Configuring the nRF52840 DK as a BLE peripheral (using SoftDevices?)

[jrstew]

Hi, I am attempting to set up a nRF52840 DK as a BLE peripheral, and have been following the basic setup instructions at infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp. However, when I try to program the device with a Softdevice, as it seems that is necessary for BLE operations, nRFGo Studio is not recognising the board. I have come to the conclusion that this requires a SEGGER J-Link, so I was wondering if there was any way to program a SoftDevice onto the board without a J-Link? Also, if I am incorrect about the need for a SoftDevice for BLE peripheral operation please let me know if there's an other way to do it. Thank you!

[awneil]

jrstew said:

I try to program the device with a Softdevice, as it seems that is necessary for BLE operations

Yes, it is - the SoftDevice is the BLE protocol stack.

jrstew said:

nRFGo Studio is not recognising the board

nRFGo Studio is out-of-date

Use nRF Connect for Desktop.

Or you can program direct from the development IDE, or using command-line tools.

jrstew said:

I have come to the conclusion that this requires a SEGGER J-Link

Yes, it does. - and the nRF52840 DK has one built in.

jrstew said:

I was wondering if there was any way to program a SoftDevice onto the board without a J-Link?

Any SWD programmer (with suitable supporting software) will do.

To program a chip (any chip - not just Nordic) without an SWD debugger/programmer would require a Bootloader - but you'd need an SWD programmer to load that into the chip!

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Get-Started

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/short-range-guides/b/getting-started/posts/introduction-to-bluetooth-low-energy-and-ble-devel