Introduction

The purpose of this exercise is to introduce the user to the coexistence feature, and familiarize the user with how it is configured for a BLE device.

Task 0: Modify the Simple Peripheral Project

This task shows how to modify the BLE device description to display a different name when advertising.

Task 1: Coexistence Configuration

This task will describe how the coexistence feature is enabled and configured.

Task 2: Validate Configuration

This task will describe how the coexistence configuration can be validated.

Prerequisites

Hardware

For this lab:

• 2x Bluetooth-enabled development boards (see note on device support).

For testing:

• Additional CC13x2 or CC26x2 LaunchPad to run host_test OR
• Mobile device for testing

Software

In order to start with this exercise you will need to download the correct Software Development Kit (SDK) for your LaunchPad.

For CC13x2 and CC26x2:

• SimpleLink™ CC13x2_26x2 SDK

Code Composer Studio:

• CCS 10 installed with support for CC13xx/CC26xx devices

For testing, a Bluetooth client application is required:

• BTool (located in the tools->ble5stack directory of the SimpleLink CC13x2_26x2 SDK installation) OR
• Bluetooth mobile apps:
  • Android: TI SimpleLink Starter - available on the Google Play store
  • iOS: TI SimpleLink Starter - available on the App Store

Background

• Coexistence Chapter of the TI BLE5-Stack User's Guide

Getting started – Desktop

To later verify the coexistence (Coex) configuration, we need to set up the LaunchPad as a BLE peripheral device. We will use Simple Peripheral for this purpose. You can find Simple Peripheral in the SDK alongside other BLE5-Stack example projects.

Import Simple Peripheral into CCS. If you need help, follow the instructions in the Getting Started section of Bluetooth low energy Fundamentals SimpleLink Academy module. This module describes the use of Project Zero, but the approach will be the same for Simple Peripheral. If you want to check that your peripheral device (Simple Peripheral) is advertising you can flash the device with the default project settings, and use your phone with the the SimpleLink Starter app (link under Prerequisites above) or another BLE Client app.

Task 0 – Modify the Simple Peripheral Project

When the Simple Peripheral project is imported into CCS, as described in Getting Started, open the system configuration tool by double-clicking the simple_peripheral.syscfg file.

The following describes how to change the name of the Simple Peripheral project, that is, how the advertisements are displayed in your BLE Client app. This will make it easier to verify the configuration later, and also verify that your setup is correct up until this point. If you are okay with the default settings of the Simple Peripheral project, skip to Task 1 now.

Select the BLE module in the left panel of the SysConfig tool. Change the device name under General Configuration > Device Name. For this lab device name Project Coex is used.

When modifying the device name as in the above, you should also make sure the advertisement data (at least when using Local Name) matches the device name. For this lab, to be sure of continuity, it is recommended to enable the use of Complete Local Name for the advertisement data sets. For this, navigate to Broadcaster Configuration > Advertisement Set [1,2] and under both Advertisement Data and Scan Response Data you can enable the Complete Local Name option and fill in the same name you chose for Device Name. In this lab we use Project Coex.

With the above modifications saved, built and flashed to the device, you can scan the device with your preferred BLE Client application. You should see something similar to this:

Task 1 – Coexistence Configuration

If you are not familiar with wireless coexistence (Coex), or how the Coex feature is implemented for the SimpleLink™ CC13x2_26x2 SDK, you should take a look at the Coexistence section of the TI BLE5-Stack User's Guide.

To make sure you remember what you read about the feature, take a minute to verify what you know.

The option to enable coexistence can either be found by accessing the RF Driver module in the left panel directly, or by navigating in the BLE module: Radio > BLE Radio Configuration > Other Dependencies > RF Driver. Enable coexistence, and take note of the default options.

We are not going to change any of these default options, but notice that the Coex GRANT signal is defined with idle level High. This will be important later.

As for the BLE Use Case Configuration, this provides the granularity to specify custom behavior for the different BLE use cases; Connection establishment, Connected, Broadcaster and Observer. For this lab it should stay as it is.

Because Coex Mode is set to 3-Wire, three pins are dedicated for the Coex signaling. Which pins the REQUEST and PRIORITY signals are mapped to is not important for this lab, but make sure the GRANT pin is next to GND. In this case, for the CC26X2R, this will be DIO 23. To display the LaunchPad pin graphic, enable the Show Board option in the top right corner of the SysConfig window.

Remember to save the changes you have done to the simple_peripheral.syscfg, build the project with the new changes, and flash the device.

Task 2 – Validate Configuration

The Coex configuration can be validated with the BLE Client scanner approach used in Task 0. With the changes made in Task 1 built and flashed to the device, the BLE Client scanner will show no evidence of the BLE device advertising anything. That is, Project Coex (if you followed the steps of Task 0), is not visible in any scan list.

As you know from reading the Coexistence Chapter of the TI BLE5-Stack User's Guide, the BLE device is expecting an active GRANT signal to advertise. Without such a confirmation signal, nothing will happen. This is because the BLE device is configured for 3-Wire Coex, and the device pins are not wired to any Coex master device. Notice that if we configure the Coex mode to be 1-Wire REQUEST, the GRANT signal would not be in use, and the BLE device would be free to advertise regardless of any pin connection.

To validate the configuration, and overcome the issue with a missing Coex master, we can hard-wire the GRANT pin to either the 3V3 or the GND header pin.

If you have configured the coexistence interface as specified in Task 1, the GRANT signal should be set to idle level high. This means that the GRANT pin can be connected to GND to provide the BLE device with a static active GRANT signal. When the GRANT signal is mapped to a pin next to the GND pin, one of the LaunchPad jumpers not in use (e.g. one of the LED jumpers) can be used to bridge the gap between the GRANT pin and the GND pin. See the illustration image below.

By moving a jumper to hard-wire a static GRANT signal to the BLE device, you can again check your BLE Client application, and verify that the device is visible in the scan list.

Debugging

The coexistence feature relies on signal mapping to device pins. If you have a logic analyzer available, you can connect this to the Coex pins as you have mapped them in SysConfig (described in Task 1). With this you are able to validate your configuration, and analyze the signal behavior. The trace output from this will be similar to the timing diagram in the Coexistence Chapter of the TI BLE5-Stack User's Guide.

References

TI BLE5-Stack User's Guide

Bluetooth low energy Fundamentals