Bluetooth on Zephyr & NCS - use of MPSL without SoftDevice Controller on nRF52

[davege]

Hello,

myself and my team are evaluating the use of Nordic Connect SDK offering on nRF52840-based board.

From what I understood, aside from the open source and common Zephyr Bluetooth host, we'll be able to choose between the Softdevice Controller and the open source Link Layer provided with Zephyr.

I also understood that the SoftDevice Controller has a dependency with MPSL (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrfxlib/mpsl/README.html), still provided with nrfxlib.

Now, do you know if it would be possible for us to explore the use of:

• MPSL, combined with
• Zephyr Open Source Link Layer

?

The reason we are interested in this configuration are the Radio Notifications, that are not available just by using Zephyr offering.

Of course we are still considering using all of the Nordic offerings ;), but good to understand all the viable options.

Thanks,

D

[Øyvind]

Hey D,  

The reason we are interested in this configuration are the Radio Notifications, that are not available just by using Zephyr offering.

Of course we are still considering using all of the Nordic offerings ;), but good to understand all the viable options.

 Can you elaborate more on what you are trying to achieve? What is the reason for choosing the ZLL instead of the SDC? It may be possible to achieve what you want will ZLL, but will need more information. 

Thanks!

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[davege]

Hi Øyvind,

it's very simple - we used to work with Radio notification to synchronise sending (via notification) sample from a sensor with the radio.

This way you can wake up the system some microseconds BEFORE the following connection event, sample the sensor and queue the notification.

That's the main feature we are looking at, so this is why, aside from a standard BLE stack, we are looking specifically at MPSL.

No particular reason not to go for the full bundle, but want to have all the options on the table.

Hopefully it's clearer now.

Best,

D

[Øyvind]

Thanks for clarifying. Our developers suggests that if there is no strong reason for using ZLL, then it is easier for Nordic to support by using SoftDevice Controller.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[davege]

Thanks for your reply.

Actually my request is more: it is possible to use MPSL & ZLL or is there any dependency I am missing?

I'm not actually requesting support for implementation, I just want to know if technically this scenario is feasible or the SW components are incompatible for any reason (e.g. resources needed).

Can you provide a quick reply on this?

Thanks

D

[Øyvind]

Our developers responds "No, it is not possible to use MPSL & ZLL. The architecture and scheduling implementation are not compatible.".