Release Notes for nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option v2.0.0

Bare Metal v2.0.0 is a major release that expands hardware support, adds maturity to key features, and introduces several new libraries, services, and samples. This release is based on nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0.

Highlights

• Added support for three new SoCs with their dedicated development kits: the nRF54LM20A (nRF54LM20 DK), nRF54LS05B (nRF54LS05 DK), and nRF54LV10A (nRF54LV10 DK). For more details regarding the maturity of features on those SoCs, refer to Software maturity levels.

• Updated the SoftDevice to v10.0.0, a new major version that targets both the existing and newly added devices. See the SoftDevice release notes for details.

• Expanded the Bluetooth® LE Central role support through additional libraries and samples, including the Battery Service (BAS) Client and Nordic UART Service (NUS) Client services, and the Bluetooth: Nordic UART Service Central sample.

• Core libraries for Bluetooth LE Central role applications, Bluetooth: Scan library and Bluetooth: Database Discovery library, are now Supported.

• Improved the quality and maintainability through fixes and hardening across Bluetooth LE libraries, drivers, DFU, NFC integration, and documentation, including clearer SoftDevice documentation per SoC variant where applicable.

Supported hardware

Bare Metal v2.0.0 provides a set of samples for the following development kits of the nRF54L Series:

• nRF54L15 DK - with build targets supporting three SoCs: nRF54L15, nRF54L10, and nRF54L05.

• nRF54LM20 DK, supporting the nRF54LM20A SoC.

• nRF54LS05 DK, supporting the nRF54LS05B SoC.

• nRF54LV10 DK, supporting the nRF54LV10A SoC.

SoftDevice variants

This release includes two versions of the SoftDevice, the Nordic Bluetooth LE protocol stack used on the nRF54L DKs. Both SoftDevices have been updated to v10.0.0 in this release:

• S115 - Supports the peripheral role only. Recommended for memory-constrained peripheral-only applications.

• S145 - Supports both peripheral and central roles, and allows a higher number of simultaneous connections. Recommended for applications that act as a central, or that need to handle more than one connection.

Separate documentation and API references are now provided for each SoC-specific variant of the S115 and S145 SoftDevices (nRF54L15, nRF54LM20, nRF54LS05, and nRF54LV10). See SoftDevice release notes and migration documents and API documentation for details.

Release tag

The release tag for the Bare Metal manifest repository is v2.0.0. Check the west.yml file for the corresponding tags in the project repositories.

To use this release, install it using nRF Connect for VS Code extension by following the instructions in Installing the nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option.

Alternatively, check out the tag in the manifest repository, run west config manifest.path nrf-bm, and then west update.

This release of Bare Metal is based on nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0.

IDE and tool support

nRF Connect for Visual Studio Code is the recommended IDE for Bare Metal v2.0.0. See the Installation section for more information about supported operating systems and toolchain.

Changelog

The following sections provide detailed lists of changes by component.

SDK installation

• Updated the steps to install prerequisites in the Installing the nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal option page. Installation of the recommended version of SEGGER J-Link is now handled by nRF Connect for Desktop.

S115 SoftDevice

• Updated the SoftDevice to v10.0.0. See the SoftDevice release notes for details.

S145 SoftDevice

• Updated the SoftDevice to v10.0.0. See the SoftDevice release notes for details.

SoftDevice Handler

• Added:

  • The CONFIG_NRF_SDH_LOG_SD_INFO Kconfig option to log SoftDevice information like version and firmware ID when enabling the SoftDevice.

  • The CONFIG_NRF_SDH_BLE_LOG_SD_RAM_USAGE Kconfig option to log SoftDevice RAM usage and the application RAM minimum address when enabling Bluetooth LE in the SoftDevice.

  • The nrf_sdh_ble_sd_ram_usage_get() function for returning the number of bytes used or required for SoftDevice RAM.

• Updated:

  • The NRF_SDH_STATE_EVT_OBSERVER and NRF_SDH_STACK_EVT_OBSERVER macros to not declare the handler prototype.

  • The log error message when there is insufficient RAM for the SoftDevice when enabling Bluetooth LE in the SoftDevice.

Boards

• Added support for the following boards: See Software maturity levels for details.

  • PCA10184 (nRF54LM20 DK)

  • PCA10188 (nRF54LV10 DK)

  • PCA10214 (nRF54LS05 DK)

• Updated:

  • The SRAM sizes for the bm_nrf54l15dk board target to not overlap with VPR context.

  • The board memory layout for all boards to align with the new SoftDevice.

