Overview of Bluetooth Test and Measurement

Bluetooth^® Toolbox provides you with features and reference examples that enable you to analyze the performance and perform radio frequency (RF) transceiver testing of Bluetooth basic rate/enhanced data rate (BR/EDR) systems and perform RF physical layer (RF-PHY) transceiver testing of low energy (LE) systems using standard-specified tests. You can also transmit and receive over-the-air Bluetooth signals with software-defined radios (SDRs). These tests primarily aim to achieve these objectives.

Ensure interoperability between devices in the marketplace.
Verify that the devices in the marketplace provide a basic level of system performance.

To achieve these objectives, you must perform a suite of functional and parametric tests across the permitted spectrum of parameter variation.

Bluetooth Transmitter and Receiver Testing Workflow

Using the test and measurement capabilities of Bluetooth Toolbox, you can perform Bluetooth BR/EDR and LE transmitter and receiver testing by following this procedure.

Configure and generate a Bluetooth BR/EDR or LE test waveform by using the bluetoothTestWaveformConfig object and bluetoothTestWaveform function or the bluetoothRFPHYTestConfig object, respectively.
Perform a Bluetooth BR/EDR or LE test procedure pertaining to the transmitter or receiver. For more information about the Bluetooth BR/EDR and LE tests supported by Bluetooth Toolbox, see Bluetooth BR/EDR RF Transmitter and Receiver Tests and Bluetooth LE RF-PHY Transmitter and Receiver Tests, respectively.
Obtain a passband signal by performing frequency upconversion on the generated test waveform and add additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) to it.
Demodulate, decode, and downconvert the received noisy test waveform.
Validate the downconverted waveform by using the bluetoothTestWaveformValidate function.
Measure the desired test parameter and display the test verdict. Each test case has associated expected outcomes. The implementation under test (IUT) receives the Pass verdict when the simulation results meet all the pass criteria conditions detailed within the associated expected outcomes.

Bluetooth BR/EDR RF Transmitter and Receiver Tests

This table summarizes the Bluetooth BR/EDR RF transmitter tests that Bluetooth Toolbox supports.

Transmitter Tests
Test Case ID	Test Purpose	Example
RF/TRM/CA/BV-01-C	Output power — Verifies maximum average RF output power	Bluetooth BR/EDR Power and Spectrum Tests
RF/TRM/CA/BV-02-C	Power density — Verifies maximum RF-output power density
RF/TRM/CA/BV-03-C	Power control — Verifies transmit power control
RF/TRM/CA/BV-10-C	EDR relative transmit power — Ensures the difference in average transmit power during the Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) and differential phase shift keying (DPSK) portions of a Bluetooth BR/EDR packet is within an acceptable range
RF/TRM/CA/BV-14-C	Enhanced power control — Verifies transmit-enhanced power control
RF/TRM/CA/BV-04-C	Transmit output spectrum-frequency range — Verifies whether the emissions inside the operating frequency range are within the limits	Bluetooth BR/EDR Power and Spectrum Tests
RF/TRM/CA/BV-05-C	Transmit output spectrum-20 dB bandwidth — Verifies whether the emissions for the 20 dB bandwidth are within the limits
RF/TRM/CA/BV-06-C	Adjacent channel power — Verifies whether the adjacent channel power emissions are within the limits
RF/TRM/CA/BV-13-C	EDR in-band spurious emissions — Verifies that the level of unwanted signals from the DPSK transmitter, within the frequency range that the device uses, is below the required level
RF/TRM/CA/BV-07-C	Modulation characteristics — Verifies the modulation index	Bluetooth BR RF-PHY Transmitter Tests for Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset, and Drift
RF/TRM/CA/BV-08-C	Initial carrier frequency tolerance — Verifies the transmitter carrier frequency accuracy	Bluetooth BR RF-PHY Transmitter Tests for Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset, and Drift
RF/TRM/CA/BV-09-C	Carrier frequency drift — Verifies the transmitter center frequency drift within a packet	Bluetooth BR RF-PHY Transmitter Tests for Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset, and Drift
RF/TRM/CA/BV-11-C	EDR carrier frequency stability and modulation accuracy — Verifies the transmitter carrier frequency stability and modulation accuracy	Bluetooth EDR RF-PHY Transmitter Tests for Modulation Accuracy and Carrier Frequency Stability

This table summarizes the Bluetooth BR/EDR RF receiver tests that Bluetooth Toolbox supports.

Receiver Tests
Test Case ID	Test Purpose	Example
RF/RCV/CA/BV-03-C	Carrier-to-interference (C/I) performance — Verifies the receiver performance in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference	Bluetooth BR/EDR Blocking, Intermodulation, and Carrier-to-Interference Performance Tests
RF/RCV/CA/BV-04-C	Blocking performance — Verifies the receiver performance in the presence of interference
RF/RCV/CA/BV-05-C	Intermodulation performance — Verifies the receiver intermodulation characteristics
RF/RCV/CA/BV-09-C	EDR C/I performance — Verifies the receiver performance in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference

Bluetooth LE RF-PHY Transmitter and Receiver Tests

This section summarizes the Bluetooth LE RF-PHY transmitter and receiver tests that the Bluetooth Toolbox supports.

This table shows the Bluetooth LE RF-PHY transmitter tests that you can perform.

