boards/nordic/nrf52840dongle/doc/index.rst
.. zephyr:board:: nrf52840dongle
Overview
The nRF52840 Dongle (PCA10059) hardware provides support for the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 ARM Cortex-M4F CPU.
More information about the board can be found at the
nRF52840 Dongle website. The nRF52840 Dongle guide
contains the processor's information and the datasheet.
Hardware
The nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 has two external oscillators. The frequency of
the slow clock is 32.768 kHz. The frequency of the main clock
is 32 MHz.
.. zephyr:board-supported-hw::
See nRF52840 Dongle website_ and nRF52840 Dongle Hardware description_
for a complete list of nRF52840 Dongle board hardware features.
Programming and Debugging
.. zephyr:board-supported-runners::
Applications for the nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 board configuration can be
built in the usual way (see :ref:build_an_application for more details).
The board supports the following programming options:
debug probe <debug-probes>These instructions use the :ref:west <west> tool and assume you are in the
root directory of your :term:west installation.
The board is factory-programmed with Nordic's bootloader from Nordic's nRF5
SDK. With this option, you'll use Nordic's nrfutil_ program to create
firmware packages supported by this bootloader and flash them to the
device. Before proceeding make sure:
nrfutil is installed.nrf5sdk-tools command is installed within nrfutil.#. Reset the board into the Nordic bootloader by pressing the RESET button.
The push button is on the far side of the board from the USB connector. Note that the button does not face up. You will have to push it from the outside in, towards the USB connector:
.. image:: img/nRF52840_dongle_press_reset.svg :alt: Location of RESET button and direction of push
The red LED should start a fade pattern, signalling the bootloader is running.
#. Compile a Zephyr application; we'll use :zephyr:code-sample:blinky.
.. zephyr-app-commands:: :app: zephyr/samples/basic/blinky :board: nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 :goals: build
#. Package the application for the bootloader using nrfutil:
.. code-block:: console
nrfutil nrf5sdk-tools pkg generate \
--hw-version 52 \
--sd-req=0x00 \
--application build/zephyr/zephyr.hex \
--application-version 1 \
blinky.zip
#. Flash it onto the board. Note :file:/dev/ttyACM0 is for Linux; it will be
something like COMx on Windows, and something else on macOS.
.. code-block:: console
nrfutil nrf5sdk-tools dfu usb-serial -pkg blinky.zip -p /dev/ttyACM0
When this command exits, observe the green LED on the board blinking, instead of the red LED used by the bootloader.
For more information, see Nordic Semiconductor USB DFU_.
It is also possible to use the MCUboot bootloader with this board to flash Zephyr applications. You need to do some one-time set-up to build and flash MCUboot on your board. From that point on, you can build and flash other Zephyr applications using MCUboot's serial recovery mode. This process does not overwrite the built-in Nordic bootloader, so you can always go back to using Option 1 later.
Install nrfutil_ and mcumgr_ first, and make sure MCUboot's imgtool is
available for signing your binary for MCUboot as described on :ref:west-sign.
Next, do the one-time setup to flash MCUboot. We'll assume you've cloned
the MCUboot_ repository into the directory mcuboot, and that it is next
to the zephyr repository on your computer.
#. Reset the board into the Nordic bootloader as described above.
#. Compile MCUboot as a Zephyr application.
.. zephyr-app-commands:: :app: mcuboot/boot/zephyr :board: nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 :build-dir: mcuboot :goals: build
#. Package the application for the bootloader using nrfutil:
.. code-block:: console
nrfutil nrf5sdk-tools pkg generate \
--hw-version 52 \
--sd-req=0x00 \
--application build/mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.hex \
--application-version 1 \
mcuboot.zip
#. Flash it onto the board. Note :file:/dev/ttyACM0 is for Linux; it will be
something like COMx on Windows, and something else on macOS.
.. code-block:: console
nrfutil nrf5sdk-tools dfu usb-serial -pkg mcuboot.zip -p /dev/ttyACM0
You can now flash a Zephyr application to the board using MCUboot's serial
recovery mode. We'll use the :zephyr:code-sample:smp-svr sample since it's ready to be
compiled for chain-loading by MCUboot (and itself supports firmware updates
over Bluetooth).
