Nrf8002 : Testing General Reflexions

[Marc Pichot]

Dear Nordic,

we are working on the developement of a new product based on the nrf8002. We are on the reflexion of the test plan of the product, and i have some questions/confirmation relative to the nrf8002... I am also interested in any documentation relative to this subjects (although i found some very good docs but not all answers or did not understood everything well...)

1. Direct Test Mode

i understood that direct test mode can be used only with UART interface and not through RF communication. I also understood that direct test mode can only be used for testing the peripheral in transmitting and receiving packets but not for other purposes.

For instance, DTM could not be used for retrieving any product information (like Mac address or product Name for instance)... Am i right ?

More Generally, i would ask the question : "What information can we get through RS232 communications ? and what can we get through Bluetooth communications ?" (but i think we can get some information through BT communication)

2. Product Configuration Tool

I am also wondering if it's possible to configure the nrf8002 for test purposes with a specific config. file loaded into RAM, test the product and after that configure the product in its final state by OTP flashing. This would be useful in terms of test times (as we'd like to test the Led, buzzer and Buttons for instance).

In other words i'd like to do the same as in nrfGo Studio (where config can be loaded into RAM or OTP) but with the production tool...

Is this possible or does the production tool only allow OTP Flashing ?

3. Product Customization

we'd like to know if any field of the product can be used for product Identification through a serial number (on more than 10 digits/caracters). This would allow to trace the test and production state for each product.

I think that it could be possible by using the local name field and maybe the appearence field and that those fields could be retreived during bluetooth discovery, however, in that case, the configuration file used with production tool should be modified for each product according to it's serial number, and i'm not sure how to do this.

Another available solution would probably be to identify each product through its mac address and get it through a bluetooth discovery.

What do you think ?

Thanks you for any feedback and comments, Best Regards

[run_ar]

Hi,

1. Yes. DTM is there to do RF tests only. You could get more information over Bluetooth, such as the device address and Device information (See the nRFgo studio for configuration). The Device would have to be configured for this to work. Note that DTM is not available after the configuration is written to OTP. DTM test can be done as described in nAN-34.
2. You can create multiple configurations and load these into ram using the production tool. As long as you have chosen “upload to RAM” when you click the “Store configuration to file” button you will be fine.
3. You could use on of the Device Identification fields for this, or you could use the device address for identification as this is a 48bit randomly generated address, but you should be aware that the device address is not available in iOS applications.

Best regards,

[Marc Pichot]

Hi Runar,

thanks for the feed back. Another point : is the nRF51822-DK enough to test the 8002 in DTM ?

Regards,

[run_ar]

What do you want to do? Do you want to use the nRF51822 to control the nRF8002? Did you look at the python scripts in the application note?

[Marc Pichot]

Yes exactly, i'd like to use the nRF51822 to get and send packets to the 8002 in DTM. I didn't look exactly the python script but i know its existence.

regards

[Marc Pichot]

Just to be more precise, i'd like to do as stated in nAN34 on page 6 : use the nRF51822-DK as a lower tester. If i understood well, it would be used as a emitter while testing RX of 8002 (which would be controlled through the UART line, as in the Python script attached) and as a receiver while testing TX of 8002....

I'm not sure, but in that case, the nRF51822-DK would be the Golden Sample from the python script ? Itselfs controlled in DTM through UART interface... ? that would mean the nRF51822 is working also in DTM and that the python script already manages the whole test.... ?

Best Regards,

[run_ar]

Yes, you would have to program the nrf51822 DK with the DTM example in the SDK. This should set it up as a DTM device so the Python script can control it. The Python script manages the test and calculates the PER.