SDK vs SoftDevice compatibility

[awneil]

I inherited an ANT/BLE nRF51422 project a couple of weeks ago.

It used SDK v6.1.0 and S310 SoftDevice v1.0.0

At the time, I'm sure that the SoftDevice download said what version of SDK was required - but I can no longer find that information!

Where is it?

I also downloaded v2 of the SoftDevice at that time (in readiness for an update) - and pretty sure it said SDK 7 required.

But now I see that SDK 8.0.0 is available! Should I use this?

See also related question on how to update the Keil project: devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

Hi

To see compatibility of different things, check the nRF51 compatibility matrix.

Update 7.4.2015 More detailed information for nRF51422 is in the PCN-093 v1.1 document, page 3. For migration from rev2 to rev3, look at the nRF51422 migration document nWP-022.

To use a new SDK with older boards should work fine, and we provide documentation for how to do that. This thread also shows where exactly to change the compiler define in Keil.

What the nRF51 compatibility matrix contains is the components that have be tested together by Nordic and that is what we recommend to customers to go into production with. If you use components that are outside the compatibility matrix, you would need to perform more extensive testing on your own.

[awneil]

That's for nRF51822 - where is the equivalent for nRF51422 ?

[awneil]

Ah, OK - that link is under 51822, but the document does cover both 51822 & 51422.

So, if I'm reading that correctly, the v2 SoftDevice is not compatible with SDK v8.

I would need SDK v7.2.0 and SoftDevice v2.0.1.

And none of this is going to work on my EK kits (PCA10001/3) - I am going to have to replace them with an nRF51-DK Development Kit?

[awneil]

And any help on the associated question of how to update an existing project to new SDK & SoftDevice versions...?

[awneil]

The Migration Guide refers to an "S310 migration document" and says, "This is available in the (sic) SoftDevice folder" - but which "SoftDevice folder" is that?

The Migration Guide doesn't mention if any special precautions are needed to ensure that installing the new SDK doesn't interfere with an older SDK installation.

[Stefan Birnir Sverrisson]

I guess the migration guide is referring to the migration document inside the softdevice zip file that you download from the website.

I find the safest way to go between SDK's is to use the SDK zip file without msi file installation. From SDK 7, the msi installation file is not available anyway.