Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Einar Thorsrud — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 13:59:04 GMT

Hi,

Karl is OoO so I have taken a look. Looking at your project and there are quite a few issues. I see that the Decawave example you have started with is quite stripped and there is a need for a significant amount of adjustments.

I expect it will be faster and better to start of with a nRF5 SDK example that use a SoftDevice, and then copy in the Decawave related code. (Also, it looks to me like the Decawave specific code is easily portable to a newer nRF5 SDK, so if you intend to make a real product in the end that would make sense to get the latest bug fixes etc. But if you just want to get something working, then taking a BLE example form SDK 14.2 would probably be the fastest.)

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 15:40:07 GMT

I did that. It seems that the xPort error was converted into multiple definitions. However, I deleted the function xPortSysTickHandler from freertos to resolve it. Thankfully, no additional errors were produced, but I don't know if that's the correct way.

I attempted to follow the same method with "undefined reference to `__app_ram_start__'". However, __app_ram_start__ is defined in several files and seems to be already declared. So, I'm not sure there is an undefined reference error.

For the sd_ble_gap_address_get error that happens in ble_advdata.c, it's a function that's in ble_gap.h. However, ble_gap.c does not exist in the project after I did a search with control-f you recommended. My current errors are:

And my current project is:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../3617.SPLICEDWM1001_2D00_Dev.rar

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 09:47:20 GMT

Please search your entire project (ctrl + shift + f) and search for the undeclared references. Are you able to find the undeclared functions in your project?
If so, are they grayed out in the editor, or perhaps not showing up in the project index?
If this is the case, look through the file to see if there is a define needed to enable the code, and if there is, make sure this define is defined in your sdk_config.

You might also have to change your project defines if you have not already done so.
What is the contents of your preprocessor defines in the project options for the common configuration?

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:19:53 GMT

I already have all those files in Segger in my nRF_SoftDevice folder. I checked the ble_app_beacon project to find where all those functions belong. Afterwards, I added them to my current project.

Softdevice is included above in my project.

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:08:27 GMT

I see that you have an undefined reference to sd_ble_gap_address_get and __app_ram_start__.
Could it be that you have not included the necessary SoftDevice files, such as nrf_sdh.c, nrf_sdh_ble.c, nrf_sdh_soc.c, or similar, for example?

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 17:54:01 GMT

Hello, the change doesn't seem to clear the undefined errors I'm getting. Though it seems to resolve one of the errors as I'm getting only 1 error. These are the current errors I'm getting:

The sdk_config file is very hard to modify as I'm not sure which variable I need to change when I use what specific functions. My current project state is:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../3414.SPLICEDWM1001_2D00_Dev.rar

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:34:51 GMT

Can you make sure that you have defines in sdk_config such as NRF_SDH_BLE_ENABLED set to 1?
Undefined references will often be the case if a file is not included correctly, or if the corresponding _ENABLED define is not set so that the file is not included in the compilation.

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:00:11 GMT

Yes, I'm still getting the undefined errors only. Here's a screenshot:

Though I'm not getting any RTOS errors I think

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 08:14:02 GMT

Hello again,

Did it not make any difference when you moved all the changes to the common build configuration?
What build configuration are you building your project with?
What errors are you currently facing, is it still the undefined references to the FreeRTOS files?

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 13:42:11 GMT

Hello,

I haven't been doing the preprocessor changes to the common, but just fixed that. However, the same errors seem to persist. I attached my project here:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../8688.SPLICEDWM1001_2D00_Dev.rar

The nrf SDK folder is inside this project. So, It's relatively close to the C: drive

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 07:41:15 GMT

Great, thank you for letting me know.

Could you confirm that you are making these changes in the options for the common build configuration? All other build configurations inherits from the common one, so if you make the change here it will apply to all your build configurations.

If you are already doing this in the common build configuration, could you send me your SES project file so I may take a look, and also let me know what the absolute path to the file is in your system?

