Increased BLE TXPower during Repeater OTA for nRF52833 or nRF52840

[KPrivitt]

[FEATURE REQUEST] Increased BLE Transmit Strength for Repeaters using BLE during OTA #2119

The nRF52840 supports a transmit power level of up to +8dBm maximum.
// - nRF52840: -40dBm, -20dBm, -16dBm, -12dBm, -8dBm, -4dBm, 0dBm, +2dBm, +3dBm, +4dBm, +5dBm, +6dBm, +7dBm and +8dBm.

This changes the BLE Transmit power from +4dBm to +8dBm only for repeaters using an nRF52833 or nRF52840. For other devices it remains at the previous +4dBM.

BLE is normally disabled in a repeater. In OTA mode BLE is enabled to allow for the transfer of the file during the "Over the Air" firmware update. Updating a repeater using BLE OTA eliminates the need to physically connect to the repeater (bring it down, reflash and return it, which can be "risky" on a highly slanted roof). The increased power can increase the range of the BLE connection (it may be high up on your roof).

The power utilization impact of the increased transmit signal is minimal since this mode is only used during a Firmware update. A low BLE signal level can slow the speed of the data transfer, an increase in transmit signal can improve speed and the success rate of an OTA update.

[KPrivitt]

Please approve.

[oltaco]

To be clear, this would only change tx power of advertising the bootloader DFU service, the change still has to be made to the bootloader.

I have the change ready to go and I'm hoping to push a new version of the OTAFIX Bootloader this weekend.

[KPrivitt]

I will look for the new bootloader. I have updated to the UF2 Bootloader 0.9.2-OTAFIX2.1-BP1.2 for all of my repeaters except for the one up on the roof which is still at 1.14.0 and the old bootloader.

For testing should I bring down the repeater, load your new bootloader but keep the 1.14.0 version. Reinstall it up on the roof and update to 1.14.1 via OTA.

I can use the BLE Serial nRF52 tool to verify if the Power Level is now set to 8. But, as you stated this is only the advertising power level, how can I verify the transfer power level?
(there is a power "bar" that is shown during the transfer, is there a better place to verify this?)