Power Measuring for nRFConnect nRF52840 devices

[TigerD]

Hi,

I have PCA63511 Power Profiling DK and nRF52840 DK ( and nRF9160-DK )

I was using SoftDevice SDK, and no issues with measuring nRF52840 device. But now I switched to nRFConnect SDK, compiled and loaded into nRF52840 device. But Power Profiler launched from nRFConnect Desktop doesn't show start button when the device is selected.

Did I miss anything?

Thank you,

David

[Øyvind]

Hi David, 

Can you provide more information on what you loaded into the nRF52840 device? What exactly are you trying to measure on? Will need more information to reproduce on my side. 

Please note that the PPK1 (PCA63511) is not compatible with the nRF9160 DK. For this you will need the new PPK2.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[TigerD]

Hi Oyvind,

I guess it is compatibility issue. But PPKI (PCA63511) is the nRF9160 DK board. It is able to measure the nRF52840/bRF52832 DK boards using SoftDevice SDK, but not using nRFConnect SDK.

Do you have PPK2 board part number for ordering?

Thank you,

David

[Øyvind]

David, to clarify, the PPK1 and PPK2 does not distinguish between the nRF5 SDK or nRF Connect SDK. It should simply measure current regardless of what SDK is running on the device. Ref. PPK1 measurement system vs PPK2 measurement system.

Have a look at the Power Profiler Kit 2 product page.

TigerD said:

It is able to measure the nRF52840/bRF52832 DK boards using SoftDevice SDK, but not using nRFConnect SDK.

 Can you elaborate more on this?

Kind regards,

Øyvind

[TigerD]

Hi Oyvind,

We bought 3 PPKI and quite a few nRF52840 dev boards, and nRF9160 DK boards. We were using PPKI for power measurement of nRF52 dev boards when I was using SoftDevice. I attached two images to show this. Please review.

But now, I was suggested by your support team to use nRFConnect SDK for nRF52 devices programming, because I was told that your company is not adding any new features into SoftDevice.

Thank you,

David Zhou

[Øyvind]

David,

TigerD said:

We were using PPKI for power measurement of nRF52 dev boards when I was using SoftDevice. I attached two images to show this. Please review.

What images should I review? What sample are you running from the nRF5 SDK and nRF Connect SDK? Sounds like there is an issue starting the NCS sample. 

 

TigerD said:

I was suggested by your support team to use nRFConnect SDK for nRF52 devices programming, because I was told that your company is not adding any new features into SoftDevice.

 This is true. The nRF Connect SDK is the future SDK we urge customers to use. It will implement future functionality The nRF5 SDK is still supported but will not add newer features e.g. Matter or BLE Long Range. 

[TigerD]

Hi Oyvind,

Sorry I didn't clarify the images I posted. The first image is the result of the power measurement using PPKI on the nRF52840 DK board. It was working, the nRF52840 was loaded with my program developed using SoftDevice SDK.

The second image shows the actual nRF52840 DK board and PPKI board for measuring power with the result of the first image.

So, these two boards (nRF52840 DK and PPKI ) are working under SoftDevice SDK.

With nRFConnect SDK, I compiled an example:

 .\ConnectSDK\ncs\zephyr\samples\bluetooth\beacon

Board is selected as :

  build_nrf52840dk_nrf52840

And loaded into nRF52840 DK board.

The sample program runs ok.

You said PPKI shall work on nRFConnect SDK. So what did I do wrong?

Thank you,

David Zhou

   

[Øyvind]

Hello David, 

I've tested the PPK1 with the Beacon sample from the Zephyr samples, and got the following result:
 

Then with the PPK2 running the same:
  

Note that the PPK2 is more accurate which gives the reason for why it measures higher current. Also, please note that you must choose the PPK2 in the Power Profiler device list and not nRF52840.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[TigerD]

Hi Oyvind,

Finally I got it working. I updated nRFconnect 3.7.1, compiled zephyr/samples/beacon project, and flashed into nRF52840 DK.

For PPKI, I still chose nRF52840 DK, and measured ok. (see image)

Thank you,

David Zhou

[Øyvind]

David, 

Happy to help! Glad you got it running. 

Kind regards,
Øyvind