Streaming data from 9 nRF52 sensors to a computer?

[Cedric Honnet]

Hi everyone!

Challenge:

I'm trying to stream data from 9 nrf52832 (12 bytes each) to a computer, hopefully at 25 Hz at least (it seems more than realistic!).

Dream:

A cross platform way to do this without dongle would be amazing, but it seems tricky!

=> Would anyone happen to have any advice? (with example code!?)

Idea 1 - with BLE:

BLE broadcast might not be the fastest, but it should work by advertizing sensor data in "manufacturer packets":

https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-BLEPeripheral/blob/master/examples/test/test.ino#L37-L38

...but it's difficult to find simple cross platform software for the reception! (the aim is to get all sorts of users)

=> Would anyone happens to have any advice? (with example code!?)

Idea 2 - with ESB:

Multiple ESB connections should work but the channels/pipe system is not very clear:

https://github.com/honnet/arduino-nRF5-with-nRF24-radio/blob/master/libraries/Radio/radio_config.c#L107

=> Is there any tutorial / example to use more than 6 devices in the same time?

I would be very grateful for any tips!

Thanks a lot!

Cedric ;)

PS: the approach with Nordic SDK should work but it's a last resort (not practical for the users):

https://github.com/NordicPlayground/nrf52-esb-broadcaster/

https://github.com/too1/nrf52-esb-sniffer

[Nguyen Hoan Hoang]

You can write software on PC for each platform without dongle if the PC is modern enough to have the BLE builtin.  Pretty much all new laptops have it builtin.  You can try NodeJS for cross platform. Another way is to use a nRF52840 dongle and write the Central mode firmware to scan and dump data over USB CDC. Your PC will see it as a com port.  So any terminal program such a CoolTerm, Terraterm,.. can be use to get the data.

Better BLE Peripheral firmware example than the Arduino one, see this blog https://embeddedsoftdev.blogspot.com/2018/01/bluetooth-le-with-nordic-nrf51-nrf52.html

[Cedric Honnet]

Thanks for your reply, I haven't looked into noble for a while, maybe it's more usable now (on Linux it was always great but it used to be a pain with Windows and osX).