Can the XIAO nRF52840 do BLE Mesh?

[11111energy]

@IsaacM

I bought a few of these boards planning on using them with the nRF SDK, not realizing that they were incompatible due to the pins requred for J-link programming not being exposed. They could still be useful if I can program them to form a BLE mesh using Arduino, but I don’t see any example programs and Google yields nothing useful.

It is possible to program nRF5 boards to form a BLE mesh network using the Arduino IDE. Here are the general steps you can follow:

1. Install the Arduino IDE: If you have not already done so, download and install the Arduino IDE from the official Arduino website.
2. Install the nRF5 Board Support Package: In order to program the nRF5 boards with the Arduino IDE, you will need to install the appropriate board support package (BSP). You can find instructions for installing the BSP in the official Arduino nRF5 Core documentation.
3. Set up the BLE Mesh library: The BLE Mesh library provides a set of APIs for creating and managing mesh networks. You can find instructions for installing and using the library in the official Arduino BLE Mesh library documentation.
4. Write your mesh application: Once you have installed the necessary software, you can write your application code. You can find example programs in the official Arduino BLE Mesh library documentation.

Note that since the nRF5 boards you have do not expose the pins required for J-Link programming, you will need to use a different method for uploading your program to the board. One option is to use a bootloader, such as the one provided by the Adafruit nRF52 Bootloader. Another option is to use a SWD (Serial Wire Debug) programmer, such as the Segger J-Link or the ST-LINK/V2.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.