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Programming the nRF51822 Beacon Kit with the nRF51DK

Stefan Birnir Sverrisson

One way to program the nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon Kit is to use the nRF51 DK. This gives you a full scale development platform (the nRF51 DK). This blog will go thru the steps needed to program the softdevice and upload the application. If you have never used Keil, nRFgo Studio or the nRF51 DK before it is recommended to go thru the tutorials covering these topics first.

To program the Beacon Kit you need:

The nRF51 DK board supports programming and debugging of external boards. This is done with the ‘Debug out’ (P19) port (se section 5.10 in nRF51 DK User guide nRF51 DK User guide).

When an external board is powered, the interface MCU will detect the supply voltage and program/debug the target chip on the external board.

To connect the ‘Debug out’ port with the Beacon an adapter cable is needed.

To program the nRF51822 Smart Beacon with the nRF51 DK these steps need to be taken:

  1. Download the ‘nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon Kit Firmware Files’ from here. (It is found under the tab ‘downloads’).
  2. Unzip the folder and install it.
  3. Open the project file ble_app_beacon_s110_pca20006.uvprojx in keil and build it. (It can be found in C:\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF51822 Beacon v1.1.0\Source Code\nrf51_beacon\ble_app_beacon\pca20006\s110\arm\).
  4. Connect the nRF51 DK to the computer with a micro USB cable. Also connect the adapter between the nRF51 DK debug output and the nRF51822 Smart Beacon. The picture below shows the connection points. Connection points
  5. Start nRFgo Studio to program the softdevice and application. In the 'Program SoftDevice' tab, hit browse and locate and upload the file s110_nrf51822_7.1.0_softdevice.hex. (Located in C:\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF51822 Beacon v1.1.1\SoftDevice\.) In the 'Program Application' tab locate the applicaion hex file that was built using Keil. If the example is not changed the file name is nrf51822_beacon_app.hex . (Located in C:\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF51822 Beacon v1.1.1\Source Code\nrf51_beacon\ble_app_beacon\pca20006\s110\arm\_build\.) The Beacon kit firmware also have a precompiled beacon app hex file that can be uploaded instead of the hex file from Keil. (Located in C:\Nordic Semiconductor\nRF51822 Beacon v1.1.1\Precompiled hex\.)

Now the beacon should be programmed properly, and it should advertise.

  • Hi, why you doesn't make some tutorial based on mbed? Keyl is not free

    thanks Fabio

  • Hi, kerem

    I experianced same thing.

    The easist way is to use the follwoing connector 'TC2030-CTX-NL 6-Pin "No Legs" Cable with 10-pin micro-connector for Cortex processors' from www.tag-Connect.com

    It doesn't need any pin configuration and just connect it as it is such as one-end to 'Debug out' on nRF51-DK and one-end to the beacon kit.

    FYI, There is pin descriptions in the following materials

    • Schematic_Layout pdf files in the nRF51822 Bluetooth smart Beacon Kit - hardware files 1_0_0.
    • And look for same thing for PCA10028.

    If you buy the 'TC2030-CTX-NL 6-Pin' , all solves.

    And

    • Do not forget connecting P0.30 to GND-pin(just next next pin) with a short jumper cable on the nRF51-DK board.

    And supply voltage to the Beacon Kit (PCA 20006) with coin battery (CR1632)

    • it makes nRFgo Studio to program to the the Beacon Kit (PCA 20006) through the Debuout on the nRF51-Dk.
    • if coin battery does not works, then try external power such as alkaline AA or AAA or DC Power supply 3V to the VCC and GND pins on the the Beacon Kit (PCA 20006) which are esaily looked.

    Best lucks.

  • I have recently tried this (last week) before I saw this post. The biggest problem is not having the cable around and trying to do create it manually by looking at pinouts. Either because of a problem with the soldering/connections or something I have overlooked, it did not work. nrfgo Studio did not just recognize the beacon I mean. Or should it? Is there a way to understand that the connection is successful prior to programming?

    It would be better if you point out the connection pinouts for those who dont have easy access to the cable.

    I'll have it another go, thank you for the post.