pc-ble-driver

[Christian Waldmann]

I am developing a ble device with nrf52832, using nRF5_SDK_15.2.0, and the softdevice s132_nrf52_6.1.0. In parallel I am developing a Windows Desktop application (for Windows 7 and newer) with Visual Studio and C#. To communicate from the Windows app with my BLE devices, I want to use a custom BLE dongle and the pc-ble-driver.

(This same scenario I am using since 2 years with a nrf51422, the SDK 11 and the pc-ble-driver with sd_api_v2 support)

The master branch of the pc-ble-driver currently supports only sd_api_v2 and sd_api_v5.

My understanding is, that I have to use the softdevice s132_nrf52_5.0.0 and serialization from SDK 14.2 on my custom dongle to be compatible. Is this correct?

Is there a version of the pc-ble-driver that supports softdevice s132_nrf52_6.1.0, e.g. sd_api_v6?

What features are missing if I go with the sd_api_v5?

[tesc]

Hi,

The newest stable release of pc-ble-driver is currently the one tagged with v2.3.2. It uses API level 3 (s132 v3.1.0). The team is currently working on SoftDevice API level 6 (s132 v6.1.0) support, and this will come in an upcoming release.

Connectivity firmware is found under the pc-ble-driver/hex/ directory, e.g. pc-ble-driver/hex/sd_api_v3/ for the connectivity firmware based on SDK 12.2.0 and s132 v3.1.0. If for some reason you need to modify the connectivity firmware then you must apply the patch file for the connectivity project from the correct SDK version.

For features added between s132 v3.1.0 and s132 v6.1.0 I refer to the "New Functionality" sections of the SoftDevice release notes.

Regards,
Terje

[Christian Waldmann]

Thanks for your answer.

What problems are expected when I use the "master" version with sd_api_v5?

Do you have a schedule for the release of the version with sd_api_v6

happy coding

Chris

[tesc]

Hi,

Unfortunately I do not have any overview of the state of master at the moment, but in general only the production releases has gone through proper testing and we do not provide any guarantees for the quality of any non-release snapshot. Current work on v6.1.0 support and next pc-ble-driver release is done in private branches.

Questions regarding roadmaps and future releases are handled by our sales representatives, or in rare cases in private tickets here through DevZone (and this is a public thread). If you do not know who is our sales representative for your area then please open a private ticket or send me a private message and we will let you know.

Regards,
Terje

[Frank]

Hi Christian,

See also my experiences with the PC BLE Driver described in this topic .

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/39173/no-valid-bidirectional-uart-communication-between-the-imx6-ul-s-evk-board-running-the-nordic-pc-ble-driver-and-the-nrf52-dk-running-the-nordic-connectivity-132-uart-software

However everything is for v5 and with patches.

Best regards,

Frank

[Christian Waldmann]

Hi Frank

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I will have a closer look to your way to success and hope I can reach also my goals...

Happy coding
Chris

[Frank]

Hi Chris,

I really love the concept of the BLE PC driver by Nordic especially it eliminates the tough work of doing yourself the serialization work of the uart driver, however it seems a lot of (code api) mismatches are still in place to use the code as is easily or at least the packages. So I hope soon a stable release can be deployed by Nordic.

IMHO it should be part of the Nordic Development SDK.

FYI

Currently I'm investigating how well the Zephyr HCI UART solution is to use the Nordic HW just as a BLE Controller. So far good experiences with this concept except a few minor issues that have workarounds.

(https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/22194/read-or-change-nrf51-mac-address-on-zephyr/156634#156634)

BTW I love to use QT C++, although C# is a great programming language. Happy coding to. 

Have a nice weekend,

Frank