NPM2100 EK CONNECTION

[Luiz Miranda]

NPM2100 EK CONNECTION

Can I connect The NPM2100 EK with NRF52 DK?
If so.....
1. How do I physically do this?
2. Can I  program the NPM2100 EK to send Voltage Supply of 1.7V ~ 3.6V to the NRF52 DK? (What tool can I use to do this?)
If not...
How can I use the NPM2100 EK to generate Voltage Supply for a NRF52832-QFAA-R? (What tool can I use to do this?))

Can I put an Active Buzzer on NPM2100 EK and program the NPM2100 PMIC to generate a 3V signal for Buzzer?

Thanks in advance!

[Luiz Miranda]

Hi Andreas:

I will take a look at the getting started pages.

I have a question and I don't know if you can help me.

I am developing a project with NRF52832-QFAA-R, a Passive Buzzer and chip antenna from Johanson Technology Inc ..
The battery will be CR 20232.
The Passive Buzzer and the CR 2032 will Be Off-PCB.

Is it necessary to define an Linear, Low Drop Out (LDO) Regulator for NRF52832-QFAA-R?

Regards

Luiz

[AHaug]

Hi Luiz,

I had to get some input from the PMIC team w.r.t your latest set of questions:

The CR2032 battery is nominally 3V, but full battery is typically 3.2V or so. This means that the boost converter will be in pass through mode if the output voltage is programmed to 3V. In pass-through mode the output voltage is essentially the same as battery voltage. If you want regulated 3V then you could potentially set the boost output to 3.3V and use the internal LDO programmed to 3V to get the regulated 3V output. It all depends on the current/voltage requirements on the peripherals (buzzer etc). The nRF52 can be connected directly to the boost output.

Let me know if this answers your question

Kind regards,
Andreas 

[AHaug]

Hello,

Yes, there's: 

• The general Bootloaders and DFU documentation https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/app_dev/bootloaders_dfu/index.html 
• Working with the 52 Series which contains the "FOTA updates on nRF52 Series Devices"
• And our academy pages that has theory and hands on exercises for DFU with various transports: https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-intermediate/lessons/lesson-9-bootloaders-and-dfu-fota/ 

Let me know if this is what you're looking for

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Luiz Miranda]

Hello:

Is it possible to develop firmware updates with the NRF52 DK?

Regards

Luiz Mir\anda

[AHaug]

Hi,

Assuming that you're using nRF Connect SDK: In theory, yes, in practice it will depend on what type of firmware updates you're aiming to do. If you're doing serial recovery, then yes given that you can fit your application and you have a bootloader that allows for serial recovery of the application.

If you're doing BLE or any other transport that requires you to have dual bank application slots, then you won't be able to do it without an external flash. The reason is explained here https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-intermediate/lessons/lesson-9-bootloaders-and-dfu-fota/topic/device-firmware-update-dfu-essentials/. 

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Luiz Miranda]

Hi

I am developing a PCB that needs to have its firmware updated via BLE.
The update will be done by an APP installed on the smartphone (Apple and Android).

Will I need an external flash if I use the nRF52832?

Will I need an external flash if I use the nRF52840?

Is there another Nordic MCU model that you think is better for my project?

Regrads

Luiz Miranda

[AHaug]

Hello, 

Luiz Miranda said:

Will I need an external flash if I use the nRF52832?

Yes, if you're using the 512kB flash version of the nRF52832 you will need to use an external flash for the partition that will hold the image update, i.e due to the need for dual bank flash update.

Luiz Miranda said:

Will I need an external flash if I use the nRF52840?

It will depend on your applications size. 

To put some numbers on the abstraction. Consider this scenario where you only have an uppdatable app, but not an uppdatable bootloader. In this example you have a MCUBoot bootloader of 48kB, and a settings partition for your BLE settings for 8kB. Maybe you also have a storage partition at around 20kB as well. Disclaimer, this is just random numbers selected, and some modifications must be made in a real application:

Total flash >= mcuboot + 2x application application size  + settings + storage  -> application size = 1/2 (total flash - mcuboot - settings - storage)

1. For the nRF52832 with total flash 512kB this results in application size <= 1/2 (512 - 48 - 8 - 20) = 218 kB
2. For the nRF52840 with total flash 1024kB this results in application size <= 1/2 (1024 - 48 - 8 - 20) = 474 kB

In addition NCSDK-20567: Partitioning limitation with MCUboot swap move mentioned in https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/releases_and_maturity/known_issues.html#bootloader 

"The size of the application must be less than 'mcuboot_primary_size - 80 - (mcuboot_primary_size/ 4096) * 12 -4096'" meaning that if your mcuboot primary size is equal to 474kB, the application size must be ~95% of that size.

Conclusion: 

If your application, bootloaders and every other partition requires is well within the estimate above w.r.t flash, then you don't need an external flash. If it's close to or above the estimate used in the samples above 52840, you need an external flash. In practice, an application with BLE will be too big to fit within 218kB, but it will all depend on what your application is. The peripheral lbs sample with minimal configuration results in a 161kB large application, so there are some cases where it will fit for small, simple applications.

Luiz Miranda said:

Is there another Nordic MCU model that you think is better for my project?

I think that both the nRF52832 (which might require an external flash for BLE FOTA), and nRF52840 (which also might need an external flash depending on how large your application is going to be in the end. That is something only you can evaluate). The nRF5340 does also need an external flash if your application becomes too large due to the same limitations above, and the same also goes for the nRF54L15, L10 and L05 (all variants of the nRF54L family with various flash and ram sizes, and available peripherals). This is unfortunately just the nature of dual bank DFU, which BLE FOTA requires in NCS.

Do you have any indications about the scope of the application and how large it will be?

Kind regards,
Andreas