nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Susheel Nuguru — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 11:43:43 GMT

I cannot get any sensible information of flow of transactions without looking at the whole sniffer trace before and after the connection including the data exchange. Can you please upload your sniffer log so that I can understand if the connection is infact using these settings throughout.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:38:17 GMT

Data Length Enabled and MTU set to 247. seeing below event in btmon which same with Broadcom.
> ACL Data RX: Handle 64 flags 0x02 dlen 251

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Susheel Nuguru — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 09:39:28 GMT

I can ask that to the stack team. Meanwhile you can check on the sniffer trace if both the chips are being configured correctly with DLE/ATT MTU, Event length size etc. It might be possible that nRF end is not configured the same way as Broadcom.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 22:52:26 GMT

I see, in that case, I recommend you to talk to your tech team(BLE) for proper way for throughput testing instead of we (customer) recommend some steps.Thanks

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Susheel Nuguru — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 18:06:10 GMT

Not really, I do not see that this is tested internally. That was the reason I was asking you for the setup and variables to be able to do it.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:23:00 GMT

Hi Susheel,

Lets not directly compare the throughput value with Broadcom now.

First, We need throughput value for nordic controller(nRF52840 DK) using hci_uart program.

Can you please share this value?

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Susheel Nuguru — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 09:53:05 GMT

Hi Alaganraj,

Thanks a lot Hieu for looking into this thread.

[quote user="Alaganraj"]

1. Eagle - using Broadcom controller using UART HCI interface

2. Panda - using Nordic controller using UART HCI interface

[/quote]

I do not think that we have officially made any samples/tests for HCI throughput with UART. There are a lot of variables that can be tuned for getting variable throughput. For example, the sottware overhead of UART, packet loss, type of antennas used on the boards, connection parameters etc.

To be able to make a comparison of apples with apples, we need to know the whole setup you used to configure the Broadcom controller, else we cannot know what variable in your configuration is favorable in which controller.

If you can give us the full details on how you tested this including all the parameters that need to be known to replicate the setup you have, then we can compare this at our end aswell. Else we cannot know why you see the differences. Otherwise we are quite confident with the quality of our controller in terms of BLE stack quality.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 19:01:01 GMT

Hi Hieu,

we already considered these parameters in our program.

PHY
LE Data Length
LE Connection interval

anyhow we'll try from our end once you share setup details.

We need to share throughput value to management at the earliest.

could you please share throughput numbers from your end?

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Hieu — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:20:21 GMT

Hi Alaganraj,

I understood your setup now.

As a starting point with BLE throughput, I recommend you take a look at the Bluetooth: Throughput sample in NCS.

The documentation of the samples I linked also describes how to tweak the connection parameters to achieve a higher throughput.

Regarding the test setup, I will need some time to check with the internal team to see if we publicly share it. As I am partially out of office Mon-Wed, I will reach back to you latest by the end of Thursday.

If you need the information urgently for some reasons, please let me know.

Best regards,

Hieu

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 19:10:21 GMT

Hi Hieu,

I take back "advertising", and it's not broadcaster as it will not accept connection.

Sorry for confusion.

nRF52840 DK - Central device

nRF52840 Dongle - Peripheral device

BLE_Test_app - test app running on embedded linux host (on top of Bluez stack)

central & peripheral are in connected state.

We have 2 products

1. Eagle - using Broadcom controller using UART HCI interface

2. Panda - using Nordic controller using UART HCI interface

Test 1:

BLE Test app running in Eagle made connection to dongle and received data & Throughput calculated.

After testing completed, Eagle was shutdown.

Test 2:

BLE Test app running in Panda made connection to dongle and received data & Throughput calculated.

In both Test 1 & 2 same test app and dongle are used.

>> Next, are you testing BLE or Bluetooth Mesh?

We are testing BLE.

What we need from Nordic is

1. Max throughput value on nRF52840 DK which is Flashed w/ hci_uart program.

Please share your setup, how you tested this. so that we can replicate the steps and confirm the throughput value from our end.

Hope you understand now.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Hieu — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 11:22:53 GMT

Hi Alaganraj,

I'm afraid I am a more than a little bit confused.

So, you have a device advertising, let's call it the Broadcaster.
And you have an embedded Linux host receiving the advertising, let's call it the Observer.

When you test with Nordic devices, both the Broadcaster and Observer uses Nordic device and Controller. That is clear.

When you test with Broadcom Controller, which device is using the Broadcom Controller?

Next, are you testing BLE or Bluetooth Mesh?
Why are you trying to get throughput with advertising?

As you use the terms "BLE" and "Advertising," I assume you are testing BLE. With BLE, you should get far better throughput with a connection. The only thing advertising can do better than a connection is broadcasting data to multiple observers. Even for 1-to-n transmission, a connection should still do better.

Best regards,

Hieu

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 20:38:30 GMT

BLE simulation program is nothing but advertising packet. This is flashed in nrf52840 dongle.

nrf52840 DK is flashed with hci_uart program and acting as central device. this is connected to host using uart, Please refer our setup here

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/support/297462

We have our own BLE test application which is running in our embedded Linux host, which is receives advertising packet and calculates throughput ie) how many packets received per sec.

as we can't share our BLE simulation and test app.

Please share steps followed by Nordic on how it will calculate the throughput of nRF52840 DK using hci_uart program.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Hieu — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 18:29:37 GMT

Hi Alaganraj,

Could you please also elaborate how you setup your experiments?

What is this "simulation program which transmits data?" How can you be sure it is the same when done with Nordic and with Broadcom? Do you mean you use the same Dongle? Or do you mean it is the same Zephyr firmware?

On the Host end, how are you interacting with the HCI device?

Best regards,

Hieu

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Alaganraj — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 18:09:06 GMT

Hi Hieu, Thank you. Please let me know if you need any more details.

RE: nRF52840 DK as central (hci uart) : Zephyr : how to get max throughput

Hieu — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:17:55 GMT

Hi Alaganraj,

Please know that I have been assigned to support you. However, I would need more time to work on this. Hopefully by end of Monday next week I can return with more information.

Best regards,

Hieu