Changelog¶

All notable changes to this project are documented in this file.

nRF Connect SDK v1.5.1 ¶

Added ¶

Added radio front-end module (FEM) support, based on the Front-end module feature (DRGN-11059).

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where the channel map provided by the LE Host Set Channel Classification HCI command was not applied on the secondary advertising channels (DRGN-13594).
The SoftDevice Controller can now be qualified on nRF52832 (DRGN-15382).
Fixed an issue where setting a legacy advertiser’s scan response data using extended advertising HCI commands corrupted the advertising data (DRGN-15465).

nRF Connect SDK v1.5.0 ¶

Added ¶

Added sdc_support_ext_scan() which makes support for extended scanning configurable (DRGN-14902).
Added sdc_support_ext_adv() which makes support for extended advertising configurable (DRGN-14914).
Added support for the vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Chip Temperature (DRGN-13769).
Added support for the vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Tx Power (DRGN-15250).

Changes ¶

Renamed and reconfigured the libraries (DRGN-15118). Refer to the README for their corresponding supported feature sets. The new names are now:
- libsoftdevice_controller_peripheral.a
- libsoftdevice_controller_central.a
- libsoftdevice_controller_multirole.a
All libraries are now compatible with all platforms within a given family (DRGN-15118).

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where the application could not immediately restart a connectable advertiser after a high duty cycle advertiser timed out (DRGN-13029).
Fixed an issue where a directed advertiser used a resolvable address as the TargetA when the local device address was set to public or random device address (DRGN-13921).
Fixed an issue where “HCI LE Set Extended Advertising Parameters” should have returned “Packet Too Long (0x45)” when the advertising set was already configured with data which was longer than it could fit within the advertising interval. Previously, the advertising data was cleared every time the advertising set was configured (DRGN-14008).
Fixed an issue where the link would disconnect with reason “LMP Response Timeout (0x22)”. This would occur if “HCI LE Long Term Key Request event” was disabled and the slave received an encryption request (DRGN-15226).
Fixed an issue where the LL control procedures LE start encryption and LE connection parameter update could not be initiated at the same time (DRGN-11963).
Fixed an issue where the generation of QoS Connection event was not disabled after an HCI reset (DRGN-15291).

The RSSI value reported by the Softdevice Controller is the raw value from the radio peripheral. Some SoCs require compensation of the RSSI value based on the chip temperature. See the Errata document for the respective SoC for detailed information.

For the nRF53 Series, you can retrieve the chip temperature by reading the value of the temperature peripheral on the network core. To do this with the SoftDevice Controller, use the Zephyr HCI VS Read Chip Temperature command (BT_HCI_OP_VS_READ_CHIP_TEMP).

For the nRF52 Series, you can use the Zephyr sensor API instead of the HCI command to retrieve the chip temperature.

You can then use the retrieved temperature value to compensate the raw RSSI value, following the workaround in the Errata document.

See the Known issues page in nRF Connect SDK for the list of known issues and limitations for this release.

nRF Connect SDK v1.4.0 ¶

Added ¶

Added Read Transmit Power Level command (DRGN-12236).
Added LE Read Transmit Power command (DRGN-12236).
Added LE Read Advertising Physical Channel Tx Power command (DRGN-12238).
Added support for setting the event length of a connection. See hci_vs_cmd_event_length_set() (DRGN-12696).
Added Set Controller to Host Flow Control command (DRGN-13331).
Added Host Buffer Size command (DRGN-13331).
Added Host Number of Complete Packets command (DRGN-13331).
Added support for the Vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Write BD Addr (DRGN-14511).
Added LE Read PHY command (DRGN-14664).
Added APIs for every supported HCI command (DRGN-13723).
Added sdc_support_adv() which makes the advertising state configurable (DRGN-14759).
Added sdc_support_slave() which makes the slave role configurable (DRGN-14759).
Added sdc_support_scan() which makes the scanning state configurable (DRGN-14759).
Added sdc_support_master() which makes the master role configurable (DRGN-14759).

