Quill nRF52840 Mesh

Overview

The FoBE Quill nRF52840 Mesh is a development kit featuring the nRF52840 SoC and an integrated SX1262 LoRa® transceiver.

For more details see the FoBE Quill nRF52840 Mesh [1] documentation page.

Hardware

The FoBE Quill nRF52840 Mesh is a compact and versatile development platform for IoT solutions. It combines Nordic’s high-end multiprotocol SoC, the nRF52840, with Semtech’s ultra-low-power sub-GHz radio transceiver, the SX1262 (packaged using SiP technology). Designed for IoT applications, it offers a comprehensive wireless connectivity solution, supporting protocols such as Bluetooth 5, Thread, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, and LoRa®.

This development board is feature-rich, including a battery charger, dedicated power path management, an ultra-low quiescent current DC-DC converter, a 1.14-inch color IPS display, user-programmable LEDs and buttons, an MFP expansion connector, a reversible USB-C connector, and header sockets for easy expansion.

Supported Features

The quill_nrf52840_mesh board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board: Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2: Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo: Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

`quill_nrf52840_mesh/nrf52840` target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	`arm,cortex-m4f`
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	`nordic,nrf-saadc`
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	`nordic,nrf-uicr`
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	`nordic,nrf-egu`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	`nordic,nrf-acl`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	`nordic,nrf-mwu`
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	`nordic,nrf-pdm`
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	`nordic,nrf-clock`
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	`nordic,nrf52-hfxo`
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	`nordic,nrf-comp`
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	`nordic,nrf-timer`
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	`nordic,nrf-ecb`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	`nordic,nrf-ccm`
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	`arm,cryptocell-310`
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	`arm,armv7m-itm`
Display	on-board	Sitronix ST7789V display controller1	`sitronix,st7789v`
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	`nordic,nrf52-flash-controller`
Flash controller	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	`nordic,nrf-qspi`
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	`nordic,nrf-gpiote`
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	`nordic,nrf-gpio`
	on-board	GPIO pins exposed on the FoBE Quill connector1	`fobe,quill-header`
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)1 1	`nordic,nrf-twim`
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	`nordic,nrf-i2s`
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	`nordic,nrf-ieee802154`
IIO	on-board	Description for a voltage divider, with optional ability to measure resistance of the upper leg1	`voltage-divider`
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	`gpio-keys`
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	`arm,v7m-nvic`
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	`gpio-leds`
LED	on-board	Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1	`pwm-leds`
LoRa	on-board	Semtech SX1262 LoRa Modem1	`semtech,sx1262`
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	`nordic,nrf-ficr`
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	`nordic,nrf-ppi`
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	`soc-nv-flash`
MTD	on-chip	Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1	`fixed-partitions`
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	`nordic,nrf-radio`
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	`nordic,nrf-nfct`
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	`nordic,nrf-pinctrl`
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	`nordic,nrf-power`
Power domain	on-board	Simple GPIO controlled power domain2	`power-domain-gpio`
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM1 3	`nordic,nrf-pwm`
PWM	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	`nordic,nrf-sw-pwm`
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	`nordic,nrf5x-regulator`
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	`nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv`
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	`nordic,nrf-gpregret`
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	`nordic,nrf-rng`
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	`nordic,nrf-rtc`
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	`nordic,nrf-temp`
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	`nordic,nrf-qdec`
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)1 1	`nordic,nrf-uarte`
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)2 2	`nordic,nrf-spim`
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	`mmio-sram`
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	`arm,armv7m-systick`
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	`nordic,nrf-usbd`
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	`nordic,nrf-wdt`

Connections and IOs

The FoBE Quill nRF52840 Mesh [1] Documentation has detailed information about board connections.

Programming and Debugging

The quill_nrf52840_mesh board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.

	flash	debug	debugserver	attach	rtt
blackmagicprobe	✅	✅		✅
jlink	✅	✅ (default)	✅	✅	✅
nrfjprog	✅
nrfutil	✅ (default)
openocd	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
pyocd	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
uf2	✅

The Quill nRF52840 Mesh ships with the FoBE nRF52 Bootloader [2] which supports flashing using UF2 [3]. Doing so allows easy flashing of new images, but does not support debugging the device. For debugging please use External Debugger.

UF2 Flashing

To enter the bootloader, connect the USB port of the Quill nRF52840 Mesh to your host, and double tap the reset button. A mass storage device named FOBEBOOT should appear on the host. Using the command line, or your file manager copy the zephyr/zephyr.uf2 file from your build to the base of the FOBEBOOT mass storage device. The board will automatically reset and launch the newly flashed application.

External Debugger

In order to support debugging the device, instead of using the bootloader, you can use an External Debug Probe. To flash and debug Zephyr applications you need to connect an SWD debugger to the SWD pins on the board.

For Segger J-Link debug probes, follow the instructions in the J-Link External Debug Probe page to install and configure all the necessary software.

Building & Flashing

Simple build and flash

Build and flash applications as usual (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/hello_world

The usual flash target will work with the quill_nrf52840_mesh board configuration. Here is an example for the Hello World application.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/hello_world
west flash

Flashing with External Debugger

Setup and connect a supported debug probe (JLink, instructions at J-Link External Debug Probe or BlackMagic Probe). Then build and flash applications as usual.

Here is an example for the Hello World application.

First, run your favorite terminal program to listen for output.

$ minicom -D <tty_device> -b 115200

Replace <tty_device> with the port where the board can be found. For example, under Linux, /dev/ttyACM0.

Then build and flash the application. Just add CONFIG_BOOT_DELAY=5000 to the configuration, so that USB CDC ACM is initialized before any text is printed:

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/hello_world -- -DCONFIG_BOOT_DELAY=5000
west flash

Debugging

Refer to the J-Link External Debug Probe page to learn about debugging boards with a Segger IC.

Debugging using a BlackMagic Probe is also supported.

Here is an example for building and debugging the Hello World application.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/hello_world
west debug

Testing the LEDs

There is a sample that allows to test that LEDs on the board are working properly with Zephyr:

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/basic/blinky
west flash

You can build and flash the examples to make sure Zephyr is running correctly on your board.

Testing shell over USB

There is a sample that allows to test shell interface over USB CDC ACM interface with Zephyr:

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b quill_nrf52840_mesh samples/subsys/shell/shell_module
west flash