Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 User manual

nRF9160 DK
Getting Started Guide
v1.0
4418_1412 v1.0 / 2020-07-30

Contents
Revision history.................................. iii
1Introduction................................... 4
2Related documentation.............................5
3Minimum requirements............................ 6
4Testing a prebuilt application......................... 7
4.1 Installing the required software ...........................7
4.2 Updating the DK firmware ............................. 7
4.2.1 Downloading the DK firmware ......................... 7
4.2.2 Updating the application firmware ........................8
4.2.3 Updating the modem firmware ......................... 8
4.3 Creating an nRF Connect for Cloud account ......................9
4.4 Updating the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate ................... 10
4.4.1 Downloading the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate ................ 10
4.4.2 Provisioning the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate .................10
4.5 Connecting the DK to nRF Connect for Cloud .................... 11
4.6 Testing the application .............................. 13
4.6.1 Testing the GPS functionality ......................... 13
5Building and testing a sample application.................. 15
5.1 Installing the nRF Connect SDK .......................... 15
5.2 Programming a sample ..............................15
5.3 Testing the cellular connection with the AT Client sample ............... 16
5.4 Building and testing the Asset Tracker ....................... 17
6Developing your own application...................... 18
Glossary ..................................... 19
Acronyms and abbreviations............................21
Legal notices................................... 23
4418_1412 v1.0 ii

Revision history
Date Version Description
July 2020 1.0 First release
4418_1412 v1.0 iii

1Introduction
This guide will help you get started with your nRF9160 DK. Before you start developing your own
application, you should update the firmware (both the application firmware and the modem firmware)
and the certificates of the Development Kit (DK) and conduct some initial tests.
The nRF9160 DK is a hardware development platform used to design and develop application firmware
on the nRF9160 LTE Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1 System in Package (SiP). See nRF9160 DK Hardware for detailed
information about the DK.
The DK is preprogrammed with the nRF9160: Asset Tracker application, which simulates sensor data and
transmits it to Nordic Semiconductor's cloud solution, nRF Connect for Cloud. Both the Asset Tracker
application and nRF Connect for Cloud are constantly being improved. Therefore, you should update the
application and the modem firmware before you start working with the nRF9160 DK.
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2Related documentation
In addition to the information in this document, you may need to consult other documents.
User guides
•nRF9160 DK Hardware
•nRF Connect SDK documentation
•nRF Connect for Desktop
•nRF Connect Programmer
•nRF Connect LTE Link Monitor
Reference information
•nRF9160 Product Specification
•nRF9160 Revision 1 Errata
•nRF9160 Compatibility Matrix
• nRF9160 Modem Firmware Release Notes (included in the latest nRF9160 modem firmware)
•nRF91 AT Commands Reference Guide
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3Minimum requirements
Ensure that you have all the required hardware and that your computer fulfills the software requirements.
Hardware requirements
• nRF9160 DK
• nano-SIM card that supports LTE-M or Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) (the nRF9160 DK
contains an iBasis Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card)
• Micro-USB 2.0 cable
• Personal computer (PC)
Software requirements
One of the following operating systems:
• Windows 8 or Windows 10
• macOS
• Linux
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4Testing a prebuilt application
Before you start developing, program and run a precompiled application on your DK to ensure that the kit
functions as expected and the communication between your computer, the DK, and the cloud works.
If you want to see a demonstration of these first steps, watch the videos on nRF9160 DK Get started.
These videos cover the contents of this chapter.
4.1 Installing the required software
To be able to update the nRF9160 DK firmware and certificates, you must install several apps for nRF
Connect for Desktop.
nRF Connect for Desktop is a cross-platform framework for development applications. It contains apps for
programming firmware, monitoring LTE links, power optimization, and more.
You can download nRF Connect for Desktop from our website.
Note: On macOS and Linux, you must download and install the SEGGER J-Link Software separately.
After installing and starting the main application, you see an overview of available apps. Click the arrow
down button to display additional information about each app.
You must install the following apps:
• Programmer
• LTE Link Monitor
To install the app:
1. Open nRF Connect for Desktop.
2. Find the app in the list of apps and click Install.
Once the app is installed, you can launch it by clicking Open.
