Short range

[Artur]

Hi,

My questions is related to this one: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/58250/short-range.

We are also developing board and range is shorter than in smartphones.

But we are using Fanstel BT832XE with antenna https://www.tme.eu/Document/c4e6c41f0995bec1532828c99b9ac2ab/987651-6901.pdf.

Fact is that our board is very small (circa 40x40mm) and one sided with signals and other electronics so we have picked above external antenna.

I did even try to set: sd_ble_gap_tx_power_set(4);

We still have very short range.

What can we do to improve our range?

Best regards,

Artur

[Jared]

Hi,

• Exactly what do you mean by short range? What range are you measuring?
• What is the part number of the antenna? The link that you referred to is a product brief that refers to 4 different antennas.
• How have you mounted the antenna? Do you leave it in "free air" or have you mounted it on a platform? Is the platform made of metal?

regards

Jared

[Artur]

Hi,

I do not even "hear" advertising data from more than 1 meter. Smartphone is controlling it from 2-3 meters.

This may be better about the antenna: https://www.molex.com/molex/products/part-detail/antennas/1461530100.

Our antenna is in free air, this is also weird for me, could you tell how big impact this have? I could follow your opinion to my hardware specialist.

Regards,

Artur

[Jared]

Hi Artur,

Are you controlling the SKY PA correctly i.e setting it in TX mode when you transmit? Have you checked that the TX control pin is set correctly?

regards

Jared

[Artur]

Hi Jared,

Could you be more specific about what to check?

Code works fine on distance below 1 meter, should I really check low level layers of code which is based on nordic SDK?

Best regards,

Artur

[Jared]

Hi,

 

Artur said:

Could you be more specific about what to check?

 

The Fanstel module has a SKY FEM that should be controlled by the firmware of the nRF to get proper amplification. The FEM is controlled by the CTX pin that should be connected to the nRF. This pin should be toggled when the radio is transmitting to signalize to the FEM that the radio is transmitting and that the FEM should amplify the signal. This is usually done by using GPIOTE and PPI. You should therefore check that the firmware is indeed toggling CTX when the radio is transmitting.

regards

Jared

[Artur]

Hi,

Thank you for this info.

I have just added code from Fanstel datasheet and it really improves our range.

Best regards,

Artur