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ExploratoryEngineering / nrf9160-telenor

Samples to get you started with nrf9160 and Telenor's IoT Gateway
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Telenor nrf9160 samples

This library is not under active development anymore. More details why and the implications. The source code for nbiot.engineering is published to https://github.com/eesrc/horde.

This repository includes a few sample applications to help get you started with using the nRF9160 with the Telenor IoT Gateway which, as of March 2020, is only enabled for Telenor Norway.

Samples included

Development Environment

At the time of the writing, concise and reliable instructions for setting up one's development environment were hard to come by. To reduce the barrier of entry into the IoT market, we've tried to simplify the setup process.

Nordic Semiconductor have chosen Zephyr for firmware development on the nRF9160. The build tool for Zephyr relies on python and many pip dependencies. To produce a determnistic build, we've created a Pipfile for pipenv with all the pip dependencies from the different Zephyr repositories. Currently it's based on nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0.

You are welcome to follow Nordic's instructions for setting up the nRF Connect SDK, but we beleive our instuctions are easier and more reliable.

Update instructions

If you previously have set up this project when it was based on nRF Connect SDK v1.1.0, follow these steps to start using v1.2.0:

  1. git pull
  2. Delete existing build folder(s).
  3. Clear the Zephyr toolchain capability cache.
  4. pipenv run west update
  5. Run pipenv install to install new pip dependencies to the virtualenv.
  6. If you had local modifications, see the v1.2.0 pull request for API changes in our samples.

You might also want to read the nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0 Release notes.

Prerequisites

Setup MacOS/Linux/Windows

git clone https://github.com/ExploratoryEngineering/nrf9160-telenor
cd nrf9160-telenor
pipenv install # install python dependencies in projects virtualenv
pipenv run west update # download the Zephyr dependencies using west

Serial terminal application

In order to see the output from the sample applications, follow our tutorial to install a serial terminal application.

Register your device

Follow the Getting Started tutorial so that your device can get online.

Build and debug with Visual Studio Code

TL;DR - you need to run build <sample name> before you run the flash task. Delete the build folder or run pristine before building another sample. See why further down.

Build

  1. The default build target is the nRF9160 Development Kit (nrf9160_pca10090ns)

    • If you want to build and upload to another nrf9160-based board, you have to replace nrf9160_pca10090ns with the board you'd like to build for in .vscode/tasks.json

  2. Open the Command Palette with Ctrl ⇧ P (Win/Linux) or ⇧ ⌘ P (Mac)

  3. Start typing «run task»

  4. Select «Tasks: Run Task» using arrow keys and hit ↵

  5. Choose the sample you want to build using arrow keys and hit ↵

Task list screenshot

Flash to nrf9160

  1. First build using the steps above
  2. Follow the same steps as above to open the task list
  3. Choose flash to upload the binary from the build step to the connected nrf9160 DK

Task list screenshot

Debug

  1. First build and flash one of the samples
  2. Set a breakpoint in the source code where you want it to break
  3. Press F5 - this should open a debugging session (or use the debug tab)
  4. The debugger will first stop in reset.S before the application is loaded
  5. To get to the application code, press F5 or the play button to continue executing code
  6. The debugger should stop at your breakpoint, and you can step in/out/over, see variables (see note below) and call stack

Task list screenshot

Note: The compiler will try to optimize your code, so you'll probably see <optimized out> under variables instead of the variable value. To disable the optimizations when debugging, add these lines to the prj.conf:

    CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
    CONFIG_DEBUG=y

We've included configuration to make it possible to build the samples and debug on the nrf9160 from Visual Studio Code.

First, let me explain an important feature in West (Zephyrs build tool). When you build an application/sample using west, the output will be in the build folder of the current working directory.

Say you've cloned this project into ~/nrf9160-telenor:

Both methods work fine, but the tasks we've defined in VS Code always build from the project root folder. Then we only need to duplicate the build ... task for each sample, and the flash and debug assume you've already ran the build task first.

Tips'n tricks

Menuconfig

The amount of config options for Zephyr can be quite daunting, but they actually have a command line user interface that allows you to browse the config options interactiely. Either navigate using arrow keys or search using the / key. When you find the right options, write down the name and value. Alternatively save a minimal config with the D key to a temporary file, then copy the options over to prj.conf.

pipenv run west build -t menuconfig samples/hello_world

pipenv shell

If you get tired of typing pipenv run before every west command, you can run pipenv shell first. This will create a new shell that activates the pipenv virtualenv. Just remember to exit before you us the shell for other things.

Troubleshooting

Delete the build folder

Very often when a build fails, some files are left in the build/ folder which confuses subsequent builds. Try to delete the build/ folder and build again.

Clear Zephyr toolchain capability cache

Sometimes when changing dependency versions, the cache can cause build errors. Deleting it doesn't do any damage, it just increases the build time on the next build.

Delete this folder: