nRF5 SDK for Thread is intended for use with the nRF52840 Development Kit.
The SDK provides precompiled OpenThread libraries for GCC, IAR, and Keil 5. The GCC library was built on Linux with arm-none-eabi-gcc version 4.9.3 with the following parameters:
USB=1
parameter is optional and enables USB CDC support for serial communication.
The IAR libraries were built with IAR Workbench 7.80.4. The Keil 5 libraries were built with Keil µVision V5.18a.
Every Thread example can be built with various toolchains and IDEs. Currently, the following build methods are provided:
The following peripherals are owned by the OpenThread stack and cannot be used directly by an application:
Additionally, OpenThread exposes an API to configure the radio frontend module (FEM). In such case, the application must specify two GPIOTE channels.
OpenThread API can be used to access the hardware random number generator and temperature sensor.
If you want to use the logger module, you must utilize the RTT backend or a UART instance other than UART0.
DISABLE_SPI=1
parameter.You must install a set of tools to complete the environment setup process.
Make
First, make sure that you have the make
tool installed on your system. To do this, run the following command:
If the command does not provide output, you must install the make
tool. Refer to the documentation of your Linux distribution for information on how to download and install it.
GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain
To be able to compile projects for the nRF52840 Development Kit, you must install GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain in version 6.3.1. You can download this version from GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain. Make sure to install it in the /usr/local/gcc-arm-none-eabi-6-2017-q2-update
folder.
If you already have another version of arm-none-eabi installed, you can modify the default path in the following file: <InstallFolder>/components/toolchain/gcc/Makefile.posix
.
SEGGER J-Link
To enable communication between devices, you need the SEGGER J-Link utility. You can download the latest version from the J-Link Download page.
nrfjprog
You need the nrfjprog tool to program the nRF52840 chips. The latest version of this tool can be found on the nRF52840 product website.
Make
The make
tool, required to build GCC projects, is not natively available on Windows. However, the MinGW package can be used to install it:
C:\MinGW
C:\MinGW\bin
C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin
make
tool was installed correctly by typing make --version
and pressing Enter. If there are no errors during installation, the following message is displayed: To be able to compile projects for the nRF52840 Development Kit, you must install GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain in version 6.3.1. You can download this version from GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain. It is recommended to install it in the default directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\6 2017-q2-update
.
If you already have another version of arm-none-eabi installed, or have installed it in a different directory, you can modify the default path in the following file: <InstallFolder>\components\toolchain\gcc\Makefile.windows
.
nRF5x Command Line Tools
To communicate with and program the nRF52840 Development Kit, you need the SEGGER J-Link and nrfjprog tools. Download and install the latest version of nRF5x Command Line Tools from the nRF52840 product website. This package includes the latest version of SEGGER J-Link and nrfjprog utilities.
After the installation is complete, add nrfjprog installation directory (for example C:\Program Files (x86)\Nordic Semiconductor\nrf5x\bin\
) to your system PATH variable.
Building an example with GCC (6.3 2017-q2-update)
To build an example with GCC, perform the following steps:
<InstallFolder>/examples/thread/cli/pca10056/blank/armgcc
make
command in this folder. If the environment was set up correctly, the build process will start._build
folder: <InstallFolder>/examples/thread/cli/pca10056/blank/armgcc/_build/nrf52840_xxaa.hex
. make
command on Windows, make sure that you do not have any other make
instances from other toolsets like Cygwin or GnuWin32 in your PATH variable. Building an example with IAR (7.80.4)
To build an example with IAR, perform the following steps:
<InstallFolder>/examples/thread/cli/thread_cli.eww
Building an example with Keil 5 (5.18a)
To build an example with Keil µVision 5, perform the following steps:
<InstallFolder>/examples/thread/cli/uart/pca10056/blank/arm5_no_packs/thread_cli_uart_pca10056.uvprojx
Building an example with SEGGER Embedded Studio (3.34a)
To build an example with SES, perform the following steps:
<InstallFolder>/examples/thread/cli/uart/pca10056/blank/ses/thread_cli_uart_pca10056.emProject
To program the nRF52840 Development Kit, first connect it to your computer with a USB cable. When your board is detected, you can download the example as described below.
Running an example without the SoftDevice
Optionally, when using GCC, you can type the following commands:
Running an example with the SoftDevice
The SoftDevice is used by the multiprotocol examples.
Optionally, when using GCC, you can type the following commands:
You can use RTT Viewer to view the log messages produced by the example.
It is recommended to use the provided, precompiled version of the OpenThread library. However, it is possible to compile the latest version from GitHub. You can build the OpenThread library in POSIX environment on Mac or Linux, or use the provided GCC, IAR, or Keil 5 projects to build the library on Windows.
Building the library with GCC on Linux or Mac (recommended)
Follow these steps to build the library:
make
with the following parameters: libopenthread-nrf52840-sdk.a
to libopenthread-nrf52840-sdk-usb.a
libopenthread-nrf52840-softdevice-sdk.a
to libopenthread-nrf52840-sdk-softdevice-usb.a
<OpenThreadFolder>/output/lib
to the SDK folder: /external/openthread/lib/gcc
.<OpenThreadFolder>/include
folder into the /external/openthread
folder.Building the library with GCC on Windows
<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/openthread
folder.build_gcc_libs.bat
script to build all of the libraries.<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/import_gcc_libs.bat
) to copy the compiled libraries to the output folder./external/project/openthread/include
folder into the /external/openthread
folder.Building the library with IAR
Follow these steps to build the library:
<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/openthread
folder.<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/openthread_lib.eww
) with IAR Embedded Workbench.<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/import_iar_libs.bat
) to copy the compiled libraries to the output folder./external/project/openthread/include
folder into the /external/openthread
folder.Building the library with Keil 5
Follow these steps to build the library:
<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/openthread
folder.<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/lib/openthread/ftd/arm5_no_packsc/openthread_lib_libopenthread_ftd.uvprojx
) with Keil µVision 5.<InstallFolder>/external/openthread/project/import_keil_libs.bat
) to copy the compiled libraries to the output folder./external/openthread/project/openthread/include
folder into the /external/openthread
folder.As an application developer, you must make sure that calls to the OpenThread API are not preempted by other calls to the OpenThread API.
In a bare-metal environment, this is achieved by executing all OpenThread procedures from the main
function context. Do not call any OpenThread functions in ISRs or callbacks from ISR context. You can use the app_scheduler
module to execute callbacks from the app_timer
and the SoftDevice in the main context. Refer to the examples included in this SDK to see how the app_scheduler
module should be used with OpenThread.
In an operating system environment, all calls to the OpenThread API must be performed from a single thread. Other threads may call OpenThread functions, but it should be guarded by mutex to make sure one call is not preempted by another one. For a reference, see BLE HRS and Thread CoAP Server with FreeRTOS Example.
See the following topics for further introduction into Nordic Semiconductor's Thread implementation.