Add support for Arduino IDE to allow compiling nRF51822 firmware.

1. nRF51822 deveopment board, here we will use RBL nRF51822 as an example.
2. Arduino IDE version 1.5.8 (currently tested version).
3. PC with one of the following OS:
   • Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) / 10.10 (Yosemite) (currently tested version). <- Read Note 2
   • Windows 7 and 8.x (currently tested version).
   • Linux (currently tested on Ubuntu 14.04).

Note 1: If you have changed the USB interface firmware (MK20 chip) for some reasons, follow the instructions inside the MK20 folder to restore it in order to use this add-on for Arduino IDE.

Note 2: For Mac OSX 10.10 (Yosemite), Apple changed the security checking so it will think our MK20 USB dongle firmware is not securer, and it will mount it as read only, thus, you cannot drag the bootloader firmware to it. This will be fixed as soon as possible.

A workaround using Terminal: sudo mount -u -w -o sync /Volumes/MBED ; cp -X bootloader.hex /Volumes/MBED/

Thanks to @okano for this and you can use his droplet to do drag and drop without using the Terminal: https://developer.mbed.org/users/okano/notebook/mbed-on-yosemite/?c=14179

1. Get Arduino IDE version 1.5.8 from Arduino website and install it to your PC

   http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

2. Get or clone this repository and put the files to appropriate folder.

• in your Arduino IDE folder, inside hardware/arduino, you should see

  • avr
  • RBL_nRF51822
  • sam

• replace the file in hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf

Get this driver and install it if you are using Windows, so that you can use the USB CDC (Virtual COM Port).

https://mbed.org/media/downloads/drivers/mbedWinSerial_16466.exe

Note that you do not need any driver for OSX and Linux platforms.

In the "bootloader" folder, there is a firmware for the RBL nRF51822 board, it allows you to load firmware using Arduino IDE.

To load the bootloader, connect the board to your PC using a micro USB cable, it will prompt a drive, drag the bootloader firmware to the drive.

Note that for OSX 10.10 (Yosemite), you need to do this by using Terminal (will be fixed as soon as possible): sudo mount -u -w -o sync /Volumes/MBED ; cp -X bootloader.hex /Volumes/MBED/

Or refer to this: https://developer.mbed.org/users/okano/notebook/mbed-on-yosemite/?c=14179

The RBL nRF51822 board supports loading firmware using USB MSD (Mass Storage Device) method by default. However, to have better user experience as traditional coding, compiling and uploading firmware style using the Arduino IDE, we created a bootloader that makes use USB CDC method to upload firmware.

The board is similar to Ardino Leonardo upload style, when you press "upload" in the Arduino, it will open the USB virtual serial port using 1200bps, the USB chip on the RBL nRF51822 board will reset the nRF51822 chip and it will enter the bootloader, the Arduino IDE will repoen the serial port at 115200bps and the bootloader will wait commands and data from your the Arduino IDE, and upgrade its application area in the flash.

1. Select board and serial port

Select the RBL nRF51822 board in the menu of Arduino IDE and serial port.

Menu > Tools > Board > RBL nRF51822

2. Blink

To test the board, we suggest you to load the Blink example to see if it works.

Menu > Examples > 01.Basics > Blink

3. BLE Examples

There are some BLE examples you can try.

Menu > Examples > BLE_API

For BLE_HRM, you can use Nordic nRFToolBox App to play. For BLEController, SimpleChat and SimpleControls, you can use RBL BLE Controller App to play.

1. Serial Port

   As Arduino does not have flow control in serial port implementation, the Serial port (Pin 0 and 1) is limited to 9600bps since the BLE stack require flow control in order to support higher speed. If you are not going to use BLE, you can use higher speed.

2. Central Role

   The add-on uses SoftDevice S110, it does not support BLE Central role.