  • The LPUARTE pins in the board-config.h file for bm_nrf54l15dk to avoid conflicts for LEDs, buttons, and other peripherals where possible.

  • The board RAM memory layout for all boards to use a single node for SoftDevice RAM, combining the previously separate static and dynamic nodes.

• Disabled all Peripheral Resource Sharing (PRS) boxes for the bm_nrf54l15dk board variants.

Build system

• Updated the Kconfig dependencies, including those for drivers, libraries, and Bluetooth LE services.

DFU

• Added:

  • Experimental support for the nRF54LV10A, nRF54LM20A, and nRF54LS05B SoCs.

  • The CONFIG_BM_MCUMGR_GRP_IMG_BUFFER_SZ Kconfig option to set the size of the data buffer.

  • The CONFIG_BM_MCUMGR_GRP_IMG_NVM_WRITE_BLOCKS_MAX Kconfig option to set the maximum number of non-volatile memory wear units written to NVM at once.

• Updated:

  • The maturity status of DFU for the nRF54L15, nRF54L10, and nRF54L05 SoCs from Experimental to Supported.

  • Image upload NVM writes to be handled in synchronization with SD.

  • The support for setting up the DFU Device Bluetooth name remotely. This new implementation consumes less RAM and RRAM than the previous one. The new solution is enabled by the CONFIG_BM_FLAT_SETTINGS_BLUETOOTH_NAME Kconfig option. It employs the newly added inter-application RAM clipboard storage.

  • Firmware loader to not clear the retained DFU Device Bluetooth name after loading it from retained memory. This allows the advertising name to persist after updating SoftDevice and/or firmware loader, or if the application image validation fails and the device reboots into firmware loader.

• Removed:

  • The CONFIG_NCS_BM_SETTINGS_BLUETOOTH_NAME Kconfig option and zephyr-rtos settings subsystem handlers for setting up the DFU Device Bluetooth name remotely.

Interrupts

• Added the BM_IRQ_DIRECT_CONNECT and BM_IRQ_SET_PRIORITY macros that should be used when connecting IRQ and setting IRQ priority.

Drivers

• Low Power UART with EasyDMA (LPUARTE) driver:

  • Updated to use the Bare Metal GPIOTE library.

  • Removed the gpiote_inst and gpiote_inst_num members from the bm_lpuarte_config structure.

Subsystems

Storage

• Storage Library:

  • Added:

    • The capability to compile more than one backend. An instance can be configured to use a specific backend by using the bm_storage_config.api field.

    • The bm_storage_info.wear_unit field to represent the NVM wear granularity.

    • The bm_storage_nvm_info_get() function to retrieve NVM information, such as the size of the program unit.

    • The bm_storage_config.is_wear_aligned configuration flag to enforce wear unit alignment on operations.

    • The bm_storage_config.is_write_padded configuration flag to automatically pad write operations to the alignment unit.

    • The bm_storage_evt_dispatch() function for event delivery.

  • Updated:

    • The bm_storage_is_busy() function to return false instead of true when called with a NULL pointer or an uninitialized instance.

    • The bm_storage_init() function to return an error when the instance is already initialized.

    • The SoftDevice, RRAM, and native_sim backends to support deinitialization.

    • The SoftDevice, RRAM, and native_sim backends to support the erase operation.

    • The bm_storage_info.erase_value field from uint32_t to uint8_t.

    • The SoftDevice backend to support chunking of write operations.

    • The no_explicit_erase field in bm_storage_info by renaming it to is_erase_before_write to explicitly convey that the memory must be erased before it can be written to.

    • The SoftDevice backend’s bm_storage_info.program_unit from 16 to 4 bytes, reflecting the true minimum programmable unit.

    • The start_addr and end_addr fields in bm_storage_config and bm_storage by replacing them with by addr and size. The API now uses relative addressing (0-based offsets within the partition).

    • The bm_storage_write() and bm_storage_erase() functions to return -ENOMEM when out of memory, instead of -EIO.

    • The bm_storage_read(), bm_storage_write(), and bm_storage_erase() functions to return -EINVAL on alignment errors, instead of -EFAULT.

    • The bm_storage_evt_dispatch_type enum and the bm_storage_evt.dispatch_type field by replacing them with a boolean bm_storage_evt.is_async.

    • All backends to use the new bm_storage_evt_dispatch() function for event delivery. For backends without an internal operation queue (such as RRAM), enabling bm_scheduler() defers synchronous events to the main thread context.

    • The SoftDevice backend to process operations iteratively instead of recursively when the SoftDevice is disabled. Re-entrant calls from event handlers are safely enqueued and processed by the loop.

