How to set Transmit Power of my Advertisement Packet in nRF Connect SDK 2.5.1

[Sri1998]

Hello,

I want to set the transmitting power of the advertising packet. How can I set the TX power?

I am using nRF Connect SDK 2.5.1 in Visual Studio Code.

Regards,

Sri

[runsiv]

Hi

You can change the TX power with the following Kconfigs  CONFIG_BT_CTLR_TX_PWR_xx or  CONFIG_BT_CTLR_TX_PWR_ANTENNA. 

Regards

Runar

[Sri1998]

Hi, I have used the CONFIG_BT_CTLR_TX_PWR_xx for power setting. I have done a current consumption test to confirm the change in output power. I found a peculiar result for negative power settings, there are multiple current consumption peaks. For each advertisement taking different current. 

My Observations:

Tx Power	Tx - Peak	Tx - Avg	Idle
8dBm	28.62mA	15.65mA	776uA
4dBm	19.59mA	12.38mA	774uA
0dBm	13.71mA	8.2mA	774uA
-4dBm	14.61mA	6.91mA	774uA	8.48mA	6.55mA	Multiple amplitude peaks - unknown reason
-8dBm	14.47mA	6.53mA	774uA	8.36mA	6mA	Multiple amplitude peaks - unknown reason
-12dBm	Skipped
-16dBm
-20dBm	14.75mA	5.48mA	774uA	9.31mA	4.92mA	Multiple amplitude peaks - unknown reason

So is this the expected behavior or is there a issue? 

I want to reduce my Tx Current consumption. I  read that if I enable DC/DC it will reduce the current. How do I enable it?

I also want to put my device to sleep after stopping advertisement and in between advertisement to save power. How do it do that?

TIA 

Sri

[Sri1998]

If I add CONFIG_SOC_DCDC_NRF52X=y in the kconfig file then it is saying 

error: SOC_DCDC_NRF52X (defined at soc/arm/nordic_nrf\nrf52\Kconfig.soc:85) is assigned in a
configuration file, but is not directly user-configurable (has no prompt). It gets its value
indirectly from other symbols. See
http://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/kconfig.html#CONFIG_SOC_DCDC_NRF52X and/or look up
SOC_DCDC_NRF52X in the menuconfig/guiconfig interface. The Application Development Primer, Setting
Configuration Values, and Kconfig - Tips and Best Practices sections of the manual might be helpful
too.

So any other way to enable the DCDC mode?

[runsiv]

Sorry, I gave the wrong link. You need CONFIG_BOARD_ENABLE_DCDC=y

Regards

Runar

[Sri1998]

if I add "CONFIG_BOARD_ENABLE_DCDC=y" to the proj.cofig it is showing below error:

warning: attempt to assign the value 'y' to the undefined symbol BOARD_ENABLE_DCDC

I have created a new board in NRF Connect for the board I am using. Do I need to do anything different because it has a different device tree file?

Regarding the power modes I want to measure current consumption in "ION_RAMON_RTC", "ION_RAMOFF_RTC", "ION_RAMOFF_EVENT". Since my application is beacon I don't need to remember anything so I can turn off the RAM. I want to try all the three modes. Can you suggest a reference code to put the device in the before mentioned states?

[runsiv]

Could you share your board files so that I can have a look at them? 

Did you do as in step 6 here? If not, try to do it and see if it works

I will need to check regarding ION_RAM_OFF and so on as I have never seen it used. But you could also check out https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/libraries/others/ram_pwrdn.html 

Regards

Runar

[Sri1998]

I have completed the steps told in the document. But still getting multiple current peaks for each advertisement. The power setting in proj.conf is CONFIG_BT_CTLR_TX_PWR_0=y

 

The expected current consumption is 10.3 mA in normal mode and 4.9mA in DC/DC mode. So anything I am missing? I followed all the steps in the document you shared to create a custom board.

[runsiv]

I would recommend that you check of this sample for your current measurement 

Regards

Runar

[Sri1998]

Thank you for sharing the documentation. I have followed it and now in idle it is consuming 1.3 - 1.5uA (Avg). I turned off the serial and other unused peripherals. 

The transmission power is still not matching the values given in the datasheet. It is varying. How do i get the 5mA specified in the datasheet? 

TIA

Sri