boards/96boards/carbon/doc/nrf51822.rst
.. _96b_carbon_nrf51_board:
96Boards Carbon nRF51 #####################
Overview
This is the secondary nRF51822 chip on the 96Boards Carbon and provides Bluetooth functionality to the main STM32F401RET chip via SPI.
.. note::
If you're looking to reprogram the main STMicro part, see
:ref:96b_carbon_board. Users should not use this configuration
unless they want to reprogram the secondary chip which provides
Bluetooth connectivity.
Hardware
The 96Boards Carbon nRF51 has two external oscillators. The frequency of the slow clock is 32.768 kHz. The frequency of the main clock is 16 MHz.
See :ref:96b_carbon_board for other general information about the
board; that configuration is for the same physical board, just a
different chip.
+-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | Interface | Controller | Driver/Component | +===========+============+=====================================+ | NVIC | on-chip | nested vector interrupt controller | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | RTC | on-chip | system clock | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | UART | on-chip | serial port | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | GPIO | on-chip | gpio | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | FLASH | on-chip | flash | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | SPIS | on-chip | SPI slave | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+ | RADIO | on-chip | Bluetooth | +-----------+------------+-------------------------------------+
The default configuration can be found in
:zephyr_file:boards/96boards/carbon/96b_carbon_nrf51822_defconfig
96Boards Carbon nRF51 has one SPI, which for providing Bluetooth communication. The default SPI mapping for Zephyr is:
The SWD debug pins are broken out to an external header; all other connected pins are to the main STM32F401RET chip.
.. _96b_carbon_nrf51_programming:
Programming and Debugging
The 96Boards Carbon nRF51 can be flashed using an external SWD debugger, via the debug header labeled "BLE" on the board's silkscreen. The header is not populated; 0.1" male header must be soldered on first.
.. figure:: img/96b_carbon_nrf51.jpg :align: center :alt: 96Boards Carbon nRF51 Debug
96Boards Carbon nRF51 Debug
The following example assumes a Zephyr binary zephyr.elf will be
flashed to the board.
It uses the Black Magic Debug Probe_ as an SWD programmer, which can
be connected to the BLE debug header using flying leads and its 20 Pin
JTAG Adapter Board Kit. When plugged into your host PC, the Black
Magic Debug Probe enumerates as a USB serial device as documented on
its Getting started page_.
It also uses the GDB binary provided with the Zephyr SDK,
arm-zephyr-eabi-gdb. Other GDB binaries, such as the GDB from GCC
ARM Embedded, can be used as well.
.. code-block:: console
$ arm-zephyr-eabi-gdb -q zephyr.elf (gdb) target extended-remote /dev/ttyACM0 Remote debugging using /dev/ttyACM0 (gdb) monitor swdp_scan Target voltage: 3.3V Available Targets: No. Att Driver 1 nRF51 (gdb) attach 1 Attaching to Remote target 0xabcdef12 in ?? () (gdb) load
After you've flashed the chip, you can keep debugging using the same GDB instance. To reattach, just follow the same steps above, but don't run "load". You can then debug as usual with GDB. In particular, type "run" at the GDB prompt to restart the program you've flashed.
As an aid to debugging, this board configuration directs a console output to a currently unused pin connected to the STM32F401RET. Users who are experienced in electronics rework can remove a resistor (R22) on the board and attach a wire to the nRF51822's UART output.
.. _96b_carbon_nrf51_bluetooth:
Providing Bluetooth to 96b_carbon
This 96b_carbon/nrf51822 Zephyr board configuration can be used to provide
Bluetooth functionality from the secondary nRF51822 chip to the
primary STM32F401RE chip on the :ref:96b_carbon_board.
To do this, build the samples/bluetooth/hci_spi/ application
provided with Zephyr with BOARD=96b_carbon/nrf51822, then flash it to
the nRF51822 chip using the instructions :ref:above <96b_carbon_nrf51_programming>. (For instructions on how to build a
Zephyr application, see :ref:build_an_application.)
.. warning::
Be sure to flash the hci_spi application to the nRF51822 chip and not to the main STM32F401RET chip. While both chips are supported by Zephyr, the hci_spi application providing Bluetooth support will only run on the nRF51822 chip.
References
Board documentation from 96Boards_nRF51822 information from Nordic Semiconductor_.. _Black Magic Debug Probe: https://github.com/blacksphere/blackmagic/wiki
.. _Getting started page: https://github.com/blacksphere/blackmagic/wiki/Getting-Started
.. _Board documentation from 96Boards: http://www.96boards.org/product/carbon/
.. _nRF51822 information from Nordic Semiconductor: https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/Bluetooth-low-energy/nRF51822