nRF5 action!

novicit

@sebi,
A couple weeks ago I began exploring deploying E73 modules and had to remove protections. I was successful and now have a working E73 ethernet gateway. Only had ST Link-V2, so I used a "blue pill" I had in inventory to load it with Black Magic Probe. This cleared the protections.

The instructions I followed to load the BMP are step-by-step at https://github.com/TamojitSaha/STM32f103_Black-Magic-Probe

The instructions followed to clear protections with BMP also are step-by-step and worked perfect. They are at https://github.com/AndruPol/nrf52832-recover

In item #4, the program arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe seems to be part of the Arduino tool chain as I found it just by doing a search in file explorer and it was already on my win10 machine. Also, in item #4, (gdb) is the prompt that the program arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe gives. In the first line, change the '/dev/ttyACM0' to your com port. Use 'quit' to exit the program. Also, use 'mon help' to see options.

There are apparently a number of ways to 'recover' the E73, but this worked easily for me, and was step-by-step.

ncollins

@NeverDie Hoping you can help me with an WTNRF51822-S4AT problem where my stop recognizing interrupt events 2ish days after the last interrupt.

The buttons sleep for 24 hours, then wake up and send battery level. Even though the interrupt stops triggering, they still send battery level.

Possible some kind of timer is expiring?

Any help is appreciated.

// General settings
#define SKETCH_NAME "ThinButton"
#define SENSOR_NAME SKETCH_NAME
#define SKETCH_VERSION "1.4"

#define MY_NODE_ID 37


#define MY_BAUD_RATE 115200
//#define MY_DEBUG

#define IS_NRF51 
#define PIR_DETECTION_PIN 3
#define SHORT_WAIT 50
#define DEBOUNCE_MS 1000

volatile bool motion_change=false;

#define MY_RADIO_NRF5_ESB

#include <MySensors.h>

#define SLEEP_MS 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24

#define   CHILD_ID_VOLT 1
MyMessage msgBattery(CHILD_ID_VOLT, V_VOLTAGE);

#define CHILD_ID_BTN 2
#define BTN_PIN PIR_DETECTION_PIN
MyMessage msgBtn(CHILD_ID_BTN, V_TRIPPED);

void disableNfc() {  //only applied to nRF52

  #ifndef IS_NRF51
    //Make pins 9 and 10 usable as GPIO pins.
    NRF_NFCT->TASKS_DISABLE=1;  //disable NFC
    NRF_NVMC->CONFIG=1;  // Write enable the UICR
    NRF_UICR->NFCPINS=0; //Make pins 9 and 10 usable as GPIO pins.
    NRF_NVMC->CONFIG=0;  // Put the UICR back into read-only mode.
  #endif
}

void turnOffRadio() {
  NRF_RADIO->TASKS_DISABLE=1;
  while (!(NRF_RADIO->EVENTS_DISABLED)) {}  //until radio is confirmed disabled
}

void turnOffUarte0() {
  #ifndef IS_NRF51  
    NRF_UARTE0->TASKS_STOPRX = 1;
    NRF_UARTE0->TASKS_STOPTX = 1;
    NRF_UARTE0->TASKS_SUSPEND = 1;
    NRF_UARTE0->ENABLE=0;  //disable UART0
    while (NRF_UARTE0->ENABLE!=0) {};  //wait until UART0 is confirmed disabled.
  #endif

  #ifdef IS_NRF51
    NRF_UART0->TASKS_STOPRX = 1;
    NRF_UART0->TASKS_STOPTX = 1;
    NRF_UART0->TASKS_SUSPEND = 1;
    NRF_UART0->ENABLE=0;  //disable UART0
    while (NRF_UART0->ENABLE!=0) {};  //wait until UART0 is confirmed disabled.
  #endif
}

void turnOffAdc() {
  #ifndef IS_NRF51
    if (NRF_SAADC->ENABLE) { //if enabled, then disable the SAADC
      NRF_SAADC->TASKS_STOP=1;
      while (NRF_SAADC->EVENTS_STOPPED) {} //wait until stopping of SAADC is confirmed
      NRF_SAADC->ENABLE=0;  //disable the SAADC
      while (NRF_SAADC->ENABLE) {} //wait until the disable is confirmed
    }
  #endif
}


void turnOffHighFrequencyClock() {
    NRF_CLOCK->TASKS_HFCLKSTOP = 1;
    while ((NRF_CLOCK->HFCLKSTAT) & 0x0100) {}  //wait as long as HF clock is still running.
}


void mySleepPrepare() {  //turn-off energy drains prior to sleep
  turnOffHighFrequencyClock();
  turnOffRadio();
  turnOffUarte0();
}
 

