Request for Guidance on Suitable Nordic Product for Bluetooth Traffic Generation and Analysis

[Yash.P]

Dear Nordic Team,

I hope this message finds you well.

We are currently working on a project that requires generating continuous traffic using Classic Bluetooth, and if possible, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) as well. The primary objective is to create sustained traffic on the spectrum for testing purposes.

Specifically, we are looking for a solution that can:

1. Generate continuous data traffic using Classic Bluetooth and BLE.

2. Force transmission on a specific channel, avoiding the default frequency hopping behaviour typical in Bluetooth communication.

3. Sniff over-the-air (OTA) packets to analyse data transmissions and interference patterns.

We would greatly appreciate your assistance in identifying the most suitable Nordic Semiconductor product(s) that can meet the above requirements.

Looking forward to your recommendations.

Warm regards,
Yaswanth Pukkalla
WLAN Systems Intern
Candela Technologies India Pvt Ltd
[email protected]

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

1/2. Nordic does not have any products that can transmitt (or receive) Bluetooth Classic, as that requiers a different radio. Maybe you can use DTM to achive some of what you want with BLE, and configure it to send a large number of packets via DTM comma ds.

3. Nordic procide a Snifffer for Bluetooth LE that you can use with a nRF52 DK or dongle to receive Bluetooth LE traffic. If you need more advanced features, you may want to look at a professional sniffer (such as Ellisys Bluetooth Explorer).

[Yash.P]

Dear Einar,

Thank you for your prompt and helpful response.

I would like to clarify a key point related to our project requirements:

As BLE is designed to keep the radio in sleep mode for most of the time to conserve power, we are curious to know whether it is possible to configure BLE to transmit continuously or at a high enough frequency that the radio remains active and can generate measurable interference.

Additionally, for our testing scenario, we need to transmit data over a specific BLE channel, avoiding the use of adaptive frequency hopping. We would like to know if such channel-level control is feasible using Nordic's tools and SDKs.

It would be extremely helpful if you could recommend specific Nordic devices or development kits that support:

• Configurable BLE channel selection

• Continuous or high-frequency transmission

• OTA sniffing capabilities (Optional)

We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to your guidance on the best product(s) to meet these requirements.

[Einar Thorsrud]

Hi,

It is possiblet o transmit most of the time. But if you only need interference and not actual data, perhaps you can use the radio test sample?  This leds you send out a pure carrier or modulated data on any channel, and it can be enabled indefinetly.

Yash.P said:

• Configurable BLE channel selection

• Continuous or high-frequency transmission

This is more a question of software features. Any nRF52/nRF53/nRF54L kit could be used for this, with the limitations of the test firmware we provdie (or what you write yourself). You could for instance use nRF54L15 or nRF52840 DKs combined with the radio test sample provided you don't need valid BLE packets.

Yash.P said:

OTA sniffing capabilities (Optional)

For the sniffer, I would recommend the nRF52840 DK or nRF52840 Dongle.

[Yash.P]

Subject: Clarification on Capabilities of nRF52840 Dongle for Our Project Requirements

Hi Einar,

I would like to clarify whether the nRF52840 Dongle can support all the tasks we are aiming to perform for our testing setup. Assuming firmware is the only limitation, I’d like to confirm if the dongle can be used to:

1. Generate continuous data traffic using both Classic Bluetooth (if supported) and BLE.

2. Force transmission on a specific channel, avoiding the standard Bluetooth frequency hopping mechanism.

3. Sniff OTA packets to analyze data transmission and interference patterns.

Could you please confirm if these tasks are feasible with the dongle, or if we should consider a different development kit for better support?

[Einar Thorsrud]

Yash.P said:

Generate continuous data traffic using both Classic Bluetooth (if supported) and BLE.

No, the radio does not support classic Bluetooth. It can generate continous traffic if you program it with firmware that does it (see the projects I linked to in my previous posts).

Yash.P said:

Force transmission on a specific channel, avoiding the standard Bluetooth frequency hopping mechanism.

Not for continious actual BLE traffic unless you write everythign yourself, but if you do not need valid BLE packets, you can use the radio test sample (see link in previous post).

Yash.P said:

Sniff OTA packets to analyze data transmission and interference patterns.

You can sniff the BLE packets using nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE. I am not sure wha tyou refer to by interference patterns, though. The sniffer will just show you the packets it can receive (both with and without CRC errors), so you can see if the link is bad by looking at the received packets and the number of retransmissions. But that is it.

Yash.P said:

Could you please confirm if these tasks are feasible with the dongle, or if we should consider a different development kit for better support?

If you need to develop on your own, a DK is better due to onboard debugger etc. But other than the dongle may be sufficient, if the tools I have described works for you. That is not clear to me though, and if you need professional lab equipment that is a different thing. Alternatively, you may need to do development to write firmware that makes the device do exactly what you want.