Program on Thingy52

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 13:30:42 GMT

Eddystone beacons advertise non-connectable advertising packets. Am I correct in assuming that you want to setup the Thingy:52 as a beacon, while at the same time use the same device to receive different advertising packets from other beacons? I have not been able to find an example in the Nordic SDK, but it seems that the regular use case is to use the nrf beacon for eddystone android app to receive the beacon advertising information. The source code for this app is available.

Regarding your second question, it could be that the original BLE services are not needed on the Thingy & therefore they have been removed. Not 100% certain about this though.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 18:02:17 GMT

In fact, not only do I have to send beacons on one device, I also have to receive beacons sent by other devices. I have checked the link and the Ebbystone library of SDK v13. But I can't find how to implement Ebbystone receiver using nRF52 device. Is it possible or supported?

Plus, I quite confused about why the original BLE services are not supported on Thingy? I thought the SDK of Thingy is pretty similar to SDK v13.

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 09:09:04 GMT

I am unsure, but did you know that you can use the eddystone beacon protocol on the Thingy? Take a look at this link. Could be helpful. The module is currently experimental, so there might be some errors that will be updated in future Thingy FW. But it's definitely worth a shot!

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:30:46 GMT

Sorry to bother you a lot. I am now able to flash a program onto Thingy. I have tried to change the color of the lightwell to red.

My question is now. I found that the ble_event_type on Thingy in the PCA20020 example is different from the one in SDK 13. I am wondering if I could choose the ble.h from Softdevice and use the functions defined there.

Like the sent beacon and receive adv etc.

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:36:27 GMT

Did you remember to erase the Thingy, then flash the correct softdevice & finally program the firmware application hex file at the end?

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 21:50:49 GMT

I have downloaded this SDK and compiled the PCA20020 project in it. And I flashed the hex(hopefully). But nothing shows on the Thingy. Then light well goes off now. Which project were you talking about when you say change the color of the light into white. One more thing is that we I tried to flash the hex onto Thingy, it said that there are coeds in Soft Device area. So I have to erase all soft device before flashing the program. Is this something wrong?

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 07:57:51 GMT

Hi, if I were you, I would download the Nordic Thingy FW & try to customize it a bit first. You could for example change the default blue light to a white light. You will need to follow the instructions on the Github page to setup the Thingy FW. That will most likely be a lot easier than trying to port an SDK 13 example on the Thingy. I would rather use the Thingy FW as a starting point & add the functionality you require later once you have setup the basic stuff.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:13:59 GMT

Hi, I finally got my cable to flash thingy. I erase the Thingy using nRFgo Studio I think. Because the light does not flash when I turn on the Thingy anymore. However, right now I don't have an example that will show any sign that Thingy has been flashed. Plus, although Thingy uses SDK 13 but I guess some of the codes should be different? Like the control of the light and all the sensors. Where can I find a reference on these?

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 08:20:12 GMT

You will actually need the cable to do OTA-DFU because you do not have the private key for the bootloader that is currently on the Thingy to do OTA-DFU. So in order to do OTA-DFU, you need the wire to erase the flash on the Thingy & program your own custom bootloader, where you know the private key. But before you do this, I suggest using the cabled solution & flashing over softdevice & application instead. A lot easier & works just as well.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 17:06:11 GMT

LOL. The only reason is that I have not yet got a SWD wire. I will try the wired solution.

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 14:24:15 GMT

I have a quick question: Is there a good reason why you are using OTA-DFU with the Thingy instead of programming via a 10-pin SWD cable via an nrf52 DK? The wired solution is a lot easier to do if you do not require the DFU functionality. I have not tried OTA-DFU on the Nordic Thingy yet, so if you really want to figure this out, I will need to test it out myself.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 21:54:01 GMT

So I tried to DFU anyway. First, I tried the firmware update button on the nRF Connect

But I got this error

Then I tried the command line nrfutil tool. But got this error

I have confirmed that the Thingy has entered the DFU mode. I can see the name changed to ThingyDFU and the address plus by one.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 21:45:38 GMT

So I was following the instructions on how to OTA-DFU. But I came into some problems. First of all, the nRF Connect interface seems different now from the instructions. I have to choose an APP to start connecting. So I chose Bluetooth Low Energy to connect to nRF528400.

Then in the tutorial. It says "Expand the FE59 service section and enable notifications by clicking Toggle notifications. Then, type 01 into the FE59 field. Press Enter or click Write."

But I cannot see FE59 services in the new connect interface. Does this mean something is wrong?

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 07:26:06 GMT

You can still flash your custom FW via OTA-DFU. OTA-DFU is a bit more complicated when flashing custom FW because you need to use the secure dfu bootloader I refer to in the answer. I am pretty sure you can re-flash the same FW OTA. The wired connection option is easier because you can just connect the Thingy to an nrf51/52 DK, plug in the 10 pin cable to the Debug Out Pin (P19) in the DK, turn both devices on & then use nrfgostudio to erase the DK, program the correct softdevice on the Thingy (i.e. v4.0.2) & then flash your custom FW.

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 19:50:37 GMT

I notice that in your answer, you said if I want to flash the Nordic Thingy FW, I can use OTA or wire connection. So, if I want to flash my own FW, does this change the method? To my understand, I cannot re-flash my FW OTA.

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:43:11 GMT

Thanks! Have a nice day! :)

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:17:28 GMT

If you were happy with the answer, would you mind upvoting it & pressing the check mark please? :)

RE: Program on Thingy52

mich_x — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 21:27:39 GMT

Thank you very much. This helps a lot

RE: Program on Thingy52

Bjørn Kvaale — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 09:50:27 GMT

Hi mich_x. Firmware is essentially software (SW) which is designed for a specific piece of hardware. So for the Nordic Thingy, the firmware is the SW that makes the Thingy:52 do the things it can do. The SW has been specifically designed to work for the Nordic Thingy:52. A basic bootloader executes an application located at a specific memory location (see the bootloader module for more info). You will most likely need to change the FW to run the Thingy as a beacon, yes. To run custom FW on the Thingy, you will need use the secure dfu bootloader. Also, take a look at this link for compiling new FW for the Thingy. As the Thingy FW is based off of SDK v13, you should take a look at SDK 13 examples if you want to use the Thingy as a beacon.

For flashing the Nordic Thingy FW onto the Thingy, you can either use Over the Air DFU or use a wired connection. See this link for more info on OTA-DFU. See this link for more info on the wired connection option.

Regarding the softdevice, you cannot use the S140 Softdevice on it. You will need to use the s132 v4.0.2 Softdevice.