Know the current TX power and current TX/RX bands

[con2021]

Dear Nordic team,

it is very important for the RF and the HW engineers to be able to know the current transmit power of the modem. That will help us evaluate the network quality, the RF circuit quality, and to estimate the life time of the device. The modem must, of course, know which power it transmits, so we should be able to know it as well. Would you please tell us how we can know that.

The same applies to the used band. We are using a frontend in front of the NRF9160 modem to enhance its RX sensitivity, but we need to know which band is active to be able to switch the LNAs on or off. How can we know that?

[Øyvind]

Hello, 

it is very important for the RF and the HW engineers to be able to know the current transmit power of the modem

Yes is very true, however, the transmit power is often controlled by the network itself. Depending on network coverage, etc. Have you looked at our online power profiler for lte? Make sure to read the User guide (LTE).

The modem must, of course, know which power it transmits, so we should be able to know it as well. Would you please tell us how we can know that.

Again this is very dependent on the network coverage, signal strength, and other factors controlled by network.

Have you looked at the AT Commands reference guide?

Kind regards,
Øyvind

[con2021]

Hello Øyvind,

The answer did not help me. Yes I checked the AT commands. I can test the RF TX power, but what I need is a command to read the actual RF TX power that is controlled by the network. I mean during the real time operation, when the modem is active. I do not want to control it. I just want to read it. I want the modem to send me the actual TX power in the data frame, to be able to estimate the power consumption.

I am not talking about the LTE online profiler that gives me the current consumption. I mean the RF TX power in dBm. 

[Øyvind]

Thanks for clarifying. Yes, we do have the AT command Evaluating connection parameters %CONEVAL. This should provide the connection parameters that you need. Note that it needs modem fw 1.3.x running on the device.

-Øyvind