This project derives from the BLE iBeacon + scanner Wyres firmware using GCC toolchain and is intended to create a BLE managed light.
Hardware is a Minew MS49SF2 module using a nRF51822-QFAA bluetooth chip, on a W_BLE breakout board, with 3 LEDs on the GPIO header. The control of these LEDs is done via BLE scanning, with different options:
- light LEDs when a BLE ibeacon is seen (number and PWM controlled brightness based on RSSI value)
- light/flash LEDs when an apple FindMe device is seen (flash speed depends on RSSI value)
- light/bright LEDs using BLE service
It uses the Nordic SDK/SoftDevice system:
- SDK 12.3.0 (approx)
- Softdevice S130 v2.0.1 (probably) [approx because nordic don't include a version header file, so its tricky to tell exactly which version of the SDK/SD you have..]
All the source files, header files and linker scripts are located in the project. GCC tools should be installed on the PC, and have their bin in the PATH. nrfjproj can be used to flash the nrf51, installed in path (otherwise go change flash_w_stlink.bat)
You have to set your gcc path in makefile IFF it is not in your PATH eg: GNU_INSTALL_ROOT := C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\8 2019-q3-update
Run "make clean" to clean all previous outputs. Run "make itall VER_MAJ=X VER_MIN=Y" to build everything for production (no debug) with version reported as X.Y (note that must be >2.0 to work with base card) Run "make itall_debug" to build everything for debug (optionally with version, 2.0 will be used as default) By default the 'CARD_TYPE' parameter is 5, for the rev E of the BLE daighter card ie continuously powered, uart controlled by vcc_uart. If using a revC/D version, you MUST set the 'CARD_TYPE' parameter to 3 (revC) or 4 (revD) by adding "CARD_TYPE=4" to the make line.
Output hex is in ./outputs. Production hexes are placed in the hexs subdirectory, named with their version and type.
makefile contains targets to flash the device : either completely (eraseall/flash_softdevice/flash_program) or just the rebuilt app.
This uses nrfjproj with a jlink probe.
Attach ST-Link to the target and run "flash_w_stlink.bat" (in script) with arguments of the hex file (path from project root, without the suffix), and default major/minor as 4 digit hex values
Example : for flashing the most recent build file ble_modem.hex for the preidentified target 0x0002002e type :
flash_w_stlink.bat outputs/ble_modem 0002 002e
The debug process on vscode is based on launch.json settings file and uses just openocd (no gdb) Have a look on launch.json to proper use it (openocd path, executable, etc).
After that you can launch debugging as usual on vscode.
The debug process on vscode is based on launch.json settings file. Have a look on launch.json to proper use it (openocd path, executable, etc).
If your target has to be powered by jlink, be sure to entering "power on" or "power on perm" with jlink.exe before.
jlink.exe > power on
jlink.exe > exit
After that you can launch debugging as usual on vscode.
#Known issues
nRF51822-QFAA : Code size : 256 kB, Page size : 1024 byte, Nb pages : 256, RAM size : 16kB, Block 0 = 8 kB, Block 1 = 8 kB
As described in softdevice doc : S130_SDS_v2.0.pdf : 15.1 Memory resource map and usage (see in this repo at /documentation)
With softdevice enabled in your project, you must be stricly aligned with SoftDevice RAM :
APP_RAM_BASE address(minimum required value) = 0x20000000 + SoftDevice RAM consumption (Minimum: 0x200013C8)
Central and Peripheral operation consume a lot of ram : see components/softdevice/common/softdevice_handle/app_ram_base.h
For this project the heap memory allocation is not necessary and may be set to zero. Heap memory is configured in gcc_nrf51_startup.s according to user definition. The problem is located when the assembler arm-none-eabi-as is called with its arguments :
-defsym __HEAP_SIZE=16
seems to be ignored... To fix this : gcc_nrf51_startup.s has been modified to set zero for heap size by default.
#if defined(__STARTUP_CONFIG)
.equ Heap_Size, __STARTUP_CONFIG_HEAP_SIZE
#elif defined(__HEAP_SIZE)
.equ Heap_Size, __HEAP_SIZE
#else
.equ Heap_Size, 0
#endif
After a build success, a brief look at .map allows to know the amount of RAM used by any function : For example :
.bss COMMON 0x2000396c 0x168 .obj/c/./src/ibs_scan.o
shows memory consumption of ibs_scan.c. (due to declaration of ibs_scan_result_t ibs_scan_results[IBS_SCAN_LIST_LENGTH]; )
Note that this project uses baselibc project from github to reduce RAM and flash consumption!
Further investigation are needed to reduce the global RAM memory consumption to avoid this kind of returned error :
arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: region RAM overflowed with stack collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Currently 1 Central+1 Periph builds with a scan list of 100 items.