Changelog

All the notable changes to this project are documented on this page.

Main branch

Added

• Production support for the nRF54L Series. (DRGN-23325)

• Support for the LE Set Path Loss Reporting Parameters and LE Set Path Loss Reporting Enable HCI commands. (DRGN-17376)

• Support for generating connection anchor update event reports using the VS Conn Anchor Point Update Report Enable command. When enabled, one report is generated when the anchor point of a connection is updated. This information can be used to synchronize two applications running on a central and a peripheral device. (DRGN-22662)

• Vendor-specific command for triggering a peripheral task at the start of a radio event. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_event_start_task(). (DRGN-20737)

• Support for the LE Set Default Subrate and LE Subrate Request HCI commands. (DRGN-19745)

• Support for ISO broadcaster handles in the sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_write_tx_power() and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_read_tx_power() commands (DRGN-23441).

• Experimental support for Channel Sounding (CS) on nRF54L Series devices. Currently, the SoftDevice Controller only supports one subevent per event. The following HCI commands are now supported:

  • LE CS Read Local Supported Capabilities

  • LE CS Read Remote Supported Capabilities

  • LE CS Security Enable

  • LE CS Set Default Settings

  • LE CS Read Remote FAE Table

  • LE CS Create Config

  • LE CS Set Channel Classification

  • LE CS Set Procedure Parameters

  • LE CS Procedure Enable

  • LE CS Test

  • LE CS Test End

• The defines SDC_PPI_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_DPPI_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_DPPIC10_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_DPPIC00_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_DPPIC020_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, and SDC_DPPIC030_CHANNELS_USED_MASK. These represent the PPI resources used in the SoftDevice Controller.

• The defines SDC_PPIB00_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_PPIB10_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, SDC_PPIB020_CHANNELS_USED_MASK, and SDC_PPIB030_CHANNELS_USED_MASK. These represent the PPIB resources used in the SoftDevice Controller.

Changes

• Removed support for running the SoftDevice Controller on the nRF54L15 PDK v0.7.0 and earlier. (DRGN-23325)

• Removed support for running the SoftDevice Controller on the Engineering A revision of the nRF54H20 SoC. (DRGN-23325)

• The VersNr field in the LL_VERSION_IND packet now contains the value 0x0E to indicate compatibility with Bluetooth Core Specification v6.0 (DRGN-23211).

• The sdc_coex_adv_mode_configure API has been deprecated as it is not applicable to any supported coexistence interfaces. (DRGN-20876).

• The sdc_hci_cmd_vs_coex_priority_config and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_coex_scan_mode_config vendor-specific HCI commands have been removed as they are not applicable to any supported coexistence interfaces. (DRGN-20876)

• The vendor-specific Set Connection Event Trigger command has been deprecated. Users interested in similar functionality are encouraged to use the VS Set Event Start Task command instead. (DRGN-20737)

• Extended Connection Events are not re-enabled on HCI Reset. The state before HCI Reset is preserved, either the value of CONFIG_BT_CTLR_SDC_CONN_EVENT_EXTEND_DEFAULT or the most recent call to sdc_hci_cmd_vs_conn_event_extend(). (DRGN-22687)

• The paths to the library files for SoftDevice Controller and MPSL were changed to use the device family. (DRGN-21939)

  • cortex-m4 changed to nrf52

  • cortex-m33+nodsp changed to nrf53

  • nrf54l15_cpuapp changed to nrf54l

  • nrf54h20_cpurad changed to nrf54h

• For a Synchronized Receiver, the priority of the first BN subevents of relevant BISes in a BIG event now have an elevated priority. This should improve reliability of ISO data being received by a Synchronized Receiver running alongside a role of lower priority. For more details, see the Scheduling priorities table.

