Teledyne LeCroy introduced on Tuesday the Bluetooth Protocol Expert System software module, enabling accelerated development of Bluetooth devices and speeding development and troubleshooting of device interoperability in the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Bluetooth Protocol Expert System software module presents errors, warnings, and violations impacting Bluetooth communications. Those violations are referenced directly back to the relevant sections of the Bluetooth specification, allowing quick identification, understanding and resolution of complex issues.
With the Bluetooth Protocol Expert System, the referencing is done for the engineer. This system not only identifies BR/EDR and LE errors, warnings, and violation, it goes one step further – it links those events in the trace directly back to the Bluetooth specification, alleviating the need to memorize the specification or search through it for explanations. As a result, issues can be resolved faster, even by people not familiar with the specification. The Bluetooth Protocol Expert System makes the Bluetooth novice an expert, and makes the expert’s job easier.
The Bluetooth Protocol Expert System software module ships with an exciting “toolbox” of features including the ability to emulate an A2DP sink device and the ability to generate and inject low energy packets directly into in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. The A2DP sink functionality dramatically simplifies the troubleshooting of A2DP source devices by providing engineers fine grain control of an emulated A2DP sink device. The low energy jammer or packet generation functionality provides engineers the means to test devices in a “noisy” environment by generating packets or “noise”, forcing the device under test to accommodate and adjust as it would in the real world.
The proliferation of Bluetooth enabled devices in our interconnected world is staggering, yet promises dramatic improvements to information gathering, comfort or quality of life, productivity, and safety. To deliver those IoT promises, devices must work well together. Historically, when Bluetooth issues arose engineers developing, testing, and troubleshooting IoT devices captured a trace and used it to find errors.
The trace, along with their knowledge of the specification, enabled them to seek out the errors and identify issues. Often they would refer directly back to the specification itself, verifying how the technology should be used. This process was slowed if the engineer was new to the technology.
“We’re really excited about the Protocol Expert System” says David Bean, General Manager of Teledyne LeCroy’s Frontline product group. “Engineers using it to develop and troubleshoot their Bluetooth devices will enjoy significant time savings. Not only does it make their job easier, it gives them the tools they need to ensure interoperability and the best out-of-box experience possible.”
The Bluetooth Protocol Expert System software works in tandem with Frontline’s powerful protocol analyzer software. It is optimized to work with Frontline hardware including the Sodera Wideband Bluetooth Protocol Analyzer and the Sodera LE low energy Bluetooth Protocol Analzyer.
