Testing with a computer

Getting started with nRF5 SDK and Keil (nRF51 & nRF52 Series)

If you have a dongle or a second Nordic Development Kit (DK), you can test your application with the Bluetooth® Low Energy app in nRF Connect for Desktop. nRF Connect for Desktop is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Note: This method requires a dongle or a second Nordic DK with Bluetooth Low Energy support to be connected to your computer.
The following procedure assumes that you have programmed the Bluetooth Low Energy Peripheral UART example from the nRF5 SDK (examples/ble_peripheral/ble_app_uart) on your development kit. Steps for testing other examples are similar. See the testing instructions for each example in the nRF5 SDK documentation for more information.
  1. Download and install nRF Connect for Desktop.
  2. Connect the dongle or the second development kit to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of your computer.
  3. Connect to the kit that runs the ble_app_uart example via CDC-UART.
  4. Open nRF Connect for Desktop and install the Bluetooth Low Energy app.
    See nRF Connect for Desktop for information about how to install and open apps.
  5. Launch the Bluetooth Low Energy app.
  6. Select the serial port for the dongle or the development kit that is connected to your computer (not the kit that runs the Peripheral UART example).
    If the device has not been used with the nRF Connect Bluetooth Low Energy app before, you may be asked to update the J-Link firmware and connectivity firmware for the device. You must have the correct connectivity firmware on the nRF SoC to continue. When the nRF SoC has been programmed with the correct firmware, the nRF Connect Bluetooth Low Energy app proceeds to connect to it over USB. When the connection is established, the device appears in the main view.
  7. Click Start scan.
  8. Find the device and click Connect.
    The default device name for the Peripheral UART example is "Nordic_UART".
  9. Select the Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) RX characteristic value.
  10. Write 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 (the hexadecimal value for the string "0123456789") and click write.
    The data is transmitted over Bluetooth Low Energy from the app to the development kit that runs the Peripheral UART example. The text "0123456789" is displayed in the terminal that is connected to the kit that runs the Peripheral UART example via UART.
  11. Enter any text, for example, Hello, in the terminal.
    In nRF Connect, the UART TX characteristic value changes to the corresponding ASCII value. For example, the value for Hello is 48 65 6C 6C 6F.