I am new to the Nordic stack, and I have developed an Arduino outdoor prototype using an nRF52840 communicating with another ESP32 (BLE + WiFi) gateway. The project is used to measure (sensors) and manage relays (water valves) in a backyard garden (www.greenclaytexas.com is my product).
I really like the Low Power of nRF52840; however, I went back and forth on LoRa vs. BLE. I felt that LoRa is great, but it is somewhat power hungry and more expensive to get setup. I've been pleased with my results in my backyard for the nRF52840; however, I want to try and get an idea of how to extend the range of the BLE module. I basically wake up every 20m or so, transmit to the gateway, and then go back to sleep (via a Write from the gateway).
Where I'm getting hung up on is the range of the BLE 5 chip. Perhaps I didn't make a sound decision in communication stack, but I felt LoRa was going to be a lot more expensive and work to set up. Anyways, what are ways to increase the range of the BLE 5 in my outdoor application, and is it really a feasible technology stack to use for an outdoor setup like mine (the gateway right now is indoors, but I eventually want to move that outdoors, too).
Will just an external antenna do the trick? If so, what kind of gains can I really expect on say a farm with vegetation?
