to add my own Bluetooth module (Widcomm or any other chip) to my existing Arduino board? The current board transmits serial data using USB. I know there is a BT version of Arduino available, but it seems to be out of my budget.

If it is possible, then; 1. How do I integrate it to the board? 2. What changes would I need to do so that my board now transmits data via bluetooth? 3. Do I need to write any additional firmware for the BT chip? 4. If the BT chip comes with a built-in firmware, can I modify it? As-In I would like it to have a custom name and so on..

Any help would be really appreciable.

Thank You!

Answer 1

I have designed a few boards that integrate an Atmel uC (328 and 644) with BlueGiga WT12A. The BlueGiga interfaces to the UART so you send and receive ASCII strings. If you are using a 328 based board you will need to multiplex the UART or use the NewSoftSerial to emulate a UART on the unused pins.

I did the hardware design and the low-level software so I don't know the details of the Bluetooth communication. After I could demo that the uC paired with the phone my portion of the project was complete ;)

Changing the name didn't require firmware changes. I sent a "SET BT NAME" command to change the name to show the device was pairing.

Answer 2

Here's one for £ 26.00:

Arduino Bluetooth Module