Measurement of NRF 52832 broadcast interval

[creator]

Using the ble_app_uart example,
Using oscilloscope to measure the time interval of broadcasting, two development boards are used respectively.
One development board is nrf51422, the other is nrf52832.
Among them, nrf51422 uses an oscilloscope to measure the antenna, and the oscilloscope displays the accurate broadcast time interval.
The nrf52832 development board does not show the broadcast interval in the same way as the oscilloscope.

The following figure

nrf52832

nrf51422

[Jared]

Hi,

The reason that you're measuring a signal under TX on the nRF51 is that it has a DC component on ANT from VDD_PA. You're probably seeing the DC pulse "leaking" through the matching network, and you can measure the same signal directly on VDD_PA (the signal is always high during TX). The nRF52 on the other hand doesn't have this, which explains why aren't observing the same on the nRF52 DK.

regards

Jared 

[creator]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Is there any way for nrf52 to measure the interval of antenna broadcast signals with an oscilloscope?
It's no problem to judge whether nrf52 broadcasts for a period of time.
Thank you

[Jared]

Hi,

You could measure the current consumption, generally you would see a significant increase in current consumption that would indicate that the radio is on. You could use the online power profiler to get an idea of the amount of increase in current during TX/RX.

regards

Jared 

[creator]

Thank you very much for your reply.
Power supply analysis is not very accurate, because the emission current is very small, not easy to see, but also misleading.
Because we use power supply analysis, even the smallest power supply voltage, nrf52832 will broadcast, can not explain the time and interval of nrf52832 broadcasting.
How to measure the transmitting signal of antenna with waveguide is the most direct and effective. Is there any way?

[Jared]

The most precise method to measure the signal would be to use a signal analyzer. If you're only interested in whether the radio is on or off then you could use PPI and GPIOTE to set a pin once the radio is active. See our PA/LNA tutorial on how to implement this.  

[creator]

Thank you very much for your reply.