nRF52840 DK board developed off Hardware files v3.0.3 would like to get the on-board SEGGER J-Link debugger flashed on the board

[chuck rekiere]

Hi,

We had a nRF52840 DK board developed off Hardware files v3.0.3 build.  The manufacturer didn't have any of the MCU or SEGGER J-Link debugger files on the device.  We are using SDK 3.0.2.

The board built is exactly like the nRF52840. 

What has been tried

• Is the j-link-ob-sam3u128-v2-nordicsemi-170724.bin the file to put on the board.
  
  • Tried to do the hold reset and turn on the board power , hold reset and over usb a storage device will show up and the above .bin needed to be moved to the storage devicer and the MCU would program.   The LED only blinked and turned off and the storage device didn't show up.
    docs.nordicsemi.com/.../if_mcu.html
• Connected the nordic nRF52840 DK Debug out (10 pin) to the nRF52840 DK build board Debug in.  The board didn't show up . (had previously done with a Fanstel and it worked)

So which steps need to be done to get the MCU / SEGGER J-Link debugger flashed / programmed onto the nRF52840 board .  Do we need to purchase a J-Link SEGGER programmer? 

• If so which model of J-Link SEGGER programmer ?
• How would the J-Link SEGGER be connected to the board?

Can the nRF52840 DK (nordic) be used to Flash the MCU / SEGGER J-Link debugger onto the nRF52840 DK (build) ?

• https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf5340_dk/page/UG/dk/ext_programming_support_P20.html

Would prefer the simplest and reproducible method as will need to use in production.

The basic question is have build an nRF53840 board and need to get the MCU and the SEGGER J-Link debugger on the boards.

Input appreciated

[PaKa]

The SEGGER OBD code is not available for external use. If you want access to this then you will need to buy the SW and license from SEGGER. 

All the Nordic DKs are sold as development kits and also certified as this.Development kits have different rules than end products so if you plan to include it in an end product then you will need to certify it yourself.

All of the restrictions on use of the Nordic DKs are in licensing agreements. 

Second option for you is as Turbo J said, use an open source alternative instead. No guarantees that this will work with Nordic SW tools as these are built around SEGGER JLINK support.

[chuck rekiere]

There looks to be issues  with our approach (please correct me if I am wrong)

1.  Need to buy the SW and license from SEGGER

2. Need to have ability to licence and flash Nordic fw so as to be able to load the SEGGER SW

3. Need to license the hardware design from Nordic

4. Need to license the Nordic Firmware (which Nordic does not provide the firmware).

Also is there a link to the Nordic DKs licensing agreements?

[PaKa]

The HW design for the Nordic DK has a permissive license and you are allowed to copy the design without anything more than attribution.

The FW used on the DKs are under SEGGER license and what you need to negotiate with SEGGER.

You can find the Nordic licenses used in the blog section here on Devzone, search for blogs.

To make a short answer: trying to go down the SEGGER path is very unlikely to succeed. Recommend to either buy the DKs/programmers or go the open source route.

[chuck rekiere]

Thank-you, you answers are helping us find a path forward. 

1. "Buy the DKs /programmers" - This rout would be to purchase a NRF52480 - DK or NRF54L15 - DK and place in the piece of test equipment and reference that the product contains the Nordic boards ?

2. The nRF52840-DK has a note on the screening "For evaluation only : not FCC approved for resale".  This any clone off the reference design would need to get FCC approval ?

3. As you mentioned previously to work around the nRF54L15 - DK not having the sniffer is to use it in combination with the The nRF52840 Dongles.
devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../549902

4. The nRF54L15 - DK does that have FCC approval?

5.  The nRF52840 Dongles do have FCC approval?

6. Would a product with a combination of nRF54L15 - DK and nRGF52840 Dongles need blue tooth certification or would it fall under the nordic board certification ?  The product would just have tho have some reference to "Product contains Nordic nRF54L15 - DK and nRF52840" ?

[PaKa]

None of the kits are FCC certified as they are all development kits so if you are to ship them in an end product then you will need to FCC certify the completed product you plan to make.

[chuck rekiere]

The product that contained 5 nRF54L15 boards and 5 nRF52840 dongles (as sniffers) would need FCC certification.   Would the same product need to have bluetooth certification ? 

[PjGlasso]

Hi there,

So, WHy would you want to use the DK that way? What's the END goal here?
I recall a while back , Someone was shipping the Sniffer setup on the Dongle as part of their end product.

I don't recall reading anything about Licensing needed if doing it that way. I'm pretty sure they made up a UF2 file to drag and drop onto the dongle prior to shipping it. Which makes it a dedicated device?

HTH

GL :-) PJ :v:

[chuck rekiere]

Nod,  we are looking into options.  We could have a dongle be a dedicated sniffer. 

We were looking into seeing if the DK board could be a sniffer or be re-flashed to do advertisements. 

Also, we have some software running on the DK board what we would like to have field up-gradable (thus reflash) , basically bug fixes and feature updates. 

With the dongle from my understanding you need to hit the reset button to force an upgrade (I have not done the dongle update, only have done updates with the DK boards). Unless there is a way to update.