circuitpython/ports/nrf
Glenn Ruben Bakke d0b8554df4 nrf: Change selected boards to utilize pre-flashed bootloader.
The nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle and pca10050 comes with a pre-flashed
bootloader (OpenBootloader).

This commit updates the boards "mpconfigboard.mk" to use DFU as
default flashing method and set the corresponding BOOTLOADER
settings such that nrf52840_open_bootloader_1.2.x.ld linker
script is used.

The default DFU flashing method can be disabled by issuing "DFU=0"
when invoking make. This will lead to "segger" being used as default
flashing tool. When using "DFU=0", the linker scripts will not
compensate for any MBR and Bootloader region being present, and might
overwrite them if they were present.

The commit also removes the custom linker script specific to
nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle as it now points to a generic.

Updated nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle's README.md to be more clear on
how to deploy the built firmware.

The port README.md has also been updated. In the list of target
boards a new column has been added to indicate which bootloader
is present on the target board. And for consistency, changed all
examples in the README.md to use "deploy" instead of "flash".
2020-12-07 20:04:50 +01:00
..
boards nrf: Change selected boards to utilize pre-flashed bootloader. 2020-12-07 20:04:50 +01:00
device nrf: Add nrf9160 base support. 2019-10-10 21:35:27 +02:00
drivers ports: Use correct in/out endpoint size in TUD_CDC_DESCRIPTOR. 2020-10-17 15:49:16 +11:00
examples all: Reformat C and Python source code with tools/codeformat.py. 2020-02-28 10:33:03 +11:00
freeze all: Reformat C and Python source code with tools/codeformat.py. 2020-02-28 10:33:03 +11:00
modules extmod/machine_i2c: Add init protocol method for generic I2C bindings. 2020-11-23 19:45:04 +11:00
.gitignore gitignore: Put build-*/ pattern in top-level gitignore file. 2019-08-16 00:08:08 +10:00
Makefile nrf/Makefile: Add support for flashing with nrfutil. 2020-12-07 20:04:50 +01:00
README.md nrf: Change selected boards to utilize pre-flashed bootloader. 2020-12-07 20:04:50 +01:00
bluetooth_conf.h nrf/bluetooth: Add support for s132/s140 v6, remove s132 v2/3/5 2018-07-18 17:12:26 +10:00
fatfs_port.c nrf: Clean up source by removing tabs, trailing spaces, non-ASCII chars. 2019-08-28 13:34:45 +10:00
gccollect.c all: Remove spaces between nested paren and inside function arg paren. 2020-03-25 00:39:46 +11:00
gccollect.h nrf: Add new port to Nordic nRF5x MCUs. 2018-07-18 17:12:25 +10:00
help.c all: Reformat C and Python source code with tools/codeformat.py. 2020-02-28 10:33:03 +11:00
main.c nrf/main: Make mp_builtin_open signature match that in py/builtin.h. 2020-09-09 00:13:34 +10:00
mpconfigdevice_nrf9160.h nrf: Enable more features for all targets. 2020-07-22 12:54:20 +02:00
mpconfigdevice_nrf51822.h nrf: Enable more features for all targets. 2020-07-22 12:54:20 +02:00
mpconfigdevice_nrf52832.h nrf: Enable more features for all targets. 2020-07-22 12:54:20 +02:00
mpconfigdevice_nrf52840.h nrf: Enable more features for all targets. 2020-07-22 12:54:20 +02:00
mpconfigport.h extmod/machine_i2c: Remove "id" arg in SoftI2C constructor. 2020-10-01 12:57:10 +10:00
mphalport.c nrf: Add support for time.ticks_xxx functions using RTC1. 2020-07-08 23:47:02 +10:00
mphalport.h extmod/machine_i2c: Rename type to SoftI2C and add custom print method. 2020-10-01 12:57:10 +10:00
nrf51_af.csv nrf: Remove port member from Pin object 2018-07-18 17:12:26 +10:00
nrf52_af.csv nrf: Add ADC channel mapping to alt function table. 2019-09-05 22:13:04 +10:00
nrf91_af.csv nrf: Add nrf9160 base support. 2019-10-10 21:35:27 +02:00
nrfx_config.h nrf/nrfx_config: Disable RTC2 for nRF9160 targets. 2020-07-16 11:44:44 +02:00
nrfx_glue.h nrf: Update to work with nrfx v2.0.0, to match TinyUSB. 2020-05-15 15:06:02 +10:00
nrfx_log.h all: Reformat C and Python source code with tools/codeformat.py. 2020-02-28 10:33:03 +11:00
pin_defs_nrf5.h all: Reformat C and Python source code with tools/codeformat.py. 2020-02-28 10:33:03 +11:00
pin_named_pins.c nrf: Add new port to Nordic nRF5x MCUs. 2018-07-18 17:12:25 +10:00
qstrdefsport.h all: Add *FORMAT-OFF* in various places. 2020-02-28 10:31:07 +11:00