• The SoftDevice Controller can now utilize more than 64K of memory buffer passed to sdc_enable(). (DRGN-22067)

• If LE Power Control is not being used, the TX power of CISes is now the same as for the corresponding ACL connection. (DRGN-23291)

• Generating the Number of Completed Packets event is now prioritized above all other events. The event is generated irrespective of the state of the Controller to Host data flow control. (DRGN-23284)

• When a link disconnects, the controller will now raise one or more Number Of Completed Packets events for data packets not ACKed by the peer device. (DRGN-23302)

• Isochronous roles may now produce HCI ISO data with SDUs containing the 0b01 packet status flag which indicates “possibly invalid data”. This is the case if the peer sends invalid data. (DRGN-23420)

Bug fixes

• Fixed a rare assert that could happen when disabling a periodic advertising set with responses. (DRGN-22443)

• Fixed an issue where the length byte of the HCI packet could be incorrect. This could happen when the packet contained an LE BIG Sync Established event or LE BIG Complete event with status not equal to success. (DRGN-22441)

• Fixed an assert that could happen when in a connection where the peer device is transmitting on S8 Coded PHY. This issue was present in v2.6 and v2.7 releases. (DRGN-22652)

• Fixed an issue where the extended scanner would not generate a truncated advertising report after the coexistence interface aborted the reception of an AUX_CHAIN_IND packet. (DRGN-22686)

• Fixed a very rare issue where the controller stopped generating advertising reports. On nRF52 Series and nRF53 Series devices, this would happen at least one hour after the scanner started. On nRF54L and nRF54H Series devices, this would occur immediately after the scanner started. (DRGN-22678)

  It would only happen when one of the following applies:

  • There was another central-like scheduling activity running. Examples of roles with such activities are the ACL central, periodic advertiser, isochronous broadcaster and the CIS central. This activity was configured with an event length or event spacing equal or greater than the scan interval. This is typically only true for use cases where the application enables isochronous channels or uses very short scan windows.

  • The scanner was configured with scan window equal to scan interval (continuous scanning).

  • The central-like scheduling activity required less than 1 ms to complete at the point in time where the scanner started.

• Fixed a rare issue where the scanner would be stuck in the synchronizing state after failing to receive an AUX_ADV_IND packet. This could only happen when the corresponding ADV_EXT_IND packet contained a resolvable address, private address resolution is enabled, and the periodic advertising list is not used. (DRGN-22230)

• Fixed an issue where the controller could generate the LE Advertising Set Terminated event one event sooner than expected. (DRGN-22705)

  This could only happen when all of the following apply:

  • a non-zero Max_Extended_Advertising_Events parameter was used in the LE Set Extended Advertising Enable command.

  • other ongoing activities in the controller prevented the first advertising event from taking place when the advertising set was created.

• Fixed an issue where calling the sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_write_tx_power() function without the LE Power Control feature enabled could cause the controller to de-reference a NULL pointer. (DRGN-22930)

• Fixed an issue where the Central failed to receive the last packet in an isochronous event. This could only happen if the Connected Isochronous Stream Creation procedure was initiated by the host before the Encryption Start procedure completed. (DRGN-22879)

• Fixed an assert that could happen when using the coexistence interface. (DRGN-23002)

  This could happen when any of the following controller activities were ongoing:

  • Isochronous Broadcaster

  • Connected Isochronous channel in the peripheral role

  • Periodic Sync with Responses

• Fixed an issue where LE Power Control was not being used for CISes which are not the first CIS in a CIG. (DRGN-23291)

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller in the peripheral role could terminate a connection due to a MIC failure during a valid encryption start procedure. This could only happen if the LL_ENC_RSP packet was corrupted due to on-air interference. (DRGN-23204)

• Fixed an issue where received unframed Isochronous SDUs were not reported to be a SDU interval apart. This could happen when the ISO interval is greater than the SDU interval and multiple SDUs can be received in a single ISO interval. (DRGN-23586)

• Fixed an issue where the sleep clock accuracy communicated to the peer was too inaccurate if MPSL was initialized with a low frequency clock accuracy better than 20ppm. (DRGN-23693)

• Fixed a rare issue in the controller that could lead to a bus fault. (DRGN-22036)

  This could only happen when all of the following conditions were met:

  • The host was too slow at pulling HCI events.

