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

[adel]

Hello,

Are there any updates w.r.t. ETA for AoA/AoD support in SoftDevice?

Regards,

--

Adel

[bjorn-spockeli]

HI Adel, 

we will add AoA/AoD support in the nRF Connect SDK. Please contact your local Nordic Regional Sales Manager for our Direction Finding roadmap.

Best regards

Bjørn