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]I especially moved my project to my C: directory to get the shortest path possible.[/quote]

This is good. Could you confirm that you have moved the entire SDK to the top of the C: drive, and not just your project folder?
I assume the former is the case, but I ask in order to rule out any misunderstandings here.
The reason why the whole SDK must be moved is that the SDK examples all use relative paths in their included directories.

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 14:26:55 GMT

In the user included directory, I double-checked for trailing spaces and 260 character limits. I copied the user included directory to a text file and used control-F to find any spaces and it seems clear. I especially moved my project to my C: directory to get the shortest path possible. However, I'm still getting the same errors.

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 08:58:58 GMT

Hello,

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]It turns out that I had to remove some files from the Freertos folder in SEGGER to eliminate the multiple function declaration issue.[/quote]

Great, I am glad to hear that you were able to identify and resolve those issues!

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]However, although I added the necessary files to SEGGER and double-checked my preprocessor path list, SEGGER doesn't detect them. The necessary files are there, such as "nrf_sdh_ble.h" for the nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(APP_BLE_CONN_CFG_TAG, &ram_start) issue, but SEGGER is not detecting it[/quote]

Could you make sure that the path to these files does not exceed the 260 char limit set by Windows? Please also make sure that you have no trailing white-spaces anywhere in your User Included Directories - this will likely break the paths.
In general, it is also recommended to make sure that you do not have any white-spaces in the paths provided, but this is more of a general c tip.

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Thanks a lot for your suggestions.[/quote][quote user="johndoeaa1"]thanks a lot for your help man, I'd been making progress![/quote]

No problem at all - its great to see that you are progressing with identifying and resolving the issues!

Looking forward to resolving these last undefined reference errors!

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 23:12:10 GMT

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. It turns out that I had to remove some files from the Freertos folder in SEGGER to eliminate the multiple function declaration issue. The only issue I'm having is the undefined reference.

The way I solved this issue is that I'd go to the example in the nRF5_SDK_14.2.0 folder and run the example ble_app_beacon. When a function is undefined in my ss_twr_resp example, I'd add the existing file, and add the file path to the preprocessor. This was enough to get rid of most of the undefined references.

However, although I added the necessary files to SEGGER and double-checked my preprocessor path list, SEGGER doesn't detect them. The necessary files are there, such as "nrf_sdh_ble.h" for the nrf_sdh_ble_default_cfg_set(APP_BLE_CONN_CFG_TAG, &ram_start) issue, but SEGGER is not detecting it. I Googled the error and found sources, such as https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5559250/c-error-undefined-reference-to-function-but-it-is-defined. I don't think this is a general C issue, but might be a SEGGER one. I'd appreciate any kind of advice, and thanks a lot for your help man, I'd been making progress! Here's also my project in case I missed a detail:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../SPLICEDWM1001_2D00_Dev.rar

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 09:00:20 GMT

Hello again,

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Thanks, man. Your answers are very clear I think. However, I'm a noob with SEGGER so please forgive me if I miss something obvious or inundate you with more questions. [/quote]

No worries at all - I am happy to help!

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Q1: I enabled the APP_TIME_ENABLED. It was already defined as 0. I changed it to 1. The error seems to have disappeared.[/quote]

Great, I am glad to hear that those errors are now resolved.

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Q2: I'm a little lost about sdk_config.h. I know what it does. However, when I add a file to my project, how can I know what to enable in that file or which functions need to be enabled?[/quote]

I am not sure about the last part of your question, when you are asking which functions needs to be enabled, but in general you will need to enable each driver or module that you add to your project. In addition to enabling the driver or module you may also configure it in the sdk_config. An easy way to do this is to look up an existing example that uses the module already, and see what its relevant sdk_config configuration is - this way, you will get a working default configuration right off the bat, and you do not have to set all the configurations yourself.

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Q3: I changed my function name to advertise123 to ensure I'm not overlapping with any built-in variable/function name. However, the issue still seems to persist.[/quote][quote user="johndoeaa1"]However, now most of my errors are multiple definitions. What should I do? [/quote]

This is a good step in the debugging of the issue.
Looking at the attached project I see that you have #included a .c file.