README.md

MicroPython Port To The Nordic Semiconductor nRF Series

This is a port of MicroPython to the Nordic Semiconductor nRF series of chips.

Supported Features

  • UART
  • SPI
  • LEDs
  • Pins
  • ADC
  • I2C
  • PWM (nRF52 only)
  • Temperature
  • RTC (Real Time Counter. Low-Power counter)
  • BLE support including:
    • Peripheral role on nrf51 targets
    • Central role and Peripheral role on nrf52 targets
    • REPL over Bluetooth LE (optionally using WebBluetooth)
    • ubluepy: Bluetooth LE module for MicroPython
    • 1 non-connectable advertiser while in connection

Tested Hardware

Compile and Flash

Prerequisite steps for building the nrf port:

git clone <URL>.git micropython
cd micropython
make -C mpy-cross

By default, the PCA10040 (nrf52832) is used as compile target. To build and flash issue the following command inside the ports/nrf/ folder:

make submodules
make
make deploy

Alternatively the target board could be defined:

 make BOARD=pca10040
 make BOARD=pca10040 deploy

Compile without LTO enabled

As a space optimization, LTO (Link Time Optimization) has been enabled on all targets in the nrf-port. The -flto linker flag can be toggled easily by using the argument LTO when building. The example below shows how to disable LTO for the compilation:

make BOARD=pca10040 LTO=0

Note: There have been several issues with use of LTO in conjunction with GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain 7.2.1/4Q17. It's recommended to use a toolchain after this release, for example 7.3.1/2Q18 or 8.2.1/4Q18. The alternative would be to build the target using the LTO=0 as described above.

Compile and Flash with Bluetooth Stack

First prepare the bluetooth folder by downloading Bluetooth LE stacks and headers:

 ./drivers/bluetooth/download_ble_stack.sh

If the Bluetooth stacks has been downloaded, compile the target with the following command:

make BOARD=pca10040 SD=s132

The make sd will trigger a flash of the bluetooth stack before that application is flashed. Note that make sd will perform a full erase of the chip, which could cause 3rd party bootloaders to also be wiped.

make BOARD=pca10040 SD=s132 sd

Note: further tuning of features to include in bluetooth or even setting up the device to use REPL over Bluetooth can be configured in the bluetooth_conf.h.

Compile with frozen modules

Frozen modules are Python modules compiled to bytecode and added to the firmware image, as part of MicroPython. They can be imported as usual, using the import statement. The advantage is that frozen modules use a lot less RAM as the bytecode is stored in flash, not in RAM like when importing from a filesystem. Also, frozen modules are available even when no filesystem is present to import from.

To use frozen modules, put them in a directory (e.g. freeze/) and supply make with the given directory. For example:

 make BOARD=pca10040 FROZEN_MPY_DIR=freeze

Enable MICROPY_VFS_FAT

As the oofatfs module is not having header guards that can exclude the implementation compile time, this port provides a flag to enable it explicitly. The MICROPY_VFS_FAT is by default set to 0 and has to be set to 1 if oofatfs files should be compiled. This will be in addition of setting MICROPY_VFS in mpconfigport.h.

