Suitability of Gazell for applications beyond short distances

[Mike Thompson]

I'm considering various protocols for mobile robotics applications using Nordic nRF52-based transceivers.

The Gazell protocol looks to have a number of appealing features (data rates, channel hopping, packet resend), but it seems specifically designed for shorter distance applications such as wireless mice, keyboards, headsets, etc. Limiting the pairing to very short distances seems to reflect this usage model.

Does Gazell lend itself to implementations where devices can be 10s to 100s of meters from each other? And, can Gazell pairing be extended to work up to a ranch of at least 10 meters or so?

I'm thinking I'm probably attempting to use Gazell beyond what it is designed for, but I haven't yet found any specific information that says what I have in mind couldn't be made to work. I just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time and I should be looking at other protocols (or hand rolling my own).

Thanks,

Mike Thompson

[Kenneth]

Hello,

Gazell (along with Gazell pairing) is a nice protocol for 1:1 or Many:1 communication where you don't want to spend money on for instance Bluetooth listing fees. It can achieve high security, low power and/or also high throughput. Though it does not provide better range than for instance Bluetooth enabled applications. It's extremely difficult to say anything about range. Typically range I would say is up to the very few tens of meters.

Kenneth

[Mike Thompson]

Thank you for weighing in on this. I guess it's something I may just have to experiment with as I don't see any reference to range except for the pairing have to be at a very close range (ie. less than ~30 centimeters).

[Kenneth]

Hello,

The pairing have intentionally been implemented to occur only at very close proximity, this to ensure for instance that in a crowded office environment that not the wrong devices pairs. After pairing the range is similar to for instance Bluetooth.

Kenneth

[Isaac_zhou]

Hello, I am using the Nordic nRF51822 as both a Gazelle host and device. I'm using the default settings from the ack_payload examples, but the pairing is lost at a distance of 3 meters, and it is difficult to reconnect at that range.

[Kenneth]

Is this using nRF DK's, or your own hardware? It may seem as this is non optimized hardware.

Kenneth