Transmitter Tests

Test Case ID	Test Purpose	Example
Output Power
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-01-C	Verifies that the IUT, when transmitting with or without constant tone extension (CTE) and operating at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s, emits maximum peak and average power within limits	Bluetooth LE Output Power and In-Band Emissions Tests
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-19-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-15-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-22-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-18-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-20-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-21-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-23-C

In-Band Emissions
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-03-C	Verifies that the transmitter maintains in-band emissions within limits while operating with uncoded data at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s	Bluetooth LE Output Power and In-Band Emissions Tests
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-08-C		Bluetooth LE Output Power and In-Band Emissions Tests

Modulation Characteristics
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-09-C	Verifies that, when the transmitter operates with uncoded data at a data rate of 125 Kbps and at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s, the modulation characteristics remain within the limits necessary for a stable modulation index	Bluetooth LE Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset and Drift Tests
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-11-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-13-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-05-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-10-C

Carrier Frequency Offset and Drift
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-06-C	Verifies that the carrier frequency offset and carrier drift of the transmitted signal, with uncoded data at a data rate of 125 Kbps and a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s, remain within the specified limits	Bluetooth LE Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset and Drift Tests
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-12-C
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-14-C

Carrier Frequency Offset and Drift and Constant Tone Extension (CTE)
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-16-C	Verifies that the transmitted signal with uncoded data maintains the carrier frequency offset and carrier drift of the CTE portion within specified limits under normal operating conditions	Bluetooth LE Modulation Characteristics, Carrier Frequency Offset and Drift Tests
RF-PHY/TRM/BV-17-C

This table shows the Bluetooth LE RF-PHY receiver tests that you can perform.

Receiver Tests

Test Case ID	Test Purpose	Example
Blocking Performance
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-04-C	Verifies the satisfactory performance of the receiver at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s in the presence of interference sources operating outside the 2400 MHz – 2483.5 MHz band, assuming the transmitter uses a standard modulation index	Bluetooth LE Blocking, Intermodulation and Carrier-to-Interference Performance Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-10-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-16-C	Verifies the satisfactory performance of the receiver at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s in the presence of interference sources operating outside the 2400 MHz – 2483.5 MHz band, assuming the transmitter uses a stable modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-22-C

Intermodulation Performance
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-05-C	Verifies the satisfactory performance of the receiver at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s, assuming the transmitter uses a standard modulation index	Bluetooth LE Blocking, Intermodulation and Carrier-to-Interference Performance Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-11-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-17-C	Verifies the satisfactory performance of the receiver at a symbol rate of 1 Ms/s or 2 Ms/s in the presence of interference sources operating outside the 2400 MHz – 2483.5 MHz band, assuming the transmitter uses a stable modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-23-C

In-Phase and Quadrature (IQ) Samples Coherency and Angle of Departure (AoD) Receiver
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-01-C	Verifies that the IUT, an AoD receiver, samples the I and Q values from a CTE and derives relative phase values that fall within the specified limits	Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-02-C
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-03-C
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-04-C

IQ Samples Coherency and Angle of Arrival (AoA) Receiver
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-03-C	Verifies that the IUT, an AoA receiver, samples the I and Q values from a CTE and derives relative phase values that fall within the specified limits	Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-03-C		Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests

IQ Samples Dynamic Range and AoD Receiver
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-07-C	Verifies that the I and Q values sampled upon receiving an AoD CTE from a peer device match specified values as you vary the dynamic range of the CTE, and mark any samples that do not meet these criteria as invalid	Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-08-C
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-09-C
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-10-C

IQ Samples Dynamic Range and AoA Receiver
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-11-C	Verifies that the I and Q values sampled upon receiving an AoA CTE from a peer device match specified values as you vary the dynamic range of the CTE, and mark any samples that do not meet these criteria as invalid	Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/IQC/BV-12-C		Bluetooth LE IQ samples Coherency and Dynamic Range Tests

Packet Error Rate (PER) Report Integrity
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-07-C	Verifies that the IUT PER report mechanism accurately reports the received packet count to the tester at operating speeds of 1.2 Ms/s, 500 Kbps, and 125 Kbps, assuming the transmitter uses a standard modulation index	Bluetooth LE Packet Error Rate Report Integrity Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-13-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-30-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-31-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-19-C	Verifies that the IUT PER report mechanism accurately reports the received packet count to the tester at operating speeds of 1.2 Ms/s, 500 Kbps, and 125 Kbps, assuming the transmitter uses a stable modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-25-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-36-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-37-C

C/I and Receiver Selectivity Performance
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-03-C	Verifies the performance of the receiver in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference using uncoded data at 1 and 2 Ms/s, assuming the transmitter uses a standard modulation index	Bluetooth LE Blocking, Intermodulation and Carrier-to-Interference Performance Tests
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-09-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-15-C	Verifies the performance of the receiver in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference using uncoded data at 1 and 2 Ms/s, assuming the transmitter uses a stable modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-21-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-28-C	Verifies the performance of the receiver in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference when receiving an LE coded signal (S=2, S=8), assuming the transmitter uses a standard modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-29-C
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-34-C	Verifies the performance of the receiver in the presence of co-channel or adjacent channel interference when receiving an LE coded signal (S=2, S=8), assuming the transmitter uses a stable modulation index
RF-PHY/RCV/BV-35-C

References

[1] Bluetooth Technology Website. “Bluetooth Technology Website | The Official Website of Bluetooth Technology.” Accessed March 14, 2024. https://www.bluetooth.com/.

[2] Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). "Bluetooth Core Specification." Version 5.3. https://www.bluetooth.com/.

[3] Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). "Bluetooth Core Specification." Version 5.3. Bluetooth Test Suite, RF.TS.p33 edition 2. Revised date April 14, 2023. https://www.bluetooth.com/.

[4] Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). "Bluetooth Core Specification." Version 5.3. Bluetooth Test Suite, RFPHY.TS.p20 edition 2. Revised date August 28, 2023. https://www.bluetooth.com/.