BLE Audio Test app supporting both CIS and BIS

Do we have a sample BLE Audio Test app supporting both CIS and BIS ? If we don't have already what changes needed to make it work.

What is the configuration required for enabling BIS only ? It also should start advertising for connecting with another broadcast assistant for offload scan.

Thanks 

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  • Thank you Karl.

    We want the app to support both BIS and CIS concurrently. Is this feasible ?

    As you mentioned i tried to enable BIS only by adding the CONFIG_TRANSPORT_BIS=y in kconfig options and the build was successful. But my Broadcast assistant app is not able to scan the nRF5340 flashed with BIS app. Does the BIS app start advertising after bootup ?

    Below is my use case.

    1. nRF5340 Audio DK flashed with BIS enabled app.

    2. I have a DeviceA which is both the Broadcast Source and Broadcast assistant.

    3. I need to start Broadcast LE Audio from DeviceA to nRF5340 Audio DK using the Broadcast assistant app on DeviceA.

    Also how can i enable the app logs in the console connected via serial port ?

  • Hello Karl.

    I am also confused about this issue, So I was very lucky to find this post. Now i can see what you have reply that the CIS and BIS can not work at the same time.

    But I still want to ask if it is possible to switch freely if it can not work at the same time, because i found that, after the SDK is compiled, only one of the work mode can be used. So in my understanding, there will be two firmware for the two work mode, is that right?

    And i am very sorry to Ravi, i used your post to ask some questions. It seems that we have the same confusion regarding BIS and CIS issues. Thank you too.

  • Hello, both Ravi and Huma! :) 

    Let me try to clear up your questions on this and provide some insight:

    RaviTest said:
    We want the app to support both BIS and CIS concurrently. Is this feasible ?

    This is feasible yes, but let me elaboarte a little.
    The primary LE Audio controller that we supply for use with the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application does not have support for concurrent CIS and BIS, and it will not support this in the future either.
    However, we recently added ISO support to the SoftDevice Controller, and we have started integrating that into the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application as well. The SoftDevice Controller's ISO support is still very new (merged to main under 3 weeks ago), and so its integration testing with the reference application is still ongoing, but the good news is that it does support concurrent CIS and BIS.
    We will come out with more extensive documentation on our testing of the SDC ISO features early next year. You could also start testing with the SDC in the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application yourself if you would like, but please be aware that there still might be some kinks for us to work out since the full integration of it is not yet complete.
    If you would like to give the SDC a try you can do so by pulling the nRF Connect SDK main branch from github, and using the following line to build and flash the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application using the buildprog script:

    $ python buildprog.py -c both -b debug -d both -p --pristine--ctlr="SDC"

    If you have further questions to the roadmap for the SDC and the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application I would have to ask that you reach out to your Regional Sales Director directly with these questions, since we do not really discuss roadmaps or future releases here on DevZone.

    If you do not know who your Regional Sales Director is please send me a direct message here on DevZone with your location so that I may provide you with their contact details :) 


    Lastly, let me also supply some comments to the other remaining questions:

    RaviTest said:
    But my Broadcast assistant app is not able to scan the nRF5340 flashed with BIS app. Does the BIS app start advertising after bootup ?

    Which broadcast assistant are you referring to here, are you using another nRF5340 Audio DK, or a smartphone application perhaps?
    You are right that the BIS will start to advertise automatically upon boot - you can verify that this happens either externally or through checking its logs.
    However, perhaps there are some additional changes that needs to be made for it to show up on your broadcast assistant, I can look closer into this when I know which assistant you are referring to.

    RaviTest said:
    Also how can i enable the app logs in the console connected via serial port ?

    They are enabled by default, you can open a serial terminal to the device either in a standalone application like PuTTy, or through the GUI in the nRF Connect for Visual Studio Code extension.

    RaviTest said:
    3. I need to start Broadcast LE Audio from DeviceA to nRF5340 Audio DK using the Broadcast assistant app on DeviceA.

    When working as a BIS headset the nRF5340 LE Audio reference application will by default be filtering the broadcasts based on names (i.e it is looking for the specific broadcast named NRF5340_AUDIO). Will your nRF5340 Audio DK in this case be the headset or gateway? I was under the impression that it would work as the gateway, but perhaps I have misunderstood.

    Over to Humas question:

    huma said:
    But I still want to ask if it is possible to switch freely if it can not work at the same time, because i found that, after the SDK is compiled, only one of the work mode can be used. So in my understanding, there will be two firmware for the two work mode, is that right?

    The current application is made with the current controller in mind, which does not support switching between CIS and BIS at runtime, which is why the reference application also takes this argument at compile time. However, you can get around this either by modifying the application to switch between the two following a full network-core reset, or you may do so with the SDC ISO (but please keep in mind its experimental status).

    Best regards,
    Karl

  • Thank you Karl.

    Which broadcast assistant are you referring to here, are you using another nRF5340 Audio DK, or a smartphone application perhaps?
    However, perhaps there are some additional changes that needs to be made for it to show up on your broadcast assistant, I can look closer into this when I know which assistant you are referring to.

    I am using the Broadcast assistant app on smartphone. Can you please let us know the changes to be done in the nrf ble audio application for it to show up in the broadcast assistant app on phone ?

    I have build the nRF BLE Audio application using CONFIG_TRANSPORT_BIS=y

    Below is the serial console output. I see it started scanning but not advertising. Can you please confirm why i don't see advertising logs ?

    *** Booting nRF Connect SDK v2.5.0-rc2 ***
    HR [00:00:00.259,521] <inf> fw_info:
    nRF5340 Audio nRF5340 Audio DK cpuapp
    NCS base version: 2.5.0-rc2
    Cmake run : Tue Dec 12 11:43:38 2023
    HR [00:00:00.259,521] <inf> fw_info: ------- DEBUG BUILD -------
    HR [00:00:00.259,552] <inf> fw_info: HEADSET right device
    HR [00:00:00.270,172] <inf> board_version: Compatible board/HW version found: 1.0.0
    HR [00:00:00.308,258] <inf> bt_mgmt_ctlr_cfg: Controller: LL_ACS_NRF53. Version: 3393
    HR [00:00:00.310,272] <inf> bt_mgmt: Local identity addr: D0:97:2E:8D:DA:CD (random)
    HR [00:00:00.436,096] <inf> bt_mgmt_scan: Local addr: D0:97:2E:8D:DA:CD (random). May time out. Updates not printed
    HR [00:00:00.436,096] <inf> bt_mgmt_scan: Scanning successfully started

  • Hello,

    RaviTest said:
    I am using the Broadcast assistant app on smartphone. Can you please let us know the changes to be done in the nrf ble audio application for it to show up in the broadcast assistant app on phone ?

    Which broadcast assistant app? Is this something you've implemented yourself, or one that is publically available?
    I will check with the developers what you will need to do in order to have this work. A Broadcast assistant is not used as part of the default nRF5340 LE Audio reference application.

    RaviTest said:
    Below is the serial console output. I see it started scanning but not advertising. Can you please confirm why i don't see advertising logs ?

    From the logs it seems that you have build a BIS Headset application, which will start to scan for broadcasts upon starting. If you would like for it to function as a BIS transmitter you will need to build it for the 'gateway' configuration.
    You can see instructions on how to program it for the different roles and configuration in the 'Build and program' documentation.
    Please try this again with the device built and flashed as a gateway device and see if you then are able to see the broadcast in your scanning.

    Best regards,
    Karl

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