Custom Board NCS

[WesC]

NCS V1.7.0

VSC IDE

In VSC you can create a custom board.

when i do this for the nRF5340 and build, it does not include the network core.

it also does not appear to add the HCI_RPMSG to the network core and merge hex files.

is there documentation on building a custom nRF5340 board?

what are the files needed to accomplish a APP, NET, HCI compile and merge to program both cpus and have HCI included?

[Kenneth]

I suggest you follow this guide:
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nrf-connect-sdk-guides/b/getting-started/posts/nrf-connect-sdk-tutorial---part-3-ncs-v1-4-0#h11sk6ks1jkp1figkuq6gxw1m1rctdp0

The VSC create custom board for the nRF5340 I thin is very limited at the moment, so I recommend to instead use the nRF5340DK board files as suggested above as basis for your custom board. Then you for instance ensure that things like these are handled:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/79541/yaml-set-to-448k-ram 

[WesC]

the Tutorial is for a nRF52 board and is helpfull, but there appears to have an issue with the network core of the nRF5340.

I copied all the board files from the 5340 (secure version) into my custom board folder. Renamed the files to match the new board name. So now I have a custom board that should be identical to the zepher based 5340DK secure version.

If I use the custom board for either of the projects the outcome is the same, bt_enable() never returns. There are missing domain definitions for the network core in the custom board, I think that is the root cause of the failure. There is some other configuration file that is used when zephyr is built that is not in the board folder. I have looked though documentation and cannot find a list of the actual configuration files used when doing the first stage of the build

[Kenneth]

If bt_enable() never return when using the DK files, then I would instead look at hardware changes between the DK and custom board. For instance does the custom board have external 32kHz crystal?

Kenneth

[WesC]

thanks for the reply.  I am using the nRF5340DK for my tests.  if I build with the nRF5340DK_NRF5340_CPUAPP i works fine.  If I build for the custom board (which is just a copy of the nRF5340DK boards directory from Zephyr) it fails.  It looks like it is not defining the network core or the HCI_RPMSG correctly

[Kenneth]

Seems to work as intended here. Adding my board file.

4643.custom_nrf5340.zip

I did the guide described here:
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nrf-connect-sdk-guides/b/getting-started/posts/nrf-connect-sdk-tutorial---part-3-ncs-v1-4-0#h113sk0f71cly1ckwgkkxioblcbcsge6 

This is ncs v1.7, and using a nRF5340 DK that fulfill:

https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrf/ug_nrf5340.html

I also executed first:

nrfjprog --recover --coprocessor CP_NETWORK
nrfjprog --recover

Best regards,
Kenneth