  • One or more HCI events had been masked in the controller.

  • The controller was raising ACL or ISO data to the host.

nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0

Added

• Experimental support for scanning and initiating at the same time. (DRGN-19050)

• Vendor-specific HCI command to set the channel map for scanning and initiating. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_scan_channel_map_set() (DRGN-19730).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to configure the scanner and initiator to either accept or reject extended advertising packets. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_scan_accept_ext_adv_packets_set() (DRGN-21755).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to change the scheduling priorities. Currently, this only supports changing the priority of initiator activities on the auxiliary channels. Note that unless documented otherwise, any non-default priorities are not tested. This means that there is no guarantee that the controller works as intended when non-tested priorities are used. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_role_priority() (DRGN-21226).

Changes

• The SoftDevice Controller will now schedule all scanner primary channel timing-events cooperatively even when the sum of the scan windows is less than the scan interval. If the SoftDevice Controller is unable to schedule a full scan window for a long time, the scheduling priority will be raised to ensure a full window is scheduled.

  Generally, this change will result in either increased scanning time, or similar scanning time to before. In cases where there are many conflicting activities within the scan window, this change may result in reduced scanning time. (DRGN-19050)

• Scan windows are no longer limited to 16 seconds. (DRGN-19050)

• The deprecated structure members sdc_rand_source_t.rand_prio_low_get and sdc_rand_source_t.rand_prio_high_get have been removed. This change does not affect applications developed in the nRF Connect SDK context. (DRGN-20473)

• The HCI commands used to configure a scanner or initiator no longer return BT_HCI_ERR_INVALID_PARAM when the sum of scan windows is greater than the scan interval. Now the controller will truncate the scan windows so that the sum of the windows fit within the scan interval. (DRGN-21710)

• The vendor-specific Set Connection Event Trigger command can now be used with advertising sets. (DRGN-21665)

• The application can now configure the amount of RAM allocated for the RX ISO SDUs. The SoftDevice Controller now uses the field rx_sdu_buffer_size in sdc_cfg_iso_buffer_cfg_t. The macro SDC_MEM_ISO_RX_SDU_POOL_SIZE has been changed to take the maximum RX SDU size as an input. This change does not affect applications developed in the nRF Connect SDK context. (DRGN-21650)

• The application can now configure the amount of RAM allocated for the TX ISO SDUs. The fields tx_sdu_buffer_count and tx_sdu_buffer_size in sdc_cfg_iso_buffer_cfg_t are added. The fields tx_hci_buffer_count and tx_hci_buffer_size in sdc_cfg_iso_buffer_cfg_t are removed. The macros SDC_MEM_ISO_TX_PDU_POOL_SIZE and SDC_MEM_ISO_TX_SDU_POOL_SIZE replace SDC_MEM_ISO_TX_POOL_SIZE. This change does not affect applications developed in the nRF Connect SDK context. (DRGN-21650)

• The function sdc_soc_ecb_block_encrypt() has been removed. Using mpsl_ecb.h is now recommended instead. (DRGN-21603)

• The ability to configure a periodic advertiser with subevents but without response slots has been removed. This is due to an errata to the Bluetooth Core Specification v5.4 no longer allowing this configuration. (DRGN-22189)

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where an assert could happen if an initiator ran for more than 2147 seconds before connecting (DRGN-22163).

• Fixed an extremely rare race condition where using sdc_soc_ecb_block_encrypt() from an ISR could lead to encryption failures. (DRGN-21603)

• Fixed an issue where the vendor-specific ISO Read TX Timestamp command returned a timestamp that was 41 µs too small (DRGN-21605).

