Differences between nrf52 DKs

[Daniel Slotcavage]

Hi Nordic team,

We're just getting started in evaluating the nrf52 series for our application, and given the current scarcity of chips, I'm wondering about the adaptability of the various DKs for the nrf52 series.  Specifically, I see links for this kit (usable for nrf52832, nrf52810, and nrf52805) and this (usable for nrf52840 and nrf52811).  The DK from Digikey is just listed as the NRF52 DK, though it says it's for the nrf52832 in the description.  I think I've also seen a third DK compatible with the nrf52833 and nrf52820, though I'm not finding that now.  My question is: how portable is code between each of these SoCs?  At the moment, we'll be forced to use whatever is in stock that can satisfy our needs.  We can adapt our code to use different pins and different Softdevices, but we don't want to invest significant development resources via one of DKs only for it to not work in another.  Relatedly, can one DK be used to program any blank, external SoC (e.g. the nrf52832 DK to program a nrf52840, etc.)?

Thank you in advance for any clarification you can offer here.

Dan

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi Dan,

Some nRF52 variants have their own DKs. For nRF52 variants with no dedicated DK there is typically support for using another DK (like the nRF52 DK for the nRF52810). You can see which DK is suitable for which ICs under Development hardware.

Regarding the nRF52 DK this is called that and not then RF52832 DK for historical reasons (it was the first DK for the nRF52 series). You can think of it as a "nRF52832 DK".

My question is: how portable is code between each of these SoCs?

Generally very portable. You can for instance see that in the SDK examples, where most examples will work on any DK provided the IC it is built for has the required resources (for instance a USB example will obviously only work with an IC that has the USB peripheral, and some examples requiring a lot of memory will not work on a device with a small amount of memory). This is because the lower layer drivers and hardware abstraction layer (HAL) will abstract away most differences. We provide specific support in the SDKs for the combinations we encourage though, which is also where there are more similarities in HW. For instance, in the nRF Connect SDK the "normal" target board for nRF52 DK projects is nrf52dk_nrf52832, but there are also target boards called nrf52dk_nrf52810 and nrf52dk_nrf52805 which are for "emulating" those respective ICs on a nRF52 DK.

Relatedly, can one DK be used to program any blank, external SoC (e.g. the nrf52832 DK to program a nrf52840, etc.)?

Yes, any nRF52 series DK can be used as a programmer for any nRF52 series device.

Einar

[Daniel Slotcavage]

Excellent; that's very clear and helpful.  Thank you, Einar!