Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Chris Ergo — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 15:15:56 GMT

> Making RF-PHY tests on a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facilities, is advise?

I don't recommend doing RF-PHY testing. My understanding was it would be "best practice" to do RF-PHY testing to test our PCB and antenna, so we did the testing. They only tested with a coax cable soldered on the board, so essentially only tested the chip, which has already been qualified previously.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Hugo Peixoto — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 10:00:51 GMT

Hello Joakim,

Instead of open a new topic, since my doubt is similar I will put my doubt here. I hope that this is not a problem.

We are also developing with nRF52832, and in our understanding we are using QDID 187856 and 188441.

First question, how to be sure that this are the correct QDID to select?

Is the above path also a solution for us to qualify our product?

Making RF-PHY tests on a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facilities, is advise?

Thanks

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 09 May 2018 11:00:36 GMT

Hi!

You can download our reference layouts here:

nRF52 Series - Reference Layouts

They include Altium Designer files, production files, a bill of materials, and schematic and layout files.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Best regards,
Joakim.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Tue, 08 May 2018 13:13:57 GMT

Dear Joakim,

Thanks for your answer. Just refering to QDID 85568 and going with "No required testing" makes the qualification much easier. We would now like to assess how our changes could affect the results of the RF-PHY test. Could you therefore tell me which hardware was used for the RF-PHY test for the QDID 85568 including, RF-Layout, BOM, etc.?

Best regards,

Thomas

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 12:53:54 GMT

Hi again!

So I got some feedback on your case.

You should not go with the "Required testing". This is not needed unless adding any layer to our stack or something similar.

You should go for the "No required testing",
and refer to our already qualified design (QDID 85568).

You should perform the RF-PHY tests to make sure everything is in order, but there is no need to submit the RF-PHY tests.
You should keep the tests. And in the case of an audit from BT SIG, refer to the RF-PHY tests to confirm and document that this have been tested.

I'm sorry for the delays and misunderstandings.
Hopefully this will make your qualification process alot easier.

Make sure to let me know you have any further issues, and we will quickly sort them out.

Best regards,
Joakim.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 13:15:06 GMT

I'm not sure why you face these issues, as I believe you should get past this when you don't refer to the QDID before the "Product declaration".

I've forwarded your question internally to get clarification on this.

Hopefully I'll get back to you with an answer tomorrow.

Best regards.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 11:20:53 GMT

Hey,

We are developing a custom hardware, which is very different to the layout of the nRF52 Development Kit PCA10040 (I assume you regard to this layout when you say "reference layout")

Since we therefore need to go with "Required Testing", here some questions:

Should we include another prequalified design (QDID)? As explained in the introduction, do we use the nrf52832 with the S132 v3.0.0. If "Yes", which design (QDID) shall we include
If we inlcude a QDID: Shall we modify it to represent what the capabilities of our firmwware are or leave it as it is?
Eitherway the consistency check will force us to include functionalities we have not implemented as our product does not need to support it, like non-discoverable e.g. Is it ok if we write a special firmware just to cover these tests but which will not be part of the final product-firmware?

Thanks in advance,

Thomas

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:10:20 GMT

Hi!

Regarding the RF-PHY;
If you are following our reference layout, it should be possible to refer to our RF-PHY. But this is up to you, and you have to make an assessment if you are differing too much from our reference layout.

If you want to provide an RF-PHY test yourself, you need to go with the "Required Testing".
When doing so, you should not refer to our qualified design (QDID 85568) before you get to "Product declaration" in Launch Studio.

Let me know if this is helpful in any way.

Cheers.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:07:26 GMT

Hi,

We started a project with "Required Testing"

Inspired by your question i started a project with "No Requiered Testing" based on the QDID 85568 (End Product | nRF52 with S132 3.0.0). Now the qualification got way easier, a bit too easy. As far as i know we must provide a RF-PHY test as we have costum hardware. Unlike in a "Requiered Testing" project, i now have not found a way to upload such a RF-PHY test report.

Which is the correct way to go? With or without Requiered Testing

Best Regards,

Thomas

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 07:56:08 GMT

Hi!

Regarding question number 3;
The answer is no, you should not change the layer and ICS Selection.
You should only refer to our already qualified design.

When you started your project, did you choose the
"Start the Bluetooth Qualification Process with No Required Testing"
or
"Start the Bluetooth Qualification Process with Required Testing"?

Cheers,
Joakim

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 16:04:40 GMT

Hi Joakim,

Thanks for answering the first questions. Is there an update on the remaining ones? We are already in production and start selling our product in a few weeks. So we would like to get the certification done soon.

Best regards

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 12:36:52 GMT

Hi!

