nRF52840 dev board and bluetooth functionality

RE: nRF52840 dev board and bluetooth functionality

awneil — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 10:33:44 GMT

[quote userid="92540" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]In the datasheet it is said to have 2 ARM processors[/quote]

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

[quote userid="92540" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]1. To design a board with IO capabilities like i would with any MCU like the famous ATMega328P.[/quote]

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

[quote userid="92540" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]2. Be able to program the GPIO functionality using the built in USB[/quote]

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.

RE: nRF52840 dev board and bluetooth functionality

Nikosant03 — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 12:41:13 GMT

Hi Stardust,

[quote userid="92540" url="~/community/f/wireless-forum/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]1. To design a board with IO capabilities like i would with any MCU like the famous ATMega328P.[/quote]

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

[quote userid="92540" url="~/community/f/wireless-forum/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]2. Be able to program the GPIO functionality using the built in USB.[/quote]

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.

[quote userid="92540" url="~/community/f/wireless-forum/64628/nrf52840-dev-board-and-bluetooth-functionality"]I want to know if it is possible to to this without a host MCU to transfer data between the two.[/quote]

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