• Fixed an issue where an assert could happen if a CIS peripheral stopped receiving packets from the CIS central. This would only occur after the window widening reached at least half of the ISO interval in magnitude. Assuming worst case clock accuracies on both central and peripheral, this would correspond to 2.4, 3.7, and 4.9 seconds for ISO intervals of 5 ms, 7.5 ms, and 10 ms. This issue would not occur if the supervision timeout was set to a value smaller than the ones mentioned above (DRGN-21619).

• Fixed an issue where the peripheral waited for a link to time out when tearing down the connection. This happened when the central would acknowledge TERMINATE_IND in the same event as it was being sent (DRGN-21637).

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller would accept the HCI LE Set Random Address command while passive scanning had been enabled. The SoftDevice Controller now returns the error code 0x0D in this case. (DRGN-19050)

• Fixed an issue where a BIS Broadcaster would transmit invalid parameters in the BIG Info if a BIG was created with num_bis set to 1 and packing set to 1 (interleaved). This could happen with both the LL Create BIG and LL Create BIG Test commands (DRGN-21912).

• Fixed an issue with the controller-initiated autonomous LE Power Control Request procedure for Coded PHY that could lead to a disconnection. (DRGN-21923)

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller could assert if a BIS Receiver stops receiving packets from the BIS Broadcaster. (DRGN-21949)

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller could in some rare cases generate an LE Periodic Advertising Subevent Data Request for a subevent it didn’t have the memory capacity for. (DRGN-21839)

• Fixed an issue where an assert could happen if the peripheral received a connection update indication. This happened when the central used a wide receive window for the connection update, and both sent at the end of the receive window and sent a lot of data in the connection event with the connection update instant (DRGN-22024).

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller could assert when scanning or advertising on Coded PHY using SPI FEM on the nRF53 series. (DRGN-21962)

nRF Connect SDK v2.6.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.6.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Vendor-specific HCI command to read average RSSI calculated by LE Power Control. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_read_average_rssi() (DRGN-17355).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to set the time between anchor points of central ACL connections with identical connection intervals. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_central_acl_event_spacing_set() (DRGN-20796).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to set up (D)PPI tasks on radio events. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_conn_event_trigger() (DRGN-20737).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to read the next connection event counter value. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_get_next_conn_event_counter() (DRGN-20737).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to allow parallel connection establishment through initiating and periodic advertising with responses. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_allow_parallel_connection_establishments() (DRGN-20823).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to set the minimum value that will be used as maximum Tx octets for ACL connections. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_min_val_of_max_acl_tx_payload_set() (DRGN-20819).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to read the ISO tx timestamp and packet sequence number of the SDU that the host previously provided. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_iso_read_tx_timestamp() (DRGN-19283).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to change the time reserved for other roles in each ISO interval, used when selecting BIG parameters. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_big_reserved_time_set() (DRGN-20891).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to change the time reserved for other roles in each ISO interval, used when selecting CIG parameters. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_cig_reserved_time_set() (DRGN-21344).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to set the CIS subevent length. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_cis_subevent_length_set() (DRGN-21362).

Changes

• The LE Isochronous Channels feature is now supported instead of experimental, both Connected Isochronous Streams and Broadcast Isochronous Streams. Unless mentioned otherwise, the SoftDevice Controller supports the whole range of the allowed parameters. See the Limitations section for known limitations.

• The controller now returns the error code 0x12 if the same subevent index is used multiple times in LE Set Periodic Advertising Subevent Data. This conforms to erratas ES23466 and ES23424. (DRGN-20736)

• The vendor-specific Set event length for ACL connections HCI command no longer sets the time between anchor points of central ACL connections with identical connection intervals. (DRGN-20796)

• The vendor-specific HCI commands sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_auto_power_control_request_param() and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_power_control_apr_handling() have been replaced by sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_power_control_request_params() (DRGN-17355).

