Release notes for HID Add-on v1.0.0

The HID Add-on v1.0.0 is the first official release of the standalone HID Add-on for the nRF Connect SDK. It delivers the nRF Desktop HID reference design application, host-side HID configurator tools, and dedicated documentation for developing Human Interface Devices on nRF54L Series SoCs.

This release is based on the nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1 release tag and toolchain.

Highlights 

First standalone nRF Connect SDK add-on (ncs-hid) for HID development on top of the nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1.
nRF Desktop application ported from the sdk-nrf repository with a narrowed scope to support only nRF54L Series development kits. The application has Supported maturity level unless explicitly stated otherwise for a given software component.
Experimental end-to-end HID Shorter Connection Intervals (HID SCI) support in nRF Desktop for both peripheral and dongle roles.

Release tag 

The release tag for the HID Add-on manifest repository (ncs-hid) is v1.0.0.

Known issues 

For the list of issues valid for this release, navigate to known issues page on the main branch and select v1.0.0 from the dropdown list.

Changelog 

This is the initial release of the HID Add-on. The following sections list components ported from sdk-nrf v3.4.1 and describe additions and removals in the nRF Desktop application compared with that release.

Ported from sdk-nrf (nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1)

The add-on depends on the full nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1 toolchain and libraries imported through west. The following components were extracted from sdk-nrf at the nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1 release and are maintained in this add-on repository:

nRF Desktop application - The complete nRF Desktop HID reference design at applications/nrf_desktop/, including application source, board configurations, and application documentation.
HID configurator scripts - The HID configurator for nRF Desktop host tool at scripts/hid_configurator/, used to configure nRF Desktop devices and perform firmware updates over the configuration channel.
Documentation - nRF Desktop and HID configurator documentation, plus add-on-specific pages for setup, glossary, known issues, and release notes.

Changes compared to sdk-nrf nRF Desktop (nRF Connect SDK v3.4.1)

The nRF Desktop application in this add-on is derived from sdk-nrf but differs in scope, platform support, and several functional areas.

Added 

HID SCI support in nRF Desktop - Complete end-to-end HID Shorter Connection Intervals (HID SCI) integration for the nRF Desktop application, with additional fixes and integration work. This feature is experimental. Functionality and verification are incomplete and may change in future releases.
- HID Shorter Connection Intervals (SCI) support on the dongle side. The HID forward module module uses APP_EVENT_SUBSCRIBE_FIRST to subscribe to the ble_discovery_complete_event event. The module updates event data to ensure all other modules are notified about the SCI support. The Bluetooth LE connection parameters module module controls the connection parameters by requesting HID SCI modes from the peripheral and scales the minimum connection interval when multiple HID SCI peripherals are connected. Enable the feature with the CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_FORWARD_HID_SCI_ENABLE Kconfig option.
- HID Shorter Connection Intervals (SCI) support on the peripheral side. The HID Service module module enables support for the feature in the underlying HID GATT Service. The Bluetooth LE latency module module handles HID SCI mode change requests and the related connection parameter updates. Enable the feature with the CONFIG_DESKTOP_HIDS_SCI_ENABLE Kconfig option.
Supported build types:
- Peripheral (mouse) - hid_sci and release_hid_sci build types on the nRF54L15 DK (nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp, nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp, and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp), nRF54LM20 DK (nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp and nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20b/cpuapp), and nRF54LS05 DK (nrf54ls05dk/nrf54ls05a/cpuapp and nrf54ls05dk/nrf54ls05b/cpuapp).
- Peripheral (keyboard) - hid_sci_keyboard and release_hid_sci_keyboard build types on the nRF54L15 DK (nrf54l15dk/nrf54l05/cpuapp, nrf54l15dk/nrf54l10/cpuapp, and nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp) and nRF54LS05 DK (nrf54ls05dk/nrf54ls05a/cpuapp and nrf54ls05dk/nrf54ls05b/cpuapp).
- Dongle - hid_sci_dongle and release_hid_sci_dongle build types on the nRF54LM20 DK (nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp and nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20b/cpuapp).
CAF Bluetooth LE SCI connection rate extension - The add-on ships a temporary Common Application Framework (CAF) extension at subsys/caf/ that provides the ble_peer_sci_conn_rate_event required by nRF Desktop HID SCI builds. The extension will be removed once the application event is available in an upcoming nRF Connect SDK release. See CAF extension modules.
nRF54LM20 DK LLPM dongle configurations - New dongle, release_dongle, dongle_4llpmconn, and release_dongle_4llpmconn build types on the nRF54LM20 DK (nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp and nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20b/cpuapp).

Removed 

Board support - The support for the following platforms was removed from nRF Desktop:
- nRF52 Series - nrf52820dongle_nrf52820, nrf52833dk_nrf52820, nrf52833dk_nrf52833, nrf52833dongle_nrf52833, nrf52840dk_nrf52840, nrf52840dongle_nrf52840, nrf52840gmouse_nrf52840, nrf52dmouse_nrf52832, nrf52kbd_nrf52832
- nRF53 Series - nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp
- nRF54H Series - nrf54h20dk_nrf54h20_cpuapp
DVFS module - Removed together with nRF54H20 support (src/modules/dvfs.c together with related Kconfig and documentation).
Partition Manager - All Partition Manager references removed. Memory layout is defined exclusively in devicetree. See nRF Desktop: Memory layout.
Deprecated HID event queue Kconfig options - CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_REPORT_EXPIRATION and CONFIG_DESKTOP_HID_EVENT_QUEUE_SIZE were removed from application configurations.