For easy access, you can create a desktop shortcut by clicking the arrow down button and selecting Create
shortcut.
If a new version of the app becomes available, an Update button is displayed next to the Open button.
Click this button to install the latest version. To uninstall the app, click the arrow down button and select
Uninstall.
If you plan to build your own application, you must install the nRF Connect SDK in addition. This
installation requires big downloads, which can take some time. Therefore, you might want to start the
installation while you continue with the initial test. See Installing the nRF Connect SDK on page 15 for
instructions.
4.2 Updating the DK firmware
To update the nRF9160 DK firmware, you must program the latest version of the application firmware and
the modem firmware.
4.2.1 Downloading the DK firmware
The nRF9160 DK firmware is available from the Nordic Semiconductor website.
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Testing a prebuilt application
Download the latest nRF9160 DK application and modem firmware from the nRF9160 DK Downloads page
and extract it to a folder of your choice.
The zip file contains the following firmware:
Application firmware
The images_full folder contains full firmware images for different applications. When following
this guide, use the image for the asset tracker application. Depending on where you are located, you
need the image with either LTE-M or NB-IoT support. See iBasis IoT network coverage for information
about which mode is supported where.
Application firmware for Device Firmware Update (DFU)
The images_dfu_bin and images_dfu_hex folders contain firmware images for DFU. When
following this guide, ignore these images.
Modem firmware
The modem firmware is located in the root folder of the zip file. When following this guide, use the
mfwnrf9160*.zip file to update the modem firmware. Do not unzip the file.
4.2.2 Updating the application firmware
After downloading the DK firmware, use nRF Connect Programmer to program the latest application
firmware.
Complete the following steps to update the application firmware:
1. Open nRF Connect for Desktop and launch nRF Connect Programmer.
2. Set the PROG/DEBUG (SW5) switch on the nRF9160 DK to nRF91 so that the application firmware is
programmed to the nRF9160 SiP.
3. Connect the nRF9160 DK to the computer with a USB cable and turn it on.
In the navigation bar, No devices available changes to Select device.
4. Click Select device and select the device from the drop-down list.
You can identify the nRF9160 DK by the fact that it has three COM ports.
The button text changes to the SEGGER ID of the selected device, and the Device Memory Layout
section indicates that the device is connected.
5. If you have not ticked the Auto read memory option under the Device menu and wish to visually see
the memory layout before you program, click Read in the menu. If you have ticked it, the memory
layout will update automatically.
6. Click Add HEX file in the File pane on the right and select Browse.
7. Navigate to the images_full subfolder of the folder where you extracted the
nRF9160 DK firmware and select the nrf9160dk_asset_tracker_ltem_*.hex,
nrf9160dk_asset_tracker_nbiot_*.hex, or
nrf9160dk_asset_tracker_nbiot_legacy_pco_*.hex file.
See iBasis IoT network coverage for information on which mode (LTE-M or NB-IoT) is suitable for your
location. For NB-IoT, two variants of the firmware with different Protocol Configuration Options (PCO)
handling are available. The main NB-IoT variant is suitable in most cases. Only use the legacy PCO
variant if your network does not support ePCO.
8. Click Erase & write in the Device pane to program the device.
If you experience any problems while updating the firmware, restart nRF Connect Programmer by pressing
CTRL+R (CMD+R on Mac).
4.2.3 Updating the modem firmware
The nRF9160 DK contains a multimode modem that supports LTE-M and NB-IoT. After downloading the DK
firmware, use nRF Connect Programmer to update the modem firmware.
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Testing a prebuilt application
Complete the following steps to update the modem firmware:
1. Open nRF Connect for Desktop and launch nRF Connect Programmer.
2. Connect the nRF9160 DK to the computer with a USB cable and turn it on.
In the navigation bar, No devices available changes to Select device.
3. Click Select device and select the device from the drop-down list.
You can identify the nRF9160 DK by the fact that it has three COM ports.
The button text changes to the SEGGER ID of the selected device, and the Device Memory Layout
section indicates that the device is connected.
4. Click Update modem in the Cellular Modem pane on the right and choose the mfwnrf9160*.zip
file from the folder where you extracted the nRF9160 DK firmware.
