User's Guide
Table Of Contents
- Contents
- Revision history
- Introduction
- Kit content
- Getting started
- Firmware
- Firmware update
- Hardware description
- Regulatory notices
- Glossary
- DK (Development Kit)
- GPIO
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- MCUboot
- Near Field Communication (NFC)
- Personal Unblocking Key (PUK)
- Software Development Kit (SDK)
- SEGGER Embedded Studio (SES)
- Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
- System in Package (SiP)
- System on Chip (SoC)
- User Equipment (UE)
- Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC)
- Universal Serial Bus (USB)
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- Legal notices
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Firmware
The firmware of Nordic Thingy:91 has been developed using the nRF Connect SDK. It is open source, and
can be modified according to specific needs.
The asset tracker application firmware, which is pre-loaded in the Nordic Thingy:91, enables the device
to use the environment sensors as described in Environment sensors on page 33, and provides an
option of tracking the device using GPS. The data, along with information about the device, is transmitted
to Nordic Semiconductor's cloud solution, nRF Cloud, where it can be visualized. For more information on
the asset tracker application, see nRF9160 Asset Tracker.
4.1 Getting the firmware
Firmware on the Nordic Thingy:91 can be updated after obtaining the corresponding firmware images.
The different ways to obtain the firmware images are:
• Download pre-compiled firmware images
• Compile the source code
4.1.1 Download pre-compiled firmware images
You can update the firmware on Nordic Thingy:91 by direct download of the compiled versions of
firmware images.
To obtain pre-compiled firmware images, perform the following steps:
1. Navigate to Firmware for the Thingy:91 under the Downloads tab on the Nordic Thingy:91 product
page.
2. Download the latest Nordic Thingy:91 firmware package.
3. Unzip the downloaded firmware package zip file.
4. Check the CONTENTS.txt file in the extracted folder for the location and names of the different
firmware images.
4.1.2 Compile the source code
Another way to update the firmware on a Nordic Thingy:91 is by using the firmware images obtained by
compiling the code in an nRF Connect SDK environment.
Nordic Thingy:91 ships with the nRF9160 Asset Tracker application which runs on the nRF9160 SiP and the
USB-UART bridge sample which runs on the nRF52840 SoC.
Follow nRF Connect SDK Getting Started guide to set up your system to be able to compile a compatible
firmware image. There are two compile targets of interest for Nordic Thingy:91 in nRF Connect SDK,
namely:
• nrf9160_pca20035ns
• nrf52840_pca20035
The compile target nrf9160_pca20035ns should be used when compiling the application code for
the nRF9160 SiP and the compile target nrf52840_pca20035 should be used when compiling the
application code for the onboard nRF52840 SoC.
To compile the source code, perform the following steps:
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