Bluetooth: Drone code Using NoricSemi Peripheral UART

• Requirements
• Overview
  • Debugging
• FEM support
  • Minimal sample variant
  • USB CDC ACM extension
  • MCUboot with serial recovery of the networking core image
• User interface
  • Development kits
  • Thingy:53
• Building and running
  • Activating sample extensions
  • Testing
• Dependencies

The Peripheral UART sample demonstrates how to use the :ref:`nus_service_readme`. It uses the NUS service to send data back and forth between a UART connection and a Bluetooth® LE connection, emulating a serial port over Bluetooth LE.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits:

.. table-from-sample-yaml::

Note

• The boards nrf52dk_nrf52810, nrf52840dk_nrf52811, and nrf52833dk_nrf52820 only support the Minimal sample variant.
• When used with :ref:`zephyr:thingy53_nrf5340`, the sample supports the MCUboot bootloader with serial recovery and SMP DFU over Bluetooth. Thingy:53 has no built-in SEGGER chip, so the UART 0 peripheral is not gated to a USB CDC virtual serial port.
• When used with :ref:`zephyr:nrf5340dk_nrf5340`, the sample might support the MCUboot bootloader with serial recovery of the networking core image.

The sample also requires a smartphone or tablet running a compatible application. The Testing instructions refer to `nRF Connect for Mobile`_, but you can also use other similar applications (for example, `nRF Blinky`_ or `nRF Toolbox`_).

You can also test the application with the :ref:`central_uart` sample. See the documentation for that sample for detailed instructions.

Note

|thingy53_sample_note|

The sample also enables an additional USB CDC ACM port that is used instead of UART 0. Because of that, it uses a separate USB Vendor and Product ID.

Overview

When connected, the sample forwards any data received on the RX pin of the UART 0 peripheral to the Bluetooth LE unit. On Nordic Semiconductor's development kits, the UART 0 peripheral is typically gated through the SEGGER chip to a USB CDC virtual serial port.

Any data sent from the Bluetooth LE unit is sent out of the UART 0 peripheral's TX pin.

Note

Thingy:53 uses the second instance of USB CDC ACM class instead of UART 0, because it has no built-in SEGGER chip that could be used to gate UART 0.

Debugging

In this sample, the UART console is used to send and read data over the NUS service. Debug messages are not displayed in this UART console. Instead, they are printed by the RTT logger.

If you want to view the debug messages, follow the procedure in :ref:`testing_rtt_connect`.

Note

On the Thingy:53, debug logs are provided over the USB CDC ACM class serial port, instead of using RTT.

For more information about debugging in the |NCS|, see :ref:`gs_debugging`.

FEM support

Minimal sample variant

You can build the sample with a minimum configuration as a demonstration of how to reduce code size and RAM usage. This variant is available for resource-constrained boards.

See :ref:`peripheral_uart_sample_activating_variants` for details.

USB CDC ACM extension

For the boards with the USB device peripheral, you can build the sample with support for the USB CDC ACM class serial port instead of the physical UART. This build uses the sample-specific UART async adapter module that acts as a bridge between USB CDC ACM and Zephyr's UART asynchronous API used by the sample. See :ref:`peripheral_uart_sample_activating_variants` for details about how to build the sample with this extension using the :file:`prj_cdc.conf`.

Async adapter experimental module

The default sample configuration uses the UART async API, which is an :ref:`experimental <software_maturity>` module. The UART async adapter creates and initializes an instance of the async module. This is needed because the USB CDC ACM implementation provides only the interrupt interface. The adapter uses data provided in the :c:struct:`uart_async_adapter_data` to connect to the UART device that does not use the asynchronous interface.

The module requires the :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_BT_NUS_UART_ASYNC_ADAPTER` to be set to y. For more information about the adapter, see the :file:`uart_async_adapter` source files available in the :file:`peripheral_uart/src` directory.

MCUboot with serial recovery of the networking core image

For the nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp, it is possible to enable serial recovery of the network core while multi-image update is not enabled in the MCUboot. See :ref:`peripheral_uart_sample_activating_variants` for details on how to build the sample with this feature using the :file:`nrf5340dk_app_sr_net.conf` and :file:`nrf5340dk_mcuboot_sr_net.conf` files.

