Jump to content
  • 0

nRF8001 DevKit usage with FPGA and Embedded Linux


ailee

Question

QFN.jpg

I would like to develop an application with Nordic's nRF8001 DevKit. The master emulator of this kit is an USB Dongle and it is originally meant for PC connection. My final goal for the project is to run it on an FPGA (possibly through Embedded Linux). Regarding this goal, I have some questions.

1) Is the master emulator (USB Dongle) compatible with Linux? Are there any open-source drivers or from Nordic?

1a) If there is a driver for Linux, can I use it with Embedded Linux or do I have to make some modifications to it?

1b) If there isn't a driver for Linux, can I write my own Embedded Linux driver (no prior experience on drivers)? Are there any similar/reference drivers?

2) Is it possible to use the nRF8001 chip, not the USB Dongle, with FPGA as a master, possibly through serial interface (SPI/UART)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I don't think any of us here at Digilent have used this particular kit so we won't be able to offer a lot of help. It looks like there might be some sort of driver for it, as per this thread on the Nordic website. If there is a Linux driver, mostly you have to make sure that it's compatible with the version of Linux that you embed onto your SoC FPGA (presumably some sort of Zynq based board).

If there's not a driver, it's technically possible to write a driver...but that's beyond the scope of this Forum. I'd recommend checking out this comment on one of our threads.

And as the first thread I linked to mentioned, yes you would be able to interface directly between an FPGA and the chip.

Thanks,
JColvin 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ailee,

Adding to JColvin response, I found drivers provided by Adafruit here but im unsure how usefull this would be for petalinux. Here is a thread about how to make your own driver for petalinux. Here is the user guide in reference to arduino HW that might help. The features state that its a simple serial interface (ACI) supporting a range of different external application microcontrollers. Here is a another link that has some answers to you specific question.

cheers,

Jon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...