which product is best for me?

[salarbn]

Hi,

We are working on our new product which needs a BLE connection with a mobile phone.

Our requirements are as follow:

1) Four digital output. (It's preferred to be six pins with PWM.)

2) One digital input.

3) One PWM output with a frequency of about 35KH. (It's Optional)

4) An analog input.

5) At least 15 meters of physical range when there are not any obstacles.

Which product is the best optimal choice for us?

Is it possible to program the nRF52 using Arduino IDE?

Is there any document for designing the antenna?

[haakonsh]

Four digital output. (It's preferred to be six pins with PWM.)

One PWM output with a frequency of about 35KH. (It's Optional)

 Do you want 4 GPIOS and 1 PWM pin, or 7 PWM pins?

Is it possible to program the nRF52 using Arduino IDE?

 Do you intend to put this product on the market? If so I'd advice against it. 

[salarbn]

Thanks for your replay,

We prefer to have 7 PWM pins, which the frequency of one pin must be 35kHz. but if it's unavailable, we can use 4 GPIOs instead.

Yes, we have intended to put this product on the market. Hence the reliability and cost are so important factors.

[haakonsh]

Can the PWMs share frequency? At least in groups of 4? 

salarbn said:

We prefer to have 7 PWM pins, which the frequency of one pin must be 35kHz

Closest we can get is 35.011kHz with a 16MHz PWM. Each PWM instance has 4 outputs, so with 2 PWM instances you can get 8 outputs at 35.011kHz.

The nRF52832 would be the easiest to develop on, but you might be able to use the nRF52810. The 52832 has 3 PWM instances whereas the nRF52810 only has 1, you can however create one with a TIMER and GPIOTE channels. 



What are your memory requirements? 

[salarbn]

We can forget the PWM pin with 35kHz, although the 35.011kHz is so good.

There is enough space on the PCB for implementing a NE555 IC to producing a 35kHz signal independent of the nRF.

Currently, I don't have any idea about the memory requirement. but there is not any complicated process and the whole code is about to control the mentioned pins based on specific messages from the android app.

[haakonsh]

Then the nRF52810 is likely the best option for you. 

[salarbn]

Many thanks for your guidance.

Our first concern is about the range.

What is the maximum range of nRF52810 in the case of using a PCB antenna? How about nRF52832?

َAccording to the documents that I have read, I think achieving a 20 meters range is not difficult.

Is there any straightforward document on PCB antenna design?

[haakonsh]

You can get 500m range at +4dBm with either of the devices, most likely 100+ meters at 0dBm.

You can grab the antenna from the DK: https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/Software-and-other-downloads/Dev-Kits/nRF52-DK/nRF52-Development-Kit---Hardware-files-2_0_0.zip 

You should also read nWP008 - λ/4 printed monopole antenna for 2.45 GHz. 

In general you need to read Product development with nRF5 Series SoCs.