void activateLpComp() {
  NRF_LPCOMP->PSEL=4; // monitor AIN0 (i.e. pin P0.02 on nRF52832 PIR Motion Sensor v607).
  while (!(NRF_LPCOMP->PSEL==4)) {} //wait until confirmed
  NRF_LPCOMP->REFSEL=3;  // choose 1/2 VDD as the reference voltage
  while (!(NRF_LPCOMP->REFSEL==3)) {} //wait until confirmed
  NRF_LPCOMP->ANADETECT=0;  //detect CROSS events on PIR detection pin
  while (NRF_LPCOMP->ANADETECT!=0) {} //wait until confirmed
  NRF_LPCOMP->INTENSET=B1000;  //Enable interrupt for CROSS event
  while (!(((NRF_LPCOMP->INTENSET)&B1000)==B1000)) {} //wait until confirmed
  NRF_LPCOMP->ENABLE=1;  //Enable LPCOMP
  while (!(NRF_LPCOMP->ENABLE==1)) {} //wait until confirmed
  NRF_LPCOMP->TASKS_START=1;  //start the LPCOMP
  while (!(NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_READY)) {}  //wait until ready
  
  NVIC_SetPriority(LPCOMP_IRQn, 15);
  NVIC_ClearPendingIRQ(LPCOMP_IRQn);
  NVIC_EnableIRQ(LPCOMP_IRQn);
}

void suspendLpComp() { //suspend getting more interrupts from LPCOMP before the first interrupt can be handled
  if ((NRF_LPCOMP->ENABLE) && (NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_READY)) {  //if LPCOMP is enabled
    NRF_LPCOMP->INTENCLR=B0100;  //disable interrupt from LPCOMP
    while (((NRF_LPCOMP->INTENCLR)&B0100)==B0100) {} //wait until confirmed
  }
}

void resumeLpComp() { //suspend getting interrupts from LPCOMP
  NRF_LPCOMP->INTENSET=B0100;  //Enable interrupt for UP event
  while (((NRF_LPCOMP->INTENSET)&B1000)!=B0100) {} //wait until confirmed
}
// setup
void setup() {
  hwInit();
  hwPinMode(PIR_DETECTION_PIN,INPUT);

  disableNfc();  //remove unnecessary energy drains
  turnOffAdc();  //remove unnecessary energy drains
  activateLpComp();
  motion_change=false;
}

void mySleep(uint32_t ms) {
   mySleepPrepare();  //Take steps to reduce drains on battery current prior to sleeping
   sleep(ms);
}


// presentation
void presentation() {
  sendSketchInfo(SKETCH_NAME, SKETCH_VERSION);

  present(CHILD_ID_VOLT, S_MULTIMETER, SENSOR_NAME);
  wait(SHORT_WAIT);
  present(CHILD_ID_BTN, S_MOTION, SENSOR_NAME);
  wait(SHORT_WAIT);
}

unsigned long lastTripped = millis();

// loop
void loop() {
  mySleep(SLEEP_MS);
  
  if(motion_change){
    unsigned long ms = millis();
    long timeDiff = ms - lastTripped; 
    
    if(timeDiff < 0 || timeDiff > 1000){ 
      send(msgBtn.set((uint8_t) 1));
    }
     
    NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_CROSS=0;
    motion_change=false;
    lastTripped = millis();
  } else {
    
    send(msgBattery.set(getInternalVoltage(),3));
  }
}

float getInternalVoltage(){
  return ((float)hwCPUVoltage())/1000.0;
}


#if __CORTEX_M == 0x04
#define NRF5_RESET_EVENT(event)                                                 \
        event = 0;                                                                   \
        (void)event
#else
#define NRF5_RESET_EVENT(event) event = 0
#endif


// This must be in one line
extern "C" { void LPCOMP_IRQHandler(void) {motion_change=true; NRF5_RESET_EVENT(NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_CROSS); NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_CROSS=0; MY_HW_RTC->CC[0]=(MY_HW_RTC->COUNTER+2);}}

NeverDie

@ncollins

It has been a while. I may be switching to PIC: https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10666/anyone-ever-look-into-ezbl-aka-easy-booloader-on-a-pic

The impression I get is that you just write the new hex file into flash, flip a switch in software, and bang, you switchover to the new firmware without skipping a beat. No need to even reboot.

I think anything with the best general solution for OTA updates is a better path than doing OTA firmware bootloader one-offs for each MCU. From what I've gathered, it seems PIC may be the only one with the generalized bootloader support that I'm looking for. I haven't tried PIC before, but I'll be receiving a PIC board on Tuesday to test out this new theory. I'm gravitating toward LoRa anyway, so for that I can't leverage anything from NRF5x anyway. LoRa is the closest thing to bulletproof wireless communications that I've found so far. It just works, with fantastic range and coverage while still fitting within FCC requirements.

