Can nrf52840 usbd work with softdevice?

[nrfmote]

The nrf52840 usbd examples of peripheral in SDK 13.0.0 worked fine. I want usb work with BLE softdevice and there are lots of conflicts between nrf drv and softdevice. Is there any example of usbd working together with ble softdevice?

[Sigurd]

Hi,

I just tested this without any problems. Only thing I had to do was to comment out the buttons_leds_init() function used in the ble_app_uart code, so it didn’t overwrite the button functionality used for the USBD part of the code. My main code looks like this:

int main(void)
{
    uint32_t err_code = 0;
    bool erase_bonds;
    
    uint32_t ret = 0;    

    // Initialize.
    APP_TIMER_INIT(APP_TIMER_PRESCALER, APP_TIMER_OP_QUEUE_SIZE, false);
    uart_init();
    err_code = NRF_LOG_INIT(NULL);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    
    NRF_LOG_INFO("\r\nUART Start!\r\n");
    
    ret = nrf_drv_power_init(NULL);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);
    
    ret = nrf_drv_clock_init();

    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);
    
    
    NRF_LOG_INFO("Hello USB!\r\n");

    /* Configure LEDs */
    bsp_board_leds_init();
    bsp_board_buttons_init();


    serial_number_string_create();
    
    ret = app_usbd_init();
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);

    app_usbd_class_inst_t const * class_cdc_acm = app_usbd_cdc_acm_class_inst_get(&m_app_cdc_acm);
    ret = app_usbd_class_append(class_cdc_acm);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);

    bool last_usb_conn_status = false;
    usb_start();

    
    NRF_LOG_INFO("Enabling BLE part!\r\n");
    //buttons_leds_init(&erase_bonds);
    ble_stack_init();
    gap_params_init();
    services_init();
    advertising_init();
    conn_params_init();
   
    err_code = ble_advertising_start(BLE_ADV_MODE_FAST);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    
    // Enter main loop.
    for (;;)
    {
        
        last_usb_conn_status = usb_connection_handle(last_usb_conn_status);

        if (bsp_board_button_state_get(BTN_CDC_DATA_SEND))
        {
            static int  frame_counter;

            sprintf(m_tx_buffer, "Hello USB CDC FA demo: %u\r\n", frame_counter);

            ret = app_usbd_cdc_acm_write(&m_app_cdc_acm, m_tx_buffer, sizeof(m_tx_buffer));
            if (ret == NRF_SUCCESS)
            {
                ++frame_counter;
            }
        }

        if (bsp_board_button_state_get(BTN_CDC_NOTIFY_SEND))
        {
            ret = app_usbd_cdc_acm_serial_state_notify(&m_app_cdc_acm,
                                                       APP_USBD_CDC_ACM_SERIAL_STATE_BREAK,
                                                       false);
            UNUSED_VARIABLE(ret);
        }

        UNUSED_RETURN_VALUE(NRF_LOG_PROCESS());
        
        
        power_manage();
    }
}

[Sigurd]

Hi, the reason for this is that the NRF_POWER interrupts that is set with the usb_start()/nrf_power_int_enable() function are cleared/removed when the SoftDevice is enabled. These interrupts are used to detect when the USB-cable is plugged in and out. The application has restricted access to the NRF_POWER peripheral after the SoftDevice is enabled, so it cannot set-up the interrupts after the SoftDevice is enabled. A new SoftDevice version is soon coming that will have the functionality to set-up these interrupts after the SoftDevice is enabled.

[Jev]

Hi, are there any updates on the above? I am currently facing the same issue as this thread author. I am using nRF5 SDK 17.1.0 with 7.2 SoftDevide and couldn't get USB_MSC example working combined with BLE CENTRAL UART example. 

[Sigurd]

Hi Jev,

This case is from 2017. Please open a new case if you are having issues.