Compatible devices

Hardware devices

The following chart summarizes the various hardware devices supported by WHAD by running custom firmware:

Device	BLE	Dot15d4	ESB	PHY	Unifying
Makerdiary nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle	X	X	X	X	X
Nordic nRF52840 Dongle	X	X	X	X	X
SeeedStudio LoRa-e5-Mini				X
STM32WL55 Nucleo board				X
Espressif ESP32-WROOM	X

Virtual devices

The following chart summarizes the various devices that are supported by WHAD through an adaptation layer:

Device	BLE	Dot15d4	ESB	PHY	Unifying
Bluetooth HCI adapter	X
APIMote		X
Bastille RFStorm			X	X	X
ATMEL RZUSBSTICK		X
Yard Stick One				X
Ubertooth One	X

Makerdiary nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle

The nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle is a nRF52-based development kit in the form of an USB stick. It is based on Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 SoC that is fully compatible with WHAD.

Where to buy

The Makerdiary’s nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle is sold by Amazon, SeeedStudio, Tindie and Makerdiary (see their official purchase page). It costs around $22 USD.

Installing Butterfly firmware on an nRF52840 MDK dongle (UF2 Bootloader)

Follow this procedure to install a WHAD-compatible firmware on this device:

Download the latest version of Butterfly for nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle (UF2 file)
Plug your nRF52840 MDK USB dongle into your computer
Press the tactile switch during 2 seconds and release, a red LED must blink
Access with a file explorer the new mass storage device and copy the firmware update file into it

Installing Butterfly firmware on an nRF52840 MDK dongle (nrfutil)

Follow this procedure to install a WHAD-compatible firmware on this device:

Download the latest version of Butterfly built for Nordic nRF52840 dongle (zip archive)
Download and install Nordic nrfutil on your computer
Plug your Nordic nRF52840 dongle in your computer and press the RESET button for 2 seconds
Make sure a red LED blinks before continuing with next steps. If not retry step 4.
Execute the following command to upload the firmware into the dongle: `` nrfutil dfu usb-serial -pkg butterfly-fwupgrade.zip -p SERIAL_PORT -b 115200`` (replace SERIAL_PORT with your device serial port)

Nordic nRF52840 Dongle

Nordic nRF52840 dongle is pretty similar to Makerdiary’s nR52840 MDK dongle, and costs around $10 USD.

Where to buy

Nordic nRF52840 dongle can be purchased on various resellers websites as listed on Nordic nRF52840 website.

Installing Butterfly firmware on a Nordic nRF52840 Dongle

Follow this procedure to install a WHAD-compatible firmware on this device:

Download the latest version of Butterfly built for Nordic nRF52840 dongle (zip archive)
Download and install Nordic nrfutil on your computer
Plug your Nordic nRF52840 dongle in your computer and press the RESET button for 2 seconds
Make sure a red LED blinks before continuing with next steps. If not retry step 4.
Execute the following command to upload the firmware into the dongle: `` nrfutil dfu usb-serial -pkg butterfly-fwupgrade.zip -p SERIAL_PORT -b 115200`` (replace SERIAL_PORT with your device serial port)

SeeedStudio LoRa-e5-Mini

SeeedStudio LoRa-e5-Mini dongle is produced by SeeedStudio and its cost is really attractive. This dongle is based on SeeedStudio’s Wio-e5 module that relies on an STM32WLE5 system-on-chip.

Where to buy

SeeedStudio LoRa-e5-Mini are available for around $22 USD on SeeedStudio website.

Installing a WHAD-compatible firmware

Attention

This section will be completed pretty soon, firmware is available in our STM32WL dedicated repository

STM32WL55 Nucleo board

This board is a development board produced and sold by ST Microelectronics based on a STM32WL55 system-on-chip.

Where to buy

Directly on ST Microelectronics online store or its affiliates, for around $41 USD.

Installing a WHAD-compatible firmware

Attention

You must have the STM32 Cube Programmer installed on your machine to flash this firmware.

Download the latest version of our WHAD-compatible firmware from the [corresponding repository](https://github.com/whad-team/stm32wlxx-firmware/releases/latest) named nucleo_wl55.hex
Launch STM32 Cube Programmer, connect the Nucleo STM32WL55 board to your computer and click Connect
Go to the programming/upload tab, select the nucleo_wl55.hex file previously downloaded and upload it to the board

Espressif ESP32-WROOM

ESP32-WROOM is a development board designed by Espressif that includes a 240 Mhz capable dual-core CPU and WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy capabilities. We developed a compatible firmware but it’s still experimental. It’s kinda working but needs sone adjustments to be really stable, so expect some disconnections.

Where to buy

ESP32-WROOM are widely available, sold on Amazon or AliExpress for around $10 USD.

Install a WHAD-compatible firmware

Warning

We are currently reworking the source code of the ESP32 NodeMCU to make it use our C/C++ library and the latest version of our WHAD protocol. It will be updated here as soon as possible.