nRF Sniffer Hardware choice

[Charles_ho]

Hi,

I see your web: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Tools/nRF-Sniffer#infotabs

There are 4 hardware (DK x 3, Dongle x 1) we can choose to used as nRF Sniffer hardware.

As for sniffer function, do they capture same BLE packets?  Or some can capture more (like BLE 5.0)?

My question is: can I use any one of them and expect the same performance and same captured packets ?  If yes, I will buy the cheapest one.

Or should I look ahead, that newer Hardware (nRF52) may be a better choice (maybe your sniffer software will do more on nRF52 in the future, while fhasing out nRF51) ?

Please give me some suggestions.

thanks a lot,

Charles

[Heidi-Irene Harvey Sollie]

Hi Charles!

There are a few differences in which HW you use as a Sniffer.

You are correct in that the nRF52 DK supports Bluetooth 5, which the nRF51 DK does not, so the nRF51 DK will not be able to capture BLE packets sent over Bluetooth 5. Additionally, while the SoftDevices in nRF51 are being maintained, no new updates will be released.

The nRF51 does not support LE 2M PHY mode, while the 52 does. Long range or coded phy is not supported in the 51 or the 52.

The 52 sniffer also uses a much faster UART implementation so has less dropped packets when sniffing high bandwidth connections.

I hope this helps with your selection.

Best regards,

Heidi