Building NimBLE for FreeRTOS on nRF52840

Question

Hello - 
 
 We are interested in using NimBLE for a nRF52 project as we've used NimBLE on another micro controller. NimBLE would be running on FreeRTOS and we are developing on the nRF52840 Development Kit, currently using the S140 SoftDevice v6.1.1 API. I am wondering if anyone has a sample project I can leverage to get started from. In particular it would be helpful to know which NimBLE sources need to be built and how to setup the bindings and hooks to FreeRTOS running on the DK. 
 
 Also, my understanding is that if we use NimBLE, we wouldn't need to use the SoftDevice, because NimBLE integrates at the HCI layer. Is that true? If so, would we still be able to leverage the robust sleep and low power features of the nRF52 if using NimBLE to host a BLE client and server? Power management is important for this project. 
 
 Regards, 
 Brian

Håkon Alseth · Accepted Answer

Hi, 
 
 It is correct that you do not need the SoftDevice if you run NimBLE, as its a full BLE stack. If lowest power is a top priority for your application, I would recommend that you study both solutions and choose whats best for your use-case. 
 
 NimBLE is a product from MyNewt, and I would recommend that you check with the community regarding these questions: 
 https://mynewt.apache.org/community/ 
 
 Kind regards, 
 Håkon