• bm_rmem library:

  • Added the new inter-application RAM clipboard storage. It is a simple SRAM-based storage mechanism designed to provide data clipboards between applications. It can be enabled by the CONFIG_BM_RMEM Kconfig option.

Filesystem

• Bare Metal Zephyr Memory Storage (BM_ZMS)

  • Added the bm_zms_fs_config.storage_api field to select the storage backend API.

  • Fixed a bug where a read immediately following a write could start searching for data using an invalid address if the write triggered a sector close. A backup read address is now stored before closing a sector to ensure that read operations start from a valid address.

Libraries

• Added the Bare Metal GPIOTE library.

• Bluetooth: Peer Manager library:

  • Added:

    • The CONFIG_BLE_GATT_DB_MAX_CHARS Kconfig option for configuring the number of characteristics in a ble_gatt_db_srv structure. The number of characteristics was previously set using the BLE_GATT_DB_MAX_CHARS definition in the ble_gatt_db.h file.

    • A missing word alignment check of the data parameter to the pm_peer_data_store() function.

  • Updated the params union field of the pm_evt structure to an anonymous union.

  • Fixed:

    • The spelling of the characteristics member of the ble_gatt_db_srv structure.

    • The pm_peer_data_store(), pm_peer_data_remote_db_store(), and pm_peer_data_app_data_store() functions to allow data lengths that are not word aligned.

    • An issue where the pm_peer_delete() function under some circumstances could fail to delete peer data.

  • Removed the CONFIG_MBEDTLS_PSA_STATIC_KEY_SLOT_BUFFER_SIZE Kconfig option. The PSA Crypto core can deduce the key slot buffer size based on the keys enabled in the build, so there is no need to define the size manually.

• Button handling library library:

  • Updated to use the Bare Metal GPIOTE library.

• Bluetooth: Advertising library library:

  • Added:

    • The const keyword to the configuration structure parameter of the ble_adv_init() function to reflect that the function only reads from the configuration and does not modify it.

    • The advertising name to the configuration structure of the ble_adv_init() function.

    • The ble_adv_stop() function to stop advertising.

  • Updated:

    • The CONFIG_BLE_ADV_EXTENDED_ADVERTISING Kconfig option to be disabled by default and dependent on the new CONFIG_SOFTDEVICE_EXTENDED_ADVERTISING Kconfig option.

    • The CONFIG_BLE_ADV_DIRECTED_ADVERTISING Kconfig option to be disabled by default.

  • Fixed:

    • An issue causing fast advertising with allow list to incorrectly send event BLE_ADV_EVT_FAST when it should have sent event BLE_ADV_EVT_FAST_ALLOW_LIST.

    • An issue causing slow advertising with allow list to incorrectly send event BLE_ADV_EVT_SLOW when it should have sent event BLE_ADV_EVT_SLOW_ALLOW_LIST.

    • An issue in the data module where the short name would not be matched in certain cases.

  • Removed:

    • The CONFIG_BLE_ADV_NAME Kconfig option. Instead, the application must set the device name by calling the sd_ble_gap_device_name_set() function.

• Bluetooth: Database Discovery library library:

  • Updated:

    • The maturity status of the library to Supported.

    • The params union field of the ble_db_discovery_evt structure to an anonymous union.

    • The BLE_DB_DISCOVERY_COMPLETE event to pass the service discovery result by-reference instead of by-value. This removes one copy operation for each BLE_DB_DISCOVERY_COMPLETE event and significantly reduces the size of both ble_db_discovery_evt and ble_db_discovery structures.

  • Fixed:

    • An issue where starting a second round of discovery, after either a disconnect or a completed discovery, could result in incorrect internal state. This could eventually lead to insufficient memory for discovering new services.

  • Removed:

    • The ble_db_discovery_user_evt structure after a rework.

• Bluetooth: Scan library:

  • Added the ble_scan_filter_data structure as input to the ble_scan_filter_add() function.

  • Updated:

    • The maturity status of the library to Supported.

    • The functions to use the uint32_t type instead of int when returning nrf_errors.

    • The params union field of the ble_scan_evt structure to an anonymous union.

    • The allow_list_used function by renaming it to ble_scan_is_allow_list_used().

    • The name of the ble_gap_evt_adv_report_t fields in the ble_scan_evt struct to adv_report.

  • Fixed an issue with active scanning where the multifilter match was used. A match would not be triggered unless the data for all types of enabled filters were provided in either the advertising or scan response data. Now, the data can be provided in a mix of the advertising and scan response data.

• Bluetooth LE Connection state library:

  • Deprecated the library. Applications and other libraries and services should keep an internal state of required connections instead.

