Extendability of the Nordic Thingy:52?

[JohanHWB]

Hey,

Up until now I have only been dealing with software. Now however, I want to create a device that I can use to track my bike by GPS and heading. In the future, I want to act given certain light conditions, like turn a light on when it becomes dark.

So to me, it seems like the Thingy52 will make all this possible? But .. what I don't get is how does the T52 actually make things happen? It has a lot of sensors, but .. how can I use this data to turn on an external light? I would prefer that the lights dim in and out, so I can't use a simple electrical relay..

I assume I'll need to connect additional things to the T52? But can this be done?

Any and all input appreciated.

Thanks! 

[Øyvind]

Hello,

Do you mean Thingy:52 or Thingy:91? The latter is the one with GPS and LTE modem. 

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[JohanHWB]

Thanks for your reply, and sorry, I should have included both.

As far as I understand: I'll assume that the gyro on the Thingy:52 can be used to obtain compass heading while motionless?

So I believe I'll need the T52 for heading and the Thingy:91 for GPS tracking (which uses LTE-M to update backend). Is this correct?

I get a sneaking feeling that I may be better off with some other hardware..

Johan

[JohanHWB]

This is why it is so hard to understand how to get things done: references refer to things with different names than what the thing calls itself. Exhausting. On top of that - all articles I come across are poorly structured and confusing. Aaaahhg!

Anyway...

When I compare the Thingy 52 with 91 I see that Bluetooth is only listed on 52 with a colourful box. Then I read that the 91 has "support" for bluetooth. This, to me, can only mean one thing: that the 91 doesn't have the necessary hardware to establish a connection to eg. an iPhone - though it will be able to support bluetooth if added in some way.

Following that logic, I need to add another module as 91 cannot actually by itself connect with another device using Bluetooth. I used the word "module" as I though this would be the correct term to use - you used term "external module" to describe the SEN-13762.

Now, you make me think that the Thingy:91 does in fact support bluetooth out of the box, despite it not being listed as a feature with a colourful box?

Btw. how do I do those cool "JohanHWB said:" quotes?

What do you know about HW? It is easier to point to correct documentation knowing what you know.

Well - that is easy. I know nothing.

[Øyvind]

I understand that it can be difficult, you have started on a difficult path with no prior knowledge of electronics. Based on this information, I recommend starting with something very basic to get you started. Perhaps some sort of "Getting Started with electronics" would be a good start as well, to learn the terminology and basic concepts i.e parallel and serial connections.

How are you comparing the Thingy:91 to Thingy:52? How can you conclude that the Thingy:91 does not have the necessary HW to establish a BLE connection?

An external module is something that is connected to externally and not on the board itself.

JohanHWB said:

Btw. how do I do those cool "JohanHWB said:" quotes?

 Mark the text and a "quote" button will appear.

[JohanHWB]

After a quick chat with a friend, this is my current understanding:</p>

The Thingy:91 is a programmable CPU with a number of connected sensors, and general purpose input and output pins (GPIOs). The CPU is a state machine running at a suitable clock rate. There is also a polling rate used to check the state of the sensors and GPIOs.

I expect the clock rate to be much higher than the polling rate, to allow the CPU time to process the polled data - but more about below.

The electric current of an external module runs from + pin to the ground pin. Data sent from it is a fraction of this power re-routed to a general purpose (input) pin.

The simplest example would be a simple switch. To avoid short circuiting the energy source the switch is connected to a resistor. The GPIO pin taps into the power between the switch and resistor. When the switch is turned on, power runs from + through the switch, then the resistor and ends up in the ground (pin). However, the GPIO also gets some of the current, but due to the extremely high impedance of the CPU reading the GPIO, the current doesn’t fry the CPU.

On the next cycle, the CPU checks the state of the GPIO and if there is an electric current (1) or not (0), before processing the data according to its programming. The result could be to power up a LED light on the board when the GPIO is 1.

GPIOs are also used to communicate series of bits to and/or from external modules. Organising bits in series allows grouping of multiple sources.

Serliaizing data means we are not limited by the number of GPIO pins on the CPU board.

If the data is serialised the CPU processing the data needs to be able to interpret the data. For this some kind of protocol is used, which specifies a timer to be used to sequence the bits.

I guess this protocol is specified in the code used to run the CPU, and therefore that is can be changed. I guess there are some known requirements associated with both the CPU, the sensors on the board, and the connected external modules which limit the range of these timers.

[JohanHWB]

Øyvind said:

How are you comparing the Thingy:91 to Thingy:52? How can you conclude that the Thingy:91 does not have the necessary HW to establish a BLE connection?

Just based on the very clear presentation of the two boards on your web page: one shows Bluetooth 5, the other doesn't. If both have the same capabilities regarding Bluetooth, shouldn't they also be presented in the same way?

[Øyvind]

JohanHWB said:

The Thingy:91 is a programmable CPU with a number of connected sensors, and general purpose input and output pins (GPIOs). The CPU is a state machine running at a suitable clock rate. There is also a polling rate used to check the state of the sensors and GPIOs.

 No. The Nordic Thingy:91 is an easy-to-use battery-operated prototyping platform for cellular IoT using LTE-M, NB-IoT and GPS. It is ideal for creating Proof-of-Concept (PoC), demos and initial prototypes in your cIoT development phase.

JohanHWB said:

The electric current of an external module runs from + pin to the ground pin. Data sent from it is a fraction of this power re-routed to a general purpose (input) pin.

The simplest example would be a simple switch. To avoid short circuiting the energy source the switch is connected to a resistor. The GPIO pin taps into the power between the switch and resistor. When the switch is turned on, power runs from + through the switch, then the resistor and ends up in the ground (pin). However, the GPIO also gets some of the current, but due to the extremely high impedance of the CPU reading the GPIO, the current doesn’t fry the CPU.

I do not understand what you mean, and what this has to do with the case.  

 

JohanHWB said:

GPIOs are also used to communicate series of bits to and/or from external modules. Organising bits in series allows grouping of multiple sources.

Serliaizing data means we are not limited by the number of GPIO pins on the CPU board.

 I do not understand. You have to use a communication protocol called I2C / TWI.

 

JohanHWB said:

Just based on the very clear presentation of the two boards on your web page: one shows Bluetooth 5, the other doesn't. If both have the same capabilities regarding Bluetooth, shouldn't they also be presented in the same way?

 Thingy:91 - There is an nRF52840 multiprotocol SoC on the Thingy:91. This offers the option of adding Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity to your project ideas.

Thingy:52 - The Nordic Thingy:52 is an easy-to-use prototyping platform, designed to help in building prototypes and demos, without the need to build hardware or even write firmware. It is built around the nRF52832 Bluetooth 5 SoC.