How can we use nrf51822 BLE services with RIOT OS without accessing to the lower layers ?

[kawka]

Hello,

We are French students in a school of engineers. We are developing a project based on the nrf51822.

Actually, we implemented RIOT OS on this SoC and we would like to use nrf51822 BLE features. Nordic Semiconductors provides SoftDevices (s110, s120,…) allowing the use of BLE.

How can we use nrf51822 BLE services with RIOT OS without accessing to the lower layers ? Do lirbraries exist allowing us to use nrf51822 BLE services under RIOT OS ?

Thank you for the further answers.

[Stian Røed Hafskjold]

There is no existing libraries in RIOT OS for handling the s110 BLE stack. Maybe you could try to use the libraries in the nRF SDK. I successfully managed to compile RIOT OS while including the softdevice_hander.h.

You need to add the INCLUDES and some CFLAGS to the Makefile:

INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/toolchain/gcc
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/toolchain
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/button
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/sensorsim
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/ble_services/ble_hrs
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/ble_services/ble_dis
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/ble_services/ble_bas
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/softdevice/s110/headers
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/common
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/timer
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/gpiote
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/drivers_nrf/hal
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/device_manager
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/ble/device_manager/config
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/softdevice/common/softdevice_handler
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/scheduler
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/drivers_nrf/pstorage
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/drivers_nrf/pstorage/config
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/util
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/trace
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/drivers_nrf/uart
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/components/libraries/fifo
INCLUDES += -I../../sdk7.2/examples/bsp

CFLAGS += -DNRF51
CFLAGS += -DBLE_STACK_SUPPORT_REQD
CFLAGS += -DS110
CFLAGS += -DSOFTDEVICE_PRESENT

In the RIOT/cpu/nrf51822/nrf51822qfaa_linkerscript.ld linker script, you need to change the start address of the ROM and RAM:

rom (rx)    : ORIGIN = 0x00016000, LENGTH = 256K
ram (rwx)   : ORIGIN = 0x20002000, LENGTH = 16K

Also, the softdevice must be flashed on to the chip.

By compiling the following main.c code, I was able to get a response from the SoftDevice and print the value over UART.

#include <stdio.h>
#include "softdevice_handler.h"

int main(void)
{
    puts("Hello World!");
    uint8_t a;
    uint16_t b;
    char ret = sd_ble_evt_get(&a,&b);
    printf("output %i\n",ret);
    return 0;
}

If it is possible to use the whole BLE stack I don't know, I guess you just have to try.

[tnesheim]

Can you go into more detail as to how you got this to work? I have done exactly as you did above and am using the command "BOARD=pca10005 make -B clean flash" but am getting the following error: ***** Error: Programming failed @ address 0x00000000 (block verification error) Error while programming flash: Programming failed.

It seems that it is still trying to program flash at 0x0 even though I changed the linker script file. Any thoughts or suggestions?