Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 12:49:30 GMT

Many thanks for your help!

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 21:06:03 GMT

Hi Armand

I am happy to hear you figured it out 🙂

The check of the adv_props field looks correct, yes. This should filter out directed advertise packets, regardless of whether or not extended advertising is used.

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 09:20:51 GMT

Hi Torbjørn,

I finally got it to work. A couple of comments for others to come.

1. Two config parameters were missing on my prj.conf:

CONFIG_BT_EXT_ADV=y
CONFIG_BT_SCAN_WITH_IDENTITY=y

2. Standard or extended directed advertisments can be filter using the advertising PDU properties:

if(device_info->recv_info->adv_props & BT_GAP_ADV_PROP_DIRECTED)

Torbjørn if you confirm this is correct, I will verify this answer.

Thanks for your help!

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 13:01:51 GMT

Thanks for your reply Torbjørn.

Let's see if we can find some common ground for a solution. I need to set a directed advertising with a timeout.

1. First implmentation. I use bt_le_ext_adv_start. That function allows to specify an advertising timeout using bt_le_ext_adv_start_param:

int bt_le_ext_adv_start(struct bt_le_ext_adv *adv,
			struct bt_le_ext_adv_start_param *param)

However, it seems that it is not possible to discern at the scanner side if an extended advertisement is directed or not. Is that correct?

2. Second implementation. Using the standard advertising function bt_le_adv_start. However, that function does not define any configuration for specifying an advertising timeout:

int bt_le_adv_start(const struct bt_le_adv_param *param,
		    const struct bt_data *ad, size_t ad_len,
		    const struct bt_data *sd, size_t sd_len)

Is it possible to implement a standard directed advertising with a timeout?

Thanks

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 11:02:33 GMT

Hi Armand

This was something I had to add myself to make the directed advertising packets detected properly in the example.

When doing extended advertising then the adv_type field will no longer indicate whether or not you are receiving a directed or undirected advertising packet, since adv_type is BT_GAP_ADV_TYPE_EXT_ADV for all extended advertising packets.

Instead I had to check the adv_props field in order to figure out whether or not I was receiving an extended directed advertising packet from my advertiser, rather than some other advertise packet from other advertisers in the area.

If you want to also be able to read normal directed advertising packets (not using extended advertising) then you need to add a separate check for this.

Does that answer your question?

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 18:20:58 GMT

Thanks for your reply. I have been going through the code and it is my understanding that it will detect any extended advertising but it does not discriminate for directed advertising. Please check the flags it is reading on the central_bas2 sample code:

static void scan_filter_no_match(struct bt_scan_device_info *device_info,
				 bool connectable)
{
	int err;
	uint8_t i;
	struct bt_conn *conn;
	char addr[BT_ADDR_LE_STR_LEN];
		bt_addr_le_to_str(device_info->recv_info->addr, addr,
				  sizeof(addr));
	if ((addr[0]=='F')&&(addr[1]=='6'))
	{
		printk("address %s\n",addr);	
		for (i=0;i<device_info->adv_data->len;i++)
		{
			printk("%x",device_info->adv_data->data[i]);
		}		  
		printk("\n");
	}
	if ((device_info->recv_info->adv_type == BT_GAP_ADV_TYPE_EXT_ADV) && 
		(device_info->recv_info->adv_props & BT_GAP_ADV_PROP_EXT_ADV)) {
		bt_addr_le_to_str(device_info->recv_info->addr, addr,
				  sizeof(addr));
		printk("Extended directed advertising received from %s\n", addr);
	}
}

The flags are specific to detect devices that are performing extended advertising but not exclusively directed advertising:

if ((device_info->recv_info->adv_type == BT_GAP_ADV_TYPE_EXT_ADV) && 
		(device_info->recv_info->adv_props & BT_GAP_ADV_PROP_EXT_ADV))

Please check this out.

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 11:22:59 GMT

Hi Armand

I had a chat with Hung, a colleague of mine, who mentioned that he handled a similar case some time ago (with you possibly).

He sent me some code that I could use to test this.

I made some minor changes to his code, and was able to get extended directed advertising working.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../directed_5F00_adv_5F00_scan.zip

Please note that you have to find the local address of the scanner by looking at the log output, and update the advertiser code to use this address.

Could you give this code a try and see if it works OK?

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 17:17:24 GMT

Ok Thanks Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 16:50:55 GMT

Hi Armand

My apologies, I had back to back meetings today and didn't get time. I will do my best to test this tomorrow and get back to you.