• The controller now always returns the error code 0x0D if a connection attempt is made while another is still pending. Previously, this wasn’t the case if one connection attempt was through periodic advertising with responses while the other was through the initiator. (DRGN-20823)

• The scheduling priority for initiator events where the scan window is equal to the scan interval is lowered to the third scheduling priority. For other configurations of scan window and scan interval the priority is unchanged. (DRGN-20831)

• The vendor-specific Set event length for ACL connections HCI command now accepts values lower than 1250 us. (DRGN-20796)

• The scheduling priority for the scanner where the scan window is equal to the scan interval is lowered to the fourth scheduling priority. This will allow concurrent Bluetooth LE roles to interrupt continuous scanning, but will reduce the time available for scanning. For other configurations of scan window and scan interval the priority is unchanged. (DRGN-19272)

  The scheduling priority for MPSL timeslots with normal priority and the 802.15.4 radio driver is lowered to the fifth scheduling priority. This is done to maintain the relative priority with them and continuous scanning. (DRGN-20488)

• Improved scheduling performance when receiving packets closely following an AUX_SYNC_IND that does not point to an AUX_CHAIN_IND. The controller will attempt to prioritize the reception of such packets while still maintaining the periodic sync. (DRGN-19272)

• The functions rand_prio_low_get() and rand_prio_high_get() have been deprecated. They are no longer used by the SoftDevice Controller. (DRGN-20472)

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the LE Set Periodic Advertising Subevent Data command could fail when providing data at the same time as an AUX_SYNC_SUBEVENT_IND was sent. (DRGN-20762)

• Fixed an issue where a packet might not be received when sent at the instant of a Channel Map Update. This could happen when acting as Peripheral. (DRGN-20815)

• Fixed an assert that could happen if the LE Set Periodic Advertising Response Data command was issued more than once without fetching the Command Complete Event. (DRGN-20432)

• Fixed an issue where the controller would assert during cooperative active scanning or when running a cooperative initiator. This could happen when the controller was about to send a scan request or connect indication. (DRGN-20832)

• Fixed an issue where the nRF5340 DK consumed too much current while scanning. This could happen if the controller was running with TX power higher than 0 dB. (DRGN-20862)

• Fixed an assert that could happen if the Periodic Sync with Responses was terminated. (DRGN-20956)

• Fixed an issue where the controller stopped generating advertising reports. This could happen when the controller was running an extended cooperative scanner together with other activities, such as advertising or connection, while receiving data in an extended advertising event that used AUX_CHAIN_IND. (DRGN-21020)

• Fixed an issue where the controller would stop sending ACL data packets to the host when controller to host flow control was enabled. This could happen when a disconnection occurred before the host had issued the Host Number of Complete Packets command for the remaining ACL data packets. Now the controller waits until after all ACL data packets have been acknowledged by the host before raising the Disconnection Complete event. The controller also validates the handles provided in the Host Number of Complete Packets command. (DRGN-21085)

• Fixed a rare issue where the scanner may assert when it schedules the reception of the next advertising packet. (DRGN-21253)

nRF Connect SDK v2.5.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.5.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Experimental support for isochronous channels, both Connected Isochronous Streams and Broadcast Isochronous Streams. The controller supports an ISO interval equal to the SDU interval, using unframed PDUs. The following HCI commands are now supported:

  • Read Connection Accept Timeout

  • Write Connection Accept Timeout

  • LE Read Buffer Size [v2]

  • LE Read ISO TX Sync

  • LE Set CIG Parameters

  • LE Set CIG Parameters Test

  • LE Create CIS

  • LE Remove CIG

  • LE Accept CIS Request

  • LE Reject CIS Request

  • LE Create BIG

  • LE Create BIG Test

  • LE Terminate BIG

  • LE BIG Create Sync

  • LE BIG Terminate Sync

  • LE Setup ISO Data Path

  • LE Remove ISO Data Path

  • LE ISO Transmit Test

  • LE ISO Receive Test

  • LE ISO Read Test Counters

  • LE ISO Test End

  • LE Set Host Feature

  • LE Read ISO Link Quality

• Experimental support for the Quality of Service (QoS) channel survey. See the sdc_hci_cmd_vs_qos_channel_survey_enable() function.

