nRF52 direct connection to Win10

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 09:35:22 GMT

The nRF51 is rather old, and not recommended for new BLE designs.

It won't support all of the features of the nRF52 - which may or may not matter to you ...

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 08:15:23 GMT

Also the Nordic USB dongle nRF51 could be a smart idea. Just to have a small object, but the concept is the same.

Thanks!

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 08:13:24 GMT

Yes, I was trying to do that but I am arrived to the conclusion that it is better to use nRF52 on both sides. Surely it is better to avoid mistakes, it is a serious project.

Thanks for sharing your experience

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:54:03 GMT

[quote userid="5418" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10/194182"]build a board with a hardware USB-to-UART converter[/quote]

Or use an nRF52840 - which has USB ...

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

Dmitry — Sat, 22 Jun 2019 20:20:12 GMT

Hi,

if your project is something more serious than a toy or a smart wristband, I would recommend to stay on your original solution (a board connected to PC). We have spent too much time to get our device working with different Windows builds, problems with pairing, etc... Having nRF52 on both sides, you'll never fall into compatibility issues, your device will work with any Windows version (even XP), and there will be no problem to connect it, for example, to Linux or MacOS. The easiest way to exchange data is to use UART peripheral that can be routed to virtual COM port on the devkit and is visible from Windows side as a serial port (that's enough for development, for production it's better to build a board with a hardware USB-to-UART converter, as debug UART is not very stable).

Just sharing my experience...

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

tesc — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 11:56:02 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="cacaomeravigliao"]Anyway I can continue to use Nordic UART Service on my custom board and develop a software for PC which reads from the dedicated characteristic of this service, right?[/quote]

Yes, that is correct.

DevZone is primarily focused on the nRF side of things, and our PC tools such as nRF Connect does not use the Windows API. (Instead they rely on using an nRF dongle and serializing the SoftDevice.) That in turn means we have little (if any) knowledge on using the Windows API, but I am sure there are other forums out there that will be helpful.

Regards,
Terje

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 15:01:37 GMT

[quote userid="6462" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10/193931"]If the BT is integrated in the PC I'd have thought it would be (almost) a given that it'll be using the standard Windows APIs ?[/quote]

Yes, at least PC producers must guarantee that.. I hope!

Anyway I can continue to use Nordic UART Service on my custom board and develop a software for PC which reads from the dedicated characteristic of this service, right?

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:44:22 GMT

If the BT is integrated in the PC I'd have thought it would be (almost) a given that it'll be using the standard Windows APIs ?

I'd have thought that a 3rd-party aftermarket add-on is at far greater risk of being "proprietary".

None of this is anything to do with Nordic.

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:39:39 GMT

[quote userid="6462" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10/193924"]So assuming that the dongle uses the standard Windows APIs.[/quote]

What if the Bluetooth is integrated in the PC? Is this problem still present?

Maybe it's better to use the BLED112 dongle...

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:32:24 GMT

So assuming that the dongle uses the standard Windows APIs.

Otherwise, you'll have to contact the dongle manufacturer if they're using their own proprietary API or SDK or whatever ...

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:27:47 GMT

Yes. I am using a dedicated BLE USB dongle.

Thanks!

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:13:31 GMT

[quote userid="80840" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10/193909"]Do you mean if I develop a custom software for PC I can remove the development kit and receive data directly [/quote]

Assuming that your PC has BLE built in, Yes.

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

cacaomeravigliao — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:08:12 GMT

Ok. Thank you for the useful links!

Right now I am using the development kit connected to PC via USB to receive data sent by custom board.

Do you mean if I develop a custom software for PC I can remove the development kit and receive data directly from the custom board?

RE: nRF52 direct connection to Win10

awneil — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 13:58:53 GMT

So you need to study the Windows Developer documentation:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/devices-sensors/bluetooth-low-energy-overview

https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-universal-samples/tree/master/Samples/BluetoothLE

[quote userid="80840" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10"]Do I need to develop a custom service on the board[/quote]

[quote userid="80840" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/48820/nrf52-direct-connection-to-win10"]and a custom software for PC[/quote]

Yes.