Garmin LIDAR-Lite v4 (nRF52840): Running OpenThread on this device appears to disable the sensor.

[lindemer]

Hello,

I am developing on the Garmin LIDAR-Lite v4, which uses an nRF52840 internally with the programming pins exposed. I am able to run my OpenThread application on this device, but it appears to turn all of the sensor readings into garbage.

This is difficult to debug because both OpenThread and the sensor's driver are pre-compiled. (Some sample code and the driver are available on Garmin's GitHub.) It appears that the LIDAR device interfaces with an internal FPGA via TIMER0, so my best guess is that OpenThread is also using TIMER1 which prevents me from accessing the sensor readings.

Does anyone know if OpenThread depends on TIMER1, and if so, can I force it to use another timer? If someone has a better theory I'd really appreciate that too!

/Sam

[lindemer]

Correction: The library appears to use GPIOTE and SPI to interface with the sensor's FPGA. Would this cause a conflict with OpenThread?

[Marjeris Romero]

Hi,

You need to check if the sensor library uses any of these peripherals: https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/sdk_tz_v4.1.0/thread_zigbee__intro.html?cp=7_3_1_0_1_0#thread_zigbee_hardware_requirements_thread

[lindemer]

Hi, thank you for the quick reply. Is it possible to configure the 802.15.4 driver to use a different timer (e.g., TIMER2)? I believe that would fix the problem.