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]

I am lost tin the chaos of your SDK releases and patch files!!!!

The recommended pc-ble-driver v2.3.2 contains already a patch for the SDK15.0, but this patch is reported a broken when applied.

Trying the most active pc-ble-branch "feature/consolidate-sd-apis" refers to "nRF5_SDK_15.2.0_fdc124d/components/softdevice/s132v3/headers/ble.h ...", a SDK that is not avalable for public

Trying the master branch, at least the patch can be applyed, but the projects have errors: "pca10040\ser_s132v3_hci\ses\ble_connectivity_s132v5_hci_pca10040.emProject" has a linker error with overlapping code segments.
"pca10040\ser_s132v3_hci\ses\ble_connectivity_s132_hci_pca10040.emProject" has a linker error with overlapping code segments

Only the "pca10040\ser_s132v3_hci\ses\ble_connectivity_s132v3_hci_pca10040.emProject" compiles and links without error!!!

Please tell me when the pc-ble-branch "feature/consolidate-sd-apis" is available, even for beta testing.

[Frank]

Hi Chris,

I understand your frustration very well, although the Nordic PC BLE driver is a great concept, it is hard to find a baseline that works properly. It also took me a few iterations before getting my implementation to work without facing build and operational issues.

My understanding is that Nordic is working on it  to come up with a reliable baseline in the near future... .  

Currently, I'm working on the Zephyr HCI_UART approach to use the Nordic HW only for BLE connectivity (BLE Controller).

So far I'm very satisfied with the result. Especially the API is less Nordic oriented and more BlueZ that is less narrow and has more implementations/bindings in different SW stacks.

As I'm in favour of C++ as programming language it opens the way to use C++ frameworks like QT Bluetooth.

Only pay attention to this possible issue, https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-71727,  should you move to Qt or implementations based on the BlueZ stack. 

Not sure what C# offers...

Nevertheless I wish the Nordic PC BLE driver issues will be solved soon or at least a stable baseline for development is deployed by Nordic.  

Best regards,

Frank

[tesc]

Hi,

Yes, I agree the SDK 15 patch in v2.3.2 is confusing. It is for a special release of SDK 15.0 that includes the connectivity application for USB on the nRF52840. (In particular, for the nRF52 Dongle.) It still uses the s132 v3.1.0. The download path for the special release, http://developer.nordicsemi.com/.pc-tools/sdk/nRF5_SDK_15.0.0_743b4d0.zip , is found in bootstrap_sd_api_v3_usb.sh. However, that SDK version and patch is probably NOT what you are looking for...

Dates and plans for future releases is not public information, and so it cannot be shared in this public thread. Usually you should contact our sales representative for your area, for roadmap and release schedule related questions. If you do not know who that is you can create a private ticket and ask. In this case however, given the circumstances, if you create a private ticket I may be able to give some information directly.

Regards,
Terje

[tesc]

Hi,

I can confirm that we are working on fixing as many as possible of the known issues, for the upcoming pc-ble-driver release, including stability issues. (Which may give some explanation to why it is taking so long; we are not only adding support for API level 6.)

Regards,
Terje

[Frank]

Hi Terje,

Highly appreciated, thanks!

Frank