5. Introduction

5.1. Scope

SmartSnippets™ Toolbox is provided with the Development Kit of Dialog’s Bluetooth chipset. It is targeting the main activities of programming and optimizing code for best power performance. It enables:

  1. programming the internal OTP with the actual application compiled image
  2. accurate examination of the power profile and how it is affected by application software
  3. downloading a SW image to SRAM over UART and execute

The SmartSnippets™ Toolbox makes maximum use of the available features on the motherboard and thus allowing developers of Bluetooth smart applications to work without expensive and bulky equipment. The tool will provide full visibility on the chip activity, which is crucial in developing ultra low power wireless applications.

5.2. Framework

5.2.1. Gui

From version 4.7 SmartSnippets™ Toolbox introduces ribbon menu to access its tools and functions. It allows to group tools, functions and even layouts for faster and accurate access.

../_images/main_ribbon_menu.png

Figure 1 SmartSnippets™ Toolbox ribbon menu

SmartSnippets™ Toolbox is practically a framework that enables multiple tools be hosted under the same environment.

Note

The tools provided by the framework depend on chip version selection. Different toolset is available per chip family.

The following image shows the toolset of the DA14580/581/583 chip family:

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Figure 2 Tools available for DA14580/581/583 chip family

The following image shows the toolset of the DA1468x chip family:

../_images/tools_available_680.png

Figure 3 Tools available for DA1468x chip family

The following image shows the toolset of the DA14585/6 chip family:

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Figure 4 Tools available for DA14585/6 chip family

The following image shows the toolset of the DA1469x chip family:

../_images/tools_available_69x.png

Figure 5 Tools available for DA1469x chip family

5.2.2. Main buttons

Icon Description
mhome Application home button
mchan Opens the ‘Settings and Virtual COM port selection’ screen. The user can change the selected settings and / or the selected virtual COM port pair
msave Saves the settings information to the ‘project.sms’ file. Apart from the settings name, description and the selected virtual COM port pair, it also saves information entered by the user at every SmartSnippets™ Toolbox tool. The settings will also be automatically saved when the user exits the application
mhelp Application Help and support options
mrefr Refreshes the available com ports. Can be found under the Application home button
mjtag Available when user is connected over JTAG. Closes the JTAG connection. User has to press the Connect button to reestablish the connection.

5.2.3. Group Layout

This group contains buttons that help user to organize the application layout. User can load default layout, create new or delete a previously created layout. There are also some predefined layouts which cannot be deleted. The predefined layouts differ per family and depend on the set of tools that are available for the selected device family.

Icon Description
llate Latest user specified layout is the layout that has been saved for each board family. Latest layout is saved when user changes family or when user exits Toolbox
ldefa Load default layout which is Power Monitor
lcrea Create new custom layout will all currently opened tabs
lload Load custom layout
ldele Delete custom layout

5.2.4. Group Tools

A brief description of available tools is shown here. Please refer to the left side menu for full tool presentation. Not all tools are available for all chips. Moving the mouse over the button will provide a small description of each SmartSnippets™ Toolbox tool. Each tool is accessible through a dedicated button. By clicking on a button, the corresponding window become visible and takes focus.

Icon Description
tboardsetu Manage communication with the chip
tbootertoo Download custom firmware to the chip
tpowerprof Plot the current drawn by the chip’s battery
tsleepmode Analyze power consumption for target application
totpprogra Set of tools to manage the chip’s OTP Memory
tflashprog Download image file to the SPI flash
tromprogra Download image file to EEPROM
tpropheade Burn header or NVDS to EEPROM or SPI flash memory
totaservic Software patching and firmware download over the air
tterminalp UART Terminal, available only when connection is over UART
tdataratem Monitors the overall receive and transmit rate over Bluetooth
trfmasterp RF Master tests
tqspiprog Download image file to the QSPI Flash
tnvparams Update NVPARAMS block on the chip
tpartition Manage QSPI Flash partitions
tlayout Manage QSPI Sections
tlogwindow Log messages from all tools
tbatLife Estimate battery lifetime for the selected device family
tterScrp Terminal Scripting

5.2.5. Group Power Profiler

Power profiler is of the most important Toolbox tools. We have a special group of functions for this tool.

Icon Description
pselectmovetime Selects and moves a Time Marker at the Power Profiler diagram
pmeasuredifinte Measures the difference in time and current between two points in the Power Profiler diagram
paddtimemarkett Adds a Time Marker to the Power Profiler diagram
pexporttocsvfil Exports Power Profiler data to CSV format
pimportfromcsvf Imports data on Power Profiler from CSV file
pclearsecondary Clears the secondary current data and hides it from the chart view
pclearprimarycu Clears the primary current data and hides it from the chart view
psnapshotchartw Takes an image snapshot of the Power Profiler chart window in .png format
pcurrent1charge Shows View (Current 1 / Charge)
pcurrent1curre2 Shows View (Current 1 / Current 2)
pcurrent2charge Shows View (Current 2 / Charge)
pcurrent1oscil Shows View (Current 1 / Oscilloscope)