AoA/AoD direction finding support in nRF52833 SDK v16.0.0 and SoftDevice s140

[adel]

I am going to use nRF52833 chip with SDK v16.0.0 and SoftDevice s140.

There are couple of questions I would like to clarify:

1. Is AoA/AoD direction finding supported at SDK and/or SoftDevice API level? Could you please pinpoint the relevant sections, if it does.

2. If AoA/AoD direction finding is not supported, does it mean that I can still use SoftDevice along with directly programming AoA/AoD related registers in BLE radio.

[bjorn-spockeli]

Hi Adel,

1. Is AoA/AoD direction finding supported at SDK and/or SoftDevice API level? Could you please pinpoint the relevant sections, if it does.

We do not currently have any AoA/AoD support in our SoftDevices. Subsequently we do not have any examples in our nRF5 SKD v16.0.0

 

2. If AoA/AoD direction finding is not supported, does it mean that I can still use SoftDevice along with directly programming AoA/AoD related registers in BLE radio.

 Yes, it is possible to use the SoftDevice Timeslot feature to directly write to the AoA/AoD specific registers of the RADIO peripheral. The Registers are in the Direction finding section of the NRF52833 Product Specification. 

We are working on a HW( antenna array that may be interfaced with Nordic DKs)  and SW( IQ sampling and direction finding algorithm) implementation for AoA/AoD. I do not have any specific ETA, but sometime in Q1 2020 should be within reach. 

Best regards

Bjørn

[Gaurang]

 bjorn-spockeli,

bjorn-spockeli said:

sometime in Q1 2020 should be within reach.

so what's the update regarding this I'm working on similar kind of thing thought let's ask for your help here. What about you 

adel ?

did developed anything for finding AoA/AoD ? if yes than you mind helping us out.. will be much thankful to you.

Thanks and best regards :)

[bjorn-spockeli]

Hi Gaurang, 

I do not have any update on our Direction Finding evaluation kit. Please contact your local Nordic Regional Sales Manager for our Direction Finding roadmap. 

Best regards

Bjørn

[adel]

We are still working on it. The idea we are trying to use is essentially similar to what Gazell does: hop between predefined BLE channels on the transmitter's side and do the same on the receiver's size. The main challenge is the synchronization as in our case there is no time synchronization between the two.

Unfortunately I cannot provide more information as I am under NDA.