Hello Nordic Support Team,
We are developing a custom product based on the Nordic nRF54L15-CAAA(R) SoC.
Our project requirement is to use the nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option rather than the Zephyr RTOS-based application environment. Nordic provides the Bare Metal option for nRF54L Series devices and integrates it with the nRF Connect for VS Code environment.
We have already installed:
- Visual Studio Code
- nRF Connect for VS Code extension
We need guidance to establish the complete and officially supported development environment.
Target Hardware
- SoC: nRF54L15-CAAA(R)
- Board: Custom hardware
- Development IDE: Visual Studio Code
- Nordic extension: nRF Connect for VS Code
- Preferred architecture: Bare Metal
- RTOS: Zephyr is not preferred for our application
- SDK: nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option
SDK and Toolchain Requirements
Please confirm the following:
- Which nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal version should be used for nRF54L15-CAAA(R)?
- Which toolchain version is officially compatible with that SDK version?
- What is the recommended procedure in nRF Connect for VS Code to install:
- nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal
- Matching toolchain
- CMake
- Ninja
- Python
- West/nRF Util or other required Nordic tools
- Debug/programming tools
- Please provide the recommended SDK + toolchain + nRF Util version combination so that we do not accidentally mix incompatible versions.
nRF54L15 CPUAPP and Custom Board Support
Please confirm that the selected Bare Metal SDK version supports:
- nRF54L15
- nRF54L15-CAAA(R)
- CPUAPP
- Custom board development
- nrfx peripheral drivers
- UARTE
- GPIO
- TIMER/GRTC
- SPI/TWIM
- GPIO interrupts
- Low-power operation
Please also advise whether we should use the nRF54L15 DK Bare Metal configuration as the starting point and create a custom board configuration for our hardware.
Cryptography / AES Requirement
Our application also requires cryptographic functionality, particularly AES encryption/decryption.
Therefore, we would like the SDK installation to include and support all required Nordic cryptography components for the nRF54L15.
Please confirm the recommended Bare Metal-compatible solution for:
- AES-128
- AES-256
- AES encryption/decryption
- AES-CTR
- AES-CBC
- AES-ECB, if supported
- AES-CMAC
- AES-CCM / AEAD
- SHA-256 and other supported hash algorithms
- HMAC
- Random number generation / TRNG
- ECC, if required
- Secure key handling
- Hardware cryptographic acceleration using CRACEN
The nRF54L15 includes the CRACEN hardware cryptographic accelerator, with hardware support including AES-128/AES-256 and several other cryptographic algorithms.
We would specifically like to know:
- Which cryptography libraries/APIs should be used in a Bare Metal nRF54L15 application?
- Is the PSA Crypto API available/recommended for our Bare Metal application, or should we use another Nordic cryptography API?
- Which SDK components/source files need to be included for AES support?
- Is the CRACEN backend directly usable from our Bare Metal application?
- Does the Bare Metal SDK provide examples demonstrating AES encryption/decryption on nRF54L15?
- If AES is accessed through a higher-level API, please provide the recommended API and configuration.
- Please clarify whether any Oberon, CRACEN, mbed TLS, PSA Crypto, or other cryptographic libraries need to be installed separately.
- Please identify the required include files, libraries, configuration files, and build configuration required for AES.
Example Requirement
Our intended application architecture is approximately:
Application
→ Bare-Metal application code
→ Nordic cryptography API
→ CRACEN hardware crypto accelerator
→ nRF54L15 hardware
We would prefer to use the hardware cryptographic acceleration rather than implementing AES purely in software whenever the hardware supports the required operation.
Bluetooth LE Requirement
If Bluetooth LE is required, we also intend to use the Bare Metal SoftDevice architecture.
Please confirm the recommended configuration for:
- SoftDevice S115
- Bluetooth LE security
- LE Secure Connections
- AES/CCM cryptographic operations
- Application-level AES operations
- Interaction between SoftDevice security and application-level cryptography
The Nordic Bare Metal option currently provides SoftDevice support for nRF54L Series devices, including LE Secure Connections.
Required Documentation / Examples
Please provide links or references for:
- nRF54L15 Bare Metal SDK installation
- nRF Connect for VS Code setup
- nRF54L15 CPUAPP Bare Metal project creation
- Custom board creation
- CRACEN usage
- AES encryption/decryption example
- PSA Crypto API, if applicable
- Cryptographic key management
- Random number generation
- Low-power implementation with Bare Metal
Final Objective
Our objective is to establish the following development environment:
nRF54L15-CAAA(R) Custom Board
↓
nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal
↓
Matching Nordic Toolchain
↓
nRF Connect for VS Code
↓
nrfx + Bare Metal drivers
↓
SoftDevice S115 (if BLE is required)
↓
CRACEN hardware cryptography / AES
↓
Application
Please recommend the exact SDK version, toolchain version, required packages/components, and VS Code configuration that Nordic officially recommends for this setup.
Thank you for your support.
