nRF52840 dev board and bluetooth functionality

[Stardust]

Hi, i am new to the nRF52840, i like the features it has and i want to create a board using it. In the datasheet it is said to have 2 ARM processors and i want to use it as follows;

1. To design a board with IO capabilities like i would with any MCU like the famous ATMega328P.

2. Be able to program the GPIO functionality using the built in USB.

I want to know if it is possible to to this without a host MCU to transfer data between the two.

Thanks all.

[Nikosant03]

Hi Stardust,

Stardust said:

1. To design a board with IO capabilities like i would with any MCU like the famous ATMega328P.

Yes, you can use any of the pre-approved 3rd party nRF52840 modules to design your own development board.

Stardust said:

2. Be able to program the GPIO functionality using the built in USB.

Yes you do, nRF52840 has an OB Segger J-Link debugger . You can use the build in USB to flash the DK using your favourite IDE like SES or Keil. Also you can use the OB debugger to flash external modules.

Stardust said:

I want to know if it is possible to to this without a host MCU to transfer data between the two.

I am not sure, but what is the reason of not using the OB Segger J-Link? If you buy a 3rd party module and develop your own evaluation you can use an external J-Link debugger and 10-pin Cortex Debug connector.

I know that you can disconnect the MCU interface from nRF52840 DK but for the purpose of measuring current consumption of nRF52840 SOC.

See the nRF52840 User Guide

See this post for download the Schematic diagram of nRF52840 PCA10056

Hope that heps

Nick

[awneil]

Stardust said:

In the datasheet it is said to have 2 ARM processors

Is it? where did you read that?

While Nordic do now have some multi-core chips, the nRF52840 isn't one of them - it's a single Cortex-M4:

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Low-power-short-range-wireless/nRF52840

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/struct_nrf52/struct/nrf52840.html

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/ps_nrf52840/keyfeatures_html5.html?cp=3_0_0

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/ps_nrf52840/blockdiagram.html?cp=4_0_0_2

Stardust said:

1. To design a board with IO capabilities like i would with any MCU like the famous ATMega328P.

The nRF52840 is a "System on Chip" - SoC - so there is no need for an external MCU to do this.

Stardust said:

2. Be able to program the GPIO functionality using the built in USB

What, exactly, do you mean by that?

USB is a communication interface - so you could use this to send commands to the chip to do stuff with its GPIOs, and the chip could send back results/responess - as with any other comms interface; eg, UART.

You would need to write code to handle the comms, and to do the GPIO stuff.