Clarification on nrf51822 and nrf52832

[Ijas]

I am building a ble application and your ble modules nrf51822 and nrf52832 meets most of my requirements. But i need more info abut these modules. Please give me clear answers for my below questions

1. Can i read client MAC address?
2. Do you have a permanent storage to store user data?
3. Can i display data without connecting to device like service data?
4. Can i get maximum current consumption at max transmission power for 10 seconds? Please don't reply the value in datasheet. Please give me a tested and precise result.
5. Can we program the module with our own code or use AT commands to control module?

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

Hi,

1. By "read client MAC address", do you mean to get the address of another BLE device? The address is typically included in the advertising packet. If you meant your own address, this is typically set from the address written in FICR, as described in this answer.
2. Both devices have embedded flash memory, ranging from 128-512 kB. See the IC revision overview for nRF51822 and nRF52832.
3. Using BLE, it is possible to advertise the serivce UUIDs of the device. This allows you to check the available services before establishing a connection.
4. We don't have any tests of your requested case, but for nRF52832 there is an Online Power Profiler available, making it easy to calculate average current consumption for typical BLE applications. This is based on real measurements and this shows an average current for Radio TX of 8.3 mA and a peak current of 9.4 mA. If you keep the radio on in TX mode, this is the values you will see. There are also some nice tutorials of current measurement in the tutorials section, and I could recommend that you have a look at the Power Profiler Kit if you want to easily do power profiling of your own application.
5. Yes, both nRF51822 and nRF52832 is System-on-Chip, allowing you to program in using your own code. We provide BLE and ANT software stacks (softdevices), as well as Software Development Kits (SDK) containing examples for a large variety of use-cases.

Best regards,

Jørgen

[Jørgen Holmefjord]

1. Yes, passkey is supported and is showcased in the Glucose Application example, found in our SDK. You can set security requirements for connection to require passkey for bonding.
2. You should be able to program it using the examples from our SDK, but notice that this board does not have a built-in programmer/debugger.
3. I would recommend that you buy our nRF52 DK or nRF51 DK for evaluation and development. These boards come with on-board Segger debugger, making it easy to program/debug the chip using a single USB cable connected to your computer. You can also use an external Segger debugger supporting the SWD interface. More information about software requirements can be found in the Getting started section of the infocenter.