Chip Compatibility
Hubble works with Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) devices built on a system on a chip (SoC), which combines the processor and the Bluetooth radio on one chip, or on a microcontroller unit (MCU) paired with a separate Bluetooth radio. You add the Hubble Device SDK (software development kit) to your firmware.
Hubble's two networks have different hardware requirements:
- Satellite Network requires one of the SoCs listed below.
- Terrestrial Network runs on any device that can transmit a BLE advertisement.
Satellite Network: Supported SoCs
Satellite transmission is not standard Bluetooth advertising — the SDK programs the radio peripheral directly to emit Hubble's satellite waveform. Your device must meet both requirements below.
If your SoC is not listed, the SDK cannot currently transmit to satellite on it. Email support@hubble.com to request support for your chip.
Requirement 1: A Supported SoC
| Chip Vendor | SoC | Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) / Framework | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nordic | nRF52 series | Zephyr / nRF Connect SDK | Integration Guide · Sample |
| Nordic | nRF5340* | Zephyr / nRF Connect SDK | Integration Guide · Sample |
| Nordic | nRF54L series | Zephyr / nRF Connect SDK | Integration Guide · Sample |
| Silicon Labs | EFR32xG24 | Zephyr | Sample |
| Silicon Labs | EFR32xG26 | Zephyr | Sample |
| Espressif | ESP32-C6** | Espressif IoT Development Framework (ESP-IDF) | Integration Guide · Sample |
| Texas Instruments (TI) | CC2340R5 | TI FreeRTOS (SimpleLink Low Power F3 SDK) | Integration Guide · Sample |
| Texas Instruments (TI) | CC2755P10 | TI FreeRTOS (SimpleLink Low Power F3 SDK) | Integration Guide · Sample |
* nRF5340: The satellite and Bluetooth radio stacks run on the network core. Build with sysbuild; the Integration Guide covers the core split.
** ESP32-C6: Satellite transmission needs an early-access physical layer (PHY) library from Espressif in place of the one that ships with ESP-IDF. The Integration Guide links the download.
Requirement 2: At Least +20 dBm Transmit Power
Satellite transmission requires at least +20 dBm transmit power. Most Bluetooth SoCs top out well below that, so you need one of:
- A power amplifier (PA) or front-end module (FEM) on your board.
- An SoC with a +20 dBm integrated PA, such as the CC2755P10, the ESP32-C6, or the +20 dBm variants of the EFR32xG24 and EFR32xG26.
- A developer kit (DK) that reaches +20 dBm out of the box, for evaluation.
These developer kits are validated for satellite transmission:
| Developer Kit | SoC | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LP-EM-CC2755P10 | CC2755P10 | Integrated power amplifier. |
| nRF54L15 DK | nRF54L15 | Requires an external PA or FEM. The nRF54L15 tops out at +8 dBm. |
| nRF21540 DK | nRF52840 | Includes the nRF21540 front-end module. |
| Thingy:53 | nRF5340 | Includes the nRF21540 front-end module. |
| EFR32xG24 Pro Kit +20 dBm | EFR32xG24 | +20 dBm variant. |
| xG26-RB4121A Radio Board +20 dBm | EFR32xG26 | +20 dBm variant. Requires a compatible mainboard. |
| ESP32-C6-DevKitC-1 | ESP32-C6 | Integrated power amplifier. |
Try it: See the Satellite Quick Start to confirm satellite reception on a qualifying device, and the Transmission Guidance for power and scheduling recommendations.
Terrestrial Network: Any Bluetooth Device
Terrestrial transmission is an ordinary BLE advertisement. The Hubble Device SDK builds the encrypted payload; your existing Bluetooth stack broadcasts it.
Any BLE SoC can transmit to Terrestrial Network. What varies is how much integration work your platform needs, and that depends on your firmware environment, not your chip.
What Your Platform Needs
- BLE legacy advertising (Bluetooth 4.0 or later). Hubble's payload travels in a Service Data – 16-bit UUID (universally unique identifier) structure, and the Hubble UUID
0xFCA6must also appear in the service UUID list. Extended advertising is not supported. No connections or GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) services are required. See Advertising Packet for the layout. - A millisecond uptime counter accurate to ±500 ppm (parts per million). A real-time clock is not required.
- A C toolchain. The SDK is portable C with no operating system dependency of its own.
- Payload encryption (AES-CTR and AES-CMAC). The SDK encrypts the payload with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) in counter mode (CTR) and authenticates it with a cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC). The SDK ships PSA (Platform Security Architecture) Crypto and Mbed TLS backends, or you can implement
crypto.hagainst your own library or hardware accelerator. See Cryptographic Abstraction.
Find Your Chip
Hubble supports every Bluetooth SoC that Zephyr supports: the Zephyr sample builds for any of them, so the first row covers all Zephyr chips. The other rows are representative devices and vendor environments that Hubble has tested, not a complete list. Find your chip or firmware environment, then check its Support level in the key below the table.
| Vendor | Chip series | Firmware environment | Support | Start here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any BLE-capable chip | Zephyr | SDK port | Reference App SDK samples | |
| Texas Instruments | CC2340 CC2755 | TI FreeRTOS (SimpleLink Low Power F3 SDK) | SDK port | Reference App Integration Guide Dash Quick Start |
| SimpleLink Zephyr | SDK port | Reference App | ||
| Nordic | nRF52 nRF53 nRF54 | nRF Connect SDK | SDK port | Reference App Integration Guide Dash Quick Start |
| nRF52 | nRF5 SDK + SoftDevice | Reference only | Reference App | |
| Silicon Labs | EFR32 | Simplicity SDK | Reference only | Reference App |
| Espressif | All BLE-capable ESP32 | ESP-IDF | SDK port | Integration Guide Sample |
| Renesas | DA145xx | DA145xx SDK6 | Reference only | Reference App |
| InPlay | IN100 | NanoBeacon Config Tool | No code | Provisioning Guide Encryption Modes |
| Any other BLE SoC | FreeRTOS | SDK port | SDK samples | |
| Bare metal or another RTOS | Porting guide | Porting Guide | ||
Zephyr support covers all supported releases and Zephyr-based distributions.
Support Levels
| Support level | What it means |
|---|---|
| SDK port | The SDK plugs into your build as a module. Enable CONFIG_HUBBLE_BLE_NETWORK, then call the SDK from your application to build the payload your Bluetooth stack advertises. |
| Reference only | The SDK has no built-in port for this environment. Start from the reference application, which contains the port and a working beacon. |
| No code | Generate a Hubble configuration and program it with the vendor's tool. No firmware development. |
| Porting guide | Implement a small set of system functions and pick a crypto backend. |
Don't see your chip or environment? Terrestrial Network still works on any BLE SoC. Email support@hubble.com and describe your platform, or submit feedback to request a reference application.