• Support for starting the scanner without setting scan parameters. Previously the controller would assert (DRGN-17623).

• Vendor-specific HCI command to enable utilization of remote APR on the local TX power when using LE Power Control. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_power_control_apr_handling() (DRGN-17355).

Changes

• Host now always receives LE Transmit Power Reporting Events. Previously, some events might not be received when remote and local power changes were applied to the same PHY simultaneously. (DRGN-18950)

• sdc_hci_cmd_put() and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_read_supported_vs_commands() functions are removed. This change does not affect applications developed in the nRF Connect SDK context. (DRGN-19281)

• When creating a connection or periodic advertiser, the controller will now attempt to select the interval so that it causes as few scheduling conflicts with existing periodic activities as possible. The selected interval is always in the range [interval_min, interval_max], where interval_min and interval_max are provided by the host. Previously, the controller always selected interval_max.

• The SDC_CFG_TYPE_EVENT_LENGTH configuration is removed. An application must use the sdc_hci_cmd_vs_event_length_set() HCI command instead.

• The ChSel bit in a CONNECT_IND PDU will now match the ChSel bit in the ADV_IND PDU. Previously, this was always set to indicate channel selection algorithm 2. (DRGN-19115)

• The LE Power Control Request feature is now supported instead of experimental. (DRGN-17499)

• sdc_soc_flash_write_async() and sdc_soc_flash_page_erase_async() functions are removed. This change does not affect applications developed in the nRF Connect SDK context. (DRGN-20451)

• When synchronizing to a periodic advertiser, the number of events skipped is restricted so that there are at least three opportunities to receive before timing out. Previously, only one opportunity to receive was guaranteed before timing out. (DRGN-20448)

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the continuous extended scanner would not be able to receive the AUX_ADV_IND packet if the time between the ADV_EXT_IND and AUX_ADV_IND was more than 840 μs (DRGN-19460).

• Fixed an issue where the stack would dereference a NULL pointer when a resolvable own_address_type was used in the HCI Le Extended Create Connection V2 command while the resolving list was empty (DRGN-19580).

• Fixed an issue where the HCI Reset command would not clear the channel map set by the host using the HCI Le Set Host Channel Classification command (DRGN-19623).

• Fixed a bug where the Peer_Address_Type parameter in the LE Connection Complete event was set to 2 or 3 in case the connection was established to a device whose address was resolved (DRGN-18411). The least significant bit of the Peer_Address_Type parameter was set correctly.

• Fixed an issue where the stack would assert if trying to set up more advertisers than there are available advertising sets (DRGN-20118).

• Fixed an issue where enabling an extended advertising set would assert in cases where a host-provided address was not needed and no address had been set up for the advertising set (DRGN-20085).

• Fixed an issue where the controller acting as a central would assert when receiving a non-compliant LL_PHY_RSP from a peer device (DRGN-20578).

• Fixed an issue that could occur when the Host Number of Complete Packets command was sent with a connection handle the controller had already raised a disconnect event for. The controller would return BT_HCI_ERR_INVALID_PARAM to the command, which would mean that the host could not return the buffer to the controller (DRGN-20654).

nRF Connect SDK v2.4.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.4.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Support for the vendor-specific HCI command: Set Compatibility mode for window offset (DRGN-18727).

• Support for Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR) Scanner (DRGN-18739).

• Support for LE Read and Write RF Path Compensation HCI commands (DRGN-10234 and DRGN-18202).

• Support for up to 255 addresses in the Filter Accept List (DRGN-18967).

• Support for configuring the Filter Accept List to have an arbitrary size (DRGN-18967).

• Support for sync handles in the sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_write_tx_power() and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_read_tx_power() commands (DRGN-18805).

