Powerful wireless SoCs meet advanced wearable demands



Feature

In the third part of this article, Sebastien Mackaie-Blanchi considers the critical role of firmware for Bluetooth Low Energy SoC operation

In the first two parts of this article, we looked at the importance of hardware for complex Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) applications. But hardware is but a single element of Bluetooth LE technology.


The Bluetooth LE stack comprises a three-layer Controller (which includes the hardware, also known as the physical layer or PHY), and three-layer Host. There is nothing to stop anyone coding a Bluetooth LE stack; but it’s impractical for most developers to even start. The stack's complexity demands years of coding experience and even when the code is written the software will need long periods of debugging, testing, and verification. A much more practical route for wireless product developers is to select a silicon vendor’s PHY and marry it with the same company’s own firmware for a complete solution. (Some companies combine their hardware with a third-party’s firmware stack and sell it as their “own” product. Such a union can result in a satisfactory solution but can lead to customer problems later if the silicon and software vendors part company.)

Nordic Semiconductor uses its in-house R&D team to forge all of its Bluetooth LE stacks. The company has a good reputation for making sure its stacks feature the latest revisions to the Bluetooth specification, are of the highest quality, and are very robust. For example, Joonho Moon, a Group Leader with Samsung SDS recently said: “Nordic’s nRF52832 SoC offered the most up-to-date and stable RF protocol software” for Samsung’s SHP-DP930 Smart Doorlock.


It’s perhaps not surprising Nordic’s firmware has a good reputation. The company has been producing Bluetooth LE stacks for nearly a decade and each goes through an exhaustive testing, debugging, and verification regime before being released. Nordic offers a range of stacks to suit all applications culminating in the S140, (the firmware that accompanies the high-end nRF52840 System- on-Chip (SoC)) a Bluetooth 5-certified stack for building long-range and high-throughput Bluetooth LE applications.

A complete architecture
Many developers enjoy the freedom to write their own application code to optimize the performance of their wireless product and differentiate it from the competition. The application code connects with the stack to form a complete software solution for the end product. 


During compilation, the application code and Bluetooth LE stack are interlinked for combined operation. Datasheet images of the Bluetooth LE stack illustrate the application layer neatly positioned atop the stack. It’s a nice abstract but with most vendors, the compilation inextricably entwines the stack code
with the application code. Such entanglement can make debugging a nightmare and extends the development process.
It is also a drawback in the field because over-the-air (OTA) updates require the entire application/stack package to be overwritten. That takes longer, risks corruption of the software, and requires extra (expensive) on-chip Flash memory to handle.

Nordic’s approach is uniquely different. The company’s stacks (called SoftDevices) are downloaded as tested and verified binary files from the Nordic website. The SoftDevice features an application programming interface (API) which is available to applications for high-level programming language access. This provides the application with complete compiler independence from the SoftDevice implementation.
In simple terms this means during application development, compiling, testing, and verification, the SoftDevice remains untouched and the critical dependencies for efficient and reliable stack operation are maintained.


Better yet, because the prequalified SoftDevice is unchanged,
it requires no Bluetooth requalification when development is complete. Figure 1, which shows the application code separated from the SoftDevice and only linked where necessary for efficient operation, is a much closer representation of the real situation than other vendors’ stack abstracts.

In the field, Nordic’s software architecture, with its unique separation, allows either software block to be uploaded without disturbing the other. That dramatically shortens OTA update time and reduces the risk of corruption during the upload. 

A complete architecture

Many developers enjoy the freedom to write their own application code to optimize the performance of their wireless product and differentiate it from the competition.