Squall is a low cost, 1 inch round BLE sensor tag based on the Nordic nRF51822 BLE / Cortex M0 SoC. It is designed to be the basis for experimenting with BLE tag platforms.
Squall comes in two flavors: a stripped down version with only the essentials that has a raw cost just over $5. This includes the SoC, an antenna, expansion headers, and a battery clip. This version is targeted towards sensor deployments where a low cost per device is essential to permit larger deployments.
The second version adds USB support so that the nRF51822 can be programmed with a serial bootloader, and adds a reset button and 32 kHz crystal. This design is intended to be easier to get started with as it only requires a USB connection to program. It also supports a rechargeable battery that will charge over USB.
To aid developing with Squall, there is a breakout board that makes it easier to debug signals and program the board.
To program Squall over JTAG, there is an adapter board that adapts the J-Link JTAG 20-pin header to the much smaller tag connect header.
Squall is designed to be a base BLE platform with shields on top. A couple shields have been developed: