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  3. nRF5 action!

nRF5 action!

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  • NeverDieN NeverDie

    I was just checking the nRF51 datasheet, and I don't see much, if any, PPI control available. So, I suppose that's yet another reason for preferring the nRF52....

    JokgiJ Offline
    JokgiJ Offline
    Jokgi
    wrote on last edited by
    #1136

    @NeverDie You may wish to check out the nRF51 Reference guide in addition to the datasheet. http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/pdf/nRF51_RM_v3.0.1.pdf The PPI is located in section 16.

    NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
    2
    • JokgiJ Jokgi

      @NeverDie You may wish to check out the nRF51 Reference guide in addition to the datasheet. http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/pdf/nRF51_RM_v3.0.1.pdf The PPI is located in section 16.

      NeverDieN Offline
      NeverDieN Offline
      NeverDie
      Hero Member
      wrote on last edited by
      #1137

      @Jokgi said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

      @NeverDie You may wish to check out the nRF51 Reference guide in addition to the datasheet. http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/pdf/nRF51_RM_v3.0.1.pdf The PPI is located in section 16.

      Thanks! Doesn't look as though the nRF51822's PPI allows for FORK though, whereas the nRF52832 does.

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • NeverDieN NeverDie

        @Toyman said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

        Guys,

        Have you seen this?

        Note, that our beloved ebyte is not there, but PTR9618PA is

        It's useful. But just knowing the module exists is one thing. Finding a source for it is another.

        T Offline
        T Offline
        Toyman
        wrote on last edited by
        #1138

        @NeverDie actually, I am suprised that many of these modules are available and at the prices lower than Ali.
        For example:
        http://www.fanstel.com/buy/bt832xe
        They claim "BT832XE is the longest range Bluetooth 5 module, 1350 meters between 2 BT832XE with used with ANT060 antenna."
        $23, shipped within US
        Not bad, ah?

        1 Reply Last reply
        1
        • U Offline
          U Offline
          Uhrheber
          wrote on last edited by
          #1139

          One must be aware, that the gain of an antenna doesn't come from a magic amplification, but from direction.
          Meaning, the higher the gain of an antenna is, the more directional it is.
          For a sensor, let's say a window switch, that may end up in every mounting position you might imagine, this is NOT what you want.

          Neither do you want that for the gateway, that may be in the middle of the house, and should be able to receive transmissions from all directions.

          NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • U Uhrheber

            One must be aware, that the gain of an antenna doesn't come from a magic amplification, but from direction.
            Meaning, the higher the gain of an antenna is, the more directional it is.
            For a sensor, let's say a window switch, that may end up in every mounting position you might imagine, this is NOT what you want.

            Neither do you want that for the gateway, that may be in the middle of the house, and should be able to receive transmissions from all directions.

            NeverDieN Offline
            NeverDieN Offline
            NeverDie
            Hero Member
            wrote on last edited by NeverDie
            #1140

            @Uhrheber
            It does look like they also have a PA on their module: http://www.fanstel.com/bt832x-bluetooth-5-module/

            It's a good find, as it looks as though they have a lot to choose from: http://www.fanstel.com/buy/

            Also, as compared to the chinese vendors, I think it's more likely that they really did pass FCC, since it's based in the US. The fines to US companies for selling non-compliant stuff are pretty severe (enough to bankrupt a small company), whereas (it seems) the chinese vendors can dodge it. Hence, the joke that "CE" stands for "Chinese Exemption".

            T 1 Reply Last reply
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            • NeverDieN NeverDie

              @Uhrheber
              It does look like they also have a PA on their module: http://www.fanstel.com/bt832x-bluetooth-5-module/

              It's a good find, as it looks as though they have a lot to choose from: http://www.fanstel.com/buy/

              Also, as compared to the chinese vendors, I think it's more likely that they really did pass FCC, since it's based in the US. The fines to US companies for selling non-compliant stuff are pretty severe (enough to bankrupt a small company), whereas (it seems) the chinese vendors can dodge it. Hence, the joke that "CE" stands for "Chinese Exemption".

              T Offline
              T Offline
              Toyman
              wrote on last edited by
              #1141

              @NeverDie exactly! On top, they have very extensive datasheet with all the results

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • NeverDieN Offline
                NeverDieN Offline
                NeverDie
                Hero Member
                wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                #1142

                I just now noticed that fanstel is selling an nRF52840 module: http://www.fanstel.com/buy/bt840f-v1-nrf52840-bluetooth-5-thread-zigbee-module

                That's the first I've seen on the open market (aside from the DK that is). [Edit: won't be shipping until January though]

                I wonder which, if any, of the Fanstel modules contain the DCDC hardware? Their pinout on the 832's does not appear to be as complete as the Ebyte module, so if DCDC is not already on the module, it might be impossible to add after-the-fact.

                T JokgiJ 2 Replies Last reply
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                • NeverDieN NeverDie

                  I just now noticed that fanstel is selling an nRF52840 module: http://www.fanstel.com/buy/bt840f-v1-nrf52840-bluetooth-5-thread-zigbee-module

                  That's the first I've seen on the open market (aside from the DK that is). [Edit: won't be shipping until January though]

                  I wonder which, if any, of the Fanstel modules contain the DCDC hardware? Their pinout on the 832's does not appear to be as complete as the Ebyte module, so if DCDC is not already on the module, it might be impossible to add after-the-fact.

                  T Offline
                  T Offline
                  Toyman
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #1143

                  @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                  Their pinout on the 832's does not appear to be as complete as the Ebyte module, so if DCDC is not already on the module, it might be impossible to add after-the-fact.

                  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/561459a2e4b0b39f5cefa12e/t/59a5a0bbbe42d6d26bd82969/1504026813812/BlueNor_BT840F_datasheets.pdf

                  Page 13,
                  pin F5

                  NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • T Toyman

                    @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                    Their pinout on the 832's does not appear to be as complete as the Ebyte module, so if DCDC is not already on the module, it might be impossible to add after-the-fact.

                    https://static1.squarespace.com/static/561459a2e4b0b39f5cefa12e/t/59a5a0bbbe42d6d26bd82969/1504026813812/BlueNor_BT840F_datasheets.pdf

                    Page 13,
                    pin F5

                    NeverDieN Offline
                    NeverDieN Offline
                    NeverDie
                    Hero Member
                    wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                    #1144

                    @Toyman Thanks! I'm going to order a couple of the Nordic nRF52840 PDK's to audition now that modules are on the horizon. Shall be interesting to see how the range compares in a normal home environment. Also, 256K RAM and 1M of flash sounds like such a luxury!

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • NeverDieN NeverDie

                      I just now noticed that fanstel is selling an nRF52840 module: http://www.fanstel.com/buy/bt840f-v1-nrf52840-bluetooth-5-thread-zigbee-module

                      That's the first I've seen on the open market (aside from the DK that is). [Edit: won't be shipping until January though]

                      I wonder which, if any, of the Fanstel modules contain the DCDC hardware? Their pinout on the 832's does not appear to be as complete as the Ebyte module, so if DCDC is not already on the module, it might be impossible to add after-the-fact.

                      JokgiJ Offline
                      JokgiJ Offline
                      Jokgi
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #1145

                      @NeverDie Note that all the nRF52840 based products being showcased now (including the Fanstel modules) are using the engineering silicon. There is Errata on these parts. Production devices will be available Q1-18.

                      NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
                      3
                      • JokgiJ Jokgi

                        @NeverDie Note that all the nRF52840 based products being showcased now (including the Fanstel modules) are using the engineering silicon. There is Errata on these parts. Production devices will be available Q1-18.

                        NeverDieN Offline
                        NeverDieN Offline
                        NeverDie
                        Hero Member
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #1146

                        @Jokgi said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                        @NeverDie Note that all the nRF52840 based products being showcased now (including the Fanstel modules) are using the engineering silicon. There is Errata on these parts. Production devices will be available Q1-18.

                        Do you advise waiting, or is it sufficiently non-buggy that it's likely to work unless doing something obscure?

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • NeverDieN Offline
                          NeverDieN Offline
                          NeverDie
                          Hero Member
                          wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                          #1147

                          @d00616 Problem #1 is that there does not yet appear to be an Arduino board definition for the nR5F2840, as there is already for the nRF52832 and nRF51822. Is that correct? Or does one already exist somewhere? It's critical path to testing code on the nRF52840 PDK.

                          NeverDieN 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • NeverDieN NeverDie

                            @d00616 Problem #1 is that there does not yet appear to be an Arduino board definition for the nR5F2840, as there is already for the nRF52832 and nRF51822. Is that correct? Or does one already exist somewhere? It's critical path to testing code on the nRF52840 PDK.

                            NeverDieN Offline
                            NeverDieN Offline
                            NeverDie
                            Hero Member
                            wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                            #1148

                            Hmmm... Looks like there is an nRF52840 "variant": https://github.com/lpercifield/arduino-nRF5/commit/d55d54a1bdc479acc259e131f0f445c5da8e02b3
                            Would that work? If so, how exactly should it be added so that it will appear in the Arduino IDE board manager list of boards?

                            T 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • NeverDieN NeverDie

                              Hmmm... Looks like there is an nRF52840 "variant": https://github.com/lpercifield/arduino-nRF5/commit/d55d54a1bdc479acc259e131f0f445c5da8e02b3
                              Would that work? If so, how exactly should it be added so that it will appear in the Arduino IDE board manager list of boards?

                              T Offline
                              T Offline
                              Toyman
                              wrote on last edited by Toyman
                              #1149

                              @NeverDie the main issue it's "65 commits behind master" so it's outdated in all areas except 840
                              Theoretical path is to make a fork of current sandeep's branch and then merge the changes from the repository you found. But given the above, it won't be easy.

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                              • NeverDieN Offline
                                NeverDieN Offline
                                NeverDie
                                Hero Member
                                wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                                #1150

                                Gosh, I'm wishing now that I hadn't ordered the PDK. I guess I'll just return it for a refund. Since it sounds like literally no one else is presently using the 840, I'd rather move forward on the 832. I'm more interested in the 2mbps datarate anyway (for the reason below). And I'm pretty sure PA versions of the nRF52832 will beat the range of an unamplified nRF52840.