I'm very sorry for the delay.

So, I have some of the information you requested, but are still working on getting the correct information about the rest.

What I have so far;

1. Are only Qualified Bluetooth Experts allowed to carry out the qualification process and submit the test results?

No, members may, but are not required to, engage Bluetooth Qualification Consultants to provide qualification-related services.
See: https://www.bluetooth.com/develop-with-bluetooth/qualification-listing/qualification-consultants

2. Do we need to apply to become a BRTF (Bluetooth Registered Test Facility) In chapter 4.5 of "Qualification Program Reference Document" it says "BRTF are authorized to perform testing only on behalf of their own company".

No, you don't need to apply to become a BRTF (Bluetooth recognized Test Facility).
That is the difference between BQTF (Bluetooth® Qualification Test Facility) and BRTF (Bluetooth Recognized Test Facility).

"If your test plan generated by Launch Studio indicates that a required test is to be performed at the Category A at or below the HCI layer, you are required to provide test results from a Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility for testing services, unless your company is a Bluetooth Recognized Test Facility (BRTF), in which case you may provide test results from your company’s own Bluetooth Recognized Test Facility. Please note that a Bluetooth Recognized Test Facility is not allowed to act as an independent testing facility for other Bluetooth SIG member companies."

See: https://www.bluetooth.com/develop-with-bluetooth/qualification-listing/qualification-test-facilities

I'll get back to you with more information as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Joakim.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 08:49:09 GMT

Hi!

I'm sorry for the delay.

It's currently easter holiday here in Norway, and we have very limited staffing.
We will be back to full staff again on Tuesday 3rd of April, and some delay in response time will be expected until then.

I've made an internal request for assistance on your case, as I don't want to make assumptions that prove not to be correct.
I'll get back to you as soon as I have some more information regarding your questions.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

As for the step-by-step guide, we don't have one like the ones you linked to. But I will make a request that something similar should be made.

Best regards

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 11:04:30 GMT

P.p.s.: I found step by step guides from other manufacturers:

https://community.cypress.com/docs/DOC-9293 (Section 2)

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/How_to_Certify_your_Bluetooth_product

Do you have a similiar guidline for the nRF52832?

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Thomas Nenning — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 15:34:30 GMT

Hi Joakim,

Thanks for your reply. So far i have read a lot of Nordic's and Bluetooth's documents and forum posts concerning the qualification process. Still there remain some questions about how to pass the qualifaction as easily as your colleagues suggested.

A brief explanation of our product:
We use the nrf52832 with the S132 v3.0.0. softdevice. Beside the "Generic Access Profile" the "Generic Attribute Profile" and the "Device Information Service" we did not implement any standard services. We use a single costum service.

We created a Launch Studio project upon the pre-qualified Design 85568 "nRF52 with S132 v3.x.x". If we do not alter the Layer Selection and proceed to the ICS Selection there are many capabilities selected we do not support in our product like "Broadcaster, Observer or Central". This results in many tests we can not pass in PTS.

So my questions are:

Are only Qualified Bluetooth Experts allowed to carry out the qualification process and submit the test results?
Do we need to apply to become a BRTF (Bluetooth Registered Test Facility) In chapter 4.5 of "Qualification Program Reference Document" it says "BRTF are authorized to perform testing only on behalf of their own company"
Are we supposed to change the Layers and ICS Selection? If no, how can we qualify our product despite that in chapter 3.1 of the "Qualification Program Reference Document" a pass for all test cases is mandatory.
If the answer to question 3 is "Yes": We also didn't manage to fullfill all tests cases with a costum test plan so far. Mainly because consistency check forces us to test for advertisment flags (non-discoverable e.g.) which we have not implemented in our product. Hence the question if you think that the mistake is in our test plan or in the missing implementation of some flags / features
One solution we thought about was to create different versions of our firmware to pass single tests. But i guess this is not the intended way, correct?

Thanks a lot in advance for your support.

Best regards, Thomas

P.s.: If it is easier for you i am happy to skype or call aswell

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:49:11 GMT

I would also like to note that there are a couple of Q&A's on the DevZone open forum. So a quick search here, might reveal some information you are looking for.

RE: Assistance in the Bluetooth SIG Qualification Process

Joakim Jakobsen — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:48:00 GMT

Hi!

You can take a look at this page to start with;
http://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/com.nordic.infocenter.gs/dita/gs/certifying.html

There is some useful information there, as well as links to information regarding this.

Also I would suggest that you browse through at Bluetooth SIG own website, where you can find alot of useful information.

Any questions you might have can be posted here on DevZone, and my colleagues and I will do our best to help you with your problems.

Best regards.