#include "BLEUtil.c"

You should never do this, and instead just include header files. Please take a look at this stackoverflow answer for more detail.
Try to create a headerfile for your BLEUtil file, and include that instead. Also make sure that you have not included .c files anywhere else in your code as well.
Try this, and let me know if it resolves your multiple definition errors.

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]I don't want to dump my project on your desk, but here's the zip file in case if you need more details. I modified the example ss_twr_resp (which I should have created my own project sorry).[/quote]

No problem at all! I recommend starting out from an existing example whenever possible / available - this is far better than writing everything from scratch to 'reinvent the wheel'. This approach might be slightly more boring than making it from scratch since it requires more studying of the existing code rather than writing it on your own at the beginning of the development, but overall I think this approach should be used whenever possible in order to save time.

[quote user="johndoeaa1"]Also, feel free to recommend me tutorials on these kinds of issues. I think the best tutorial in the field is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6__nNtWKYc4&ab_channel=Sumair%27sEmbeddedEngineering. However, I didn't think it went too much in detail about the issues I'm having.[/quote]

Yes, Sumair's tutorials are excellent for learning how to use the nRF5 SDK specifically, and how to make use of all the features of the nRF52 series. However, he does not cover general C errors and issues, since it is not specific to nRF development.
I am not sure what to recommend you for general C issues, but my main recommendation would be to google the error messages you get when you try to compile your project and look at stackoverflow answers to see what the errors root cause might be. Then go through your code to see if you might have done anything similar.

Best regards,
Karl

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

johndoeaa1 — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 18:04:11 GMT

Thanks, man. Your answers are very clear I think. However, I'm a noob with SEGGER so please forgive me if I miss something obvious or inundate you with more questions.

Q1: I enabled the APP_TIME_ENABLED. It was already defined as 0. I changed it to 1. The error seems to have disappeared. However, now most of my errors are multiple definitions. What should I do?

Q2: I'm a little lost about sdk_config.h. I know what it does. However, when I add a file to my project, how can I know what to enable in that file or which functions need to be enabled?

Q3: I changed my function name to advertise123 to ensure I'm not overlapping with any built-in variable/function name. However, the issue still seems to persist.

I don't want to dump my project on your desk, but here's the zip file in case if you need more details. I modified the example ss_twr_resp (which I should have created my own project sorry).

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../SPLICEDWM1001_2D00_Dev.zip

Also, feel free to recommend me tutorials on these kinds of issues. I think the best tutorial in the field is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6__nNtWKYc4&ab_channel=Sumair%27sEmbeddedEngineering. However, I didn't think it went too much in detail about the issues I'm having.

Best Regards.

RE: Using nrf BLE with DWM1001-DEV

Karl Ylvisaker — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 12:12:53 GMT

Hello,

Thank you for your patience with this.

[quote user=""]I added all necessary files through SEGGER using "add existing file". Furthermore, for every file I added, I also went to the options of the project, into preprocessor, and added the folder path to "User included Directories".[/quote]

Great! Could you confirm whether you also enabled the different added modules in the sdk_config.h file?

[quote user=""]I still get this error (for instance app_timer.h is added, but app_timer_init() still is undefined, according to SEGGER).[/quote]

For example, when adding the application timer library to your project you will need to add the source file and include path (which you have already done), but you will also need to define APP_TIMER_ENABLED 1 in your sdk_config.h for the app_timer.c code to be compiled and included in your project.
You will need to do this for all nrfx driver etc. that you will be using as well.
Please also make sure that there is only a single *_ENABLED defined for each module. I.e do not have both TIMER_ENABLED and NRFX_TIMER_ENABLED defined (comment one of them out or remove it all together, do not just define it to 0) in your sdk_config as this may cause some trouble with which version of the drivers you are using.

[quote user=""]Mainly, I see two errors. Error 1 indicates there are two definitions of specific functions. I'm quite sure I did not define them twice. However, I don't know how to approach this problem.[/quote]

It is hard for me to comment on the multiple definition here without seeing the code, but it looks to be the an issue with a variable or function called 'advertise', which you should take a closer look at.

Looking forward to resolving these issue together!

Best regards,
Karl