PICs tend to consume less energy than both atmega's and nRF5x's while sleeping, so there may be some positive trade-offs to be had there as well.

I'll miss the tight integration possible with an nRF5x. Maybe someday there will be PICs with integrated LoRa radios? MicroChip makes both separately, so it could conceivably happen. They've already done it with SAM: https://pic-microcontroller.com/microchip-new-ultra-low-power-lora-sip/

ncollins

@neverdie Interesting, thanks for the info

waspie

@ncollins I had the same problem and sort of "solved" it by having it reboot every 3 hours (or maybe it was 6).

I don't know how to use the nrf5x stuff anywhere near well enough to actually fix it but it seems to work.

ncollins

@waspie I was actually about to go down that route. Would you mind posting a code snippet for how you're triggering the reboot?

waspie

@ncollins

throw this somewhere in your code:

void reboot() {
  wdt_disable();
  wdt_enable(WDTO_15MS);
  while (1) {}
}

and then calling the reboot (in the entire loop):

void loop() {

  if (motion_change) {
    motionDetected=!motionDetected;
    if (motionDetected) {
      send(msg.set("1"));  // motion detected
    }
    else {
      digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN,LOW);  //turn-off LED to signify motion no longer detected
      send(msg.set("0"));  // send all-clear to prepare for future detections
    }    
    
    NRF_LPCOMP->EVENTS_CROSS=0;
    motion_change=false;
  }
  else { //must be a scheduled wake-up.  Time to report voltage as a heartbeat.
    batteryVoltage=((float)hwCPUVoltage())/1000.0;  //take voltage measurement after transmission to hopefully measure lowest voltage that occurs. 
    send(msg_S_MULTIMETER_V_VOLTAGE.set(batteryVoltage,3));  //send battery voltage with 3 decimal places
    time = millis();
    if (time > 14400000 ) {
      reboot();
    }
  }
  mySleep(1200000);  //sleep for 20 minutes
}```

ncollins

@waspie appreciate it, thank you

Sergio Rius

@NeverDie Interesting. What have pulled you from nrf52 towards PICs?
Can you post a link on the board you ordered, (or one like that)? Thanks.

NeverDie

@sergio-rius I'm still deciding. What's holding me back from plunging into pic is that. it appears, the pics won't be able to leverage the arduino libraries. For that reason, I think I'm probably better off staying arduino compatible. In the end, it may be less effort to simply write my own OTA firmware update bootloader.

siamola

@neverdie said in nRF5 action!:

@Terrence said in Minimalist SAMD21 TQFP32 Pro Mini:

@NeverDie I love the Feather boards. Currently working with the RFM69 feather. Build in battery connector/charger is very nice to have.

Have you found a cheaper source than Amazon for buying them?

where it's just every pin of the SAMD21 mapped to a post, and it's only just the SAMD21 chip on the board. Then I can experiment on breadboard and figure out what I want and what works before finally reducing it to a subsequent PCB.

Sergio Rius

Any charitative soul can help me prepare a black magic probe? I'm following the guides but at some point I can't continue.
For example, following this one: https://hackaday.io/project/28180-bluetooth-gamepad-phone-case/log/71316-stm32-black-magic-probe-flashing
I do:

$ mkdir mbp && cd mbp
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsnyder/stm32loader/master/stm32loader.py
$ chmod 774 stm32loader.py
$ sudo apt install python-pip
$ pip install pyserial # There I remove '--assume-yes' as this is a wrong parameter

# Then here starts the funk
$ sudo apt install arm-none-eabi-gdb  # The package does not exist.
# I found online that it may be already incorporated and my worth a try, so I continue.
# So I change the boot0 jumper to 1, that it not said in the guide, connect the two boards and plug it into the computer.

$ dmesg | grep tty
# Nothing.

$ sudo dmesg | tail
[10680.891711] usb 1-12: Product: STM32 STLink
[10680.891714] usb 1-12: Manufacturer: STMicroelectronics
[10680.891716] usb 1-12: SerialNumber: PÿqRpQP2$g
[11990.202434] usb 1-12: USB disconnect, device number 7
[11998.926846] usb 1-12: new full-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[11999.076060] usb 1-12: New USB device found, idVendor=0483, idProduct=3748, bcdDevice= 1.00
[11999.076066] usb 1-12: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[11999.076069] usb 1-12: Product: STM32 STLink
[11999.076072] usb 1-12: Manufacturer: STMicroelectronics
[11999.076074] usb 1-12: SerialNumber: PÿqRpQP2$g
# But no usb port. So I add udev rule.