                                scalzS 1 Reply Last reply
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                                • d00616D d00616

                                  @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                                  Now listening every 100ms yields a 10F supercap voltage measured decline of just 9mv per hour. i.e. a decline of 0.108v by the end of 12 hours.

                                  Great job. If I'm not wrong the method allows nearly 1 year of listening time with a CR2032.

                                  NeverDieN Offline
                                  NeverDieN Offline
                                  NeverDie
                                  Hero Member
                                  wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                                  #1151

                                  @d00616 said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                                  Great job. If I'm not wrong the method allows nearly 1 year of listening time with a CR2032.

                                  Yup, based on the latest measurements, I estimate an average current drain of about 25 microamps. So, assuming a CR2032 has 240mah of useable current, that comes out to about 1.1 years of listening time. Or more than 13 years on a pair of Energizer Lithium AA's. Pretty cool. :) And that's listening for a packet once every 100ms. It could last much longer if it were to listen less often.

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                                  • NeverDieN NeverDie

                                    Gosh, I'm wishing now that I hadn't ordered the PDK. I guess I'll just return it for a refund. Since it sounds like literally no one else is presently using the 840, I'd rather move forward on the 832. I'm more interested in the 2mbps datarate anyway (for the reason below). And I'm pretty sure PA versions of the nRF52832 will beat the range of an unamplified nRF52840.

                                    scalzS Offline
                                    scalzS Offline
                                    scalz
                                    Hardware Contributor
                                    wrote on last edited by scalz
                                    #1152

                                    @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                                    Gosh, I'm wishing now that I hadn't ordered the PDK. I guess I'll just return it for a refund. Since it sounds like literally no one else is presently using the 840, I'd rather move forward on the 832. I'm more interested in the 2mbps datarate anyway (for the reason below). And I'm pretty sure PA versions of the nRF52832 will beat the range of an unamplified nRF52840.

                                    I looked at the fanstel modules a while ago, but like guys said above, these are beta mcus with errata. And not arduino uptodate for the same reason i guess.

                                    I have one 840pdk too. for tests :) with apache mynewt. Because I have only one 840 board I can't tell you about the range because it needs two boards for checking that, two boards with full BLE5 Long range (and 832 is not BLE5 full range).

                                    No idea about 840 vs 832+PA but 840 is already PA integrated which is pretty cool. It also has some other nice features. Range tests regarding BLE5 long range are impressive imho, indoor or not, and from different mcu manufacturers (some have nice parts).
                                    I'm not sure though, if 840, is compatible with NRF24. And, as I'm talking about BLE, I prefer to say it again, for others.. BLE is not MySensors :)

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • NeverDieN Offline
                                      NeverDieN Offline
                                      NeverDie
                                      Hero Member
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #1153

                                      Are there any examples of how to control the potential BLE5 capabilities of this chip using code developed in the Arduino IDE? I recognize that it's presently a separate thing from MySensors, which is using the proprietary modes to ensure backward compatability to the nRF24, but surely getting some hooks into BLE5--even if it's just high level stuff--would be beneficial wouldn't it?

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                                      • NeverDieN Offline
                                        NeverDieN Offline
                                        NeverDie
                                        Hero Member
                                        wrote on last edited by NeverDie
                                        #1154

                                        For instance, how hard would it be to create a simple serial bridge so view serial output on your bluetooth phone, the way @sundberg84 is doing with a specialized bluetooth module: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6340/debug-to-a-sd-card-module

                                        d00616D 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • NeverDieN NeverDie

                                          For instance, how hard would it be to create a simple serial bridge so view serial output on your bluetooth phone, the way @sundberg84 is doing with a specialized bluetooth module: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6340/debug-to-a-sd-card-module

                                          d00616D Offline
                                          d00616D Offline
                                          d00616
                                          Contest Winner
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #1155

                                          @NeverDie said in nRF5 Bluetooth action!:

                                          For instance, how hard would it be to create a simple serial bridge so view serial output on your bluetooth phone, the way @sundberg84 is doing with a specialized bluetooth module: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/6340/debug-to-a-sd-card-module

                                          For similar functionality, there is an MY_DEBUG_OTA feature in MySensors development branch. You can send log messages to any node in the MySensors network.

                                          The NRF5 MySensors port is running directly on the MCU hardware. Using the SoftDevice is like running an Operating System. There are limitations using the Hardware and APIs have to use. You are loosing control over the Radio, some Timers and RTC, Crypto components and the memory layout.

                                          The reason the SoftDevice isn't supported is the old licence model. This model is changed with SDK14.

                                          In my opinion with MySensors 2.x it isn't meaningful to play with the multiplexing of the radio module. I think this requires more changes in MySensors to handle the time when the MCU is in BLE mode.

                                          If you are interested implementing a dual stack software, then I think the Arduino Primo port is a good point to start. This is based on the NRF5 SDK. The Primo port has no support for NRF51 devices.

                                          If you are not restricted to Arduino, you can also see MyNewt or Zephyr. Both have BLE Open Sorurce implementations for the NRF5 MCUs.

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