BLE range has diminished

[nerdybee]

Hello,

I am developing a project in which I'm working with a custom PCB using the Fanstel BC832 module, equipped with the nRF52832 chip. I'm using Zephyr through VS Code to create a simple program to take some ADC measurements from my PCB and transmit them via BLE to a central device (laptop). I recently experienced the issue of losing BLE packets and getting random disconnect errors when my PCB experiences some reorientations a few feet away from the central device. The same device experiences no issues with BLE code developed in Arduino IDE, so I'm curious as to any insight/advice people might have to help me fix the issue. 

I tried using my DK as a sniffer and caught the activity when the PCB was rotated away from the central, causing disconnection:

And when it got reconnected upon bringing the device closer to the central once again:

Any clues on how to debug this interesting issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Edvin]

Hello,

It is difficult to say what the issue may be based on the screenshots you are providing. 

Does the log from the nRF say anything before the disconnect? Perhaps the application running on the nRF is crashing, causing it to restart and start advertising again?

At least I can tell that the peripheral stops replying in your sniffer trace, which suggests that something like this might have happened.

Best regards,

Edvin

[nerdybee]

Hi, thanks so muh for your response. I'm not sure. I'm attaching the full log in case you're able to take a quick look. Like I said, it happens when the device is oriented away from the central, which suggests it has something to do with the signal strength?

Zephyr NW code with box and freezing for video.pcapng

[Edvin]

Hello,

Is this e.g. in packet 1207 in your sniffer trace? In that case, it looks like the peripheral stops responding. What does the application log say in this case? Does the application on the nRF52832 restart? Do you have an application log at all? Either over UART or RTT?

Is it correct that the nRF is the peripheral?

Does your board have LF and/or HFXTALs? Does the application work properly if you run it on an nRF52832 DK?

Best regards,

Edvin