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CEC Semester Twenty Five 2024

Developing IoT Applications with Nordic nRF Modules

Fred Eady -
Owner, EDTP Electronics Inc. and Principal Engineer, Ongoing Systems LLC.
April 22,
2024
Install and Configure the nRF Connect SDK
The nRF Connect SDK is a single code base for the entire Nordic Semiconductor product line. Visual Studio Code is Nordic’s new IDE of choice and is complemented by the nRF Connect for VS Code Extension Pack. Today we will install the necessary software components that will allow us to develop Nordic nRF Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) applications. Once the nRF Connect SDK toolchain and code are installed, we will use our new nRF Connect toolset to target an official piece of Nordic DK hardware, which is based on the Nordic nRF52840.
Course Resources
Special Educational Materials
The Benefits of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF960 SiP for Cellular IoT Applications – Blog
Nordic Semiconductor Development Kit for NRF52840 – Blog
Use Multiprotocol Wireless Modules to Simplify IoT Product Design and Certification – Article
April 23,
2024
BLE Application Development Using Raytac Modules
The Nordic engineers have written detailed documentation that will allow us to build a Nordic BLE radio circuit from scratch. If a custom Nordic BLE radio circuit is not a requirement for your project, you can turn to one of many Nordic-approved BLE radio module manufacturers. The Raytac Corporation offers 57 Nordic-based radio modules and 15 Nordic-based evaluation/development boards. Today we will code a GPIO-heavy BLE application designed to run on a Raytac MDBT50Q-DB-40 development board.
Course Resources
Special Educational Materials
The Benefits of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF960 SiP for Cellular IoT Applications – Blog
Nordic Semiconductor Development Kit for NRF52840 – Blog
Use Multiprotocol Wireless Modules to Simplify IoT Product Design and Certification – Article
April 24,
2024
Basic BLE Data Exchange
The sole purpose of Bluetooth Low Energy is to establish an RF communications link that allows the exchange of data between BLE devices. Today we will create a BLE application that demonstrates how to establish a BLE link between our Raytac MDBT50Q-DB-40 development board and an Android phone running Nordic’s nRF Connect Mobile app.
Course Resources
Special Educational Materials
The Benefits of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF960 SiP for Cellular IoT Applications – Blog
Nordic Semiconductor Development Kit for NRF52840 – Blog
Use Multiprotocol Wireless Modules to Simplify IoT Product Design and Certification – Article
April 25,
2024
A Custom BLE Design Using the Raytac MDBT50Q BLE Module
You can’t legally copy the Raytac MDBT50Q-DB-40 development board and sell it as a product, but you can design your own BLE device using the Raytac MDBT50Q BLE module. It’s project time. Today we will design and fabricate a custom BLE device based on the nRF52840, which is encapsulated within a Raytac MDBT50Q module.
Course Resources
Special Educational Materials
The Benefits of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF960 SiP for Cellular IoT Applications – Blog
Nordic Semiconductor Development Kit for NRF52840 – Blog
Use Multiprotocol Wireless Modules to Simplify IoT Product Design and Certification – Article
April 26,
2024
The Full Monty
In the previous lecture we assembled a custom BLE device. Now that we have the BLE device hardware in place, today is the day we complete the project and code a companion Android BLE app for our phone.
Course Resources
Special Educational Materials
The Benefits of Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF960 SiP for Cellular IoT Applications – Blog
Nordic Semiconductor Development Kit for NRF52840 – Blog
Use Multiprotocol Wireless Modules to Simplify IoT Product Design and Certification – Article
Instructor
Fred Eady
Owner, EDTP Electronics Inc. and Principal Engineer, Ongoing Systems LLC.

Fred Eady is the owner of EDTP Electronics Inc. and is the principal engineer at the Georgia branch of Ongoing Systems LLC. EDTP Electronics was established in 1988. In the meantime, Fred has written thousands of magazine articles. He has written for all of the major electronic magazines, including Radio Electronics, Electronics Now, Nuts and Volts, Servo, MicroComputer Journal, and Circuit Cellar. Fred has even done a few short feature articles for Design News. To date, he has authored four books and contributed to a fifth. He currently works as a PIC microcontroller consultant and is a Microchip Authorized Design Partner. Fred’s expertise also extends into the ARM community where he is a hardware and firmware design consultant. His customers include aerospace companies, machine shops, specialty startup companies, medical machine manufacturers, coin-operated device businesses, and various other research and development companies. He has a very close working relationship with Microchip Technology, the manufacturer of PIC microcontrollers, and has taught multiple Ethernet and WiFi classes at Microchip's annual Masters Conference.