Long Range Advertisement SDK15.2 NRF52840

[chapman]

I am using SDK15.2 with NRF52840-DK.

I want to use BLE5 long range Advertising features on NRF52840. and scan the advertisement on another side with a long distance seperated

I change something based on the ble_app_att_mtu_throughput example.

On the peripheral side, I change the advertising_data_set() as belows:

• change the type to BLE_GAP_ADV_TYPE_EXTENDED_CONNECTABLE_NONSCANNABLE_UNDIRECTED
• change .primary_phy  and .secondary_phy to  BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED

static void advertising_data_set(void)
{
    ret_code_t ret;
    
    ble_gap_adv_params_t const adv_params =
    {
        .properties =
        {
            .type = BLE_GAP_ADV_TYPE_EXTENDED_CONNECTABLE_NONSCANNABLE_UNDIRECTED,
        },
        .p_peer_addr = NULL,
        .filter_policy = BLE_GAP_ADV_FP_ANY,
        .interval = 50, //ADV_INTERVAL,
        .duration = 0,
        
        .primary_phy = BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED,// BLE_GAP_PHY_1MBPS, // Must be changed to connect in long range. (BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED)
        .secondary_phy = BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED,
    };
    
    ble_advdata_t const adv_data =
    {
        .name_type = BLE_ADVDATA_FULL_NAME,
        .flags = BLE_GAP_ADV_FLAGS_LE_ONLY_GENERAL_DISC_MODE,
        .include_appearance = false,
    };
    
    ret = ble_advdata_encode(&adv_data, m_adv_data.adv_data.p_data, &m_adv_data.adv_data.len);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);
    
    ret = sd_ble_gap_adv_set_configure(&m_adv_handle, &m_adv_data, &adv_params);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(ret);
}



On the Central side, I change  the scan  as belows:

static void scan_init(void)
{
    ret_code_t err_code;
    
    m_scan.scan_params.extended = 1;
    m_scan.scan_params.active = 1;
    m_scan.scan_params.interval = 20;
    m_scan.scan_params.window = 20;
    m_scan.scan_params.scan_phys = BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED ; 
    m_scan.scan_params.filter_policy = BLE_GAP_SCAN_FP_ACCEPT_ALL;
    m_scan.scan_params.timeout = 0;
    
    err_code = nrf_ble_scan_init(&m_scan, NULL, scan_evt_handler);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);


    err_code = nrf_ble_scan_filter_set(&m_scan, 
    SCAN_NAME_FILTER, m_target_periph_name);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);
    
    err_code = nrf_ble_scan_filters_enable(&m_scan, 
    NRF_BLE_SCAN_NAME_FILTER, 
    false);
    APP_ERROR_CHECK(err_code);

}

Problem:

The problem is that I receive nothing on the central side. 

If I change the the advertising setting as:

.primary_phy =  BLE_GAP_PHY_1MBPS, 
.secondary_phy = BLE_GAP_PHY_CODED,.

Then the connection can be built. but the received distance  is not  x4 length as what I expected by using PHY_CODED. 

I check the rssi are the same at the same distance.

Is there any thing wrong on me setting? which side?

I just need to have a long range beacon which can be scanned on the other side for  a long distance. 

Thank you.

[Bjørn Kvaale]

First off, I would take a close look at this case if I were you. Then, I would test the modifications Vidar made to the sdk 15 example & see if you can see the same improvements in advertising range. Then, when that works, I would use the migration guide to update the example to sdk 15.2.0 if you want to use that.