How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Dandingzz — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 02:46:23 GMT

Thanks for your reply. I will improve my design and do more tests.

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Hung Bui — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:42:32 GMT

I would suggest to stick with ESB for testing to make things simpler.

TIMESLOT_PERIOD should not affect the transmission distance, set it at 2000 is fine.

TX_DATARATE affect the distance as you have better sensitivity at 250kbps, but still 2 meter is too short. You should have at least 10m indoor with 2MBPS.

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Dandingzz — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:04:57 GMT

Thanks for your advice. I found that the host always can receive the packet from the device at close range. But the device sometimes cannot receive the ACK from the host. I don't know why. And I have a new question, can the configuration of TIMESLOT_PERIOD or TX_DATARATE affect the transmission distance? Thank you~

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Hung Bui — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 09:26:25 GMT

So it could be something with the RF circuit on your board, please check and make sure there is no short circuit. The antenna may need some tuning a PI network need to be added to optimize the antenna. If you don't have the equipment for tuning, you can try to use a PCB antenna (a copper wire should also work) and a shunt component. The description on how to tune antenna can be found here.

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Dandingzz — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 02:12:44 GMT

And here is my configuration in the ESB example:

#define PIPE_NUM									0
#define	RETRANSMIT_DELAY					600
#define CRC_LENGTH								NRF_ESB_CRC_LENGTH_1_BYTE
#define	CHANNEL										18
#define	MAX_NUMBER_OF_RETX				10
#define TX_POWER								NRF_ESB_OUTPUT_POWER_4_DBM
#define TX_DATARATE								NRF_ESB_DATARATE_2_MBPS

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Dandingzz — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 02:07:49 GMT

I have tried to test with the ESB example, and the same result were obtained.

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Hung Bui — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 13:27:17 GMT

Your board looks OK. Could you try to test with the radio example or the ESB example in the SDK ? Just to check it's not the hardware issue.

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Dandingzz — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 12:53:05 GMT

Here is my schematic, layout and close-up photo of the board:

In the board, I use the balun 2450BM14E0003 and the chip antenna 2450AT42A100E. The thickness of the PCB is 0.8mm. Can you please tell me what's the problem with this design? How much is the normal distance? Thank you~

RE: How to improve the communication distance with Gazell?

Hung Bui — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 12:17:27 GMT

2 meters are too short, it should be much more than that. You may want to send us or update here your schematic and layout of the boards, a close-up photo is also useful.