Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:28:38 GMT

I'm not sure if there is a way for you to verify the version. The Programmer should have shown you the version or at least if there is a softdevice detected on the board. But since you got the blinky example to work, it should have a softdevice flashed. Can you confirm that when running the blinky example the board is advertising and you can connect to it?

Is there a reason for upgrading the softdevice?

It is possible to attach a debugger to the board, look under SWD Interface:

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/sparkfun-pro-nrf52840-mini-hookup-guide#hardware-overview

Although I would recommend you to get an nRF52840-DK which include a debugger and it is easier to use for development:
https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Kits/nRF52840-DK

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

BMG — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 13:21:20 GMT

On the Sparkfun site, it's written that the sparkfun pro nrf52840 mini board comes with softdevice 6.1.1 installed. But to be sure, I want to verify this. How can I do this if I don't have a debugger?

Moreover, how can I update the softdevice on the board with DFU?

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 12:41:43 GMT

Hi,

If you are not using SES then you also have to flash over the softdevice. Have you done this? If you want to update the softdevice on the board without a debugger, you will need to do DFU. You need to have DFU support to be able to update the softdevice without flashing it.

I'm not sure why this issue occurs. I suspected that it might be that you haven't flashed over the softdevice, but that doesn't explain why it works on some examples.

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

BMG — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 14:20:48 GMT

Hello,

1. I tried to use nrf Connect for Desktop, but I get this error:

I've also installed JLink v6.22g. I read that this tool is not available for pro nrf52840 mini.

2. I'm not using any IDE, only run in a linux emulator the commands to: compile, create the zip and upload the project on the board.

3. By update, it means that if on the board, it's s140v6.1.1, I want to update to s140v7.0.1.

5. I also tried with the original code, with no changes, and it's the same problem.

Thank you.

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 11:38:32 GMT

Hi,

1. You can use the "Programmer" inside nRF Connect fro Desktop to verify which version of the softdevice you have running on your board. Run "Programmer" - > Select device on the top left corner. Then you will see the softdevice version in the log if it is detected.

2. It depends on which IDE you are using. If you are using Segger Embedded Studio(SES) then the softdevice will be flashed with the application automatically.

3. What do you mean by updating? via DFU? Or just flash it over to the board? Note that Softdevice s140v7.0.1 is supported in SDK16.0.0.

4. The SDK15.3.0 are using Softdevice s140v6.1.1.

5. Have you modified anything on the other examples? Did you run every examples you tried with unmodified?

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

BMG — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 09:15:53 GMT

Hi Mttrinh,

I checked the function app_error_fault_handler() and the program doesn't get there, so I am not able to see which error code returns the function.

I suppose that the problem is the softdevice and I have several questions:

1. How can I verify which version of softdevice it's on the board?

2. Do I have a softdevice on my board by default? I have sparkfun nrf52840 mini.

3. How to do an update to softdevice 7.0.1?

4. The examples from nRF5_SDK_15.3.0_59ac345 with which versions of softdevice are running?

5. The example "nRF5_SDK_15.3.0_59ac345\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_blinky" doesn't have any problem with ble_stack_init() function and it works well. I don't know why only some examples work and others are stuck at ble_stack_init().

Thank you.

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:19:30 GMT

Hi,

That is a softdevice function which isn't open source, so like you said you won't have access to it.

Have you modified anything in the example? I suspect it might be just a problem with memory. Try setting the define "DEBUG" in your preprocessor and set a breakpoint at the function app_error_fault_handler(). Then try to debug the code, this will let you see which error code that is returned from the function.

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

BMG — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 10:33:40 GMT

Thank you for the answer! But I have a problem with the <InstallFolder>\examples\ble_central\ble_app_uart_c project, in function:

ret_code = sd_softdevice_enable(&clock_lf_cfg, app_error_fault_handler);

called from nrf_sdh_enable_request() in ble_stack_init() function:

I think it's a reset and I don't know how to solve it because the file containing the implementation of sd_softdevice_enable() function is not compiled in the project. I think it's a separate library where its implementation can be found and I don't have access to this. That's why I can''t do debug.

How can I solve this?

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 07:42:03 GMT

You can use this function to send a string: ble_nus_c_string_send().

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

BMG — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 14:22:02 GMT

Are there functions to send a string from central to peripheral?

RE: Communication between two nRF52840 boards through BLE

Mttrinh — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 10:29:54 GMT

Hi,

You should able to do this with the UART example from our SDK. Have look at these two examples:

Nordic UART Service Client(Central), can be found in <InstallFolder>\examples\ble_central\ble_app_uart_c

UART/Serial Port Emulation over BLE(Peripheral), can be found in <InstallFolder>\examples\ble_peripheral\ble_app_uart