Note: Make sure to select the zip file. Do not unzip it.
The Modem DFU dialog box appears as shown in the following figure.
5. Click Write in the Modem DFU dialog box to update the firmware.
Do not unplug or turn off the device during this process.
Note: If you have issues updating modem firmware, click Erase all before trying to update the
modem again. In this case, the contents of the flash memory are deleted and the applications
must be reprogrammed.
When the update is complete, you see a success message.
If you experience any problems while updating the firmware, restart nRF Connect Programmer by pressing
CTRL+R (CMD+R on Mac).
4.3 Creating an nRF Connect for Cloud account
You must sign up with nRF Connect for Cloud before you can start using the service.
nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) is Nordic Semiconductor's platform for connecting your IoT
devices to the cloud, viewing and analyzing device message data, prototyping ideas that use Nordic
Semiconductor chips, and more. It even includes a public REST Application Programming Interface (API)
that can be used for building your own IoT solutions.
Complete the following steps to create an nRF Connect for Cloud account:
1. Navigate to nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) and click Create Account.
2. Enter your email address and choose a password. Then click Create Account.
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Testing a prebuilt application
nRF Connect for Cloud will send you a verification email.
3. Check your email for a message sent by [e-mail]. Copy the 6-digit verification
code and paste it into the prompt on the nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) website.
You can now sign in on nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) with your email address and password. After
signing in, you will be directed to the dashboard, which displays the number of gateways and devices that
are connected to your nRF Connect for Cloud account.
4.4 Updating the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate
To establish a connection with nRF Connect for Cloud, you might need to update the security certificate
that is stored in the nRF9160 DK.
The prebuilt nRF9160: Asset Tracker application transmits data to nRF Connect for Cloud for visualization.
Therefore, it requires a valid security certificate.
Note: The following steps are required for nRF9160 DK versions up to v0.9.0. Newer versions of the
nRF9160 DK contain a valid nRF Connect for Cloud certificate, and you can therefore skip the steps
in this section.
4.4.1 Downloading the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate
You can download the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate for your nRF9160 DK from nRF Connect for Cloud.
Complete the following steps to download the certificate:
1. Go to nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) and sign in.
2. Click the menu icon in the top-right corner and select Account.
3. In the Device Certificates section, enter your device ID and ownership code.
Device ID
The device ID is composed of nrf- and the 15-digit International Mobile (Station) Equipment
Identity (IMEI) number that is printed on the label of your nRF9160 DK. For example:
nrf-123456789012345
Ownership code
The ownership code is the PIN or the hardware ID of your DK. You can find it on the label of
your nRF9160 DK. If the label contains a PIN in addition to the IMEI number, enter this PIN.
If it does not contain a PIN, enter the HWID HEX code, with or without colons. For example:
AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF or AABBCCDDEEFF
You need to enter this information several times while setting up your nRF9160 DK. Therefore, it can be
helpful to note it down somewhere on your PC.
Note: The ownership code serves as a password and proves that you own the specific nRF9160
DK. Therefore, you should not share it with anyone.
4. Click Download Certificate and save the *.cert.json file to a folder of your choice.
Note: The certificate contains all information that is needed to connect your nRF9160 DK to nRF
Connect for Cloud. Therefore, you should not share the certificate with anyone.
4.4.2 Provisioning the nRF Connect for Cloud certificate
After retrieving the certificate from nRF Connect for Cloud, you must provision it to your nRF9160 DK.
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Testing a prebuilt application
Note: The application firmware on the nRF9160 DK must support long AT commands up to 3 kB to
provision the certificate. If you updated the application firmware as described, this requirement is
fulfilled.
Complete the following steps to provision the certificate:
1. Open nRF Connect for Desktop and launch nRF Connect LTE Link Monitor.
2. In the Settings pane on the right, deselect the check box for Automatic requests.
3. If you have already inserted the SIM card into your DK, remove it before you continue.
4. Connect the nRF9160 DK to the computer with a USB cable and turn it on.
In the navigation bar, No devices available changes to Select device.
5. Click Terminal in the navigation bar to switch to the terminal view.
6. Enter AT+CFUN=4 in the AT command text field and click Send.
This AT command puts the modem to offline state.
