nRF Toolbox - BEACONS does not show up beacons in Android

[nordicdev]

Hi,

I am running the ble_app_beacon example in nRF52 DK (PCA10040). I can see the nRF beacon in nRFConnect app - but not in the nRFToolbox - Beacons. After opening the app, I pressed + button in the bottom right corner and waited for a long time - still no beacons show up.

I have used the following values in the ble_app_beacon code. I made sure that the nRF Toolbox - Beacons had the exact same uuid(6d6e6f70-7172-7374-7576-77-78797a7b7c) , major(32126) and minor (32640) under 'Beacon config'.

#define APP_BEACON_INFO_LENGTH 0x17 /**< Total length of information advertised by the Beacon. */
#define APP_ADV_DATA_LENGTH 0x15 /**< Length of manufacturer specific data in the advertisement. */
#define APP_DEVICE_TYPE 0x02 /**< 0x02 refers to Beacon. */
#define APP_MEASURED_RSSI 0x05 /**< The Beacon's measured RSSI at 1 meter distance in dBm. */
#define APP_COMPANY_IDENTIFIER 0x004C//0x0059 /**< Company identifier for Nordic Semiconductor ASA. as per www.bluetooth.org. */

#define APP_MAJOR_VALUE 0x7d, 0x7e /**< Major value used to identify Beacons. */
#define APP_MINOR_VALUE 0x7f, 0x80 /**< Minor value used to identify Beacons. */

#define APP_BEACON_UUID 0x6d, 0x6e, 0x6f, 0x70, \
0x71, 0x72, 0x73, 0x74, \
0x75, 0x76, 0x77, 0x78, \
0x79, 0x7a, 0x7b, 0x7c /**< Proprietary UUID for Beacon. */

I am using Samsung Galaxy S6 Android Version 5.1.1 Android security patch level : 2015-12-01

How to get the nRF Toolbox - Beacons app to display the major and minor values in the Android app?

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

Hi,

After tapping the + button you have to bring the beacon very close to the phone. For example put it on the phone, or the phone on the beacon and wait a moment. If your measured RSSI at 1m value is valid, the app should estimate the approximate distance to the beacon as very close and should display the data.

BR,

Aleksander

[nordicdev]

Hi Aleksander, 

Thank you for the reply. I tried placing the hardware on top of the phone - and I have tried out all of the following options: Event: Out of range, In range, Near, At Beacon. None of them work. RSSI shown in nRFConnect was as low as -44dBM, when the hardware was placed on the phone. Still doesnt help..

Any other suggestions?

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

So that means that your APP_MEASURED_RSSI has wrong value. If at the beacon the rssi is -44dBm, at 1m should drop to -60 or so (measure it with nRF Connect and average). You set this value to 0x05 which is+5dBm instead. Change it to the value you calculated, for sure has to be lower than-44.

[nordicdev]

Hi Aleksander,

Thanks for the reply. I have changed RSSI value from 0x05 to 0xD4 (for -44), still no effect.

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

Measure RSSI at 1 meter away from the phone, then change the value to calculated one. Should be around -68 dBm.