nRF9160: LTE Sensor Gateway on Thingy:91

[Mattchew]

I am trying to fun the LTE Sensor Gateway on the Thingy:91.

The boards are missing from zephyr so I copied nrf52840_pca20035 and nrf9160_pca20035 from ncs\nrf\boards\arm.

When running samples/bluetooth/hci_uart.

The BLE and UART don't seem to be configured correctly. I get "warning: BT_CTLR_DTM_HCI" and "warning: BT_CTLR_ASSERT_HANDLER".

I created ncs\zephyr\samples\bluetooth\hci_uart\nrf52840_pca20035.overlay based on https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/51693/hci_uart-on-thingy-91

This still doesn't work.

Adding the lines below to nfr52840_pca20035\Kconfig.defconfig seem to fix the BLE issues? UART is not working so, I don't know if it is working.

config BT_CTLR
default BT

When running samples/nrf9160/lte_ble_gateway I get errors "warning: UART_2_NRF_UARTE" and "warning: UART_2_NRF_FLOW_CONTROL"

I see that nrf9160_pca20035ns.overlay is missing from the folder but I am not sure how to modify it. There is no status light configured. 

Help?

[Sigurd]

Hi,

The Thingy:91 is not configured for this use-case at this time. A colleague of mine tested this a couple of days ago, and here it the changes/files used:

thingy_91_lte_changes.zip

nrf_changes.diff applies to ncs/nrf

zephyr_changes.diff applies to ncs/zephyr

nrf52840_pca20035.conf and .overlay should be placed in ncs/zephyr/samples/bluetooth/hci_uart/

nrf9160_pca20035.overlay should be placed in ncs/nrf/samples/lte_ble_gateway/

Use Segger RTT viewer to view the log output. Note that you need to manually keep the nRF52 in reset for several seconds before releasing it. Holding it in reset is done by grounding TP8 (apply patch to enable reset pin). On the nRF91-DK we are using a GPIO line between the nRF52 and nRF91 in order to reset the nRF52. I believe it should be possible to add this functionality to the thingy:91 as well, by using one of the lines originally used by the UART, e.g. pin 20. But there are some bugs on the master branch at the moment, so this reset functionality is currently not working reliably.

[Mattchew]

I don't see the device show up on nRF Cloud. I also am not able to see anything on the RTT viewer. 

[Marshed]

Hi Sigurd, 

Thank you for the changes above, the program seem to be working.

However I notice that when I change the connection parameters the program seem to fail. You have any idea where this problem might be coming from? here is the code I used to change the connection parameters. The code works fine on nRF9160 DK but does not work on Nordic Thingy 91. Please assist

        static const struct bt_le_conn_param cp = {
		.interval_min = 2400,
		.interval_max = 2400,
		.latency = 4,
		.timeout = 3200,
	};


	struct bt_scan_init_param scan_init = {
		.connect_if_match = true,
		.scan_param = &scan_param,
		//.conn_param = BT_LE_CONN_PARAM_DEFAULT,
        .conn_param = &cp,
	};

[Cody]

Hey Sigurd,

I tried manually porting your patch to NCS v1.2.0 and even though it looks like everything is compiling successfully, I am unable to enable bluetooth. After calling bt_enable, the application crashes. Have you had any luck porting the patch over to v1.2.0?

UPDATE: For anyone running into the same issue, it appears the problem is related to the bluetooth hci tx stack size (CONFIG_BT_HCI_TX_STACK_SIZE). I am not sure if it is something on my end, maybe missing/mis-configured project configuration, but the stack size was being set to 512. Increasing the stack size to 1024 fixes this issue.

Thank you,
Cody

[AndrewR]

Sigurd,

Hey, sounds like you put in some good work on this. I'm trying to get the same code working but I think I am missing something. I have downloaded the hex files but I don't see the source code to make the changes that have been discussed. I'm sure its in the thread somewhere I just cant find it. Could you please post a link to the source code with segger project file for the hci_uart_with_usb_bridge and the lte_ble_gateway_nrf9160.

[Vivek_Core]

Hi,

I am also facing the same problem. i didnt see any USB ports of nordic thingy 91. any solution did you get.

Thanks

[Marshed]

Hey Sigurd, 

This thing runs fine, but whenever I test this for a long time (like leaving it running overnight) it stops. Until now I have not manage to get it running for more than an hour and half without an error. 

Please assist.