RE: Broken Compatibility between SKDS/Firmware/Devices?

Francesco.Puntar — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 12:35:48 GMT

Thanks for your prompt and concise reply Stefan:

I have the newer version "PCA10031 v 1.1.0 2015.27 680917600" and the IC is "N51422 QFACA 11503AD"
does the kit (beacon) come only in the revision I have or I've been sold very old beacons?
can I flash a newer S110 using an external programmer physically connected to it? My kit (beacon) IC is "N51822 CEAAD0 1405BV" which I can't match exactly in the compatibility matrix, I assume it's this one "nRF51822 IC revision 2 CE AA Dx0a Package WLCSP 256kb Flash 16kb RAM" and the biggest chance looks like to be memory upgrade.
Would nRF51-DK (a bigger board, not a dongle) allow me flash my beacons on the air and if yes which revision I need to ask for exactly?

Thank you for your support. Francesco

RE: Broken Compatibility between SKDS/Firmware/Devices?

Stefan Birnir Sverrisson — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 16:34:27 GMT

Hi Francesco

For Beacon kit version 1.0.0, there is softdevice 110 6.0.0 and bootloader from SDK 6.0.0 on board, as well as nRF51 second revision hardware. Your kit is only compatible with beacon firmware 1.0.x. You can also flash example applications from nRF51 SDK 6, but you will have to do some changes to the applications in order to make the LED and buttons work on the beacon kit, but it should still communicate normally over BLE.

You are correct, the bootloader on the beacon kit you have is only capable of application updates, not softdevice or bootloader updates.

Do you have the PCA10031 dongle (the newer version) or the PCA10000 dongle (the older version) ? The older version has nRF51 second revision but the newer dongle has third revision nRF51. To see what software is compatible with different nRF51 revisions, look at the nRF51 compatibility matrix, table 4

Update 22.10.2015 I made a nRF51 Beacon kit content table

Yes, your beacon kit is the oldest version of the kit. Your assumption is correct, it is the CEAADx variant on your beacon kit.

If you have a programmer and an adapter cable, you can flash a newer S110 to the beacon kit, another bootloader and another firmware, basically anything you want. If you have the nRF51-DK kit you can use that as a programmer for the beacon board, as I have described here in my update from 17.11.2014. There is a link there also for a compatible adapter cable.

With the PCA10031 (nRF51-Dongle) you can load new applications over the air to your beacon kit. In order to do that you need to flash the MEFW 0.11.0 to the nRF51-Dongle

Open the Master Control Panel
Select the nRF51-Dongle serial number in the upper left corner
Select file -> Flash Programming and program the MEFW 0.11.0 to the nRF51-Dongle

With your current beacon kit, i.e. with S110 6.0.0 and bootloader from SDK 6.0.0, you can only upload beacons over the air based on beacon kit firmware version 1.0.1. Do that with the Master Control Panel and the nRF51-Dongle, or you can also do it via your Android/IOS smartphone, see the Beacon kit user guide on how to flash the Beacon kit over the air. If you have a programmer and flash S110 7.1.0 and bootloader from SDK 7.1.0, then you can upload the beacon from Beacon kit firmware 1.1.1 over the air.

You can additionally upload any S110, bootloader or application to the beacon kit, see description on this thread.