🛠 Premier périphérique BLE avec le nRF Connect SDK

The SDK to use

The nRF Connect SDK (NCS) is the official SDK for the nRF52833: the kit's Product Brief states verbatim that the NCS is the development SDK for this SoC, with board support. It integrates Zephyr RTOS, the Bluetooth LE/mesh stack, and the OpenThread port. The target is named nrf52833dk/nrf52833. The old nRF5 SDK (v16.0.0 cited in the 2019 User Guide) is legacy — for a new BLE project, go with the NCS.

Step 1 — Install the NCS

The easiest way: the graphical installer "nRF Connect for Desktop" with its toolchain manager, then west init -m https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf --mr main ncs and west update. The upstream Zephyr path also works on this board (it is "Maintained" upstream); the examples below work in both trees.

Step 2 — The advertising firmware

A minimal connectable advertiser, as documented for the board:

/* beacon.c — NCS 2.x ; sur Zephyr récent BT_LE_ADV_CONN
 * est devenu BT_LE_ADV_CONN_FAST_1 */
#include <zephyr/kernel.h>
#include <zephyr/sys/util.h>
#include <zephyr/bluetooth/bluetooth.h>

static const struct bt_data ad[] = {
        BT_DATA_BYTES(BT_DATA_FLAGS, BT_LE_AD_GENERAL | BT_LE_AD_NO_BREDR),
        BT_DATA(BT_DATA_NAME_COMPLETE, CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME,
                sizeof(CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME) - 1),
};

int main(void)
{
        bt_enable(NULL);
        if (bt_le_adv_start(BT_LE_ADV_CONN, ad, ARRAY_SIZE(ad), NULL, 0)) {
                return 0;
        }
        while (1) {
                k_sleep(K_SECONDS(1));   /* la radio tourne en ISR/threads */
        }
}

In prj.conf: CONFIG_BT=y and CONFIG_BT_DEVICE_NAME="mon-dk". Build and flash via the J-Link OB (cable on J2):

west build -b nrf52833dk/nrf52833 mon-projet && west flash

Step 3 — See the signal on your phone

Install nRF Connect for Mobile (Nordic, Android/iOS): scan → mon-dk appears → connect. For a complete scenario with GATT service + notifications, the peripheral_uart sample (Nordic UART Service) is the next step; upstream Zephyr Bluetooth samples compile as-is on nrf52833dk.

Radio options that open doors

The nRF52833 is not a generic BLE chip — Product Spec v1.7 documents:

• 4 LE data rates: 2 Mbps, 1 Mbps, 500 kbps, and 125 kbps (Long Range, sensitivity −103 dBm);
• Direction Finding AoA/AoD (BLE 5.1+ radiogoniometry);
• multiprotocol: the same radio also supports Bluetooth mesh, IEEE 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee), and proprietary 2.4 GHz;
• transmit power −20 to +8 dBm in 4 dB steps — on the board side, the kit's PCB antenna is there; for conducted measurements, see the RF connector tutorial.

Pitfalls

• The J-Link OB virtual COM port (SoC pins P0.05-P0.08) is used for logs: your terminal must assert DTR, otherwise there is no output.
• Do not confuse this with old nRF5 SDK + SoftDevice S140 samples: in NCS/Zephyr, the BLE controller is integrated into the build; there is no SoftDevice to merge.
• A sample built for pca10056 does not map the buttons/LEDs of the PCA10100: stick to the correct target.