Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 13:52:22 GMT

Okay noted. Thank you.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 13:29:05 GMT

Yes, that is correct.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:13:04 GMT

Thanks for the link to the mobile app!

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:11:16 GMT

Hi Bjorn,

I see. So the multi link example with a 52 DK is the only example available (but no Thingy example) right? Thanks.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 11:51:29 GMT

I have not done this myself, but a colleague has. However, the display is quite small, so it is not certain you would be able to show a lot of information on it. It is about 1/4 the size of the Thingy surface area.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 11:42:58 GMT

The source code for this app is located here.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:58:49 GMT

Hi Bjorn,

I have a short favor to ask for. I am not sure whether should I open a new ticket for this:

For the nrf52 BLE multi link multi role project that you've sent me, could I have the source code for the android app?

Thanks for your concern.

Best regards,

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 08:55:01 GMT

Besides, I would gladly share the parcel of my code here if it helps you understand better. :)

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 07:56:46 GMT

Hi Bjorn,

Have you done this previously with the Thingys? Is there a link to the work or some guidelines for that? Thanks!

Best,

The Boon

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 15:10:30 GMT

Regarding your questions, I think it would clearly be the easiest to use a 52 DK or a 52840 DK. Code has already been written for the adafruit touch display I mentioned & it should work out of the box with the multilink demo. In addition, the DK is directly compatible with this display. Should not be too difficult to update this for the mesh (link 1, link 2).

If you really want to use the Thingy, there is a possibility to add a display to that & we have done this previously. However, it is trickier to get this to work.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:56:57 GMT

Hi,

I had tested with PicoScope Oscilloscope software (logic analyzer) for the three pairs of external SCL and SDA pins (P4, P5 and P7). It didn't managed to detect signal coming out from thingy. Had I perhaps miss out something? :/

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 08:30:58 GMT

Hi Bjorn,

Thanks for your reply! I would like to update my progress and my questions here:

I had created a function twi_master_init in the main.c. I have given .scl = 1 and .sda = 2, since I want to connect the SCL of P4 (Pin 1) and SDA (Pin 2) to the display. After I had tested, it seems to had some conflict because of the definition of .scl and .sda m_my_ui_init and board_init, so I have it commented out.

After that I create an instance of twi driver. Then I send the byte data to lcd and write the string. Oh yeah, the display address (slave address) i had set it equals to (static int) 0x27, as other testers of LCD 8574 with adruino board did.

My display backlight is turned on (yes since VDD and GND is connected :P). Unfortunately it does not display the string I had send over.

Thank you for your concerns into this matter!

Best regards,

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 11:16:48 GMT

I think it's easiest if I ask my colleague about this question tomorrow, as he has a lot more experience on I2C & SPI than I do. Hopefully you can wait until a response tomorrow. 🙂

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:30:46 GMT

Is it possible to do over I2C? I had read the TWI Master Driver example from Nordic Infocenter. Yeah you are right, as we need more GPIO pins for MOSI, MISO and CS's. I saw two external I2C with P5 and P7 and even two pins on P4. It would be easier than SPI if we do it over I2C?

Oh yeah, that would be great if you could help me approach your colleague. Thank you very much!

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

Bjørn Kvaale — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:24:11 GMT

We have a long range demo with a display using the 52840 DK. The connection was done over SPI. Unfortunately, this display was made internally. The problem with using the Thingy:52 to run a display is that you do not have many GPIO pins available to drive the display. You could maybe consider removing some of the functionality in the Thingy code to make more GPIO pins available for driving the SPI display.

It would be easier to achieve this functionality if you use a 52832 or 52840 DK. I know we have gotten a demo working with an Adafruit Touch Display. My colleague knows more about this, but he is unfortunately on a business trip, but will be back on Friday. I will ask him when he gets back if that is ok for you.

RE: Displaying Mesh Data with Nordic Thingy 52 in Bluetooth Mesh Network

The Boon — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:27:23 GMT

Hi,

I have soldered a male header 20-pins connector to the connector P4. I have a display adapter with Vcc, GND, GND, Data, CLK, CS, RST, RS (DC). According to pinouts, I would assume that Pin 19 (VDD) is connected to Vcc (display), Pin 20 (GND) to GND (display), Pin 1 (SCL_EXT) to CLK (display), Pin 2 (SDA_EXT) to Data (display).

Then I would look into generic_on_off_server, perhaps in function handle_set_unreliable_cb to forward the data to the display. How could I feed the data into the display?

I apologize if I've asked rookie questions. I would keep trying.

Am I doing the things so far in the right direction?

Many thanks,