I2C, SPI and RF access on the nRF52840 Dongle

[bitbank]

I would like to use the nRF52840 Dongle for evaluating the platform for a custom product. I need to make use of I2C, SPI, BLE and maybe 802.15.4 raw packet access. I'm new to the "Nordic" way of doing things and am doing some experiments with the Segger IDE. I'm able to access GPIO pins without issue by modifying the blinky project, but when I try to use the twi support, it complains that the include file can't be found. I can build the TWI examples for other board types, but not the PCA10059. There are almost no example projects for the PCA10059, so is there some trick to modifying a PCA10056 project so that it will compile and run on the PCA10059?

[bitbank]

[bitbank]

I understand that I will be steered towards using the nrf52840 DK board, but I need this SoC to be inside a small prototype for testing its suitability for a particular project. I would like to test power consumption of the nRF52840 in a functional prototype without creating a custom PCB. The dongle is the ideal starting point for such testing if I can get my software to run on it.

[WirelessCharging]

I'm having the same requirements in my project. The dongle is small enough to integrate in final prototype design. Reason why using the PCA10059 is due to its size and not needing to do new PCB design. I would need to send UART over data to the PCA10059 which then transfers the data to another pca10059, both pca10059 will be embedded in a prototype design. Is this possible? 

[Edvin]

Hello,

You are correct. I will steer you towards the DK board. The reason for this is that the application that you describe, which includes I2C(TWI), SPI, BLE and maybe 802.15.4 sounds like a quite extencive application, and my guess is that it will not run without problems after your first successful compilation. At least that is the trend for me when writing an application. When the app "crashes", there is a lot of help in debugging, and since this is not possible on the dongle (unless you solder on a debug port), then you will have a hard time developing. 

It may (!) be possible that you can use UART for logging, but be aware that you would have to use at least 2 pins for this, and connect it to something that is able to read UART. On the DK, when you connect it using the USB port, it is the programming chip that translates from UART to USB, which is what your PC is actually reading when using e.g. putty (simulated UART). 

When you have a working application, you can port it to the dongle PCB, which is a lot easier than developing everything on the dongle.

I know that the DK is a bit more expensive than the dongle, but it is probably worth it, as you will save many hours (days) developing on the DK instead of the dongle.

WirelessCharging:

Yes, this is possible, but the dongle can't send UART through the usb stick. You would need to use some of the other pins as UART pins. Yes, it is possible, and you could possibly use another example, USB over BLE instead of UART over BLE as a starting point, if you want to use the USB part of the dongle. However, that is not related to this ticket. If you are interrested in that, please start a new thread. And the same applies to that, it is a lot easier to develop on the kit, and port it to the dongle once you have a working application. 

Best Regards,

Edvin