Bluetooth LE Services

• Added:

  • The Battery Service (BAS) Client service.

  • The ble_cgms_config.initial_comm_interval to the ble_cgms_config structure to set the initial communication interval.

• Updated:

  • The Bluetooth: Heart Rate Service Central (ble_hrs_central) by renaming it to the Heart Rate Service (HRS) Client sample.

  • All services to return errors from the SoftDevice directly.

• Removed the BMS authorization code Kconfig options (CONFIG_BLE_BMS_AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CONFIG_BLE_BMS_USE_AUTHORIZATION_CODE) from the service library, as they are only used by the BMS sample.

• Battery Service (BAS):

  • Updated:

    • The ble_bas_battery_level_update() function to be able to send multiple notifications back to back with the same battery level value. Furthermore, the function will now only update the battery level characteristic value if the value changes.

    • The ble_bas_battery_level_update() function to return NRF_ERROR_INVALID_PARAM if the battery level value is outside of the valid range of 0 to 100.

    • The ble_bas_battery_level_update() function with support for notifying the current battery level instead of providing a new battery level value and then notifying. This is done by setting the battery level parameter of the ble_bas_battery_level_update() to the value of BLE_BAS_BATTERY_LEVEL_LAST.

  • Removed the ble_bas_battery_level_notify function in favor of the ble_bas_battery_level_update() function.

• Heart Rate Service (HRS):

  • Updated:

    • The ble_hrs_heart_rate_measurement_send() function to not consume RR interval data when notifications are disabled in the CCCD and notification of the HRM data would fail.

    • The ble_hrs_heart_rate_measurement_send() function to log the heart rate value on the debug log level. Previously, this value was logged on the info log level, which caused excessive logging when periodically sending heart rate measurements.

• Heart Rate Service (HRS) Client service:

  • Added:

    • The ble_hrs_client_hrm_notif_disable() function to disable Heart Rate Measurement notifications.

    • Validation of the ble_hrs_client_config.evt_handler and ble_hrs_client_config.gatt_queue configuration fields in ble_hrs_client_init().

    • State validation in the ble_hrs_client_hrm_notif_enable() and ble_hrs_client_hrm_notif_disable() functions, returning NRF_ERROR_INVALID_STATE when the connection or CCCD handle has not been assigned.

  • Updated:

    • The ble_hrs_client_evt structure by aligning with other client services.

    • The hrs_db structure by renaming it to ble_hrs_handles.

    • The ble_hrm structure by renaming it to ble_hrs_measurement.

    • The params union field of the ble_hrs_client_evt structure to an anonymous union.

  • Fixed a potential buffer over-read when parsing malformed Heart Rate Measurement notifications.

• Nordic UART Service (NUS):

  • Removed the ble_nus_client_context structure and the link_ctx field from the ble_nus_evt structure. The service now reads the CCCD directly from the SoftDevice instead of caching notification state internally.

• Nordic UART Service (NUS) Client service:

  • Added the Nordic UART Service (NUS) client.

• Human Interface Device Service (HIDS) service:

  • Updated the params union field of the ble_hids_evt structure to an anonymous union.

• Bond Management Service (BMS) service:

  • Updated the security configuration of the ble_bms_config structure to align with other services. Added the BLE_BMS_CONFIG_SEC_MODE_DEFAULT macro to set the default security configuration.

Libraries for NFC

• Added:

  • The NFC libraries for NFC Connection Handover and Bluetooth LE Out-of-Band (OOB) pairing.

  • The workaround to ensure the FRAMEDELAYMAX register is set to the default value when a field is lost. This avoids violating protocol timing, which can lead readers to reject the NFC tag’s response.

• Updated:

  • The maturity status of NFC libraries from Experimental to Supported for the nRF54L05, nRF54L10, and nRF54L15 SoCs. The nRF54LM20A SoC is still in Experimental quality.

  • The NFC subsystem code by migrating it to Bare Metal. It does not reuse code from nRF Connect SDK anymore. The NFC-related Kconfig options provided by Bare Metal have the BM_NFC_ prefix. The following list shows the mapping from nRF Connect SDK Kconfig options to Bare Metal Kconfig options:

    • CONFIG_NFCT_IRQ_PRIORITY –> CONFIG_BM_NFCT_IRQ_PRIORITY

    • CONFIG_NFC_PLATFORM_LOG_LEVEL* –> CONFIG_BM_NFC_PLATFORM_LOG_LEVEL*

    • CONFIG_NFC_NDEF* –> CONFIG_BM_NFC_NDEF*

    • CONFIG_NFC_T4T_NDEF_FILE –> CONFIG_BM_NFC_T4T_NDEF_FILE

    Use #include <bm/nfc/...> to include NFC-related header files provided by Bare Metal instead of #include <nfc/...>.

