nRF52840 mesh SDK coexistence

[Sefer]

Hi,

I have working firmware for nRF52832 dev kit based on mesh coexistence examples (Mesh SDK 2.2.0 + nRF5_SDK_15.0.0). I'm trying to port the same firmware on nRF52840 dev kit but there are no SDK coexistence examples provided for nRF52840 so I modified ble peripheral example from nRF5_SDK_15.0.0. If I don't initialize mesh everything else works fine, but I'm getting "ASSERTION FAILED at :0" when mesh stack is being initialized, in function mesh_config_backend_init(), line "NRF_MESH_ASSERT(p_entries != NULL);".

void mesh_config_backend_init(const mesh_config_entry_params_t * p_entries,
                              uint32_t entry_count,
                              const mesh_config_file_params_t * p_files,
                              uint32_t file_count,
                              mesh_config_backend_evt_cb_t evt_cb)
{
    NRF_MESH_ASSERT(p_entries != NULL);
    NRF_MESH_ASSERT(entry_count > 0ul);
    NRF_MESH_ASSERT(p_files != NULL);
    NRF_MESH_ASSERT(file_count > 0ul);

    m_power_down_time_us = 0;

    mp_files = p_files;
    m_file_count = file_count;
    mesh_config_backend_glue_init(evt_cb == NULL ? dummy_event : evt_cb);

    for (uint32_t itr = 0; itr < entry_count; itr++)
    {
        const mesh_config_file_params_t * p_file = file_get(p_entries[itr].p_id->file);
        NRF_MESH_ASSERT(p_file != NULL && p_file->p_backend_data != NULL);
        uint32_t size_guard = p_file->p_backend_data->size +
                mesh_config_record_size_calculate(p_entries[itr].entry_size) * p_entries[itr].max_count;
        NRF_MESH_ASSERT(size_guard <= UINT16_MAX);
        p_file->p_backend_data->size = size_guard;
        p_file->p_backend_data->entry_count += p_entries[itr].max_count;
    }

    /* Create files in increasing file ID order */
    const mesh_config_file_params_t * p_file = NULL;

    while ((p_file = next_file_get(p_file)) != NULL)
    {
        if (MESH_CONFIG_STRATEGY_NON_PERSISTENT != p_file->strategy)
        {
            NRF_MESH_ERROR_CHECK(mesh_config_backend_file_create(p_file->p_backend_data));
        }

        m_power_down_time_us += mesh_config_backend_file_power_down_time_get(p_file);
    }
}

Any idea what could be causing this? Are there any SDK coexistence examples for nRF52840?

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Have you taken a look at the documentation provided here? There is similar documentation if you want to use mesh sdk v2.2.0 here. I do not believe there are any coexistance examples for the 52840 at the moment unfortunately. The documentation should provide enough info (theoretically) for you to achieve the same on the 52840. 

Did the coexistence example work without any issues on the 52832 (i.e. I guess you did not receive the same assert on the coexist example, correct?). What changes did you make to port the 52832 to the 52840?

[Sefer]

Mesh SDK 3.0.0 + SDK 15.2.0 same issue, getting NULL pointer for "p_entries" in mesh_config_backend_init();. Has mesh coexistence been tested with nRF52840 or just 52832?

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Which optimization level are you currently running at?

Also, what debugging level are you using?

[Sefer]

Optimization level None, debugging level 3

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Did it work to modify the 52832 coexistence example to work on the 52840? Which flash & ram settings did you use for the 52840 mesh + ble peripheral app template example?

[Sefer]

Did not yet finish that, got stuck on something else. I'll do it in the next few days and report back.

I used:

FLASH_PH_START=0x0

FLASH_PH_SIZE=0x100000

RAM_PH_START=0x20000000

RAM_PH_SIZE=0x40000

FLASH_START=0x26000

FLASH_SIZE=0xda000

RAM_START=0x20002a98

RAM_SIZE=0x3d568

But I tried different settings also, didn't seem to change anything.

[Sefer]

I found the issue, flash_placement.xml file is different in mesh SDK examples, it has an extra line:

<ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".nrf_mesh_flash"  inputsections="*(SORT(.nrf_mesh_flash.*))" address_symbol="__start_nrf_mesh_flash" end_symbol="__stop_nrf_mesh_flash"/>

So when you use ble_peripheral example and add mesh functionality to it, flash_placement.xml file should be modified also.

This solved my issue, thanks for the help.

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Great to hear that you figured it out! I will mention this internally & hopefully the documentation will be updated to mention the flash_placement.xml file.