Asset Tracker Code Editing Guide/Sample

[MAhmed106]

Hi Nordic

We are developing our IOT product and we are starting our development of firmware on nRF9160 DK so that we can port that code to our custom PCB that will contain nRF9160.

As i have read the documentation and setuped whole nRF Hardware and cloud etc. Asset Tracker code is running fine and its data is being displayed on nRF Cloud as well. 

And i m satisfied with the performace of it. But now i m going into the customization phase but i m stuck as where to start the development in the code. 

I need following support in the firmware alongside asset tracker : 

1. Communication with another MCU via UART.

2. Control GPIO's for Fan and LEDs as per custom application.

3. Offline data storage in SD Card.

4. Send data to AWS IOT cloud rather than nRF Cloud

5. Read some thermistors from ADC

6. Interface an accelerometer on SPI interface.

As in our previous revisions of the PCB, i have already done all of this with STM32 MCU and another LTE module. Now we want to use nRF 9160 SiP and my firmware will be designed again from scratch. 

I am fine with the asset tracking feature as it is very good, power saving and sophisticated but in parallel of that i need those 6 features as well that i listed above.

I have read alot of docs provided by nRF and explored Segger Embedded Studio. Even i have used SES to program the nRF DK. But i cant find the files to edit in .C and add the extra features. In SES all files are binary and other files. No C Files are there.

So i m confused there where should i start editing the code and add the above mentioned features. 
If there is a guide or youtube video that will be very helpful. 

Thanks alot . 

Waiting for the response.

[Øyvind]

Hello, 

Have you looked at our nRF Connect SDK documentation? Have a look at the "Working with nRF91-series".  Please note that the standard Segger Embedded Studio does not work with NCS, you will need to use SES Nordic Edition. 

We have also launched a preview of nRF Connect for VS Code. 

I recommend reading the nRF Connect SDK Tutorial series, currently written for NCS 1.5.0, but should provide good information on how to start.

As described in "About the nRF Connect SDK", NCS is a set of open source projects maintained by Nordic Semiconductor, consisting of several repositories. I would especially recommend reading the sdk-nrf documentation, and the sdk-zephyr documentation. The menu in the bottom left corner provides links to the different repository documentations.

Both repositories include several samples, where the nrf repo focuses on device specific samples and applications, and the zephyr repo provides more community driven samples which includes sensors, peripherals, etc. 

 

1. Communication with another MCU via UART.

 In the nrf repo have look at the Low Power UART sample

2. Control GPIO's for Fan and LEDs as per custom application.

 The zephyr repo has its own group of basic samples to control LED, servos, etc.

3. Offline data storage in SD Card.

 Have a look at the FATFS samples from the Zephyr repo, used to mount an SDHC card connected over a SPI bus or to an on-chip SDHC controller.

4. Send data to AWS IOT cloud rather than nRF Cloud

 There are two AWS samples in the nrf repo:

• nRF9160: AWS FOTA
• nRF9160: AWS IoT

5. Read some thermistors from ADC

 The Analog-to-Digital sample in the Zephyr repo, along with the Battery Voltage Measurement sample are good starting points.

6. Interface an accelerometer on SPI interface.

 What accelerometer are you using, I suggest looking at the supported sensors in Zephyr, and the ADXL372 I2C/SPI Accelerometer sample

And of course, please search the forum for similar questions and answer from other users. 

Good luck. 

Kind regards,
Øyvind