User interface

The user interface of the sample depends on the hardware platform you are using.

Development kits

LED 1:

Blinks with a period of 2 seconds, duty cycle 50%, when the main loop is running (device is advertising).

LED 2:

On when connected.

Button 1:

Confirm the passkey value that is printed in the debug logs to pair/bond with the other device.

Button 2:

Reject the passkey value that is printed in the debug logs to prevent pairing/bonding with the other device.

Thingy:53

RGB LED:

The RGB LED channels are used independently to display the following information:

• Red channel blinks with a period of two seconds, duty cycle 50%, when the main loop is running (device is advertising).
• Green channel displays if device is connected.

Button:

Confirm the passkey value that is printed in the debug logs to pair/bond with the other device. Thingy:53 has only one button, therefore the passkey value cannot be rejected by pressing a button.

Building and running

Activating sample extensions

To activate the optional extensions supported by this sample, modify :makevar:`OVERLAY_CONFIG` in the following manner:

• For the minimal build variant, set :file:`prj_minimal.conf`.
• For the USB CDC ACM extension, set :file:`prj_cdc.conf`. Additionally, you need to set :makevar:`DTC_OVERLAY_FILE` to :file:`usb.overlay`.
• For the MCUboot with serial recovery of the networking core image feature, set the :file:`nrf5340dk_app_sr_net.conf` file. You also need to set the :makevar:`mcuboot_OVERLAY_CONFIG` variant to :file:`nrf5340dk_mcuboot_sr_net.conf`.

See :ref:`cmake_options` for instructions on how to add this option. For more information about using configuration overlay files, see :ref:`zephyr:important-build-vars` in the Zephyr documentation.

Testing

After programming the sample to your development kit, complete the following steps to test it:

1. Connect the device to the computer to access UART 0. If you use a development kit, UART 0 is forwarded as a COM port (Windows) or ttyACM device (Linux) after you connect the development kit over USB. If you use Thingy:53, you must attach the debug board and connect an external USB to UART converter to it.
2. |connect_terminal|
3. Optionally, you can display debug messages. See :ref:`peripheral_uart_debug` for details.
4. Reset the kit.
5. Observe that LED 1 is blinking and that the device is advertising with the device name that is configured in :kconfig:option:`CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME`.
6. Observe that the text "Starting Nordic UART service example" is printed on the COM listener running on the computer.
7. Connect to the device using nRF Connect for Mobile. Observe that LED 2 is on.
8. Optionally, pair or bond with the device with MITM protection. This requires using the passkey value displayed in debug messages. See :ref:`peripheral_uart_debug` for details on how to access debug messages. To confirm pairing or bonding, press Button 1 on the device and accept the passkey value on the smartphone.
9. In the application, observe that the services are shown in the connected device.
10. Select the UART RX characteristic value in nRF Connect. You can write to the UART RX and get the text displayed on the COM listener.
11. Type '0123456789' and tap :guilabel:`SEND`. Verify that the text "0123456789" is displayed on the COM listener.
12. To send data from the device to your phone or tablet, enter any text, for example, "Hello", and press Enter to see it on the COM listener. Observe that a notification is sent to the peer.
13. Disconnect the device in nRF Connect. Observe that LED 2 turns off.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following sample-specific library:

• :file:`uart_async_adapter` at :file:`peripheral_uart/src`

This sample uses the following |NCS| libraries:

• :ref:`nus_service_readme`
• :ref:`dk_buttons_and_leds_readme`

In addition, it uses the following Zephyr libraries:

• include/zephyr/types.h

• boards/arm/nrf*/board.h

• :ref:`zephyr:kernel_api`:

  • include/kernel.h

• :ref:`zephyr:api_peripherals`:

  • include/gpio.h
  • include/uart.h

• :ref:`zephyr:bluetooth_api`:

  • include/bluetooth/bluetooth.h
  • include/bluetooth/gatt.h
  • include/bluetooth/hci.h
  • include/bluetooth/uuid.h

The sample also uses the following secure firmware component:

• :ref:`Trusted Firmware-M <ug_tfm>`