Sonic Sprint BLE Design Challenge Contenders Announced

Hackster has long been known to host a wide variety of online contests to engage with makers, hobbyists, and engineers alike. These contests invited participants to design creative and unique projects given a specific technology. In addition to getting to showcase their skills, contestants also compete to earn a variety of prizes.

During Hackster Holidays, a series of new type of "challenges" were launched, which provide Hackster members the ability to work on reference project builds with paid opportunities from brands. One of the current challenges now underway is the Sonic Sprint BLE Audio Design Challenge, in collaboration with Nordic Semiconductor.

The Sonic Sprint is centered around the nRF5340 system-on-chip (SoC), one of the latest BLE chipsets from Nordic that features dual Arm Cortex processors that can be clocked at either 64MHz or 128MHz. Furthermore, it supports Bluetooth 5.3, LE audio, direction finding, a floating-point unit (FPU), and DSP instruction capabilities. It also includes enhanced security features, lower power consumption, and improved sensitivity when compared to prior generations of BLE chipsets.

For the challenge, participants were asked to submit project proposals that leverage the nRF5340 in innovative ways. To support their prototyping and development, each selected project will receive nRF5340 Audio Development Kits as well as a sponsorship from PCBWay to have their customized PCB built and assembled, free of charge! Contenders were chosen on March 26th and the projects consisted of an adaptive directional BLE audio speaker, a multilingual audio broadcast solution, and a wireless digital stethoscope.

Adaptive Directional BLE Audio Speaker

Proposed by Hackster member "misoji engineer," the Adaptive Directional BLE Speaker is a project that aims to enable directional audio for broadcasting in public environments. For example, in airports and train stations the system can be used to target individuals over BLE earphones or groups of individuals through PA speakers. For the project submission, a six-layer PCB will be created that utilizes the nRF5340 SoC, nPM1300 Power Management IC, Cirrus Logic’s CS47L63 DAC, and servo motors for controlling speaker direction. In addition, a lithium-ion battery will be used to power the PCBs that can be charged via a USB-C connection. The project will also take advantage of Auracast, a new Bluetooth feature that allows a device to broadcast to multiple users simultaneously. Preliminary tests have already been done testing speaker outputs, confirming PWM output waveforms, and testing BLE time synchronization.

AudioPirate LE Plug

Alex Lynd's AudioPirate LE Plug is a multilingual audio broadcast that looks to offer venues, like movie theaters or museums, a handheld device that will let users seamlessly switch between languages during audio streams. The project will leverage a broadcast box that hosts an app that can synchronize the audio playback of MP3 files. The broadcast box is also equipped with the nRF5340 BLE module that serves as the broadcasting transmitter. A user would then have their own individual handheld devices that are battery powered and allow them to stream audio and choose a language of their choice. Much of the developmental work has already been proven out in the contest submission. However, there are various improvements that need to be completed, such as extending the operating range and integrating a proximity-based audio feature.

Wireless Digital Stethoscope

The last entry picked for the challenge is a wireless digital stethoscope by Md. Kamrul Hussain. Hussain is creating this solution for his local community as there are no affordable and accessible devices currently available in the region. The device will listen to a patient’s heartbeat and lung sounds, broadcasting the information in real-time to a healthcare professional’s earphones or mobile app that can record and display the data. Harnessing the nRF5340, DSP will be included to incorporate noise cancellation, real-time filtering, and classifications of heartbeat patterns. Auracast may also be included to allow broadcasting to many devices. For additional device support and capabilities the nPM1100 power management IC will be used along with Cirrus Logic’s CS47L63 audio DSP.

With project submissions complete and contenders now chosen, the contenders will begin receiving their nRF5340 BLE Audio DKs and will have until May 30th to finish their work on the project. Within that time, they will have to prove out their designs with the kits as much as possible and create a custom PCB design that encompasses their project’s needs. This will then be brought to life by PCBWay through a collaborating sponsorship. A fully documented implementation is required for the final submission in order to receive the project payout and on June 7th the judges choice will be announced for best solution. Be sure check back for more updates and information when we reveal the final solutions!