Build a long range RC remote control with Gazell / Gazel / Gazelle

[Drey]

We are designing a radio transmitter for a long range hobby craft vehicle with Gazell.  We need to use frequency hopping as well as the pairing functionality that Gazell offers us. Should we use the NRF51 or NRF52? Also we need to boost the output power to 1 watt, which PA+LNA would you recommend? 

 PS - Why is it Gazel, Gazelle, and Gazell? Which one is the correct protocol name?

[Jared]

Hi,

I would recommend the nRF52 since it supports our newest SDK. We generally don't give out recommendations on external components/products, but we use the SKY66112 in our Gazell Device/Host example in the SDK.

regards

Jared

[Drey]

Thank you for the quick response! I ordered the NRF52 dev boards and uploaded the examples for gazell host/device. I discovered when I went to turn down the datarate to 250kBaud that I can only do so with an NRF51?? 

#ifdef NRF51
    NRF_GZLL_DATARATE_250KBIT = 0, ///<  250 Kbps datarate, available only for the nRF51.

Why can the NRF52 not transfer at slower rates in order to get longer range??

Also is there a schematic for the NRF52/SKY66112 ?

Again thank you for the quick response!

[Jared]

Hi,

This is due to the changes in the RADIO module. See this post. We don't have any reference design available for SKY66112 and nRF but it shouldn't be any more complicated then place the PA between the antenna and the RF matching network, and connect the control signals to the GPIOs. 

regards

Jared