First steps with custom boards

[stunt_man]

I was looking for something like a checklist of what to do when developing on a custom board but I couldn't find it.

I am working with Keil 5.15. I achieved to develop some code (focus on BLE communication) on nRF51822 Evaluation Kit. No problem with it. I just got it right.

Now, I have got my custom board design included a nRF51822 SoC. My first try was to get basic tutorials OK with this board (I just want my board to advertise).

For board support, I write my own header file to define the I/O pins I am using and update my compilation options to use it. I can program my board and flash it without problem. Unfortunately board is not advertising. I add a virtual COM port to debug, connect to it but was enable to get any message.

Using J-Link Commander, I can see that Cortex-M0 is identified. Voltage is at 1.783 V

I had a look in nRFGo Studio and my custom board is not detected. Is it the first thing to fix? How? What are the next common steps ?

[MartinBL]

Hi

I'm a little confused. You say that you "can program my board and flash it without problem". Is that the Evaluation Kit or your custom board?

• Are you able to run simple LED blinking examples on your custom board, but not BLE applications?

• What kind of programmer do you use?

• Your Vdd is pretty low. Are you using a Low voltage mode setup?

• Are you able to debug and step through your code line for line? This is a great way to debug Nordic's examples.

You might find some interesting reads among these whitepapers. Maybe especially the papers on antenna tuning and Crystal Oscillator Design.