nRF5340 Audio configuration and testing with coded PHY (long range)

[Corentin]

Hello,

What configuration changes do I need to apply in project "nrf5340_audio" to have both BLE audio and coded phy used at the same time ?

Kind regards

[Maria Gilje]

Hi Corentin,

Coded PHY is not supported by the LE Audio controller for nRF5340 which is required to use the nRF5340 Audio application. See this point from the intro for the nRF5340 Audio configuration and testing part of the application documentation:

• The application uses the LE Audio controller for nRF5340 as the controller programmed to the network core. This controller is required in all application configurations and testing scenarios.

If you want to test out ISO and Coded PHY, you can use the Zephyr Bluetooth LE Controller, which has experimental support for Coded PHY.

Best regards,

Maria

[Maria Gilje]

Hi,

I want to also let you know that the SoftDevice Controller has experimental support for ISO as well.

Best regards,

Maria

[Corentin]

Hello Maria, 

Thank you for your answers.

As I am new to bluetooth devices developpment, I am still trying to figure out what is the relation between all these specific features (BLE, BLE audio, ISO...). Maybe my initial question was not the right one.

Regarding the final application, I want to be able to make a headphone for voice (not music, regarding audio quality) TX/RX with low energy consumption and sufficient indoor range (more than actual headphones, ~20-30m). This headphone would be connected via BLE to a linux device. It is therefore a one-to-one communication.

I have two nrf5340 audio kits and I was hoping to tune the audio examples to test this setup. I was planning to make the headphone device using the "talkie-walkie" configuration, and on the linux side, using the USB connection.

Could you help me in this direction ?

Kind regards

[Maria Gilje]

Hello,

I will provide you with a few links to documentation and resources.

We have a course on Bluetooth LE fundamentals. Note that it is building on the nRF Connect SDK fundamentals course.

There is a book on Bluetooth LE Audio which can be downloaded for free here. My colleague has also written an introduction on LE Audio in this blog post.

Here are some FAQs on Isochronous Channels (ISO for short).

We have an Online Power Profiler which you can use to calculate the power consumption with various settings.

Bluetooth has this info page on Bluetooth range which has a range estimator at the bottom.

About your application: Which role does the Linux machine have? Providing the audio stream to the gateway, or acting as the gateway?

Best regards,

Maria