Will BLE 4.2 code for nRF52832 work on nrf52840

[Renix]

I used SDK 13.x to create a custom profile with services for  nRF52832 with BLE 4.2

If I go to a nrf52840 with BLE 5.x SDK, can I use the exact same code, or do I have to modify old code to be BLE 5.x compatible?

I do not know how much work is needed to change the 4.2 code for BLE 5

Or can I use the older BLE 4.2 SDK 13.xx on nrf52840 with the old BLE 4.2 code I wrote?

Eventually, I will upgrade to BLE 5.x but for now the existing code for nRF52832 and SDK 13.x and BLE 4.2 works fine.

Any help appreciated

[tesc]

Hi,

The s132 SoftDevice is not qualified for the nRF52840. That means you cannot use it for a commercial product; only for development and internal testing. (There is no QDID to use with registering the product with Bluetooth SIG.)

There might be workarounds required for the nRF52832 that are not needed on nRF52840 and vice versa, which may lead to erroneous and/or suboptimal behavior if using a SoftDevice for one with the other.

SDK 13.x is delivered with an alpha release of the s140 SoftDevice for the nRF52840. The SoftDevice API is similar (you will see that some SDK examples are proivded for both nRF52832/s132 and for nRF52840/s140.) Porting from s132 to s140 should therefore be straight-forward (and you can use SDK examples for reference.) However, the s140 alpha releases are not qualified either, so you stil need to port the application to a newer SDK (version 15.0.0 or later) and SoftDevice (s140 v6.0.0 or later) in order to get a production quality SoftDevice and a qualified design with the nRF52840.

Just in case it is relevant for your project: If you use a DFU botloader, please note that there was lack of suupport for the copy bootloader MBR command on nRF52840 prior to SoftDevices version 6.0.0. That means if you use an older SoftDevice (for instance form SDK 13) there will be no OTA DFU update path for bootloader (and thus major version of SoftDevice) on the nRF52840. The only option is to program the bootloader using a programmer. From s140 6.0.0 onwards DFU should work as intended also on the nRF52840.

Regards,
Terje