gpfister / gp-nrf-ble-blinky

A BLE controlled Blinky for nRF52840 DK

A BLE controlled Blinky for nRF52840 DK

Copyright (c) 2023, Greg PFISTER. MIT License.

About

This firmware allow to control the led 0 on the nRF52840 development kit using a BLE service (826c9400-8f2f-4dc5-8319-d07b584cf83e) which exposes 2 characteristics:

• 04df2644-e6b8-4541-8a7f-cecf67f365fe (readable) the actual selected sequence for the blinking light.
• 3ed3db80-4fdb-461b-ad850-cf0764566488 (writable w/out response) the new selected sequence for the blinking light.
• 24b35ad0-d0f0-4811-bdfb-16d4451a514f (readable) to inform about the led status.

(All readable characteristics support notifications.)

8 sequences are defined for the blinking led:

1. 16 random (between 100 and 3000ms)
2. 100ms on, 100ms off
3. 500ms on, 500ms off
4. 1s on, 1s off
5. 2s on, 2s off
6. 3s on, 3s off
7. 4s on, 4s off
8. S.O.S: 3 short blinks (100ms), 3 long blink (500ms), 3 short blinks (100ms) again and long pause 2s

On the development kit, the led 1 is used to display the BLE connection status (on: connected, off: disconnected).

Supported boards

Board used for development and testing:

• Nordics nRF52840 USB Dongle (board: nrf52840dongle_nrf52840) via a specific overlay
• Nordics nRF52840 DK (board: nRF52840dk_nrf52840) via a specific overlay

Getting started

West workspace

The simplest method is to run the following command:

west init -m [e-mail]:gpfister/gp-nrf-ble-blinky.git --mr master gp-nrf-ble-blinky-workspaceest

However this wouldn't work if using git+ssh with ssh custom paramters.

Alternatively you may create a workspace folderg, clone the repository, add the west confi and update west:

First, get the sources:

mkdir <WORKSPACE_FOLDER>
cd <WORKSPACE_FOLDER>
git clone [e-mail]:gpfister/gp-nrf-ble-blinky.git -c core.sshCommand="ssh -i ~/.ssh/gpfister.github -o IdentitiesOnly=yes"
cd gp-nrf-ble-blinky

Then, you can initialise the repository:

cd gp-nrf-ble-blinky
west init -l
cd ..
west update -o=--depth=1 -n

Build and flash via command line

To build:

export BOARD=<SUPPORTED_BOARD>
west build -b $BOARD app

To flash:

west flash

Build and flash via VS Code

1. Open the workspace in VS Code.
2. In the nRF Connect for VS Code plugin, run the west update -o=--depth=1 -n.
3. In the nRF Connect for VS Code plugin, select the app located in gp-nrf-ble-blinky/app folder.
4. Create a building configuration picking any of the supported board (see above).

Unit testing

To run unit tests:

CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/nordic/ncs/toolchains/20d68df7e5/opt/ west twister -T gp-nrf-ble-blinky/app -v --inline-logs --integration
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/nordic/ncs/toolchains/20d68df7e5/opt/ west twister -T gp-nrf-ble-blinky/tests --integration

Test BLE

Ideally, use the nRF Connect for Desktop Bluetooth Low Energy. Scan for a device named Greg's nRF Blinky.

Alternatively, use an app like LightBlue.

References

If you are interested into bringing BLE to your existing nRF Connect SDK, please have a look at the following material:

• Developing Bluetooth Low Energy products using nRF Connect SDK

Requirements

• A nRF52840 development kit
• nRF Command Line tool Tools (test on v2.5.0)
• nFR Connect Desktop
• Visual Studio Code + nrf Connect for VS Code

Contributions

Contributions are welcome, however please read our code of conduct.

License

You can get a copy of the license here.