Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is rapidly becoming one of the most widely adopted wireless technologies, finding applications in asset tracking, fitness monitoring, location services, and remote sensing. BLE devices are typically compact, durable, and often fully enclosed in protective casings to ensure environmental resilience. This packaging presents a unique challenge for engineers—how to perform wireless performance testing without direct RF or digital connections?
One effective solution is to use Over-The-Air (OTA) testing, which allows for quick verification of transmitter and receiver performance. While both components are essential, testing the receiver’s OTA performance is particularly complex, requiring innovative measurement techniques. This article explores new methods designed to assess BLE OTA packet error rate (PER) and receiver sensitivity.
The OTA test method addresses two key challenges.
**Challenge 1:** In traditional non-OTA testing, a wired connection such as UART or USB is used to control the device under test (DUT). During receiver testing, the DUT is placed in a receiving state, and the test system sends a known number of packets. It then queries the DUT to determine how many were successfully received, allowing PER calculation. However, in OTA testing, there is no direct connection, so a new approach is needed to verify whether packets were received correctly.
**Solution 1:** To measure PER without a wired link, the OTA test system uses standard BLE protocol messages. BLE devices communicate using three specific broadcast frequencies in the 2.4 GHz band. For example, a BLE device may send a broadcast packet, and if it receives a Scan_Request message from a nearby device, it will respond with a Scan_Response. This behavior is leveraged in OTA testing: the DUT sends a broadcast, the test system sends a Scan_Request, and if the DUT receives it, it replies with a Scan_Response. The test system tracks the number of sent and received packets to calculate PER.
When measuring receiver sensitivity, the test system adjusts the RF signal level to find the threshold at which a specific PER is achieved. This method, based on the Scan_Request and Scan_Response exchange, enables accurate measurement of receiver performance without any physical connection to the DUT.
**Challenge 2:** BLE has a lower data transfer rate compared to other wireless technologies like Wi-Fi or cellular networks. As a result, a large number of packets are required during receiver testing to ensure statistically significant results. This leads to longer test times and higher costs, especially in production environments.
**Solution 2:** To address this, the OTA test system employs a "fast PER test" algorithm that quickly determines the receiver sensitivity by focusing on the 50% PER point. Instead of sending thousands of packets across multiple RF levels, the test system sends a single packet at a given level, adjusts the power based on the response, and iteratively narrows down the optimal RF level. This significantly reduces the number of packets required—less than 5% compared to traditional methods—while maintaining accuracy and repeatability.
In summary, RF designers must verify the final product's performance, not just board-level measurements, as the former can differ significantly. Test engineers often lack access to board-level connections during manufacturing, making wireless testing essential for accurate and repeatable results. The OTA BLE test solution helps overcome these challenges, enabling engineers to build better designs and manufacturers to ensure quality through parametric data. For BLE devices, reliable wireless communication is crucial—without it, the device fails. Today, OTA test solutions help create better products while meeting manufacturer requirements.
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