nRF5 action!
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By the way, maybe the Black Magic Probe can function as a kind of "universal" JTAG interface? For instance, would it work well o an ESP32 and/or anything else that relies on JTAG for debugging and/or burning firmware? Or would an ST JTAG probe work just as well?
Is this right? I'd prefer to consolidate on a single thing rather than having a different JTAG interface device for every different kind of hardware that might need programming/debugging:
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By the way, maybe the Black Magic Probe can function as a kind of "universal" JTAG interface? For instance, would it work well o an ESP32 and/or anything else that relies on JTAG for debugging and/or burning firmware? Or would an ST JTAG probe work just as well?
Is this right? I'd prefer to consolidate on a single thing rather than having a different JTAG interface device for every different kind of hardware that might need programming/debugging:
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I happened just now to notice that ON Semiconductor has released their own (non-Nordic) version of an integrated Bluetooth + ARM Cortex + antenna with all passives:
https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/308/RSL10SIP-D-1511181.pdfWhat's remarkable is that the entire thing, including the antenna and all the passives (which are built into it) is just 8mm x 6mm in size. As a result, it's very easy for them to make a very small sensor beacon:

"The RSL10 SIP features an on−board antenna, RSL10 radio SoC,
and all necessary passive components in one package to help minimize
overall system size. Already fully qualified to FCC, CE, and other
regulatory standards; RSL10 SIP removes the need for additional
antenna design considerations or RF certifications."Personally, I don't currently have the skill to solder anything that small, but maybe with the PCBA services that are becoming available.....
I post this here merely as an illustration of what's truly possible. I can only guess, but I presume Nordic will probably (?) release something similar in the future. It would be nice not having to rely on module vendors but instead just mount the chip directly.
@neverdie On the other hand, I bet that tiny RSL10 integrated radio+antenna package has very limited range. What I noticed from the various nRF52840 modules that I've tried is that the smaller the module, the worse the radio range. I haven't yet encountered any exceptions to that generalization.
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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 good news
I wonder if this has anything to do with it?
https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/10705/nrf52-watchdog-problem-myboardnrf5@waspie Given that all of my interrupt nodes stopped triggering after 36 hrs (before your reboot workaround), it has to be related. It’s just weird that my nodes would continue to wake up and broadcast battery level.
Is the LPCOMP interrupt method dependent on the wdt? Maybe resetting/restarting the wdt every 24hrs would suffice? Or maybe you have to reactivate LPCOMP every 36 hr wdt cycle?
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When are we going to see newer nRF52 modules featuring antenna diversity?
Somewhere I still have this prototype module that I purchased a few years ago:

I got it working and wrote about it at the time, but I haven't seen any more up-to-date modules featuring antenna diversity since then. Definitely nothing featuring an nRF52840, for instance. What gives?
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Hello guys. I wished I have found this forum earlier. I'm currently trying to extract/dump a firmware from nRF51. Using OpenOCD and ST-Link V2. I am facing some problems and have posted it on stackexchange and stackoverflow. Here are the posts:
https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/22897/blank-binwalk-and-binvis-io
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59710114/dumping-nrf51s-firmware
Hopefully someone here could help me. Thanks in advance
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Hello guys. I wished I have found this forum earlier. I'm currently trying to extract/dump a firmware from nRF51. Using OpenOCD and ST-Link V2. I am facing some problems and have posted it on stackexchange and stackoverflow. Here are the posts:
https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/22897/blank-binwalk-and-binvis-io
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59710114/dumping-nrf51s-firmware
Hopefully someone here could help me. Thanks in advance
@Calvin-Khung a black magic probe would allow you to do that.
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@NeverDie What is the difference with a ST-Link? I mean, I've read the features on GitHub but I don't really get the differences though :sweat_smile: Sorry, as stated in both links, I'm still a noob.
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Oh, is the command mass erase the same as dump image? If I mass erase, will the bin file appear in the bin folder?
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Oh, is the command mass erase the same as dump image? If I mass erase, will the bin file appear in the bin folder?
@Calvin-Khung Hi Calvin, I read your comments here and on Stackoverflow/exchange. I honestly think that you dont have the right skills to do this. The exploited vulnerability in the blog is quite sofisticated. I think you have to start getting your debugger configured correctly. Your say you have an st-link v2 which lets me to belive you have a cheap chinese clone.
This clone has not all debugging features included, as you might saw in my posts earlier. You are much better of with a Black magic probe or a J-Link.
Have you got a halted NRF51 yet? -
@Calvin-Khung Hi Calvin, I read your comments here and on Stackoverflow/exchange. I honestly think that you dont have the right skills to do this. The exploited vulnerability in the blog is quite sofisticated. I think you have to start getting your debugger configured correctly. Your say you have an st-link v2 which lets me to belive you have a cheap chinese clone.
This clone has not all debugging features included, as you might saw in my posts earlier. You are much better of with a Black magic probe or a J-Link.
Have you got a halted NRF51 yet?@mr_red If it's a clone then that would probably explain why it wasn't successful. I've read a thing or two about the BMP. Do you think its a good idea to convert the cheap ST-Link V2 to a BMP? Found a blog about it.
J-Link is way too expensive so I won't even bother considering it. And I don't quite get what you mean but yeah, I did halt it during the process.
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@mr_red If it's a clone then that would probably explain why it wasn't successful. I've read a thing or two about the BMP. Do you think its a good idea to convert the cheap ST-Link V2 to a BMP? Found a blog about it.
J-Link is way too expensive so I won't even bother considering it. And I don't quite get what you mean but yeah, I did halt it during the process.
@Calvin-Khung you can convert st-link clone into BMP. The only problem would be if there is not enough flash on the chip. If I remember correctly, BMP firmware needs more than 64kb. But you will know for sure, if you'll try.
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@monte For sure, I'll give it a try. Thanks for helping out guys!
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Calvin, You cam buy a Nordic Development kit for about $50 dollars or less. It has the J-Link OB device on it for swd programming and debugging.
@Jokgi said in nRF5 action!:
Calvin, You cam buy a Nordic Development kit for about $50 dollars or less. It has the J-Link OB device on it for swd programming and debugging.
Best solution imho, never had a problem with it programming the nrf5 modules, just drag & drop from Windows file explorer.
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@mr_red If it's a clone then that would probably explain why it wasn't successful. I've read a thing or two about the BMP. Do you think its a good idea to convert the cheap ST-Link V2 to a BMP? Found a blog about it.
J-Link is way too expensive so I won't even bother considering it. And I don't quite get what you mean but yeah, I did halt it during the process.
@Calvin-Khung
Jokgi
Jokgi about 2 hours agoCalvin, You can buy a Nordic Development kit for about $50 dollars or less. It has the J-Link OB device on it for SWD programming and debugging.
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I agree with Jokgi, but nonetheless for anyone interested in the Black Magic Probe alternative, here's an article on how to make a BMP from a $2 Blue Pill board:
https://medium.com/@paramaggarwal/converting-an-stm32f103-board-to-a-black-magic-probe-c013cf2cc38c