• State Suggested Answer
  • Replies 3 replies
  • Answers 1 answer
  • Subscribers 26 subscribers
  • Views 208 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Attachments (1) Download All
Nordic Case Info
  • Case ID: 287380
Options
nRF5 SDK is not maintained anymore
More Info: Consider nRF Connect SDK for new designs

Automate nRF52840 Dongle running pc-nrfconnect-ble

user115195

Hello,

 I'm very unexperienced with low-level programming, so I apologize is some of my questions make little sense.

  We have this board that sends telemetry data using a nRF52840 to a Window 10 PC.  Looking for a quick and dirty way to scan for the board, connect to it, and record the RSSI value I found out the nRF52840 dongle.  Running Bluetooth Low Energy app that comes with nRF Connect for Desktop works like a charm, but now I'm looking for a way to replicate this thru LabView. I took a gander at the serial port communications between the app and the dongle and it's mostly HEX commands, so I tried looking around github for a piece of code or example that I could use to duplicate these commands, but I can't figure out where or what to look for..

 I'm hoping someone can point me to a piece of code/example or document that explains how to send and read the commands to a nRF52840 dongle programmed with pc-nrfconnect-ble.

Thanks.

  • 0

    Hello,

    Attached below is a python script for the pc-ble-driver-py I quickly put together which will connect to any BLE device named 'TARGET_DEV_NAME' and start logging the RSSI. You can use it with the same dongle and FW you use with the Bluetooth low energy app.

    Steps for testing the script:

    1. Install pc-ble-driver-py through PyPi: $ pip install --user pc-ble-driver-py

    2. Change TARGET_DEV_NAME in the script to match your device.

    3. Run script with python: $ python3 rssi_logger.py NRF52 <COM port for nrf52840 dongle>

    After the connection has been established you should start seeing the measured RSSIs from the connection:

    $ python3 rssi_logger.py NRF52 /dev/ttyACM0
Serial port used: /dev/ttyACM0
2022-04-11 15:54:27,049 [139762313049856/LogThread] Successfully opened /dev/ttyACM0. Baud rate: 1000000. Flow control: none. Parity: none.
Received advertisment report, address: 0xC4A1E304973B, device_name: Nordic_UART
New connection: 0
Client requesting to update ATT MTU to 247 bytes
Max rx octets: 251
Max tx octets: 251
Max rx time: 2120
Max tx time: 2120
RSSI: -39
RSSI: -37
RSSI: -37
RSSI: -37
RSSI: -40
RSSI: -42
RSSI: -38
RSSI: -39
RSSI: -39
RSSI: -39

    I do not have much experience with LabView, but I hope you will be able to parse the log output from it.

    Best regards,

    Vidar

  • 0

    Thank you very much Vidar, unfortunately I wasn't able to take the time to learn Python (my programming experience is currently limited to Labview and VB 6.0 ;-). 

    At the end I took a different approach.  First I was able to open "pc-ble-driver" in VS2022 and build the "heart_rate_collector".  Then I modified the code to allow extended advertisements and to ouput the rssi.  Once I got the EXE where I wanted, I simply run it using System Exec.vi in Labview.

    Not the most elegant solution, but it's the quick and dirty way for someone looking for a very basic interface between the nRF52840 dongle and Labview.

    Quick side note, I also tried to write a .NET C# application using Windows UWP BluetoothLEAdvertisementWatcher and some cheapo USB Bluetooth adapters from Amazon, but even after enabling the AllowExtendedAdvertisements property, I wasn't able to scan extended advertisements, only the BLE legacy ones.

  • 0 in reply to user115195

    Good to hear that you found a solution, thanks for the update.

    user115195 said:
    Quick side note, I also tried to write a .NET C# application using Windows UWP BluetoothLEAdvertisementWatcher and some cheapo USB Bluetooth adapters from Amazon, but even after enabling the AllowExtendedAdvertisements property, I wasn't able to scan extended advertisements, only the BLE legacy ones.

    Extended advertisements must also be supported by the Bluetooth adapter. Maybe that is why it did not work.

Related
Terms of service