7. Enter AT+CFUN? in the AT command text field and click Send.
This AT command returns the state of the modem.
The command should return +CFUN: 4, which indicates that the modem is in offline state. If it
returns a different value, repeat the previous step.
8. Click Certificate manager in the navigation bar to switch to the certificate manager view.
9. Click Load from JSON and select the *.cert.json file that you downloaded from nRF Connect for
Cloud.
You can also drag and drop the file onto the GUI.
10.Ensure that the Security tag is set to 16842753, which is the security tag for nRF Connect for Cloud
credentials.
11.Click Update certificates.
The log message "Certificate update completed" indicates that the certificate was provisioned
successfully.
If you encounter any errors, switch to the terminal view and check the output of the AT commands that
were sent to the nRF9160 DK modem.
Note: If you had connected your nRF9160 DK to nRF Connect for Cloud before, you must delete
the device there after provisioning the certificate. To do so, open the entry for your device from
the Devices view, click Configure, and select Delete Device. Then, add the nRF9160 DK again as
described in Connecting the DK to nRF Connect for Cloud on page 11.
4.5 Connecting the DK to nRF Connect for Cloud
To be able to transmit data from your nRF9160 DK to nRF Connect for Cloud, you must activate your SIM
card and add the nRF9160 DK to your nRF Connect for Cloud account.
Complete the following steps to connect your nRF9160 DK to nRF Connect for Cloud:
1. Go to nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) and sign in.
2. Click the + icon in the top left corner.
3. Click LTE Device.
4. Activate your iBasis SIM card by entering the 18-digit Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) and the
Personal Unblocking Key (PUK), accepting the terms and the privacy policy, and clicking Activate SIM.
The ICCID and the PUK are printed on the SIM card.
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Testing a prebuilt application
Figure 1: Placement of PUK and SIM ICCID on the SIM card
Note: If you activated your iBasis SIM card before, click Skip this step.
If you are using a SIM card from another provider, make sure to activate it via your network
operator. Then click Skip this step.
After the SIM card is activated, you are redirected to the Add LTE Device screen. Leave the browser
window open and continue with the next step before you enter the information on that screen.
5. Punch out the nano-SIM from the SIM card and plug it into the SIM card holder on the nRF9160 DK.
6. Optional: If you want to test the optional Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality and you have
received an external GPS patch antenna with your nRF9160 DK, attach it to the GPS SWF connector
(P29) to the left of the LTE antenna.
See nRF9160 DK GPS for more information.
7. Connect the nRF9160 DK to the computer with a USB cable and turn it on, or reset the device if it is
already turned on.
8. Wait up to three minutes for the device to find the cellular network and the cloud server.
The LEDs indicate the current state as described in Asset Tracker user interface. When LED3 and LED4
blink simultaneously, the connection to nRF Connect for Cloud has been established. The device is now
provisioned on nRF Connect for Cloud, but it is not yet associated with your account.
9. When both LEDs blink, return to the nRF Connect for Cloud browser window from the earlier step to
associate the device with your account.
10.In the Add LTE Device screen, enter your device ID and ownership code.
Device ID
The device ID is composed of nrf- and the 15-digit IMEI number that is printed on the label of
your nRF9160 DK. For example: nrf-123456789012345
Ownership code
The ownership code is the PIN or the hardware ID of your DK. You can find it on the label of
your nRF9160 DK. If the label contains a PIN in addition to the IMEI number, enter this PIN.
If it does not contain a PIN, enter the HWID HEX code, with or without colons. For example:
AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF or AABBCCDDEEFF
You need to enter this information several times while setting up your nRF9160 DK. Therefore, it can be
helpful to note it down somewhere on your PC.
Note: The ownership code serves as a password and proves that you own the specific nRF9160
DK. Therefore, you should not share it with anyone.
11.Click Add Device.
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Testing a prebuilt application
LED3 stops blinking and LED4 turns on, indicating that the device is now associated with your nRF
Connect for Cloud account.
The nRF9160 DK is now added to your nRF Connect for Cloud account. You can access it by clicking Devices
in the navigation pane on the left.
4.6 Testing the application
After successfully associating your nRF9160 DK with your nRF Connect for Cloud account, you can start
testing it.
