Getting started with the Thingy:91

[Akash Kamble]

Hello,

I am new to the nrf9160. i am quite confused in between nRF Thingy91(pca20035) and nRF9160DK (pca10090).

What are the steps i need to follow to get start with nRF91 thingy.

[Simon]

The only difference is the board, which the nRF9160 SiP is integrated onto. Everything you can do with the nRF9160 DK, that doesn't include board-specific hardware, you can do on the Thingy:91.

• Check out the nRF9160 Product Specification for information about the nRF9160 SiP
  
  • By reading this, you will get an understanding of everything the two devices have in common
• Check out the nRF9160 DK User Guide for information specific to the nRF91 Development Kit and the Nordic Thingy:91 User guide for the Thingy:91
  • By reading these documents, you will get an understanding of the differences between the two devices

Programming/debugging the Thingy:91

The Thingy:91 does not have an inbuilt debugger/programmer, like the nRF9160 DK. Which is required to flash your program and debug your code. You either need an external debugger (check out this answer), or you can buy an nRF9160 DK along with a 10-pin cable to flash/debug your program onto the chip.

Board folder

When building a program for the Thingy:91, you have to use the nrf9160_pca20035 board folder.

E.g. to build a Thingy:91 non-secure application using west, type in the following:

west build -b nrf9160_pca20035ns

However, you have to include the following line into the CMakeLists.txt file, if not, west will not find the board. In the next release of NCS (and the most up-to-date master), this should be added to all the samples in the nrf repo.

Here is some further reading you can look into as well, it shows how to perform a firmware update on the Thingy:91, using MCUboot.

Best regards,

Simon

[Akash Kamble]

Thanks for the reply

Any recommendations on "external debugger"  (to be able to program the nRF52840) ..?

Or

nRF connect DK (PCA10090) is sufficient to flash both nRF9160 and nRF52840 on thingy91 device..?

[Simon]

Akash Kamble said:

nRF connect DK (PCA10090) is sufficient to flash both nRF9160 and nRF52840 on thingy91 device..?

Yes, you can use the programmer on the nRF9160 DK to flash both the nRF9160 and the nRF52840 on the Thingy:91.

Check out chapters 4.2 and 4.3 in the Nordic Thingy User Guide for instructions on how to do this.

Best regards,

Simon

[Akash Kamble]

Hi simon,

Thanks for reply.

I have purchased Nordic Thingy91 (PCA20035).

I need a small clarification on the programming/flashing the nRF9160 and nRF52840 on Thnigy91 (PCA20035) device.

As per the guide lines of MCUboot (devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../thingy91_2d00_fw_2d00_update_2d00_mcuboot)

I have flashed the nRf9160 (pca20035) without nRF DK(PCA10090)/Jlink externally with the help of mucboot.
(mcumgr --conntype=serial --connstring=<serial port> image upload <image>)

Similarly, is it possible to flash nRF52840 (PCA20035) on thingy91 device, without DK(PCA10090)/Jlink externally, only by using MCUBoot...??

Thank you.

[Simon]

It should be possible to update the firmware of the nRF52840 on the Thingy:91 using MCUBoot. In the Thingy:91 Firmware Update Guide, the following is stated:

"Put your Thingy:91 into application serial recovery mode either by pushing the main button ....or the small button (SW4) while turning on power to update the nRF52840 SoC"

Check out this, this and this case which are about the same issue. However, with the default firmware (MCUBoot) that the nRF52840 is shipped with, you may encounter some driver problems if you are using Windows (If you are using e.g. Linux it should work fine). This is reported internally, and we are currently looking into it.

One way to fix this, that doesn't really help you since you don't have an external programmer (or nRF9160 DK), is to update to the MCUBoot from the release candidate 2  v1.1.0.

I will report to you when we have made progress on this.

Best regards,

Simon