nRF9151 & NCS 2.9.1 BOARD_???

AchimKraus · 23 Apr

I received my new nRF9151 feather yesterday. Great new stuff.
Building my CoAP/DTLS 1.2 CID client with NCS 2.9.1 I was struggling a little with the board name.

west -b circuitdojo_feather_nrf9151/nrf9151/ns

Seems to use BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151_NRF9151_NS instead of BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151_NS with NCS 2.6.4 (no official support).

What makes me wonder is then the usage of BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151_NS in boards/circuitdojo/feather_nrf9151/Kconfig.defconfig. The BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151 may work, but

if BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151_NS

config FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET
	default $(dt_chosen_reg_addr_hex,$(DT_CHOSEN_Z_CODE_PARTITION))

config FLASH_LOAD_SIZE
	default $(dt_chosen_reg_size_hex,$(DT_CHOSEN_Z_CODE_PARTITION))

endif # BOARD_CIRCUITDOJO_FEATHER_NRF9151_NS

may be skipped.

Zzpm1066 · 23 Apr

Hi @AchimKraus ,

Do you have a time line as to when your CoAP/DTLS 1.2 CID client with NCS 2.9.1 will be ready?
I’d like to give it a go with nRF91xx devices.

I plan to setup an Eclipse Californium server on a Raspberry Pi 5 some time next month, so that I can use it with CoAP/DTLS 1.2 CID clients. Is there anything that I should look out for? Thanks.

AchimKraus · 24 Apr

zpm1066 Do you have a time line as to when your CoAP/DTLS 1.2 CID client with NCS 2.9.1 will be ready?

It’s “ready” for testing ;-).

zephyr-coaps-client - branch ncs_2_9_x

I’m cleaning up the nRF9151 feather work from yesterday, should be finished end of today.
Currently the main missing function is FOTA for the modem firmware.
FOTA for the app works via cellular (CoAP blockwise) and UART/USB/Bluetooth LE via XMODEM.

zpm1066 I plan to setup an Eclipse Californium server on a Raspberry Pi 5 some time next month

I didn’t use a raspi for longer. To connect a cellular device you will need to setup your network to be able to receive UDP from “external” (public internet). If your MVNO provides a VPN, then it may get easier.

I developed a demo server for usage in the cloud, which keeps the data in S3 and comes with a simple javascript web-client. But it requires to run in the cloud and therefore you need to be common with administrating a headless VM.

Californium (Cf) - Cloud CoAP-S3-Proxy Server

A more basic demo would be the

Californium (Cf) - Cloud Demo Server

What makes most sense depends more on your intentions.

jaredwolff · 24 Apr

@AchimKraus yea since they re-did the naming convention, it made some of the Kconfig values have redundant values. I haven’t double checked all the Kconfig entries but now that you mention it i’ll have to give everything a good scrub. Maybe bring everything up to 2.9 while i’m at it.

AchimKraus · 24 Apr

In my experience, it works already with NCS 2.9.1. But there may be some leftovers ;-).

jaredwolff · 24 Apr

Good to know!

Zzpm1066 · 24 Apr

AchimKraus
Thank you for sharing info and links. I’ll review the zephyr-coaps-client - branch ncs_2_9_x source and test it against the Eclipse/Californium sandbox on a nRF9151-DK.

I need to read up on the server options and what’s involved in the setup. Another option is to use an existing VMware ESXi server that already hosts Linux VMs.

Btw - I noticed you’ve also added support for the new Makerdiary nRF9151 Connect Kit.
How does this board stack up against the other nRF9151 boards with regard to development & cellular connectivity?

At USD$49, less than 50% of the cost of other nRF9151 offerings but with no external flash, Makediary nRF9151 is quite a bargain.

AchimKraus · 24 Apr

Makerdiary nRF9151 Connect Kit … development & cellular connectivity?

It works. The USB bridge has some issues (drops bytes). And as you already wrote, it’s pretty plain, even no user LEDs. You will also need a very specific battery cable.

Zzpm1066 · 25 Apr

AchimKraus
Yup! The Makerdiary nRF9151 board is a bares bones board and there is no real excuse for not providing a user LED.

