nRF51822 programming question

[Max]

Hi,

I am starting my first project with nRF51822 for my thesis. I thought its a good idea to start with evolution kit so I bought nRF51822-EK I assume I will get everything I need to write my first application and should be able to talk to iPhone app. I am writing iPhone app for proximity sensing. Am I correct till this point?

Now my question for future design. I will be using 7-8 custom boards in my project. These board will be very simple just nRF51822 chip and some passive components. How do I program these custom boards?

Do I just buy this J-LINK? www.digikey.com/.../2263130

Will I be able to use SoftDevice binary that includes the bluetooth stack with my custom boards? Will there be any license issue if I am using it on my custom bords?

I will appreciate any comments on this. I am early in my development cycle but I would like to know all the road block sooner rather than later.

Thanks, Max

[Marc Nicholas]

Hi Max,

The EK is a great place to start and you'll be able to prototype a proximity app just fine with it (that was me about 18 months ago :) ).

With regard to the custom boards, I want you to be aware that rolling a custom board isn't as straight forward as you might be tempted to think. Antenna/impedance matching is somewhat complicated, although you can send the boards to Nordic and they'll help with that matching network. Be aware that none of the reference designs show a matching network in place!

If your project is low volume, maybe look at something like the RF Digital nRD51822? It's a nRF51822 on a tiny PCB with modular approval, an RF shield and a well-matched antenna.

For a J-Link, I'd recommend getting the nRF51822 Dev Kit. It comes with a bare bones J-Link that's only licensed to program Nordic parts. At $99, it's a heck of a deal.

Someone from Nordic should answer the SoftDevice question 'officially', but I believe you're entitled to a license for the SoftDevice and SDK for every piece of silicon you buy. So you're fine.

Hope that helps.

-m

[Bastiaan]

I'll second the recommendation for the dev kit. It's got the Segger debugger included along with 5 chips for your custom board.

As Marc said, it's not totally trivial to do a custom board. However, I've done it and it does work (although only at about 15 foot range) and I know nothing about RF design (or electronics really as some of my other posts demonstrate :).

I've got an open source project that might be of use: http://hg.cmason.com/nrf

Best,

-c

[Guest]

I'll second the recommendation for the dev kit. It's got the Segger debugger included along with 5 chips for your custom board.

As Marc said, it's not totally trivial to do a custom board. However, I've done it and it does work (although only at about 15 foot range) and I know nothing about RF design (or electronics really as some of my other posts demonstrate :).

I've got an open source project that might be of use: http://hg.cmason.com/nrf

Best,

-c

[Ole Morten]

The difference between the Evaluation Kit and the Development Kit is described better here.

As for programming custom boards, the J-Link you link to should work fine, as should the J-Link in the Development Kit as long as your custom boards run at ~3 V. When you buy either kit you get a Product Key that you can use to access the softdevice, and use it on any custom boards.

Making a custom board isn't really very hard, but you need to make sure to copy the reference layout as close as you possibly can. Even tiny changes to it can severely affect the RF performance, both with regard to range and compliance with regulatory rules.

[Guest]

Marc,

U mentioned RF Digital nRD51822? can u please post the link. I am not getting anything from google.