Getting Error while connecting nRF9160DK module to nRF7002DK module with spi and use it for wifi locationing

[SemihAydin]

Dear Nordic Team,

I want to connect my nRF9160DK board to my nRF7002DK board and get a wi-fi location. I've followed samples/cellular/nrf_cloud_multi_service as sample and I made wiring as follows

Board	nRF9160-DK(P3 & P4)	nRF7002-DK (P24)
SPI CLK	P0.13	P0.17
SPI CS	P0.10	P0.18
SPI MOSI	P0.11	P0.13
SPI MISO	P0.12	P0.14
HOST-IRQ	P0.07	P0.23
IOVDD-CTR	P0.00	P0.31
BUCKEN	P0.01	P0.12

I soldered SB25 and SB20 on the nRF7002 board.



The problem is, whenever I'm trying to build samples/cellular/nrf_cloud_multi_service sample with using overlay-nrf7002ek-wifi-scan-only.conf as Extra Kconfig fragments and -DSHIELD="nrf7002ek" as Extra Cmake arguments.

After flashing the sample to the nrf9160DK board, I'm getting the error below:

*** Booting nRF Connect SDK 4040aa0bf581 ***
[00:00:00.257,720] <inf> main: nRF Cloud multi-service sample has started, version: 1.0.0, protocol: MQTT
[00:00:00.257,751] <inf> cloud_connection: Enabling connectivity...
[00:00:00.260,284] <inf> wifi_nrf_bus: SPIM spi@b000: freq = 8 MHz
[00:00:00.260,314] <inf> wifi_nrf_bus: SPIM spi@b000: latency = 0
[00:00:00.260,864] <err> wifi_nrf_bus: Error: RPU comms test: sig failed: expected 0x42000020, got 0xffffffff

[00:00:00.260,925] <err> wifi_nrf: zep_shim_bus_qspi_dev_add: RPU enable failed with error -1
[00:00:00.260,986] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_bus_qspi_dev_add: nrf_wifi_osal_bus_qspi_dev_add failed
[00:00:00.261,077] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_bal_dev_add: Bus dev_add failed
[00:00:00.261,169] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_hal_dev_add: nrf_wifi_bal_dev_add failed
[00:00:00.261,322] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_fmac_dev_add: nrf_wifi_hal_dev_add failed
[00:00:00.261,383] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_fmac_dev_add_zep: nrf_wifi_fmac_dev_add failed
[00:00:00.261,413] <err> wifi_nrf: nrf_wifi_if_start_zep: nrf_wifi_fmac_dev_add_zep failed
[00:00:00.537,200] <inf> cloud_connection: Setting up nRF Cloud library...
[00:00:00.539,093] <inf> cloud_connection: Waiting for network ready...
+CEREG: 2,"1644","00DB1564",9
+CSCON: 1
+CGEV: ME PDN ACT 0,0
+CNEC_ESM: 50,0
+CEREG: 5,"1644","00DB1564",9,,,"00010000","11100000"
%XTIME: "21","42118151436521","00"
+CSCON: 0

Then progress stops completely. The error changes when I disconnect any of the cables, so I thought the problem might be the configuration on the devicetree. and here how it looks like:

I tried to assign SPI WAKE to P0.07, the HOST-IRQ pin, but this time it started to give this error serially: ASSERTION FAIL @ WEST_TOPDIR/modules/hal/nordic/nrfx/drivers/src/nrfx_gpiote.c:486

I would be very grateful if you can help me solve this error, if there is any extra information that you think may be useful, I will be happy to share it.

Actually what I want to do is to get the wifi location in a simple way and monitor it on nrf cloud with REST protocol. Then I want to add A-GNSS and experience an effective indoor and outdoor location tracking example. I would be glad to hear your extra advice for that too.

Best wishes!

[dejans]

Hi,

I soldered SB25 and SB20 on the nRF7002 board.

nRF7002 companion IC documentation specifies that control signal are available on P24 while QSPI is not connected by default. Connection to P24 can be established by shorting solder bridges from SB20 to SB25, not just SB20 and SB25. This is also specified in the nRF7002-dk solder bridge documentation.

Best regards,
Dejan

[SemihAydin]

Hi Dejans,

Thanks for your help. I tried again after soldering as you said and I got this output and I think the error is fixed. However, after a while I kept getting the same error again. In this case, can we say that there is a problem with my cables? The only change I made during this process was to try to run the nrf7002 with a powerbank for once. When the LED5 kept blinking, I thought that there was not enough power for the device to work, so I started using the computer again. And even if I power supply from the computer I keep getting the “Error: RPU comms test: sig failed: expected 0x42000020, got 0xffffffffff” error.