The Conexio Stratus Pro nRF9151 is better with an on-board 10-pin J-link connector, solar power support, QWICC, on/off switch, and competitive at only USD$59 without a SIM. However, there’s no external flash and only a mono user LED.

So far, the nRF9151 Feather appears to be the best of the bunch with external 16MB Flash and QWICC. On the down side, the board doesn’t have a user LED and no on-board 10-pin J-Link connector. Also, it’s more expensive than a nRF9151-DK or a Thingy91:X, esp. if you need 10-pin J-link support.

jaredwolff · 25 Apr

Looks like a race to the bottom to me! I’ll definitely take another look at pricing to make it more competitive for you guys.

AchimKraus · 26 Apr

the board doesn’t have a user LED

just redefine the NPM1300 LEDs.

&npm1300_leds {
	nordic,led0-mode = "host";
	nordic,led1-mode = "host";
	nordic,led2-mode = "host";
};

no on-board 10-pin J-Link connector

AFAIK, the “Recovery & Programming Mini Fixture” will do it.

it’s more expensive

That was 2-3 years ago also my impression. But in many cases the overall costs of the device makes that relative. And so in fact my first real device two years ago (Mobile-BeeHive-Scale ) was built with the nRF9160 feather.

The newest scale design uses a Thingy:91X. But to be frank, the larger energy consumption with Bluetooth LE enabled (compared to the previous Thingy:91 it takes 60µA more quiescent current) and some irritations with the I2C / QWIIC level shifter, reduces the the runtime from battery.

In the past 6 months I became a fan of “solar charging”, my first experience Conexio Stratus Pro nRF9161 has been very well. And reading Adafruit - Solar Charger Desgin Notes makes me belief, that this is pretty useful for some kinds of devices.
I also equipped some nRF9160 feather devices (some of those Mobile-BeeHive-Scales) with an Adafruit BQ25185 Solar Charger and that works also well (by the way, you need to remove the LED of that module ).

With all that, it’s open for me, which modules goes in which device.

(To be frank, I’m not that sure, if discussing other products in this forum is really welcome, so Jared, just let us know.)

jaredwolff · 26 Apr

AchimKraus To be frank, I’m not that sure, if discussing other products in this forum is really welcome, so Jared, just let us know.

It is what it is. I don’t particularly appreciate random people coming on saying how awesome another product is with links to buy. They have a short life here But if it’s you guys I don’t mind. It provides valuable insights to what’s important and helps prioritize making our products even better.

Zzpm1066 · 28 Apr

jaredwolff
Agreed. At the end of the day, we want to make the nRF9151 Feather the best low power nRF91xx board.

The nRF9151 Feather is a great device with the current spec. and the base price is fine for those who don’t require J-Link support. Btw - Thank you for providing opportunities for design input. With a few tweaks the board can be even better.

An on-board 10-pin J-Link connector would be a great addition. It would lower the overall cost for a nRF9151 with J-Link support and make it “all in one” dev/deployment solution without a need for a jig.

Yes, the nPM1300 RGB LED can be re-defined but it would be better to add another RGB for user LEDs (as in Thingy91:X) and leave the nPM1300 RGB for CHG, Charging ERR, and IMCU.

AchimKraus · 5 May

zpm1066 I’ll review the zephyr-coaps-client - branch ncs_2_9_x source and test it against the Eclipse/Californium sandbox on a nRF9151-DK.

Just in the case:
I’ve retested the build for the sandbox last weekend; it still works ;-).

zephyr-coaps-client - ncs 2.9.x - BUILDTRACK

When you checkout the zephyr-coaps-client, ensure you use the right branch (“ncs_2_9_x”)

west init --mr ncs_2_9_x -m https://github.com/boaks/zephyr-coaps-client.git

And don’t forget to build the initial image for the first time you flash that to a device.

If you face any issue, just open an issue in that project.

AchimKraus · 6 May

I’ve update the prebuild images for the coaps-client to NCS 2.9.1, see coaps-client - prebuild images.