The application that is programmed is the nRF9160: Asset Tracker from the nRF Connect SDK.
Complete the following steps to test the application:
1. Turn on or reset your nRF9160 DK and wait until LED3 is off and LED4 is on, indicating that the
connection to nRF Connect for Cloud has been established.
2. Go to nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) and sign in.
3. Click Devices in the navigation pane on the left and open the entry for your device.
4. Toggle Switch 1 on the nRF9160 DK to simulate orientation change.
Observe that the Terminal card in nRF Connect for Cloud displays a FLIP event, and the orientation
change is logged in the Asset Orientation card.
If you experience problems and need to check the log messages, open nRF Connect for Desktop and
launch nRF Connect LTE Link Monitor. After connecting to your DK, you can see the log messages in the
terminal view.
4.6.1 Testing the GPS functionality
If supported by the LTE network, the nRF9160: Asset Tracker retrieves GPS data and transmits it to nRF
Connect for Cloud.
There are several conditions that must be satisfied so that the nRF9160 DK can retrieve GPS data:
• The SIM card that you are using must be able to establish a connection.
You can confirm this by checking whether the status of your nRF9160 DK is displayed correctly in nRF
Connect for Cloud.
• Your network operator must support Power Saving Mode (PSM) or Extended Discontinuous Reception
(eDRX) with the SIM card that you are using.
If you are using an iBasis SIM card, check iBasis eSIM national coverage update on the Nordic DevZone
to see the supported features for different countries and different network operators.
If you are using a different SIM card or if you want to confirm the supported features, check whether
PSM is activated by following the instructions in Testing the cellular connection with the AT Client
sample on page 16.
• To retrieve GPS data, the nRF9160 DK must be outside or close to a window, with good visibility.
Complete the following steps to test the GPS functionality:
1. If you have received an external GPS patch antenna with your nRF9160 DK, attach it to the GPS SWF
connector (P29) to the left of the LTE antenna.
See nRF9160 DK GPS for more information.
2. Turn on or reset your nRF9160 DK and wait until LED3 is off and LED4 is on, indicating that the
connection to nRF Connect for Cloud has been established.
3. Go to nRF Connect for Cloud (nrfcloud.com) and sign in.
4. Click Devices in the navigation pane on the left and open the entry for your device.
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Testing a prebuilt application
5. Press Button 1 on your nRF9160 DK for a minimum of 10 seconds to enable GPS tracking.
Observe that after a while, the GPS data is displayed on the map in the GPS Data card in nRF Connect for
Cloud.
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5Building and testing a sample
application
After testing a prebuilt application, you should build one of the sample applications provided by the nRF
Connect SDK.
The nRF Connect SDK provides several samples for the nRF9160 DK. See Samples and applications for a list
of all available samples.
The following sections guide you through installing the nRF Connect SDK, programming a sample
application, building and testing the basic nRF9160: AT Client sample, and building the nRF9160: Asset
Tracker application from scratch.
5.1 Installing the nRF Connect SDK
The recommended way to install the nRF Connect SDK is through an app in nRF Connect for Desktop.
nRF Connect for Desktop provides different apps to simplify installing the nRF Connect SDK, depending on
the operating system that you are using.
Note: If you prefer to install the nRF Connect SDK manually, see Installing the nRF Connect SDK
manually for instructions.
Complete the following steps to install the nRF Connect SDK using an nRF Connect for Desktop app:
1. Download and install nRF Connect for Desktop.
2. Install and run one of the following apps:
• On Windows or macOS, use the Toolchain manager. This app installs the full sandboxed toolchain
that you need, including SEGGER Embedded Studio (SES) Nordic Edition and the nRF Connect SDK
source code.
• On Linux, use the Getting Started Assistant. This app assists you in setting up the toolchain, the nRF
Connect SDK source code, and SES Nordic Edition.
See nRF Connect for Desktop for information about how to install and open apps.
3. Follow the instructions in the app to install the nRF Connect SDK.
4. Make sure that you have the correct version of the nRF Connect SDK source code. Unless instructed
otherwise, you should work with the last tagged release of the nRF Connect SDK.
