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WL1831MOD: Transition from BLE 4 to 5

BO
Genius 12760 points
Part Number: WL1831MOD
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: WL1837MOD, WL1831

We are bit struggling to get our devices moving to BLE v5.1.

Our device embeds a TI WL1831MOD, and it always stays in BLE v4.2.

Version Linux : 5.10.
 
# uname -a
Linux (none) 5.10.109 #1 Wed Mar 30 14:13:24 CEST 2022 armv7l GNU/Linux
 
 
Firmware TI : 8.9.0.0.83
 
# dmesg | grep wlcore
[ 11.112149] wlcore: wl18xx HW: 183x or 180x, PG 2.2 (ROM 0x11)
[ 11.116333] wlcore: loaded
[ 14.221796] wlcore: PHY firmware version: Rev 8.2.0.0.243
[ 14.290205] wlcore: firmware booted (Rev 8.9.0.0.83)
[ 15.799496] wlcore: Association completed.
 
 
Bluez: 5.62
 
# /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd -v
5.62
 
 
Version BT : 4.2
 
# hciconfig -a
hci0: Type: Primary Bus: UART
BD Address: 48:70:1E:2E:06:D7 ACL MTU: 1021:6 SCO MTU: 180:4
UP RUNNING PSCAN
RX bytes:2838 acl:0 sco:0 events:346 errors:0
TX bytes:65000 acl:0 sco:0 commands:346 errors:0
Features: 0xff 0xfe 0x2d 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x7b 0x87
Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF
Link mode: PERIPHERAL ACCEPT
Name: '"Customer T7 143990000005"'
Class: 0x000000
Service Classes: Unspecified
Device Class: Miscellaneous,
HCI Version: 4.2 (0x8) Revision: 0x0
LMP Version: 4.2 (0x8) Subversion: 0xac12
Manufacturer: Texas Instruments Inc. (13)

Can you please explain us how to transition from BLE 4 to 5?

Regards, Bernd

  • 0
    TI__Genius 13052 points

    Hi Bernd,

    I will follow up later today or tomorrow.

    Best,
    Jacob

  • 0 in reply to Jacob B.
    TI__Genius 13052 points

    Hi Bernd,

    Our WL1837MOD is 5.1 compliant, but is not fully certified to BT 5.1. This means that we do not support the optional features for BT 5.1. Our last certification was for BT 4.2. 

    I would expect that you see an HCI version of 4.2, but I can test this and update the post.

    Best,
    Jacob

  • 0 in reply to Jacob B.
    TI__Genius 12760 points

    Hi Jacob,

    this is bad news.

    Customer has high pressure on this topic because they have some end customers requiring using BLE (for iOS compatibility) and with version 4.2, they are not able to reach the expect data transfer rate.

    What do you recommend?

    Regards,
    Bernd

  • 0 in reply to BO
    TI__Genius 13052 points

    Hi Bernd,

    BO said:
    expect data transfer rate

    Are you able to share the data rate they expect? Do you know if this is a mandatory or optional feature for BT/BLE 5.1? Our device is 5.1 compliant, so there is a good chance it does support this data transfer rate if it is a mandatory Bluetooth feature. You can check the Bluetooth SIG listing for WL1831MOD here. 

    Best,
    Jacob

  • 0 in reply to Jacob B.
    TI__Genius 12760 points

    Hi Jacob,

    see comment: Using a PC and an iPhone we can reach something like 23Kbytes/s.
    We would like to be close to that level using our device with the WL1831MOD.
    We have succeeded to upgrade to BLE 5.1 but we haven’t noticed any improvement on the data-rate front.
    The UART we are using to address the WL1831MOD is running at 921600 bauds, so that should not be the bottleneck.

    Regards,
    Bernd

  • 0 in reply to BO
    TI__Genius 13052 points

    Hi Bernd,

    BO said:
    see comment: Using a PC and an iPhone we can reach something like 23Kbytes/s

    Is this data being sent over BLE? Are you taking about the GATT profile? If so, there are a few factors that can determine BLE data transfer rate, such as the PHY, ATT MTU, connection interval, etc.

    Best,
    Jacob  

  • 0 in reply to Jacob B.
    TI__Genius 12760 points

    Hi Jacob,

    see customer comment:

    Sorry for the delayed update on this topic.

    I was waiting on my colleague to provide you more insights.

    Yes, we are transferring data over BLE, using a service with 2 characteristics (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.5.1/nrf/include/bluetooth/services/nus.html

     About the PHY, ATT MTU and connection interval, honestly, I have no clue. I assume this is negotiated at connection time and depends on the device which is connected to the WL1831, isn’t it ?

    Regards,
    Bernd

  • 0 in reply to BO
    TI__Genius 13052 points

    Hi Bernd,

    Can you ask the customer how they are measuring the data rate? 

    From what I can tell, the customer is running BlueZ on the WL1831MOD and nRF Connect on the iPhone. Is this correct? To improve data rate, I would recommend trying to increase the ATT MTU size. The customer is right that the two devices will negotiate the MTU size and use the max supported on both devices. I believe you can change the ATT MTU size with gattool.

    Thanks,
    Jacob