.NET nanoFramework BME680 Library Debugging Part 1

I was intending to use a RAK1906 WisBlock Environment Sensor/BME680 for my nanoFramework RAK11200 Azure IoT Hub HTTP basic project, but the test application kept failing.

RAK1120+RAK5005+RAK106 Test setup

My test setup was a RAKwireless RAK11200 WisBlock WiFi Module, RAK5005 WisBlock Base Board and a RAK1906 WisBlock Environmental Sensor. I used the RAK1906 Sensor because it has nanoFramework.IoTDevice library support.

Visual Studio 2022 Output Window Output window when application failed

When I connected to the device with Tera Term it confirmed that the device was in a “kernel panic” loop.

nanoFramework Kernel Panic loop captured with Tera Term

Before I could debug the BME680 sample I had to get the Bmxx80 & Bmxx80.sample projects to compile (update NuGet packages and remove NerdBank.GitVersioning references).

BMXX80 Solution from nanoFramework.IoT.Device

I then used the Visual Studio 2022 Debugger to “single step” into the library code

/// <summary>
/// Sets the power mode to the given mode
/// </summary>
/// <param name="powerMode">The <see cref="Bme680PowerMode"/> to set.</param>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">Thrown when the power mode does not match a defined mode in <see cref="Bme680PowerMode"/>.</exception>
[Property("PowerMode")]
public void SetPowerMode(Bme680PowerMode powerMode)
{
    //if (!powerMode.Equals(Bme680PowerMode.Forced) &&
    //    !powerMode.Equals(Bme680PowerMode.Sleep))
    //{
    //   throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException();
    //}

    var status = Read8BitsFromRegister((byte)Bme680Register.CTRL_MEAS);
    status = (byte)((status & (byte)~Bme680Mask.PWR_MODE) | (byte)powerMode);

    SpanByte command = new[]
    {
        (byte)Bme680Register.CTRL_MEAS, status
    };
    _i2cDevice.Write(command);
}

The first problem was the two powerMode.Equals statements used to validate the powerMode parameter around line 287 in Bme680.cs so I commented them out.

Exception when getting the “GasResistance” value

On start-up references to readResult.GasResistance.Ohms would regularly fail, so I commented out everywhere it was used.

Exception when getting the “Barometric Pressure” value

Then references to readResult.Pressure.Hectopascals would randomly fail, so I commented out everywhere it was used.

public static void RunSample()
{
    Debug.WriteLine("Hello BME680!");

    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    Configuration.SetPinFunction(Gpio.IO04, DeviceFunction.I2C1_DATA);
    Configuration.SetPinFunction(Gpio.IO05, DeviceFunction.I2C1_CLOCK);

    // The I2C bus ID on the MCU.
    const int busId = 1;
    // set this to the current sea level pressure in the area for correct altitude readings
    Pressure defaultSeaLevelPressure = WeatherHelper.MeanSeaLevel;

    I2cConnectionSettings i2cSettings = new(busId, Bme680.DefaultI2cAddress);
    I2cDevice i2cDevice = I2cDevice.Create(i2cSettings);

    using Bme680 bme680 = new Bme680(i2cDevice, Temperature.FromDegreesCelsius(20.0));

    while (true)
    {
        // reset will change settings back to default
        bme680.Reset();

        // 10 consecutive measurement with default settings
        for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            // Perform a synchronous measurement
            var readResult = bme680.Read();

            // Print out the measured data
            //Debug.WriteLine($"Gas resistance: {readResult.GasResistance.Ohms}Ohm");
            Debug.WriteLine($"Temperature: {readResult.Temperature.DegreesCelsius}\u00B0C");
            //Debug.WriteLine($"Pressure: {readResult.Pressure.Hectopascals}hPa");
            Debug.WriteLine($"Relative humidity: {readResult.Humidity.Percent}%");

            /* 
            if (!readResult.Temperature.Equals(null) && !readResult.Pressure.Equals(null))
            {
                var altValue = WeatherHelper.CalculateAltitude(readResult.Pressure, defaultSeaLevelPressure, readResult.Temperature);
                Debug.WriteLine($"Altitude: {altValue.Meters}m");
            }

            if (!readResult.Temperature.Equals(null) && !readResult.Humidity.Equals(null))
            {
                // WeatherHelper supports more calculations, such as saturated vapor pressure, actual vapor pressure and absolute humidity.
                Debug.WriteLine($"Heat index: {WeatherHelper.CalculateHeatIndex(readResult.Temperature, readResult. Humidity).DegreesCelsius}\u00B0C");
                Debug.WriteLine($"Dew point: {WeatherHelper.CalculateDewPoint(readResult.Temperature, readResult.Humidity).DegreesCelsius}\u00B0C");
            }
            */

            // when measuring the gas resistance on each cycle it is important to wait a certain interval
            // because a heating plate is activated which will heat up the sensor without sleep, this can
            // falsify all readings coming from the sensor
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
        }
...
}
Visual Studio Debugger output displaying temperature and humidity values

After commenting the out all the .Equal, readResult.GasResistance.Ohms and readResult.Pressure.Hectopascals references the application would run for hours displaying only temperature and relative humidity values.

Next step is figuring out why the readResult.GasResistance.Ohms and readResult.Pressure.Hectopascals are failing.

I have created Github issue for the .Equals crash.

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