 

Also, please excuse my inexperience, I have not done any processing or firmware installation since I received the nrf7002dk device. So I started using it as a shield for the nrf9160dk device as it came from the factory.

In case if I made a mistake to flashed the code to the nrf7002dk instead of nrf9160dk, I thought of cleaning the device with the “erase board” option on the nrf7002dk via VScode and running it again, but this time LED1 and LED2 stopped signaling. I tried to upload the .HEX file again but there was no change.



Could you please inform me about the points I should pay attention to at this stage? Thank you for your patience and support.

[SemihAydin]

Hi Dejan,

I'm currently using NCS v2.8.0 , I was using v2.6.2 before then I thought maybe the issue could fix with updating NCS to the latest version.

I'm using the command below while Im using NCS as v2.8.0

west build -p -b nrf9160dk/nrf9160/ns

Since I changed the NCS to the v2.8.0, the multi service sample always using sysbuild even I tried to change from the edit build configuration tool.



I wonder if it would help if I reinstalled the NCS.

Best regards,
Semih

[dejans]

Hi Semih,

Which operating system do you use?

SemihAydin said:

I also changed the SDK versiton to the v2.8.0 and it was working without problems with asset tracker v2

I understand that asset_tracker_v2 worked for you but provided log showed error: -111. Is it correct that you used asset_tracker_v2 in NCS v2.8.0 without problems?
Did you have any problems when running asset_tracker_v2 in NCS v2.6.2?

If you suspect that something might be wrong with your NCS installation, you could try to reinstall NCS. If you decide to try that, you can use Quick Start Guide to install modem firmware and the application of your choice. Quick Start Guide is available in nRF Connect for Desktop.

Best regards,
Dejan

[SemihAydin]

Hello again,

Im so sorry for the delay I was moving to another country and I just had a chance to open my computer.

Suprisingly, when I connected my devıce to the same computer I realise that the nrf cloud connection has done this time, I did not do anything, it just connected itself with the same settings. My impression is maybe I was not have good enough network connection in my apartment then when I tried in the outher country/place it starts to working.

About the connection between nrf7002dk and nrf9160dk, what should I do and which points I need to check?

Best regards,
Semih

[dejans]

Hi Semih,

I am sorry for a delayed reply. It was a vacation period, and I was out of the office.

Can you provide new sharper images of your setup?

Which error are you getting now when connection to the nRF Cloud is successfully established on nrf9160-dk (running multi_service sample), and you connect it to nrf7002-dk (running scan sample)? Is error the same as shown below?



For testing, do you have nrf7002ek to use instead of nrf7002-dk?

Best regards,
Dejan

[SemihAydin]

Hi Dejan,

Same for me, I wish you a happy new year

Sure, here is my setup below, and I would like to inform you that unfortunatelly I don't have nRF7002ek



And here is my step by step terminal logs from 2 different development kit below.

First I connected the devices to the computer but I didin't make the connection between Dev kits.

The result from nRF7002DK


The result from nRF9160DK


By the way, today Im not able to open "edit build configuration settings but when I click on copy build command, this is the output,

west build -p -b nrf9160dk/nrf9160/ns -- -DSHIELD=nrf7002ek_nrf7000 -DSB_CONF_FILE=sysbuild_nrf700x-wifi-scan.conf -DEXTRA_CONF_FILE=overlay-nrf7002ek-wifi-scan-only.conf -DBOARD_ROOT=c:\nordic\myApps\nrf_cloud_multi_service_9 --pristine



Then I made connection between two development kits and here are the results,

For nRF7002DK



For nRF9160DK



Thank you for your assistance and patience.

Best regards,
Semih

[SemihAydin]

In addition, I realised that my computer was out of charge and turned it back on and this is the terminal output I got from nRF7002DK:



And everything is looks same with nRF9160DK



Perhaps the reason for the difference here is also the reason for the error?

Best regards,
Semih

[dejans]

Hi Semih,

Can you provide logs when you exclude nrf7002ek configuration part from your build command?

Can you show your build command for the sample running on nrf7002-dk? 

Before connecting devices, can you try to build as usual on nrf9160-dk (using nrf7002ek configuration), recover/erase nrf5340 on nrf7002-dk board, and provide logs after you do that?

Best regards,
Dejan