Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

Hung Bui — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 17:01:48 GMT

Yes, they are up to date and can be used with latest SDK v14.2

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

mon2 — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 16:51:10 GMT

Thank you Hung. But is it ok to use the latest SDK for our kits (832, 840) which may be using an older silicon version? One of our many confusions while testing. Also, how can we confirm which silicon is onboard our kits? There are stickers onboard the Nordic IC which we posted at the start of this thread.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

Hung Bui — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 16:40:23 GMT

Please follow the manual here and here.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

mon2 — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 15:49:11 GMT

Thanks Matt. Will review. Also, are we limited to which SDK we can use due to the silicon that is planted onto our devkits? Saw the compatibility matrix which references a SDK version that is different than what we have downloaded.

That is, for the 832 device, we see:

infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp

SDK 0.9.x is compatible with nRF52 series only.

So believe that we have Engineering A silicon on our kit so we must use SDK 0.9.x - where is the download for this SDK?

Is there a s/w tool that can allow us to confirm which silicon is present on our kits?

Moving forward, perhaps we should order a more current kit that should be fitted from the factory with silicon Rev C? So we can use test with SDK 14.2.0.

Somewhat confusing for an initial read.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

Matt — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 14:51:48 GMT

Hmm... I think the examples in the sdk infocenter do include "from start to finish" test descriptions? I don't know much about sdk14 but I definitely learned the ropes with the test examples from sdk11 & 12, and also the tutorials from the devzone tutorial section.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

mon2 — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 14:25:59 GMT

Thank you Hung and Matt for your kind comments. We will continue to test this week. It will be great if Nordic could create a few quick start guides that will hand hold from start to finish on how to test some examples. There is a lot of info on your website but so far unable to find them to gel with clarity. It is clear that Nordic is very knowledgeable in the BLE industry but a few quick and complete tutorials will go a long way for starters like us.

Will read up on the idea of pairing up 2 x Nordic devices for a wireless link. The range is not so critical as we could request the end user to get closer based on the RSSI value we will read. Tossing around some ideas including the use of a small LCD display. Again, prefer to use a common phone where possible.

More details to follow on our testing. Bye for now.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

Matt — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 14:19:29 GMT

"Is it possible to reliably create a wireless link with only 2 of the Nordic devices..." That depends on the environment, antenna design, TxPwr, ...etc. I recalled performing a range test with 2 nRF52 DK in both indoor and outdoor environments: outdoor parking lot, no cars in between, with default TxPwr 0db, and I could get up to 100m; indoor in public library, with wooden and metallic bookshelves, with default TxPwr 0db, and I could barely get the advertising signal beyond 20 - 30 feet.

RE: Issues with getting started with nRF52 & Huawei P8 Lite

Hung Bui — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 13:16:11 GMT

Hi Mon,

The precompiled hex file is included the softdevice you don't need to flash the softdevice to test.

However, the hex file you get from building an example doesn't include the softdevice inside. You need to flash the softdevice manually.

We recommend you to use nrfjprog.exe command line tool to do flashing.

nRFGo Studio is obsolete and not updated for quite a long time. This is why it didn't recognize the newer softdevice.

Please try to test again with nRFConnect app instead of nRFToolbox, just for testing.

Error code 133 is pretty common Android BLE error. We still don't have a solution for that yet. But newer phones doesn't have this issue. Usually turn off and on the phone Bluetooth fix the issue (until next time it appears). How often do you see error 133 ?

We provide both central role and peripheral role, so it shouldn't be a problem establish a link between 2 nordic chip.