Seeed XIAO BLE nRF52840 Long Range

Products & Technology XIAO
#1

Hello All,

I would like to ask you, how to setup two Seeed XIAO BLE nRF52840 devices to reach distance of 500m in BLE communication ?

Based on Nordic Semiconductor tests (see link below), they reached 1.300m and more:

My current result = 17m …

I use:

  • 2 x Seeed XIAO BLE nRF52840
  • Arduino IDE
  • ArduinoBLE library

I am not able to:

  • use bluefruit library - compilation error: “… Adafruit_Bluefruit_nRF52_Libraries/src/bluefruit_common.h:41:10: fatal error: nrf_sdm.h: No such file or directory…”
  • I’ve tried to set up TX Power as below, but I think it has no result on device:
    NRF_RADIO->TXPOWER = RADIO_TXPOWER_TXPOWER_Pos8dBm;
    NRF_RADIO->MODE = RADIO_MODE_MODE_Ble_LR125Kbit;

Thank you for your support in advance.

#2

Hi,

I too have a same issue with Seeed Xiao nRF52840 device not able to get good range.

Currently I am getting a range around 7meters.

I am trying to advertise the Battery voltage and CPU temperature.

I use:

  1. Seeed XIAO BLE nRF52840.(TX the battery voltage and CPU temperature)
    2.Raspberry pi 4 (RX the data)
    3.Circuit python

can you send me the example code with which you are achieving 17m range.

I am also interested in getting more range.

Thank you

#3

Hi,

I am using arduinoble library for both xiao nrf52840 - one as peripherial and second as a central.

Unfortunatelly, I have not found a way, how to setup TX POWER = 8dBm and MODE = CODED (125kB) using arduino libraries.

I expect to reach ca. 70m for above change, but it will be far away from Noridc results.
The next step will be to extend the hardware.

Best.

#4

Hi ,

I also achieved 18m range with the one board antenna with Adafruit Bluefruit nRF52 library and the tx power set to 8

But when I used external antenna with the same code I got a range around 80m.

Thank you.

#5

Hi,

can you share how did you installed bluefruit library ?

I have compilation errors inside the library - taken from github.

Thank you.

#6

Hi,

Arduino Version : 2.1.1.
Seeed Xiao Boards URL:
https://files.seeedstudio.com/arduino/package_seeeduino_boards_index.json
I downloaded the Seeed XIAO nRF52 version 1.1.1
Bluefruit Library:
Adafruit_BluefruitLE_nRF51-master.zip (162.7 KB)

the above library is working for me.

Thank you.

#7

@Karri_Sai_teja would you mind sharing your complete sketch(es) where you achieved this?
Is it correct that the Adafruit-nrf51 - library is in version 0.21.0?

#8

rssi.zip (4,4 KB)

This is my code.
Upload each sketch to a nrf52840 Xiao. I get around 6-8m of range with line of sight.
Adding an external antenna would be of interest, but I got no success so far with the things I found here in this forum (i.e. soldering to the right-side-pins of the onboard-PCB-antenna)

#9

Hi there,
80 meter? Is that what you say?
I need to see that code and antenna hack, :star_struck: must be magic
GL :slight_smile: PJ