Maximum range for indoor applications

[Ron Weber]

Hello everyone,

I am currently testing the range of Nordic BLE modules for an indoor application.
I am using BC805 (nRF52805) as peripheral and BM832 (nRF52810) as central. Furthermore I use the nRF5_SDK_17.0.2. Both devices are placed on a table at 1 meter height and are 14 meters away from each other. The transmission strength for advertising and connection was set to 4dBm. The peripheral periodically connects to the Central, sends a few bytes
and closes the connection. Everything works fine, but when a few people stand in front of the peripheral, the Central does not receive anything.

What can I do to eliminate this problem?

What is the maximum distance I can achieve indoors?

Thanks for your help!

[Kazi Afroza Sultana]

Hello Ron,

To eliminate your problem regarding central's receiving data, there should not be any obstacle between central and peripheral as it is blocking the signal.

There are lot of factors work when it needs to be considered the range such as RF environment, antenna design, tuning, electromagnetic noise and many other factors. Or how many walls\floors and other obstacles it will pass through. The maximum distance may be 100 meters with a clear line of sight, zero to little radio interference. But there is no exact value. Sometimes the expected range for Bluetooth Low energy is 10m.   

You can read this post about Bluetooth Long range Tested by Nordic: Bluetooth Long Range (nordicsemi.com) and also this one about range testing for different protocols at different transmit power seetings  nRF52840-DK Range Testing With BLE, ZigBee and Thread Protocols at 0, 4 and 8dBm Transmit Power Settings - Blogs - Nordic Blog - Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com) . 

Hope it helps. Please ask questions if you have more information to know.

Best Regards,

Kazi Afroza Sultana