Getting started creating test program on Windows to talk to nRF52840

[Paul Bradford]

I'm trying to find out if the nRF52840 has the features needed for a new product. We need to be able to do the following from a Windows 7 or 10 program: scan for nearby BLE devices, connect to 3 nearby devices at once, get RSSI values from advertisements, get RSSI of an open connection, and to act as an iBeacon at the same time.

I have the nRF52840-PCA10059 dongle and would like to find the quickest way to write a Windows test program with those features. From what I've read, I would write a program that calls pc-ble-driver. Is this correct? If so, what version of pc-ble-driver? My understanding is that nRF52840 requires SoftDevice S140, but does pc-ble-driver support S140?  

I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction so I don't waste too much time.

Thanks,

-Paul

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

Yes you can use pc-ble-driver. There are python and java wrappers, but they are not updated to use the newest version of the s140 softdevice, so just use the pc-ble-driver directly, which is written in C: https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver/tree/v4.1.1

The newest 4.1.1 release has a precompiled connectivity hex for the nRF52840 dongle. It uses the native USB peripheral on the chip: https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver/tree/v4.1.1/hex/sd_api_v6 (connectivity_4.1.1_usb_with_s140_6.1.1.hex)

There are examples to get started: https://github.com/NordicSemiconductor/pc-ble-driver/tree/v4.1.1/examples

[Paul Bradford]

I got the pc-ble-driver v4.1.1 and am starting to create a test program with it. Thanks!