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Boernsman edited this page Aug 7, 2024 · 1 revision

Board Farm Tutorial 2 (Work in Progress)

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In this tutorial, you’ll explore how you can set up your board farm using Raspberry Pis as Agents and Nordic boards as the device under test. In the first tutorial, multiple test devices were connected to a single runner. This time, each test device gets an agent node. This tutorial shows the upsides of this approach and addresses the challenges that come with it.

Two different variants of the Nordic NRF chip are used to simulate a very real use case where a new revision of a product has been developed, and the firmware needs to be tested on both.

Topics covered:

  • Ansible: To commission the Raspberry Pis
  • GitHub Actions: To automate the build and test process.
  • Self-hosted GitHub runners: Use Raspberry Pis to flash and test.
  • GitHub CLI: To check GitHub runners
  • Nordic Tools: To compile firmware, find and flash boards
  • Bluetooth testing:
  • PyTest: Use Python for system tests

Prerequisites

  • A Linux or macOS-based host machine
  • Nodric nRF5340 DK Development Boards
  • Nodric nRF5240 DK Development Boards
  • Two Raspberry Pis >= 3
  • Basic shell experience
  • Basic software development experience

Getting Started with Farming

STEP 1: Gather your Hardware

To set up your NRF52 board farm, you’ll need the following hardware components:

  • Nordic Development Boards:
  • 2 Raspberry Pis: Including power supply and micro SD card
  • Cables: Sufficient USB cables to connect the Arduino boards.

Connect each development board's USB port to its own dedicated Raspberry Pi. Prepare the Raspberry Pi power supply, but don't yet power on the Pi.

STEP 2: Create a Repository

Fork the board_farm_tutorial_2 repository and clone it to your host machine:

gh repo fork bitcrushtesting/board_farm_tutorial_2
gh repo clone board_farm_tutorial_2
cd board_farm_tutorial_2

How to install GitHub CLI: GitHub

Execute the start_tutorial.sh shell script. It will purge the files you will create yourself and do some checks on your operating system.

STEP 3: Prepare the Agent Nodes

An agent node is a server that executes on behalf of a control node. In this case, GitHub is the control node, and the Raspberry Pis are the agent nodes, each hosting a GitHub runner.

1.0 Flash the operating system

Get the Raspberry Pi Imager application from raspberrypi.com Install and start the application.

Flash the SD-Card with Raspberry Pi OS (other) -> Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)

  1. Edit settings
    • Set hostname: 'agent-node-'
    • Enable SSH
  2. Configure wireless LAN

Replace <NUM> with the iteration number, e.g., 1 & 2.

Eject the SD card and insert it into the Raspberry Pi.

1.1 Ansible Inventory

./scripts/ TODO

1.2 Get GitHub runner token

./scripts/TODO

1.3 Install Dependencies

ansible TODO

STEP 4: Create the Workflow

Define the workflow name:

---
name: NRF52 CI

Define the workflow trigger:

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

Define the GitHub-hosted runner:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

Build Job

The steps for this job:

  • Get the source code
  • Install Python
  • Install dependencies
  • Install compiler
  • Install Nordic SDK
  • Build the Heart Rate example
  • Upload the binary

Download the source code:

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

Install Python 3.11:

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'

This installs a tool to download, unpack, and build:

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y make wget tar

The SDK requires a specific compiler version. These steps install GCC:

      - name: Download and install gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2018-q2-update
        run: |
          wget -q https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu-rm/7-2018q2/gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2018-q2-update-linux.tar.bz2
          tar -xjf gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2018-q2-update-linux.tar.bz2
          sudo mv gcc-arm-none-eabi-7-2018-q2-update /usr/local/

Download and unpack the Nordic SDK:

      - name: Download Nordic SDK
        run: |
          wget -q https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF5_SDK/nRF5_SDK_v17.x.x/nRF5_SDK_17.0.2_d674dde.zip
          unzip nRF5_SDK_17.0.2_d674dde.zip -d $GITHUB_WORKSPACE

Build the Heart Rate example that comes with the Nordic SDK:

      - name: Build Heart Rate Example
        run: |
          cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/nRF5_SDK_17.0.2_d674dde/examples/ble_peripheral/ble_app_hrs/pca10040/s132/armgcc
          make OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/_build

Upload the firmware binary:

      - name: Upload build artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: ble_app_hrs_pca10040_s132
          path: ${{ github.workspace }}/_build/nrf52832_xxaa.hex
          if-no-files-found: error

STEP 5: Develop Automated Test Scripts

bleech is a Bluetooth Python library

PyTest is a Python test tool

STEP 6: Extend the Workflow

Test Job

  test:
    runs-on: self-hosted
    needs: build

The test needs to be executed for each board. Similar to the build job, a strategy is defined:

    strategy:
      matrix:
        board:

The steps for this job:

  1. Get the pre-built binary
  2. Get the source code
  3. Flash the board
  4. Run the test script

STEP 7: Monitor and Maintain Your Board Farm

Arduino CI

What's next?

Start the next tutorial: Board Farm Tutorial 3

Happy farming!

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