nRF70 BM Driver README

Setup Instructions

This section provides instructions on how to set up and use the nRF70 BM driver with west for nRF boards or git submodule for customer boards.

Using west for nRF Boards

For applications integrating the nRF70 Series BM driver it is recommended to use west and the nRF Connect SDK Toolchain, for building and programming, when testing and evaluating the BM driver using official Nordic development boards.

1. Toolchain and environment setup:

   Install the nRF Command Line tools (for programming and debugging applications on Nordic development boards) downloading them from https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-tools/nrf-command-line-tools.

   Follow the instructions on the official nRF Connect SDK documentation on how to install the required toolchain. https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/installation/install_ncs.html

   When using the command line and nRF Util method, west and all the required tools will be installed. Alternatively, west can be installed as described in the following step.

2. Install West:

   Follow the instructions on the official Zephyr Project documentation to install west: https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/guides/west/install.html

3. Clone the Repository:

   Clone the main repository using west:

   west init -m https://github.com/nrfconnect/nrf70-bm
   cd nrf70-bm
   west update

4. Build the Project:

   Use west to build the project for your specific board and type i.e., CONFIG_NRF700X_BOARD_TYPE_DK (default) or CONFIG_NRF700X_BOARD_TYPE_EK

   west build -b your_board_name -- -D<BOARD_TYPE>=y

5. Flash the Board:

   Flash the firmware onto your nRF board:

   west flash

Using git submodule for third-party boards

1. Clone the Repository:

   Clone the main repository and its submodules:

   git clone https://github.com/nrfconnect/nrf70-bm --recurse-submodules

   If you have already cloned the repository without submodules, you can initialize and update the submodules with:

   git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Build and flashing instructions depend on the third-party board and the build system used. Please use board type as CONFIG_NRF700X_BOARD_TYPE_CUSTOM and also add the TX power ceiling header file for the custom board at nrf70_bm_lib/include, see nrf70_bm_lib/include/nrf70_tx_pwr_ceil_dk.h for reference.

Source directory Structure

The source directory structure shall look like this:

.. code-block:: none

nrf70_bm_lib/         # nRF70 BM driver library
sdk_nrfxlib/          # nRF Connect SDK nrfxlib
  nrf_wifi/           # nRF70 Wi-Fi OS agnostic driver
samples/              # Sample applications
  radio_test_bm/      # Radio test sample application
  scan_bm/            # Scan sample application
nrf70_zephyr_shim/    # Zephyr shim for nRF70, reference for third-party boards

Porting guide

The nRF70 Series BM driver is designed to be portable across different platforms. The nrf70_zephyr_shim directory contains a reference implementation for Zephyr. This reference implementation can be used as a guide to port the library to other platforms.

Please refer to nrf70_bm_lib/docs for more information on the BM driver and the porting guide.

Documentation

The documentation for the nRF70 BM driver is available in the nrf70_bm_lib/docs directory. To build the documentation in a Linux environment, follow the below steps:

Note: Currently, only Linux platforms are supported.

1. Install python requirements:

   Install the required python packages using pip:

   pip install -r nrf70_bm_lib/docs/requirements.txt

2. ** Install doxygen:**

   Install doxygen using apt package manager (or any other package manager based on your OS):

   sudo apt install doxygen

3. Build the Documentation:

   Build the documentation using the following command:

   ./build_docs.sh

   The generated HTML files will be available in nrf70_bm_lib/docs/build/html.

   Open the index.html file in a browser to view the documentation.

Example code

The repository includes two sample applications for testing and evaluation of the nRF70 Bare Metal library:

1. BM radio test sample to perform basic RF testing of the nRF70 Series device, as well as Factory Information Configuration Registers (FICR) programming.

2. BM scan sample to test Wi-Fi SSID scanning with the nRF70 Series devices.

Both samples can be found under the samples/ directory. The samples can be built using west, as explained above.