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Karl Söderby
Nano 33 BLE Python® Guide
Discover how to access the features on the Nano 33 BLE using Python® scripts.
nano-33-ble
MicroPython
OpenMV
board

The Nano 33 BLE

The Nano 33 BLE board can be programmed using the popular Python® programming language. More specifically, it supports OpenMV's fork of MicroPython, where MicroPython is an implementation of the Python® language, designed to run on microcontrollers. In this article, you will find a lot of sample scripts that will work directly with your Nano 33 BLE, such as general GPIO control, reading data from the IMU module and testing Bluetooth® Low Energy connection.

  • If you want to read more about Arduino & Python®, you can visit the Python® with Arduino article. Here you will find a lot of useful examples, such as how to use delays, interrupts, reading pins and more general functions.

If you are looking for information related to the similar Nano 33 BLE Sense board, you can refer to the Nano 33 BLE Sense Python® Guide.

Hardware & Software Needed

This guide does not cover the installation of OpenMV and MicroPython on your board. Please refer to Getting started with OpenMV and Nano 33 BLE for a detailed guide.

API

Below you will find a lot of useful examples that can be loaded to your Nano 33 BLE board. Many of these examples were extracted from the OpenMV repository, where you can find many useful examples for other boards as well.

In this article, you will only find examples for the Nano 33 BLE board. For more information on how to use delays, read and write to pins, please refer to the Python® with Arduino main article.

Pin Control

The pinout for the Nano 33 BLE and the NRF52840 microcontroller varies greatly. For example, if we are to use D2 according to the Arduino pinout, we would actually need to use pin 43.

# Defining "D2" on the Nano 33 BLE
p0 = Pin(43, Pin.OUT)

In the MicroPython port of the Nano 33 BLE board, the pinout is the same as the Nordic NRF52840 (the microcontroller). You will find a GPIO Map below this section that explains how to address the different pins.

Pin Map

Before you start using the board's pins, it might be a good idea to check out the table below to understand the relationship between Arduino's pinout and the NRF52840's pinout.

Arduino nRF52840
TX 35
RX 42
D2 43
D3 44
D4 47
D5 45
D6 46
D7 23
D8 21
D9 27
D10 34
D11 33
D12 40
D13 13
D14/A0 4
D15/A1 5
D16/A2 30
D17/A3 29
D18/A4 31
D19/A5 2
D20/A6 28
D21/A7 3

Analog Pins

To read the analog pins on the Nano BLE , we can choose from the following pins:

  • A0 - 4
  • A1 - 5
  • A2 - 30
  • A3 - 29
  • A4 - 31
  • A5 - 2
  • A6 - 28
  • A7 - 3

To define them, we need to import the machine module, and define the pin as follows:

import machine

adc_pin = machine.Pin(29)
adc = machine.ADC(adc_pin)

To read the analog pin, simply use:

reading = adc.read_u16() #16-bit resolution (0-65535)

The below script will read the A3 pin on the board and print the value in the terminal.

import machine
import time

adc_pin = machine.Pin(29) # A3
adc = machine.ADC(adc_pin)

while True:
    reading = adc.read_u16()     
    print("ADC: ",reading)
    time.sleep_ms(500)

LED Control

There are 3 different LEDs that can be accessed on the Nano BLE: RGB, the built-in LED and the power LED.

They can be accessed by importing the LED module, where the RGB and built-in LED can be accessed.

from board import LED

led_red = LED(1) # red LED
led_green = LED(2) # green LED
led_blue = LED(3) # blue LED
led_builtin = LED(4) # classic built-in LED (also accessible through pin 13)

To access the power LED we need to import the Pin module.

from machine import Pin

led_pwr = Pin(41, Pin.OUT)

RGB

Blink all RGB lights every 0.25 seconds.

from board import LED
import time 

led_red = LED(1)
led_green = LED(2)
led_blue = LED(3)

while (True):
   
    # Turn on LEDs
    led_red.on()
    led_green.on()
    led_blue.on()

    # Wait 0.25 seconds
    time.sleep_ms(250)
    
    # Turn off LEDs
    led_red.off()
    led_green.off()
    led_blue.off()

    # Wait 0.25 seconds
    time.sleep_ms(250)

Built-in LED

The classic blink example! Blink the built-in LED every 0.25 seconds.

from board import LED
import time 

led_builtin = LED(4)

while (True):
   
    # Turn on LED
    led_builtin.on()

    # Wait 0.25 seconds
    time.sleep_ms(250)
    
    # Turn off LED
    led_builtin.off()

    # Wait 0.25 seconds
    time.sleep_ms(250)

IMU (LSM9DS1)

Access the accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope data from the LSM9DS1 IMU module.

import time
import lsm9ds1
from machine import Pin, I2C

bus = I2C(1, scl=Pin(15), sda=Pin(14))
lsm = lsm9ds1.LSM9DS1(bus)

while (True):
    #for g,a in lsm.iter_accel_gyro(): print(g,a)    # using fifo
    print('Accelerometer: x:{:>8.3f} y:{:>8.3f} z:{:>8.3f}'.format(*lsm.read_accel()))
    print('Magnetometer:  x:{:>8.3f} y:{:>8.3f} z:{:>8.3f}'.format(*lsm.read_magnet()))
    print('Gyroscope:     x:{:>8.3f} y:{:>8.3f} z:{:>8.3f}'.format(*lsm.read_gyro()))
    print("")
    time.sleep_ms(500)

Bluetooth® Low Energy

This example allows us to connect to our board via our phone, and control the built-in LED. We recommend using the nRF Connect applications.

After loading the script below, your board should be listed as "Nano 33 BLE" in the list of available devices. You need to pair in order to control the built-in LED.

# Use nRF Connect from App store, connect to the Nano and write 1/0 to control the LED.

import time
from board import LED
from ubluepy import Service, Characteristic, UUID, Peripheral, constants

def event_handler(id, handle, data):
    global periph
    global service
    if id == constants.EVT_GAP_CONNECTED:
        pass
    elif id == constants.EVT_GAP_DISCONNECTED:
        # restart advertisement
        periph.advertise(device_name="Nano 33 BLE", services=[service])
    elif id == constants.EVT_GATTS_WRITE:
        LED(1).on() if int(data[0]) else LED(1).off()

# start off with LED(1) off
LED(1).off()

notif_enabled = False
uuid_service = UUID("0x1523")
uuid_led     = UUID("0x1525")

service = Service(uuid_service)
char_led = Characteristic(uuid_led, props=Characteristic.PROP_WRITE)
service.addCharacteristic(char_led)

periph = Peripheral()
periph.addService(service)
periph.setConnectionHandler(event_handler)
periph.advertise(device_name="Nano 33 BLE", services=[service])

while (True):
    time.sleep_ms(500)

Summary

In this article we have gone through a selection of scripts that will help you control your Nano BLE board, via the OpenMV IDE. Feel free to check out our Python® with Arduino boards article, where you can find guides to other boards, useful links to learn Python® and more.