$ ls -l /dev/stl*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 oct 15 14:32 /dev/stlinkv2_12 -> bus/usb/001/008

$ sudo ./stm32loader.py -p /dev/stlinkv2_12
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./stm32loader.py", line 427, in <module>
    cmd.open(conf['port'], conf['baud'])
  File "./stm32loader.py", line 71, in open
    timeout=5               # set a timeout value, None for waiting forever
  File "/home/sergio/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/serialutil.py", line 240, in __init__
    self.open()
  File "/home/sergio/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py", line 272, in open
    self._reconfigure_port(force_update=True)
  File "/home/sergio/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/serial/serialposix.py", line 326, in _reconfigure_port
    raise SerialException("Could not configure port: {}".format(msg))
serial.serialutil.SerialException: Could not configure port: (25, 'Inappropriate ioctl for device')

$ sudo apt install gdb-multiarch
# Same effect.

And here I am. Does anyone knows what kind of magic is required to put inside this little thing? :smirk:

scalz

@Sergio-Rius
I can't help you with blackmagic probe unfortunately.
Just personal opinion, I prefer Segger probe.
For example, Segger EDU mini is cheap. for the price don't bother with clones..

very affordable
compatible with a lot of IDEs, and when you use it with Segger IDE then you get best integration
segger provides lot of tools for debugging for free
easy updates and drivers install

The only cons to a jlink probe could be no additional uart, but I don't need uart for debug&prints (segger ozone and rtt tools), and nor uploading sketch.

Or a nrf5dk board is a nice alternative too, a little bit more expensive than EDU Mini but you get jlink+devboard+ later you could hook a power profiler kit on it ;)
Still a jlink mini at hand is quite useful.

Like I said just personal, I'm sure BMP is nice too, I guess you'll get it working before you can get a jlink :)

monte

@sergio-rius I too have struggled to flash st-link clone with bmp firmware, but eventually I managed to do it. Unfortunately I don't remember what exactly I did, but I remember that I came to a solution when decided to try another st-link as a destination. If I remember correctly, there are different stm32 chips on these boards and some of them have insufficient amount of flash memory for bmp firmware.

arm-none-eabi-gdb package is not available in ubuntu's repositories starting from 18.04. You can either download toolchain from eclipse's github archive or try to install older package as described here.

Also, I used info from this blogs when flashed my st-link:
http://blog.linuxbits.io/2016/02/15/cheap-chinese-st-link-v-2-programmer-converted-to-black-magic-probe-debugger/
http://nuft.github.io/arm/2015/08/24/blackmagic-stlink.html

As for buying stuff, don't forget you can buy ready to use BMP from their creators too ;)

NeverDie

Maybe this will help: I once looked into the Black Magic Probe, but came to the conclusion that it was basically a PC program that they crammed onto the "probe." Therefore, unless I'm mistaken, you could run the very same source software from either a PC or a linux box and get the same results. I don't recall any advantage to running it on the so-called "probe" that the authors picked.

monte

@neverdie and how do you suggest connecting SWD and SWCLK lines from MCU to computer, not using the "probe"?

Sergio Rius

@monte I guess he means taking the debugger program to the computer layer and leave only the com channel to a TTL device.

monte

@sergio-rius but debugger is running on a computer side anyway, as far as I understand. And BMP is the "thing" that connects it to MCU via SWD.

Sergio Rius

@monte I may be wrong, but from what I understand while reading on it, it seems that the debugger is implemented in the probe. The program you run is an interface.
I see it like a Ilogger interface that you implement in a program.

monte

@sergio-rius well, I guess you are right. I revisited description of BMP and it says, that it runs GBD server on itself and eliminates need for STlink server. So I guess you could do all the same with just an st-link...however it seems that it would require more setup and I don't think that it will be easier than flashing BMP firmware :)
Just a snippet from their wiki:
"There are a few advantages of the Black Magic Probe. BMP is open-source, meaning that you can look inside it if you need or want to. We are getting support for new ARM Cortex-M based chips on a regular basis, so you are not limited to just the STM32. We have preliminary support for Cortex-A this will result in the ability to use the probe with Raspberry PI and Beagle Bone Black and many others. The Black Magic Probe also supports JTAG not only SWD, because not all microcontrollers use SWD. Also JTAG makes it possible to chain together more than one microcontroller. The GDB server is implemented on the probe itself, this means we do not use some proprietary protocol to talk to your debugger software, making the setup more repeatable and removing the need for custom config files."

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