Changes ¶

When linking the final binary, the image size is reduced. Only the requested features are included. See sdc_support_adv() and similar APIs for more details.
When LLPM mode is enabled, the connection event length is now no longer implicitly set to 1 ms (DRGN-12696).
When the connection interval is an LLPM connection interval, that is, below 7.5 ms, link layer procedures with an instant will use an instant larger than 6 connection events (DRGN-14379).
The nRF Bluetooth LE Controller was renamed to SoftDevice Controller (DRGN-14283). APIs are updated accordingly:
- BLE_CONTROLLER -> SDC
- ble_controller -> sdc
- HCI APIs are now prefixed with sdc
The name of the library file was changed to libsoftdevice_controller.a (DRGN-14283).
SoC APIs have been renamed (DRGN-14283):
- ble_controller_flash_write -> sdc_soc_flash_write_async
- ble_controller_flash_page_erase -> sdc_soc_flash_page_erase_async
- ble_controller_rand_vector_get -> sdc_soc_rand_vector_poll
- ble_controller_rand_vector_get_blocking -> sdc_soc_rand_vector_get
- ble_controller_ecb_block_encrypt -> sdc_soc_ecb_block_encrypt
Vendor specific HCI APIs have been renamed (DRGN-14701):
- HCI_VS_OPCODE -> HCI_OPCODE_VS
- HCI_VS_SUBEVENT -> HCI_SUBEVENT_VS
- hci_vs_cmd -> hci_cmd_vs

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue in master role which could cause disconnects if there were scheduling conflicts while doing a control procedures with an instant (DRGN-11222).

Added Read Authenticated Payload Timeout command.
Added Write Authenticated Payload Timeout command.
Added Set Event Mask command.
Added Set Event Mask Page 2 command.
Added ble_controller_support_le_2m_phy() which makes LE 2M PHY support configurable.
Added ble_controller_support_le_coded_phy() which makes LE Coded PHY support configurable.
Added LE Read Supported States command.
Added LE Set Advertising Set Random Address command.
Added LE Remove Advertising Set command.
Added LE Clear Advertising Sets command.
Added support for the Vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Version Information.
Added support for the Vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Supported Commands.
Added support for the Vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Static Addresses.
Added support for the Vendor specific HCI command: Zephyr Write TX Power Level (per Role/Connection).

Changes ¶

HCI_VS_SUBEVENT_CODE_QOS_CONN_EVENT_REPORT was renamed to HCI_VS_SUBEVENT_QOS_CONN_EVENT_REPORT.
hci_vs_evt_qos_conn_event_report_t was renamed to hci_vs_subevent_qos_conn_event_report_t.
hci_vs_cmd_zephyr_read_supported_commands_return_t was converted from a struct to a union. The content remains the same.
The VersNr field in the LL_VERSION_IND packet now contains the value 0x0B to indicate Bluetooth Core Specification v5.2 compliance.
The previously implemented Vendor Specific HCI command opcodes are now offset with 0x100.
The previously implemented Vendor Specific HCI event codes are now offset with 0x80.
When the controller receives an unknown command, it will raise “Command Status event” instead of “Command Complete event”.
When in slave latency, the controller now picks up data from the host for transmission earlier than it used to.
In the LE Extended Advertising Report, the Direct Address Type values 0x02, 0x03, and 0xFE will only be used when the Scanning Filter Policy is equal to 0x02 or 0x03 and TargetA is a resolvable private address. If the address is resolved, then the Direct Address Type will contain the same value as the Own Address Type parameter of the command LE Set Extended Scan Parameters. This follows the Bluetooth Core Specification v5.2.
On nRF53, the fix for Errata 16 is now applied.

nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0 ¶

Added ¶

Added ble_controller_support_dle() which makes LE Data Length Extension support configurable.
Added preliminary support for the S140 variant with the nRF5340 device. The Bluetooth LE Controller for nRF5340 supports the same feature set as its nRF52 Series counterpart. The following library has been added:
- ble_controller/lib/cortex-m33+nodsp/soft-float/libble_controller_s140.a

Changes ¶

mpsl_init() is no longer called by ble_controller_init(). Application is therefore responsible for calling mpsl_init(), and it must be done before ble_controller_init() is called.
Clock configuration parameters are now contained in mpsl_clock_lfclk_cfg_t instead of nrf_lf_clock_cfg_t, and must be provided to mpsl_init() instead of ble_controller_init().
Clock accuracy must now be specified in parts per million (ppm) instead of the previous enum value.
The IRQ line to pend for low priority signal processing must be provided to mpsl_init() instead of ble_controller_init().
The application must call mpsl_low_priority_process() instead of ble_controller_low_prio_tasks_process() to process low priority signals.
mpsl_uninit() is no longer called by ble_controller_disable(). Application must therefore call mpsl_uninit() after ble_controller_disable() to uninitialize MPSL.
Interrupt handler APIs for the following peripherals are moved to MPSL: RADIO, RTC0, TIMER0, and POWER_CLOCK.
High frequency clock API (ble_controller_hf_clock_...) is removed. Use corresponding API in MPSL instead.
Temperature API (ble_controller_temp_get()) is removed. Use corresponding API in MPSL instead.
Timeslot API is removed. Use corresponding API in MPSL instead.
Version numbers have been removed from the libraries.

