feedback on BT antenna activity

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

ste2108 — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:04:38 GMT

Ok thanks. I will close the ticket.

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

ste2108 — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:04:22 GMT

Hi, part of the tests are without the BT stack as you say, but another part is with the application fw. In the latter the tester would like to be sure that the BT stack is up and running.

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

PaKa — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:59:18 GMT

So what exactly is it you plan to test? Normally for RF compliance testing you use the Radio Test example and not the Bluetooth stack itself, just in case that may solve your issue.

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

Priyanka — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:40:43 GMT

Hi Stefano,

I don't think there is any out of the box function as you mention, to check whether the BLE is up and running. The SDK and stack can provide status outputs such as "advertising started" or "BLE stack initialized," but these only confirm that the software is running and the radio is enabled—not that the antenna is functional or that over-the-air connectivity is possible.

You can log BLE stack status (such as advertising or connection events) to the PC over USB, for eg, bt_enable() bt_le_adv_start() etc can be checked to see if they return successful, but there is no function in the SDK that can guarantee, without an actual RF connection, that the BLE radio and antenna are fully operational and connectable. Physical RF testing or a real connection attempt is necessary for a full verification.

-Piyanka

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

ste2108 — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:42:39 GMT

yes, it is a custom board using nrf52840 SOC

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

ste2108 — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:42:15 GMT

Hello Priyanka,

SDK version is 2.8.0

The point is that I would like to avoid connecting the device under test via BLE to a second device which is within the chamber and cabled to a PC outside the chamber, and instead cable the device under test to the PC outside the chamber and use the output of some function to check that the BLE is up and running instead. What I am asking if there is such function, which should guarantee that the BLE stack is working correctly and that I would be able to connect if a device was present in the room.

Regards,

RE: feedback on BT antenna activity

Priyanka — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 08:21:59 GMT

Hi Stefano,

Is you device a custom board using the nRF5840 SoC?

And right now you are connecting this custom device via BLE to the DK (which DK is it?) both which are placed within the chamber and then the DK is connected via USB to the PC on the outside. Am I correct?

Regards,

Priyanka