Introduction: How to Use the Arduino Science Journal With the Nano Ble 33 Sense

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Introduction To Arduino Nano Ble 33 Sense :

The Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense is an evolution of the traditional Nano, but featuring a lot more powerful processor and onboard sensors.

"The Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense is an evolution of the traditional Arduino Nano, but featuring a lot more powerful processor, the nRF52840 from Nordic Semiconductors, a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M4 CPU running at 64 MHz. This will allow you to make larger programs than with the Arduino Uno (it has 1MB of program memory, 32 times bigger), and with a lot more variables (the RAM is 128 times bigger). The main processor includes other amazing features like Bluetooth® pairing via NFC and ultra-low power consumption modes."

It comes with a series of embedded sensors:

  • 9 axis inertial sensor: what makes this board ideal for wearable devices, The IMU is an LSM9DS1

  • humidity, and temperature sensor: to get highly accurate measurements of the environmental conditions, The relative humidity and temperature sensor is an HTS221

  • barometric sensor: you could make a simple weather station, The barometer sensor is an LPS22HB

  • microphone: to capture and analyze sound in real-time, The digital microphone is an MP34DT05

  • gesture, proximity, light color, and light intensity sensor: estimate the room’s luminosity, but also whether someone is moving close to the board, The Gesture sensor is an APDS9960

The main attraction of using the device is the possibility of running Edge Computing applications (AI) on it using TinyML. and create your machine learning models using TensorFlow™ Lite and upload them to your board using the Arduino IDE.

Just like all Arduino boards, the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense can be programmed with the Arduino IDE. But the nRF52840, which is used inside the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense can also be programmed using ARM Mbed OS, a real-time operating system for low power devices. With Mbed OS you can run multiple threads at the same time. It also has features to reduce the power consumption by entering tickles mode during delay statements

Introduction to Arduino Science Journal:

The Arduino Science Journal is a free, open-source app that allows you to gather data about the world around you by
harnessing the sensors in your smartphone as well as sensors connected to Arduino

It is an open-source app that allows you to gather data

about the world around you by harnessing the sensors in your smartphone as well as sensors connected to Arduino, or other third-party hardware. The Science Journal transforms smartphones, tablets, and Chromebooks into science notebooks that encourage students to explore their world

  • Document science experiments
  • And record Sensor data

Supplies

  • Arduino Nano Ble 33 Sense
  • Arduino IDE
  • Arduino Science Journal app (from play store or app store )
  • Smartphone

Step 1: To Install the Arduino Mbed OS Core to the Board

Step 1. Install the Arduino IDE (Duh!)

Step 2. connect the board to the IDE and then click on Tools menu,--> then Boards and last ---> Boards Manager. and type inArduino Mbed OSand install the latest package.

NOTE: this core is made of many files and the installation process may take a few minutes. the board may also be recognized as Arduino Nano 33 BLE instead of Sense

Step 3. It's time to Open your first sketch --> Open the LED blink example sketch: File > Examples >01. Basics > Blink.

Step 4. Select your board type and port You'll need to select the entry in the Tools > Board menu that corresponds to your Arduino board. Please note that the Sense board is recognized as Arduino Nano 33 BLE. also select the appropriate com port

Step 5. Upload the programNow, simply click the "Upload" button in the environment. Wait a few seconds - you should see the orange LED on the board slowly fade in and out. If the upload is successful, the message "Done uploading." will appear in the status bar.

Troubleshooting if the code doesn't upload to the board :

  • check if all the dependencies are installed like the Mbed os package
  • check the com port of the board by either in device manager (in pc ) and in the tools menu
  • Go to file -->preferences --> and check the box Show Verbose output during code and upload
  • showing verbose output may help in identifying why the upload process is not happening

Step 2: Installing the Arduino Science Journal Firmware

Before using the board with the Arduino Science Journal the Firmware for it must be installed and Before we install the firmware we must also install the libraries for the sensors onboard the device

Installing the Libraries for the sensors :

Step 1. Go to Sketch --> Include Library and --> Library Manager and wait for the window to open

Step 2. Here type in the libraries for all the sensors given below and click on install

  • HTS221 (ArduinoHTS221 library)

  • LPS22HB (ArduinoLPS22HB library)

  • MP34DT05-A you have to install thePDM library as well as theArduino Sound library

  • APDS-9960 (ArduinoAPDS9960 library)

  • LSM9DS1 (Arduino LSM9DS1 library)

  • ArduinoBLE

  • Arduino_LSM6DS3

after installing all the dependencies you may now proceed to install the Firmware for the Science Journal

To install the Firmware :

  1. Go to Sketch > Include Library > Manage Libraries.
  2. Then search for the Arduino Science Journal library and press install.
  3. Now we need to upload the program to the board! Go to File > Examples > Arduino Science Journal > Nano33BLESenseFirmware.

  4. Now we need to make sure that the correct board and port are chosen in the IDE. If your board is not connected to your computer, do that now. Then, in the IDE, go to Tools > Boards: and find the microcontroller in the list.

  5. Then we need to find the correct port. Go to Tools > Port: to find your port. It normally has a name with the board name inside brackets.

  6. Now you should be able to press the Uploadbutton to upload your code to the board.

NOTE: It may take some time to upload the code to the board as Mbed os is relatively new to the Arduino platform and has to compile both Arduino and Mbed os dependencies.

After the Ide has done installing it is now time to open the app and then connect the board

Step 3: Connecting the Board to the Arduino Journal App

  • After installing the Arduino Science Journal app from the play/app store open the app and follow the on-screen instructions
  • After opening the app click on the + button on the bottom left
  • On this Page Make Sure to Rename the Workspace
  • You will start to see the sensors but these are from the sensors built into the phone to use the Nano Ble 33 Sense sensors you will need to click on the settings option and chose the board from the available Boards list
  • Make sure to turn on Bluetooth and give the app location access
  • After adding the board uncheck the sensors from the Internal(Phone) sensors list and check the ones under the Ble sense list
  • After selecting the sensors return back and Check the Sensor Data

Step 4: What to Do With the App Now ?

  • The Arduino Journal App can be used to get started with the Arduino platform for beginners
  • It can also be useful to test out the Onboard Sensors and to calibrate them later for specific projects
  • This can act as a method to test out the functionality of the Bluetooth Low Energy functionality of the board and act as a "Blinky"! sketch
  • It can be used to record the sensor data for further analysis of the data.

Step 5: Conclusion

The Arduino Nano Ble is a very powerful board and has a ton of onboard sensors to pick from Because it is relatively new there isn't a lot of support/ tutorials/documentation for it online I will post further projects and documentation on it soon.

Arduino Nano Ble 33 Sense

Getting Started

Arduino Science Journal