Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

RE: Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

MJJ — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:31:05 GMT

From: Dhara Solanki <dsolanki@life360.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2025 6:56 PM
To: Veilleux, Daniel <Daniel.Veilleux@nordicsemi.no>
Cc: Frey, Craig <Craig.Frey@nordicsemi.no>; Dave Stude <dstude@life360.com>; Omair Qazi <oqazi@life360.com>; J. Jones, Michael <michael.j.jones@nordicsemi.no>; Riddhi Patel <rpatel@life360.com>
Subject: Re: [Life360][Nordic] nrf21540 spi control for Tx gain

Thanks Daniel. I’ll give this a try tomorrow.

On Tue, Jan 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM Veilleux, Daniel <Daniel.Veilleux@nordicsemi.no> wrote:

Hello Dhara,

You don't need any jumpers. I don't have an nRF21540 shield here but I can see GPIO and SPI activity on the headers. The FEM is controlled by the MPSL — which isn't used by default in the Zephyr samples — so I started with "nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_uart" in v2.7.0. Then:

Open a shell:
1. nrfutil toolchain-manager launch --shell --chdir "/home/foolsday/workspace/ncs" --ncs-version v2.7.0
Extract the attached zip file to create a "child_image" dir containing cpunet conf and overlay files. This accomplishes two important things:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../8171.child_5F00_image.zip

1. CONFIG_MPSL_FEM_NRF21540_GPIO_SPI=y
2. Disable UART0

Build:

1. west build -p -b nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp --no-sysbuild -- -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek_fwd -Dhci_ipc_SHIELD=nrf21540ek

Flash

1. west flash --recover

Here is what the default GPIO pins looks like during advertising:

Let me know how it goes!

Best regards,

Daniel

RE: Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

DHARA — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:04:09 GMT

Hello,

We will be using GPIO+SPI config.

If you can help me test nRf21540 working even with sysbuild, with any sample, any way, I would appreciate it.

I did the following:

1) ncs 2.7 on linux

2) Sample: ncs/zephyr/samples/bluetooth/beacon

3) Original unmodified nrf5340dk files

4) Build command: nrfutil toolchain-manager launch --ncs-version v2.7.0 west build -- --pristine -b nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp -- -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek_fwd -Dhci_ipc_SHIELD=nrf21540ek

5) Flash command: nrfutil toolchain-manager launch --ncs-version v2.7.0 west flash

But the board beacon RF signal is only coming from the nRF5340DK BLE Antenna port, not ANT1 on nRF21540-EK. I also checked the logic analyzer traces on the interface pins but there is no activity. I only get High on vdd on nRf21540.

Thanks,
Dhara

RE: Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

runsiv — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 13:22:40 GMT

1.Work in progress from my side

2. This is correct, when you are using a custom board with a non ek then you will need to create an overlay for the board where you have added the necessary devicetree entries. Please see Enabling FEM support (adding it just in case, you have already enabled the Kconfig options).

How do you plan to control the FEM? I would at least have a look here on how to set up the different ways to control it.

Regards

Runar

RE: Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

DHARA — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 06:26:19 GMT

Hi Marte,

A) parent-child image with modified device tree files:

Ok yes I tried with --no-sysbuild.

I was also adding the hci_ipc_prj.conf to app image Cmaklists instead of net image cmakelists file.

I added it to samples/zephyr/bluetooth/hci_ipc, as the beacon sample was using this for netcore image.

Then it showed me the hci_ipc/zephyr/.config file with correct MPSL settings and such as per the document.

But when I test, I see error in hci_core.c file at below location, and there is no beaconing.

err = bt_dev.drv->open();
if (err) {
LOG_ERR("HCI driver open failed (%d)", err);
return err;
}

We need to move to using sysbuild but for now we are still using parent-child image and I need to control nRF21540 using multi-image build.

B) parent-child image with -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek

Since above did not work for some reason, I tried without device tree changes, only with the CMAKE option of -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek

I did see beaconing and no error, but looked like the advertising was coming from nRF5340 antenna itself and the nRf21540 was totally unused.

I was expecting TX_EN to go high every 100 ms or so (adv interval) but that did not happen. SPI_SCK also remained low the whole time.

C) sysbuild with -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek

Again I see same result as in B and no effect of using the nRf21540 EK.

D) sysbuild with -- -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek_fwd -Dhci_ipc_SHIELD=nrf21540ek

As per Developing with the nRF21540 EK need above config for multicore soc like nrf5340.

Again I see same result as in B and no effect of using the nRf21540 EK.

Questions:

1. Will the -- -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek_fwd -Dhci_ipc_SHIELD=nrf21540ek also work with multi-image builds?

2. I ultimately want to use nRf21540 chip on our custom board. So we will not be using nRf21540 EK as is, but will need modified config. In this case, the device tree changes will still be needed right?

Not sure what to do next to get the nRF21540 to work.

RE: Testing nRF5340 DK + nRF21540 EK using ncs 2.7 with child Image

Marte Myrvold — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 13:12:29 GMT

Hi Dhara,

In v2.7.0 you must specify that you do not want to use sysbuild when building applications that are located inside your west workspace. You can do this by adding --no-sysbuild to the build command:

west build -b nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp --no-sysbuild

The recommended method of including the nRF21540 EK is by providing it as a CMake option in the command with -DSHIELD=nrf21540ek. You do not need to add it to devicetree manually when adding it as a CMake option. Please see Developing with the nRF21540 EK for more information.

Please note that parent-child image is deprecated in v2.7.0, and sysbuild is the recommended method.

Best regards,
Marte