PHY MUX for AoA and AoD

[phuntimes]

In the blog article Bluetooth 5.1 Puts Bluetooth In Its Place this week:

At the locator hub, an antenna array needs to be designed and multiplexed to the Bluetooth SoC because Bluetooth SoCs do not have multiple antenna ports as this would make them prohibitively expensive. There are devices on the market that can compliment Nordic SoCs to achieve this function.

Could someone provide more detail on this? Perhaps an Application Note? 

Thanks,

Sean

[Andreas]

Hi,

 

You need a RF switch to switch between the antennas in the antenna array. We do not have any examples or application notes on this yet unfortunately.

 

Best regards,
Andreas

[phuntimes]

Are there any plans in the works for this? What chipset of the nRF52 will support antenna switching?

[Andreas]

Hi,

 

As the blog post states:

Nordic, as the market leader in Bluetooth Low Energy, are committed to offering the latest features to developers as they become available with the specification. Bluetooth 5.1 and direction finding is no exception. The soon to be available nRF52811 is a multiprotocol Bluetooth SoC that has Bluetooth 5.1 support for direction finding with AoA and AoD. The nRF52811 is an addition to the incredibly popular nRF52 Series SoCs and offers a perfect mix of features to make it a compelling choice for development of direction finding beacon applications or as a comprehensive multiprotocol connectivity device in locator hubs as a companion device to main application MCUs.

 

I do not know the specifics, but I would expect some sort of documentation, examples or similar to be also available when we have HW and SW for this. nRF52832, nRF52840 and nRF52810 will not support AoA/AoD unfortunately.

 

Best regards,

Andreas