nrf52832 Bluetooth MAC Address manufacturer

[beadon]

I am seeing that the default manufacturer BLE is defaultly F5:41:36, received experimentally from inspecting data from the nRF52832...  Now, of course there is sd_ble_gap_address_set() which does change the MAC.  Is the manufacturer portion of the MAC address I am seeing the same for all nRF52832 devices ? Is the guidance that when incorporating into a design that the MAC should change to a different manufacturer and addressing scheme ?  Please advise.

 

[Kenneth]

Nordic BLE softdevice stacks by default are using random static address (these are fully random from chip to chip), however if you have purchased a BLE module, it may be that these are pre-programmed devices that have chosen to use public address (which is not random). You can in any case use sd_ble_gap_address_set() to set this as you see fit.

Best regards,
Kenneth

[beadon]

Very interesting. 

MAC addressing was designed from the ground up to be a unique number worldwide, and my understanding is that a manufacturer has a reserved range from which to produce and provide MAC addresses so that the numbers worldwide do not collide.  In practice, a random number probably works ahead of 'packaging' under a specific integrator.  However, this does raise the likelihood of a MAC collision from the initial design of 0 collisions.  I will investigate further with the provider.

Thank you for this informed response.

[Kenneth]

FYI: In BLE there are 4 difference address types that can be used:
https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/2084/gap-address-types/8939#8939

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/4/BLE_5F00_GAP_5F00_AddressTypes.png