For example:

 make BOARD=pca10040 MICROPY_VFS_FAT=1

Target Boards and Make Flags

Target Board (BOARD) Bluetooth Stack (SD) Bluetooth Support Bootloader Default Flash Util
microbit s110 Peripheral PyOCD
pca10000 s110 Peripheral Segger
pca10001 s110 Peripheral Segger
pca10028 s110 Peripheral Segger
pca10031 s110 Peripheral Segger
wt51822_s4at s110 Peripheral Manual, see datasheet for pinout
pca10040 s132 Peripheral and Central Segger
feather52 s132 Peripheral and Central Manual, SWDIO and SWCLK solder points on the bottom side of the board
arduino_primo s132 Peripheral and Central PyOCD
ibk_blyst_nano s132 Peripheral and Central IDAP
idk_blyst_nano s132 Peripheral and Central IDAP
blueio_tag_evim s132 Peripheral and Central IDAP
evk_nina_b1 s132 Peripheral and Central Segger
pca10056 s140 Peripheral and Central Segger
pca10059 s140 Peripheral and Central OpenBootloader nrfutil
particle_xenon s140 Peripheral and Central Black Magic Probe
nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle s140 Peripheral and Central OpenBootloader nrfutil
pca10090 None (bsdlib.a) None (LTE/GNSS) Segger
actinius_icarus None (bsdlib.a) None (LTE/GNSS) Segger

Install the necessary tools to flash and debug using IDAP-M/IDAP-Link CMSIS-DAP Debug JTAG:

IDAPnRFProg for Linux IDAPnRFProg for OSX IDAPnRFProg for Windows

Segger Targets

Install the necessary tools to flash and debug using Segger:

JLink Download

nrfjprog Download

note: On Linux it might be required to link SEGGER's libjlinkarm.so inside nrfjprog's folder.

PyOCD/OpenOCD Targets

Install the necessary tools to flash and debug using OpenOCD:

sudo apt-get install openocd
sudo pip install pyOCD

Black Magic Probe Targets

This requires no further dependencies other than arm-none-eabi-gdb.

make deploy will use gdb to load and run new firmware. See this guide for more tips about using the BMP with GDB.

nRFUtil Targets

Install the necessary Python packages that will be used for flashing using the bootloader:

sudo pip install nrfutil
sudo pip install intelhex

The intelhex provides the hexmerge.py utility which is used by the Makefile to trim of the MBR in case SoftDevice flashing is requested.

nrfutil as flashing backend also requires a serial port paramter to be defined in addition to the deploy target of make. For example:

make BOARD=nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle NRFUTIL_PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 deploy

If the target device is connected to /dev/ttyACM0 serial port, the NRFUTIL_PORT parameter to make can be elided as it is the default serial port set by the Makefile.

When enabling Bluetooth LE, as with the other flash utils, the SoftDevice needs to be flashed in the first firmware update. This can be done by issuing the sd target instead of deploy. For example:

make BOARD=nrf52840-mdk-usb-dongle SD=s140 NRFUTIL_PORT=/dev/ttyACM0 sd

Bluetooth LE REPL

The port also implements a BLE REPL driver. This feature is disabled by default, as it will deactivate the UART REPL when activated. As some of the nRF devices only have one UART, using the BLE REPL free's the UART instance such that it can be used as a general UART peripheral not bound to REPL.

The configuration can be enabled by editing the bluetooth_conf.h and set MICROPY_PY_BLE_NUS to 1.

When enabled you have different options to test it:

Other:

  • nRF UART application for IPhone/Android

WebBluetooth mode can also be configured by editing bluetooth_conf.h and set BLUETOOTH_WEBBLUETOOTH_REPL to 1. This will alternate advertisement between Eddystone URL and regular connectable advertisement. The Eddystone URL will point the phone or PC to download WebBluetooth REPL (experimental), which subsequently can be used to connect to the Bluetooth REPL from the PC or Phone browser.

Pin numbering scheme for nrf52840-based boards

Software Pins 0-31 correspond to physical pins 0.x and software Pins 32-47 correspond to physical pins 1.x.

Example: Pin(47) would be 1.15 on the PCA10059