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 15:15:23 GMT

Hi Torbjørn, Any chance to test this? Thanks

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 20:16:56 GMT

Hi Torbjørn,

As stated I did initally test with two nRF52 dev kits (nRF52832). I am going to share here my code for the scanner and the logs on both devices. I cannot get to see any directed advertisement package on the scanner side. Could you run on your side both codes on nRF52dk? Thanks

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../2364.CMakeLists.txt

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../1768.prj.conf

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../68520.main.c

LOGS

Direct advertiser

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.7.0-ncs1  ***
11-directed_adv init
[00:00:01.915,771] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: 6 Sectors of 4096 bytes[0m
[00:00:01.915,802] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: alloc wra: 2, fb0[0m
[00:00:01.915,802] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: data wra: 2, 448[0m
[00:00:01.915,924] [0m<inf> sdc_hci_driver: SoftDevice Controller build revision: 
                                         df c0 4e d6 1f 7c 66 09  0a f5 2b a0 98 f2 43 64 |..N..|f. ..+...Cd
                                         62 c5 a6 2a                                      |b..*             [0m
[00:00:01.918,914] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HW Platform: Nordic Semiconductor (0x0002)[0m
[00:00:01.918,914] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HW Variant: nRF52x (0x0002)[0m
[00:00:01.918,945] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: Firmware: Standard Bluetooth controller (0x00) Version 223.20160 Build 1719410646[0m
[00:00:01.919,219] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: No ID address. App must call settings_load()[0m
Bluetooth initialized
[00:00:01.919,952] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: Identity: F2:A4:36:CA:06:73 (random)[0m
[00:00:01.919,952] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HCI: version 5.2 (0x0b) revision 0x12b0, manufacturer 0x0059[0m
[00:00:01.919,952] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: LMP: version 5.2 (0x0b) subver 0x12b0[0m
Directed B2B Advertising Started addr: C1:F9:D7:24:F3:A6 (random)
Directed B2B adv timeout

Scanner logs:

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.7.0-ncs1  ***
[00:00:02.586,242] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: 6 Sectors of 4096 bytes[0m
[00:00:02.586,242] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: alloc wra: 3, e78[0m
[00:00:02.586,242] [0m<inf> fs_nvs: data wra: 3, 20c[0m
[00:00:02.586,395] [0m<inf> sdc_hci_driver: SoftDevice Controller build revision: 
                                         df c0 4e d6 1f 7c 66 09  0a f5 2b a0 98 f2 43 64 |..N..|f. ..+...Cd
                                         62 c5 a6 2a                                      |b..*             [0m
[00:00:02.589,202] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HW Platform: Nordic Semiconductor (0x0002)[0m
[00:00:02.589,202] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HW Variant: nRF52x (0x0002)[0m
[00:00:02.589,202] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: Firmware: Standard Bluetooth controller (0x00) Version 223.20160 Build 1719410646[0m
[00:00:02.589,477] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: No ID address. App must call settings_load()[0m
[00:00:02.589,660] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/name error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.589,904] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/s/2/bind error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.590,179] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/AppKey/0 error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.590,423] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/RPL/1 error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.590,698] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/Seq error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.591,064] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/IV error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.591,491] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/NetKey/0 error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.591,918] [1;31m<err> settings: set-value failure. key: bt/mesh/Net error(-2)[0m
[00:00:02.592,742] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: Identity: <log_strdup alloc failed>[0m
[00:00:02.592,773] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: HCI: version 5.2 (0x0b) revision 0x12b0, manufacturer 0x0059[0m
[00:00:02.592,773] [0m<inf> bt_hci_core: LMP: version 5.2 (0x0b) subver 0x12b0[0m
Starting 12 - Directed Advertising Scanner
Addr: C1:F9:D7:24:F3:A6 (random)
Bluetooth initialized
Scanning successfully started
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003
No Match. Adv Type: 0x04 Props: 0x000A
No Match. Adv Type: 0x00 Props: 0x0003

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 08:33:01 GMT

Hi Armand

The software developers confirmed that the nRF Connect for Desktop Bluetooth application doesn't support directed advertising or extended advertising, so you can't really use this tool to test your application.

The nRF Sniffer should be able to show the directed advertising packets though, if you are able to set that up?

Otherwise you would need to configure your second board as a scanner, as I mentioned in my previous reply.

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

ovrebekk — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 19:38:10 GMT

Hi Armand

I don't think the Bluetooth application in nRF Connect for Desktop will show anything if a directed advertising packet is received. These packet doesn't really contain any data to show, just the peer address.
The same goes for extended advertise packets, I will need to check with the developers if this is supported.
I will get this confirmed during office hours tomorrow.

Have you tried to set up the other board to run a scanner example instead?
This should work, as long as you use comparable settings.

Best regards
Torbjørn

RE: Directed Advertising not seen by the addressed device

Ignacio — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 13:06:44 GMT

Hi Jared,

Looking forward to working with you on this issue. I hope it is a quick fix. Thanks