Utils

• Bluetooth LE Date Time characteristic type:

  • Moved the ble_date_time.h header file from include/bm/bluetooth/services/ to include/bm/bluetooth/.

• Bluetooth LE Common:

  • Renamed the common.h header file to ble_common.h.

  • Moved the ble_common.h header file from include/bm/bluetooth/services/ to include/bm/bluetooth/.

  • Removed the gap_conn_sec_mode_from_u8 function from the ble_common.h file. Use the BLE_GAP_CONN_SEC_MODE_OPEN and similar macros instead.

  • Updated the return value of the is_notification_enabled() and is_indication_enabled() functions to bool to reflect that it returns a boolean value and not an uint16_t.

Samples

• Updated the prefix for sample Kconfig options from APP to SAMPLE.

• Removed the battery measurement simulation from the following samples:

  • Bluetooth: Continuous Glucose Monitoring Service

  • Bluetooth: Human Interface Device Service Mouse

  • Bluetooth: Human Interface Device Service Keyboard

• Aligned LED and button behavior across samples.

• All samples that are compatible with the new board targets PCA10188 (nRF54LV10 DK), PCA10184 (nRF54LM20 DK), and PCA10214 (nRF54LS05 DK) have been updated to reflect support for these boards.

Bluetooth LE samples

• Added:

  • The Bluetooth: Nordic UART Service Central sample.

  • The Bluetooth: NFC pairing sample.

• Bluetooth: Bond Management Service (BMS) sample:

  • Added sample-specific Kconfig options for the BMS authorization code by moving them from the service library scope and renaming them from CONFIG_BLE_BMS_AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CONFIG_BLE_BMS_USE_AUTHORIZATION_CODE to CONFIG_SAMPLE_BLE_BMS_AUTHORIZATION_CODE and CONFIG_SAMPLE_BLE_BMS_USE_AUTHORIZATION_CODE.

• Bluetooth: Human Interface Device Service Keyboard:

  • Added support for boot mode.

• Bluetooth: Human Interface Device Service Mouse sample:

  • Fixed an issue where the sample did not enter or exit boot mode properly based on the HID events.

• Bluetooth: Heart Rate Service Central sample:

  • Added the Battery Service (BAS) Client service to the sample.

• Bluetooth: Nordic UART Service (NUS) sample:

  • Updated to align with changes to the Low Power UART with EasyDMA (LPUARTE) driver.

• Bluetooth: Power Profiling sample:

  • Updated to use a dedicated variable to hold the service attribute handle instead of incorrectly using the connection handle variable for this during service initialization.

NFC samples

• Included nRF54LM20A as an available SoC for the Bluetooth: NFC pairing, NFC: Text record for Type 4 Tag, and NFC: Text record for Type 2 Tag samples.

• Updated to use CONFIG_BM_NFC_* Kconfig options provided by Bare Metal instead of CONFIG_NFC_* options provided by nRF Connect SDK. Use #include <bm/nfc/...> headers provided by Bare Metal instead of #include <nfc/...> headers from nRF Connect SDK.

Peripheral samples

• Added the PPI - Programmable Peripheral Interconnect sample.

• LPUARTE sample:

  • Updated to align with changes to the Low Power UART with EasyDMA (LPUARTE) driver.

• UARTE sample:

  • Updated the sample to use the logging module instead of console.

DFU samples

• MCUboot: Recovery entry sample:

  • Updated:

    • MCUboot and firmware loader by enabling building of a size-optimized configuration of these components. To enable the size-optimized configuration, set FILE_SUFFIX to size_opt when building the sample.

    • By enabling migration to the new solution for setting up the DFU Device Bluetooth name remotely. See the Running the DFU process page for details.

    • To clear the retained DFU Device Bluetooth name on boot. This was previously done by the firmware loader.

Subsystem samples

• Added the UARTE shell sample.

Documentation

• Added:

  • The Allocation and interrupts page.

  • The Board memory layouts section, which documents RRAM and SRAM partition layouts for supported boards.

• Updated:

  • Sample documentation with clearer, more descriptive user guides, including updated explanations of configuration options, hardware connections, and testing procedures.

  • The SoftDevice release notes and migration documents and API documentation pages to provide separate documentation and API references for each SoC-specific variant of the S115 and S145 SoftDevices (nRF54L15, nRF54LM20, nRF54LS05, and nRF54LV10).