Bluetooth

Rohde & Schwarz and Ceva Present Industry’s First Test Solution for Bluetooth OTA UTP

Posted on by Techtime

Above: Rohde & Schwarz wideband radio communication tester

Rohde & Schwarz and Ceva unveiled the world’s first test solution supporting the upcoming Bluetooth® OTA UTP Test Mode, enabling over-the-air (OTA) controlled device testing. The two companies will showcase their joint solution at embedded world 2025 in Nuremberg. Rohde & Schwarz and Ceva closely collaborated to develop this test solution, powered by Ceva-Waves Bluetooth® Low Energy IP. It runs on the R&S CMW radio communication tester platform from Rohde & Schwarz, with integrated Ceva-Waves Bluetooth® Low Energy controller software licensed from Ceva.

OTA-Testing for Bluetooth devices

Until now, wearables and other small and highly integrated Bluetooth devices required testing using the Direct Test Mode which involves a control cable between the test instrument and the device under test (DUT). Especially encapsulated DUTs make it difficult or even impossible to integrate a connection for this control cable. Hence, sending test control messages over the air without any cabling between tester and DUT as specified in the UTP mode will simplify the test setup immensely.

The Ceva-Waves Bluetooth Low Energy platform has been shipped in billions of devices across various markets. The Bluetooth UTP Mode on the R&S CMW radio communication tester platform offers a simple and precise signaling test solution, suited for Bluetooth Low Energy radio tests in development, pre-conformance and production testing. All Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth Classic Radio measurements are unified and can be performed with a single test setup over the air in a signaling connection. Comprehensive test automation is crucial to ensure compliance to the Bluetooth specifications.

Tal Shalev, VP and general manager of the wireless IoT business unit at Ceva, commented: “The introduction of Bluetooth OTA UTP Test Mode is a crucial advancement for testing next-generation consumer Bluetooth.” Christoph Pointner, Senior VP for Mobile Radio Testers at Rohde & Schwarz, said: “Thanks to our close partnership with Ceva and their Bluetooth Low Energy IP we were able to implement the new Bluetooth UTP Test Mode in line with the specifications of the Bluetooth Core Specification Working Group on our platform.”

Both partners are actively involved in defining the specifications within the Bluetooth Core Specification Working Group. The solution is compatible with the already ratified Bluetooth releases up to release 6.0 Channel Sounding, supporting the existing Direct Test Mode (DTM) with the conducted control connection.

Silicon Labs Announced Development Kit for Bluetooth Location Services

Posted on by Techtime

Silicon Labs announced the BG22 Bluetooth Dual Polarized Antenna Array Pro Kit, used to develop Bluetooth Location Services based on its recently introduced BG22 SiP modules and SoCs, which can operate for up to ten years on only a coin cell battery. With Silicon Labs’ software, these devices can track assets, perform indoor navigation and locate tags with sub-meter accuracy.

The BG22 Bluetooth Dual Polarized Antenna Array Pro Kit is designed for evaluation and development of Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) support provided in the Bluetooth 5.1 specification. It includes a 4×4 Antenna Array board with reference designs and documentation to enable integration of this array into locator and gateway designs, and all the necessary tools for developing high-volume, scalable Direction-Finding solutions.

In many industries, locating inventory and physical assets can often be a time-consuming process. This is a problem across many industries, such as an assembly line for an automotive manufacturer with an average of 30,000 parts per vehicle. While there are several existing location-based technologies, they are plagued by limitations: GPS is ineffective indoors, Wi-Fi has varying degrees of accuracy, and the very-accurate ultra-wideband (UWB) can be expensive and has high energy requirements.

According to Silicon Labs, Bluetooth is a mature technology that can overcome many of these barriers. Building on Bluetooth 5.1, Silicon Labs has developed new software, designed to maximize the location-finding capabilities of our BG22 series of SoCs and SiP modules.

Silicon Labs is represented in Israel by Elina Engineering 

Contact: Yossi Chen, +972-44902499, yossi@elina.co.il