Preliminary DTM power assessment using the DK board

RE: Preliminary DTM power assessment using the DK board

Håkon Alseth — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:09:58 GMT

Hi,

The application note is about using DTM for production testing, and is not specific to the nRF51-series device.

[quote user="Sean zheng"]What is the approximate direction for guidance? I'll try it.[/quote]

We do not have a specific setup for you in this case, but it is possible to use the "Direct test mode" PC application with two nRF devices.

Where you can setup one as a transmitter, and one as a receiver for instance.

If you search on google, there is probably someone that made a simpler python script or similar for DTM, so that you can potentially automate the process.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: Preliminary DTM power assessment using the DK board

sean — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:49:16 GMT

Hi，

Thank you for your reply. I have a look. The nRF51 chip in it is very old. I want to get the approximate signal strength with the new nRF54L chip. What is the approximate direction for guidance? I'll try it.

RE: Preliminary DTM power assessment using the DK board

Håkon Alseth — Tue, 26 May 2026 14:32:43 GMT

Hi,

Do I understand the scenario correct when you want to test DTM with two nRF boards?

Ie. a nRF as the tester, and a nRF as the DUT (device under test)?

If yes, then this is possible, but there will be restrictions as compared to running said test with a R&S CMW500 (or any other dedicated bluetooth tester).

There is an older application note nAN-34: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/nan_34/resource/nan_34.pdf

Which describes the theoretical setup, with 2 nRF devices connected to a PC, controlling both.

What I would recommend in your case is to use an RF attenuator between the nRF-to-nRF, and see how many packets the DUT is able to send/receive.

Kind regards,

Håkon