XIAO BLE (Sense)
Overview
The Seeed XIAO BLE (Sense) is a tiny (21 mm x 17.5 mm) Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 ARM Cortex-M4F development board with onboard LEDs, USB port, QSPI flash, battery charger, and range of I/O broken out into 14 pins.
Hardware
Nordic nRF52840 Cortex-M4F processor at 64MHz
2MB QSPI Flash
RGB LED
USB Type-C Connector, nRF52840 acting as USB device
Battery charger BQ25101
Reset button
Bluetooth antenna
LSM6DS3TR-C 6D IMU (3D accelerometer and 3D gyroscope) (XIAO BLE Sense only)
PDM microphone (XIAO BLE Sense only)
Supported Features
The xiao_ble 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.
xiao_ble/nrf52840 target
Type |
Location |
Description |
Compatible |
|---|---|---|---|
CPU |
on-chip |
ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1 |
|
ADC |
on-chip |
Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1 |
|
ARM architecture |
on-chip |
Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6 |
||
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1 |
||
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1 |
||
Audio |
on-chip |
Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1 |
|
Clock control |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF clock control node1 |
|
Comparator |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1 |
|
Counter |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF timer node5 |
|
Cryptographic accelerator |
on-chip |
Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1 |
||
on-chip |
ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101 |
||
Debug |
on-chip |
ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1 |
|
Flash controller |
on-chip |
Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1 |
|
on-chip |
Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1 |
||
GPIO & Headers |
on-chip |
NRF5 GPIOTE1 |
|
on-chip |
NRF5 GPIO2 |
||
on-board |
GPIO pins exposed on Seeeduino Xiao (and compatible devices) headers1 |
||
I2C |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TWI (TWI master)1 |
||
I2S |
on-chip |
Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1 |
|
IEEE 802.15.4 |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1 |
|
Interrupt controller |
on-chip |
ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1 |
|
LED |
on-board |
Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1 |
|
on-board |
Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1 |
||
Miscellaneous |
on-chip |
Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1 |
||
MTD |
on-chip |
Flash node1 |
|
on-chip |
Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1 |
||
on-board |
QSPI NOR flash supporting the JEDEC CFI interface1 |
||
Networking |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1 |
||
Pin control |
on-chip |
The nRF pin controller is a singleton node responsible for controlling pin function selection and pin properties1 |
|
Power management |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF power control node1 |
|
PWM |
on-chip |
||
on-chip |
nRFx S/W PWM1 |
||
Regulator |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1 |
||
Retained memory |
on-chip |
Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2 |
|
RNG |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1 |
|
RTC |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3 |
|
Sensors |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TEMP node1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1 |
||
Serial controller |
on-chip |
||
SPI |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)3 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family SPI (SPI master)1 |
||
SRAM |
on-chip |
Generic on-chip SRAM description1 |
|
Timer |
on-chip |
ARMv7-M System Tick1 |
|
USB |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1 |
|
Watchdog |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1 |
xiao_ble/nrf52840/sense target
Type |
Location |
Description |
Compatible |
|---|---|---|---|
CPU |
on-chip |
ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1 |
|
ADC |
on-chip |
Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1 |
|
ARM architecture |
on-chip |
Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6 |
||
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1 |
||
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1 |
||
Audio |
on-chip |
Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1 |
|
Clock control |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF clock control node1 |
|
Comparator |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1 |
|
Counter |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF timer node5 |
|
Cryptographic accelerator |
on-chip |
Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1 |
||
on-chip |
ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101 |
||
Debug |
on-chip |
ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1 |
|
Flash controller |
on-chip |
Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1 |
|
on-chip |
Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1 |
||
GPIO & Headers |
on-chip |
NRF5 GPIOTE1 |
|
on-chip |
NRF5 GPIO2 |
||
on-board |
GPIO pins exposed on Seeeduino Xiao (and compatible devices) headers1 |
||
I2C |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TWI (TWI master)1 |
||
I2S |
on-chip |
Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1 |
|
IEEE 802.15.4 |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1 |
|
Interrupt controller |
on-chip |
ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1 |
|
LED |
on-board |
Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1 |
|
on-board |
Group of PWM-controlled LEDs1 |
||
Miscellaneous |
on-chip |
Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1 |
||
MTD |
on-chip |
Flash node1 |
|
on-chip |
Fixed partitions of a flash (or other non-volatile storage) memory1 |
||
on-board |
QSPI NOR flash supporting the JEDEC CFI interface1 |
||
Networking |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1 |
||
Pin control |
on-chip |
The nRF pin controller is a singleton node responsible for controlling pin function selection and pin properties1 |
|
Power management |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF power control node1 |
|
PWM |
on-chip |
||
on-chip |
nRFx S/W PWM1 |
||
Regulator |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1 |
||
on-board |
Fixed voltage regulators2 |
||
Retained memory |
on-chip |
Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2 |
|
RNG |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1 |
|
RTC |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3 |
|
Sensors |
on-board |
STMicroelectronics LSM6DSL 6-axis accelerometer and gyrometer accessed through I2C bus1 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family TEMP node1 |
||
on-chip |
Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1 |
||
Serial controller |
on-chip |
||
SPI |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI master with EasyDMA)3 |
|
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family SPI (SPI master)1 |
||
SRAM |
on-chip |
Generic on-chip SRAM description1 |
|
Timer |
on-chip |
ARMv7-M System Tick1 |
|
USB |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1 |
|
Watchdog |
on-chip |
Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1 |
Connections and IOs
The XIAO BLE wiki [1] has detailed information about the board including pinouts [2] and the schematic [3].
LED
LED1 (red) = P0.26
LED2 (green) = P0.30
LED3 (blue) = P0.06
Programming and Debugging
The XIAO BLE ships with the Adafruit nRF52 Bootloader [5] which supports flashing using UF2 [6]. 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 XIAO BLE to your host, and
double tap the reset botton to the left of the USB connector. A mass storage
device named XIAO BLE 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 XIAO BLE mass storage device. The XIAO BLE 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 use Seeeduino XIAO Expansion Board [4] or solder an SWD header onto the back side of 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.
Flashing
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 (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).
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 XIAO BLE
can be found. For example, under Linux, /dev/ttyACM0.
Then build and flash the application in the usual way. Just add
CONFIG_BOOT_DELAY=5000 to the configuration, so that USB CDC ACM is
initialized before any text is printed, as below:
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b xiao_ble samples/hello_world -- -DCONFIG_BOOT_DELAY=5000
west flash
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b xiao_ble/nrf52840/sense 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.
Testing the LEDs in the XIAO BLE (Sense)
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 xiao_ble samples/basic/blinky
west flash
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b xiao_ble/nrf52840/sense samples/basic/blinky
west flash
You can build and flash the examples to make sure Zephyr is running correctly on your board. The LED definitions can be found in boards/seeed/xiao_ble/xiao_ble_common.dtsi.
Testing shell over USB in the XIAO BLE (Sense)
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 xiao_ble samples/subsys/shell/shell_module
west flash
# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b xiao_ble/nrf52840/sense samples/subsys/shell/shell_module
west flash