• If you used the Toolchain manager app, you installed a specific version and no further action is
required.
• If you used the Getting Started Assistant app, make sure that you checked out the correct version
and ran west update.
If you want to switch to a different tagged release or to the latest version on the master branch, see
Updating the repositories for instructions.
5.2 Programming a sample
Use the Nordic Edition of the SES Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to build and program an nRF
Connect SDK sample. See Building and programming a sample application for detailed instructions.
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Building and testing a sample application
If you prefer to build and program your application from the command line, see Building on the command
line for instructions. You can also use nRF Connect Programmer to program your application.
The following user guides in the nRF Connect SDK documentation explain the concepts that you need to
know to work with the nRF9160 DK in the nRF Connect SDK:
•Working with nRF9160
•Modifying a sample application
•Application Development
When building samples for the nRF9160 DK, you can choose between two different build targets:
•nrf9160dk_nrf9160 for firmware in the secure domain
•nrf9160dk_nrf9160ns for firmware in the non-secure domain
When in doubt, use nrf9160dk_nrf9160ns. All samples in the nRF Connect SDK are configured to
run in the non-secure domain. They automatically include the nRF9160: Secure Partition Manager for the
secure domain.
You can find documentation for all available samples under Samples and applications.
5.3 Testing the cellular connection with the AT Client
sample
A good starting point for experimenting with the nRF9160 DK is to program and test the nRF9160: AT
Client sample. You can also use it to troubleshoot and debug any connection issues.
The AT Client sample enables you to send AT commands to the LTE-M/NB-IoT modem of your nRF9160 DK
to test and monitor the cellular connection.
Complete the following steps to build and test the AT Client sample:
1. Build and program the sample application as described in Building and programming a sample
application.
Use the following information when opening the nRF Connect SDK Project, where NCS_folder is the
folder where you installed the nRF Connect SDK (for example, C:\NCS):
• CMakeLists.txt: NCS_folder\nrf\samples\nrf9160\at_client\CMakeLists.txt
• Board Directory: NCS_folder\zephyr\boards\arm\nrf9160dk_nrf9160
• Board Name: nrf9160dk_nrf9160ns
• Build Directory: accept the default
Note: The AT Client sample is also provided as a prebuilt firmware image. If you do
not want to build the sample yourself but program it to troubleshoot connection
issues, follow the steps in Updating the application firmware on page 8 to program the
nrf9160dk_at_client_*.hex file from the nRF9160 DK application and modem
firmware package that you can download from the nRF9160 DK Downloads page.
2. Test the AT client sample as described in Testing the AT Client sample.
3. Optional: If you are experiencing problems when testing the GPS functionality, check if the network
operator supports PSM or eDRX with the SIM card that you are using.
PSM or eDRX are required to retrieve GPS data.
Complete the following steps to check if PSM is activated:
a) In nRF Connect LTE Link Monitor, deselect the check box for Automatic requests.
b) In the terminal view, enter AT+CFUN=4 in the AT command text field and click Send to put the
modem in offline state.
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Building and testing a sample application
c) Enter AT+CFUN?.
The command should return +CFUN: 4, which indicates that the modem is in offline state. If it
returns a different value, repeat the previous step.
d) Enter one of the following AT commands to set the system mode:
• For LTE-M: AT%XSYSTEMMODE=1,0,1,0
• For NB-IoT: AT%XSYSTEMMODE=0,1,1,0
e) Enter AT+CFUN=0 to set the parameter to non-volatile memory.
f) Power-cycle the nRF9160 DK.
g) In LTE Link Monitor, select the check box for Automatic requests and connect to the device again.
h) Enter AT+CFUN=1 to turn on the modem.
i) Enter AT+CFUN?.
The command should return +CFUN: 1, which indicates that the modem is in normal mode.
j) Enter AT+CEREG=4 to enable receiving Active Time and periodic Tracking Area Update (TAU)
values.
See Network registration status +CEREG for more information.
k) Enter AT+CEREG? to display the received values.
You should see non-empty values at the eighth and ninth position of the returned comma-
separated string.
If the values are received correctly, PSM is activated.
See the nRF91 AT Commands Reference Guide for a list of supported AT commands.
