Support for BT 4.2 LE compliance using nRF51 w S130?

[andrewjfox]

Hi, My apologies that this seems repeat information from previous posts, however they do not give a clear answer to my question regarding 4.2 compliance. I must also state up front that I don't fully understand the compliance requirements or process so please excuse any obvious ignorance.

I'm working on a nRF51822 based device that's about to enter production, and it needs to be 4.2 LE compliant (I'll spare you the details of exactly why 4.1 is not ok event though we're not really using any 4.2 specific features). I had thought we'd need to use the new 52 series, however I found some posts that claim the nRF51822 running S130 is 4.2 compliant. Bluetooth 4.2 support, Upgrade to BLE Spec 4.2 with new softdevice,

I would like to know if there is any official support/documentation from Nordic that I can use to backup a claim of BT 4.2 compliance, or do I still need to verify the compliance separately. I'm referring to functionality and support for compulsory feature set, not RF emissions etc.

For example I've read on TI site that if using TI part they provide pre-compliance that you can use as part of your documentation. See "How to certify your bluetooth product"

Has anyone been through 4.2 certification with the 51822?

Any advice, help or infomation would be greatly appreciated.

Regards Andrew

[Miles]

Hi Andrew, if you search in the Bluetooth listings page for the nRF51xxx with the S130 v1.0.0 softdevice you can find the 4.2 reference. (It is 4.2 compliant). For example for the the QFN device package the certificate is here:

www.bluetooth.org/.../Certificate.cfm

You will see in the certificate the "Specification Name" is listed as 4.2.

The main listings search page is here: www.bluetooth.org/.../listings.cfm

So if you are going to sell a product which uses the nRF51 series and the S130 SoftDevice, you just need to reference the correct QDID number from Nordic and create a new listing for yourself based on Nordic's qualification. You can find a table n the compatibility matrix which shows you which QD ID you should reference for a particular combination of device and SoftDevice. Go to the nordic infocenter and then under the nRF51 Series tab the first document is called the compatibility matrix. Open that and go down to table 6.

If you need additional guidance on this please contact Nordic customer support directly and create a ticket and they will help you sort it out. Hopefully this information can get you started.

( infocenter is here: infocenter.nordicsemi.com )

Miles Smith