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where the application could not immediately restart a connectable advertiser after a high duty cycle advertiser timed out.
Fixed an issue where a control packet could be sent twice even after the packet was ACKed. This would only occur if the radio was forced off due to an unforeseen condition.
Fixed an issue in HCI LE Set Extended Scan Enable where UNSUPPORTED_FEATURE was returned when duplicate filtering was enabled.
Fixed an issue in HCI LE Set Advertising Parameters where UNSUPPORTED_FEATURE was returned when secondary_max_skip was set to a non-zero value. This issue occured when sending a packet on either LE 1M or LE 2M PHY after receiving or transmitting a packet on LE Coded PHY. If this occured while performing a Link Layer Control Procedure, the controller could end up retransmitting an ACKed packet, resulting in a disconnect.
Fixed an issue where an assert could occur when receiving a packet with a CRC error after performing a data length procedure on Coded PHY.
Fixed an issue where an assert occurred when setting a secondary PHY to 0 when using HCI LE Set Extended Advertising Parameters. This issue occurred when the advertising type was set to legacy advertising.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.3.0-3.prealpha ¶

Added ¶

Added support for nRF52833.

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where hci_data_get() could return “No data available” when there was data available. This issue would only occur when connected to multiple devices at the same time.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.3.0-2.prealpha ¶

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where an assert occured when the host issued LE Write Suggested Default Data Length.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.3.0-1.prealpha ¶

Added ¶

Increased the number of supported SoC and library combinations.
Added API for estimating the dynamic memory usage returned by ble_controller_cfg_set().
Added a new header ble_controller_hci_vs.h that exposes definitions of Vendor Specific HCI commands and events.
Added support for connection intervals less than the standard minimum of 7.5 ms. Note that this a proprietary feature that is not Bluetooth compliant. This proprietary feature is named ‘Low Latency Packet Mode (LLPM)’.
Added support for enabling or disabling connection event length extension. When disabled, the maximum connection event length is set by ble_controller_cfg_event_length_t::event_length_us. When enabled, the maximum connection event length is determined by the connection interval.
Added support for generating QoS Connection event reports. When enabled, one report is generated with every connection event. The report contains information that can be used to change the Bluetooth LE channel map.

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue where HCI Read Local Supported Commands command did not indicate support for HCI LE Set Privacy Mode command.
Fixed an issue where an ASSERT occured when setting advertising data after HCI Reset without setting advertising parameters.
Fixed an issue where an ASSERT occured when writing to flash.
Fixed an issue where a directed advertiser could time out without sending a packet on air.

Changes ¶

The VersNr field in the LL_VERSION_IND packet now contains the value 0x0A to indicate Bluetooth Core Specification v5.1 compatibility.
Bluetooth Core Specification Erratum #10750 is incorporated. The LE Data Length Change event will now be raised when switching to and from Coded PHY. On-air behavior has not changed.
Bluetooth Core Specification Erratum #10818 is incorporated. The controller now allows HCI ACL data packets with 0-length payload, but does not transmit anything until receiving the next non-zero continuation fragment.
Cleaned up invalid doxygen comments.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.2.0-4.prealpha ¶

Added a workaround to block the host from sending HCI commands when a shared command is in progress.

Added names to nested structs and unions in timeslot.h as a workaround for a Sphinx documentation build issue.
Fixed internal links to functions and files.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.2.0-1.prealpha ¶

Updated Bluetooth LE Controller with bugfixes and updated APIs.

Added ¶

Added API for fetching build revision information.
Added ble_controller_rand_vector_get_blocking() as a blocking call to get a vector of random bytes.
Added API to get Bluetooth LE Controller build revision: ble_controller_build_revision_get().
Added separate ble_controller_init() API.

Bug fixes ¶

Fixed an issue in HCI control flow that severely limited Bluetooth LE throughput.

Changes ¶

Moved fault_handler and p_clk_cfg from ble_controller_enable() to ble_controller_init().
Changed ble_controller_process_SWI5_IRQ() to be IRQ independent. The generic ble_controller_low_prio_tasks_process() is used instead and SWI5 is no longer reserved.
Aligned naming for Bluetooth LE Controller configuration names.
Made minor changes to existing API.
Improved API documentation.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.1.0-2.prealpha ¶

No change to library files.

Added ¶

Headers necessary to utilize the timeslot API.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.1.0-1.prealpha ¶

Initial release.

Added ¶

Added the following ble_controller_nrf52_0.1.0-1.prealpha library variants, each in soft-float, softfp-float, and hard-float builds:
- libble_controller_s112_nrf52_0.1.0-1.prealpha.a
- libble_controller_s132_nrf52_0.1.0-1.prealpha.a
- libble_controller_s140_nrf52_0.1.0-1.prealpha.a