5.4 Building and testing the Asset Tracker
The nRF9160: Asset Tracker is not only provided as prebuilt application, but also as source code in the nRF
Connect SDK.
Complete the following steps to build and test the Asset Tracker application from scratch:
1. Build and program the sample application as described in Building and programming a sample
application.
Use the following information when opening the nRF Connect SDK Project, where NCS_folder is the
folder where you installed the nRF Connect SDK (for example, C:\NCS):
• CMakeLists.txt: NCS_folder\nrf\applications\asset_tracker\CMakeLists.txt
• Board Directory: NCS_folder\zephyr\boards\arm\nrf9160dk_nrf9160
• Board Name: nrf9160dk_nrf9160ns
• Build Directory: accept the default
2. Test the Asset Tracker application as described in Testing the application on page 13.
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6Developing your own application
After testing the provided samples, you are ready to develop your own application with the nRF Connect
SDK.
The following documentation helps you understand how to work with the nRF Connect SDK:
•nRF Connect SDK documentation, especially:
•Getting started
•Working with nRF9160
•Application Development
•Zephyr Application Development
•nRF Connect SDK tutorial on DevZone
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Glossary
Application Programming Interface (API)
A language and message format used by an application program to communicate with an operating
system, application, or other service.
Cat-M1
LTE-M User Equipment (UE) category with a single RX antenna, specified in 3GPP Release 13.
Cat-NB1
Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) User Equipment (UE) category with 200 kHz UE bandwidth
and a single RX antenna, specified in 3GPP Release 13.
Development Kit (DK)
A development platform used for application development.
Device Firmware Update (DFU)
A mechanism for upgrading the firmware of a device.
Extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX)
A method to conserve the battery of an IoT (Internet of Things) device by allowing it to remain
inactive for extended periods.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A satellite-based radio navigation system that provides its users with accurate location and time
information over the globe.
Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID)
A unique serial number of a SIM card.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
A software application that provides facilities for software development.
International Mobile (Station) Equipment Identity (IMEI)
A unique code consisting of 14 digits and a check digit for identifying 3GPP-based mobile devices.
LTE-M
An open standard that is most suitable for medium throughput applications requiring low power,
low latency, and/or mobility, like asset tracking, wearables, medical, POS, and home security
applications. Also known as Cat-M1.
Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT)
A narrowband technology standard with longer range, lower throughput, and better penetration
in, for example, cellars and parking garages compared to LTE-M. NB-IoT is most suitable for static,
low throughput applications like smart metering, smart agriculture, and smart city applications. Also
known as Cat-NB1.
Non-access Stratum (NAS)
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In telecom protocol stacks, the highest stratum of the control plane between the core network and
User Equipment (UE). The layer is used to manage the establishment of communication sessions and
for maintaining communications with the UE as it moves.
nRF Connect for Cloud
Nordic Semiconductor's platform for connecting IoT devices to the cloud, viewing and analyzing
device message data, prototyping ideas that use Nordic Semiconductor chips, and more. It
includes a public REST API that can be used for building IoT solutions. See nRF Connect for Cloud
(nrfcloud.com).
Personal Unblocking Key (PUK)
A digit sequence required in 3GPP mobile phones to unlock a SIM that has disabled itself after an in
correct personal identification number has been entered multiple times.
Power Saving Mode (PSM)
A feature introduced in 3GPP Release 12 to improve battery life of IoT (Internet of Things) devices by
minimizing energy consumption. The device stays dormant during the PSM window.
Protocol Configuration Options (PCO)
An element of Non-access Stratum (NAS) message used for transferring parameters between the UE
and the P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway).
SEGGER Embedded Studio (SES)
A cross-platform IDE for embedded C/C++ programming with support for Nordic Semiconductor
devices, produced by SEGGER Microcontroller.
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
A card used in UE containing data for subscriber identification.
System in Package (SiP)
A number of integrated circuits, often from different technologies, enclosed in a single module that
performs as a system or subsystem.
Tracking Area Update (TAU)
A procedure initiated by the UE when moving to a new tracking area in the LTE (Long-term
Evolution) system.
User Equipment (UE)
Any device used by an end-user to communicate. The UE consists of the Mobile Equipment (ME) and
the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC).
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