Inspection items on mass production

[moon.kim]

Hi,

I developed a product using nRF52810 and am now preparing for mass production.

However, since I have no experience in mass production of Bluetooth, I would like to know what items should be inspected when mass-producing RF products.

For RF performance testing, the guidelines are referred to.

https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fnwp_034%2FWP%2Fnwp_034%2Fnwp_034_rf_radiated_perf_test.html

But I think i can't test all of this at mass production.

In addition, the product does not have an RF connector(Because it uses a pattern antenna ...), so it should be tested with radiation.

In general, how do you perform RF performance test during mass production?

[Marjeris Romero]

Hi,

Firstly, the RF performance testing guidelines you linked to were for the nRF9160, so testing of CAT-M1 and NB-IOT networks, not Bluetooth Low Energy.

I recommend taking a look at the whitepaper "nWP006 - RF Performance Test Guidelines".

RF performance testing for BLE can be done using Direct Test Mode (DTM), which is the standard test protocol for Bluetooth smart devices, and you can find and example for DTM in our SDK:  https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/sdk_nrf5_v16.0.0/ble_sdk_app_dtm_serial.html

Best regards,

Marjeris

[moon.kim]

Hi, 

Should all tests in this guideline be performed during mass production ??

[Marjeris Romero]

Hi,

I am sorry for my last answer I think I misunderstood your question. The RF-PHY testing guidelines are meant for certification testing before mass production to be sure your design is compliant and pass BLE certification, and there is no need to perform the same tests on mass production if you already have certified your design.

It is up to you which tests you want to perform at mass production, if any, since there are no written guidelines for it and it will depend on how comprehensively you want your test setup to be. You should at least do some basic testing to make sure everything in the PCB is mounted/soldered correctly, specially the components between the antenna pin on the nRF52 and the antenna.

Another production test you may want to do is to test that you are able to receive and send a packet. There are different ways to do this, you can either use the Radio Test example in the SDK, or DTM as described in nAN34 to check the BLE connection.

Best regards,

Marjeris

[moon.kim]

Hi 

Thanks .
It helped a lot.