nRF52811 as a long range beacon: Available SoftDevices, bootloaders and space for application

[Otso Jousimaa]

Hello,

I'm evaluating nRF52811 as a long-range IC in a beaconing application.

Here's our specifications:

- The beacon must operate with Coded PHY

- The application should be updatable without a Segger programmer or nRF52 toolkit etc special equipment, preferably over BLE

- The softdevice and bootloader should be updatable without a Segger programmer or nRF52 toolkit etc special equipment, preferably over BLE

This is my understanding so far:

 - S112 does not support Coded PHY and currently only publicly available softdevice with Coded PHY support is S140?

 - The S140 ends in 0x26000 and both BLE and UART bootloaders start in 0x28000, leaving 8 kB for application?

 - On a related note, S112 ends in 0x19000 which means that softdevice updates over the air aren't going to be feasible once the direction finding support is built?

 => Currently it seems that my only option is to use S140 and squeeze the application in 40 kB that remains? Or 8 kB if I want to include a bootloader?

If I'm wrong on any of the above points, please correct me. I'm familiar with this question: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/49580/nrf52811-long-range , and I'm not looking for any information on future releases. A Yes / No on statements ending with question marks to verify that I've understood the options is enough, and if there is something I have missed I'd be grateful to be pointed into right direction.

Cheers,

Otso

[Håvard]

Your understanding is correct.

S112 does not support Coded PHY. S140 is the only SoftDevice to support Coded PHY today.

Using the S140 SoftDevice on the nRF52811 is possible, but puts heavy constraints on the app.

Updating the SoftDevice with the DFU is not supported on the nRF52811.