#. Boot into MCUboot serial recovery mode by plugging the board in with the SW1 button pressed down. See above for a picture showing where SW1 is.
Do not press RESET; that will run the Nordic bootloader, which is different than MCUboot.
A serial port will enumerate on your board. On Windows, "MCUBOOT" should
appear under "Other Devices" in the Device Manager (in addition to the usual
COMx device). On Linux, something like
:file:/dev/serial/by-id/usb-ZEPHYR_MCUBOOT_0.01-if00 should be created.
If no serial port appears, try plugging it in again, making sure SW1 is pressed. If it still doesn't appear, retry the one-time MCUboot setup.
#. Compile smp_svr.
.. zephyr-app-commands:: :app: zephyr/samples/subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/smp_svr :board: nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 :build-dir: smp_svr :goals: build
#. Sign smp_svr for chain-loading by MCUboot.
.. code-block:: console
west sign -t imgtool --bin --no-hex -d build/smp_svr \
-B smp_svr.signed.bin -- --key mcuboot/root-rsa-2048.pem
#. Flash the application to the MCUboot serial port using mcumgr:
.. code-block:: console
mcumgr --conntype=serial --connstring='dev=/dev/ttyACM0,baud=115200' \
image upload -e smp_svr.signed.bin
#. Reset the device:
.. code-block:: console
mcumgr --conntype=serial --connstring='dev=/dev/ttyACM0,baud=115200' reset
You should now be able to scan for Bluetooth devices using a smartphone or
computer. The device you just flashed will be listed with Zephyr in its
name.
.. note::
This board supports building other Zephyr applications for flashing with
MCUboot in this way also. Just make sure :kconfig:option:CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT
is set when building your application. For example, to compile blinky for
loading by MCUboot, use this:
.. zephyr-app-commands:: :app: zephyr/samples/basic/blinky :board: nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 :build-dir: blinky :goals: build :gen-args: -DCONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
You can then sign and flash it using the steps above.
If you have one, you can also use an external :ref:debug probe <debug-probes>
to flash and debug Zephyr applications, but you need to solder an SWD header
onto the back side of the board.
For Segger J-Link debug probes, follow the instructions in the
:ref:nordic_segger page to install and configure all the necessary
software. Further information can be found in :ref:nordic_segger_flashing.
Use the nrf52840dongle/nrf52840/bare board variant to build your application.
This variant uses a modified partition table, which does not reserve space for
the onboard USB bootloader.
Then build and flash applications as usual (see :ref:build_an_application and
:ref:application_run for more details).
Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:blinky application.
.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/basic/blinky :board: nrf52840dongle/nrf52840/bare :goals: build flash
Observe the LED on the board blinking.
The nrf52840dongle/nrf52840 board does not have an on-board J-Link debug IC
as some nRF5x development boards, however, instructions from the
:ref:nordic_segger page also apply to this board, with the additional step
of connecting an external debugger.
Testing the LEDs and buttons on the nRF52840 Dongle
There are 2 samples that allow you to test that the buttons (switches) and LEDs on the board are working properly with Zephyr:
blinkyYou can build and program the examples to make sure Zephyr is running correctly on your board.
References
.. target-notes::
.. _nRF52840 Dongle website: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Kits/nRF52840-Dongle .. _nRF52840 Dongle guide: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf52840_dk/page/UG/dk/intro.html .. _nRF52840 Dongle Hardware description: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ug_nrf52840_dongle/page/UG/nrf52840_Dongle/hw_description.html .. _J-Link Software and documentation pack: https://www.segger.com/jlink-software.html .. _Nordic Semiconductor USB DFU: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/sdk_nrf5_v17.1.0/page/sdk_app_serial_dfu_bootloader.html .. _nrfutil: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-tools/nrf-util .. _MCUboot: https://github.com/JuulLabs-OSS/mcuboot .. _mcumgr: https://github.com/apache/mynewt-mcumgr-cli