• Support for reading channel map updates that are not at the beginning of an ACAD (DRGN-19067).

Changes

• The VersNr field in the LL_VERSION_IND packet now contains the value 0x0D to indicate compatibility with Bluetooth Core Specification v5.4 (DRGN-18624).

• Receiving a Periodic Advertisement Sync Transfer (PAST) with invalid parameters will now generate the LE Periodic Advertising Sync Transfer Received event when receiving PAST is enabled (DRGN-18803).

• Periodic advertiser is allocated from the Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR) Advertiser sets when SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_ADV_RSP_COUNT is available. Otherwise, it is allocated from the Periodic Advertiser sets if SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_ADV_COUNT is set (DRGN-18979).

• The controller now returns the error code 0x0D instead of 0x09 if it has insufficient resources to handle more connections and the host tries to start a connectable advertiser or the controller receives the commands LE Extended Create Connection or LE Create Connection (DRGN-18944).

• Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR) Advertiser is supported (DRGN-18497).

Bug fixes

• Fixed a rare issue where the controller could assert when starting a connectable advertiser or creating a connection too quickly after disconnection (DRGN-18714).

• Fixed an issue where the Periodic Advertisement Sync Transfer (PAST) sender may generate an incorrect SyncInfo field for periodic advertising intervals greater than 5 seconds (DRGN-18775).

• Fixed an issue where the Periodic Advertisement Sync Transfer (PAST) sender could assert if the associated periodic sync was not fully established (DRGN-18833).

• Fixed an issue where the controller would not deliver advertising reports for advertisements received when the scanner was close to timing out (DRGN-18651).

• Fixed lower TX power on the nRF21540 DK in connected state. This occurred when using MPSL FEM and manually configuring the radio power (DRGN-18971).

• Fixed an issue where the controller cannot synchronize to a periodic advertising train using the Periodic Advertising Sync Transfer procedure if it has previously tried to do it while it was already synchronized to the periodic advertising train (DRGN-19003).

• Fixed an issue where the peripheral would disconnect with DIFFERENT_TRANSACTION_COLLISION when a collision of a connection update and a PHY update occurs even when central asks for no change (DRGN-18840).

• Fixed a rare issue where the controller would assert when multiple instances of the same Bluetooth role were running and one of the instances was being stopped (DRGN-18424).

• Fixed an issue where the SoftDevice Controller would not accept an adv_handle provided in HCI commands with values above the configured number of advertising sets (DRGN-19058).

• Fixed an issue where the controller could assert while synchronized to a Periodic Advertiser (DRGN-18883).

• Fixed an issue where the controller fails to advertise using extended advertising in the first advertising event after an increase in advertising data payload (DRGN-19197).

nRF Connect SDK v2.3.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.3.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Support for enabling the receiving of Periodic Advertising Sync Transfer (PAST) using dedicated functions such as sdc_support_periodic_adv_sync_transfer_receiver_central() (DRGN-16995).

• Support for LE Request Peer SCA command HCI command (DRGN-17972).

• Support for Sleep Clock Accuracy Update control procedure (DRGN-17883).

• Support for Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR) Advertiser (experimental) (DRGN-18497).

Changes

• Memory buffer provided to sdc_enable() must be 8 bytes aligned (DRGN-18090).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the controller was using non-zero randomness for the first advertising event. This happened even after calling sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_adv_randomness() with a valid adv_handle parameter (DRGN-18261).

• Fixed an issue where the controller would end up in the HardFault handler after receiving an invalid response to a scan request (DRGN-18358).

• Fixed a bug where the Peer_Address_Type parameter in the LE Connection Complete event was set to 2 or 3 in case the connection was established to a device which address was resolved (DRGN-18411). The least significant bit of the Peer_Address_Type parameter was set correctly.

• Fixed an issue where the stack could dereference a NULL pointer when starting a periodic advertiser (DRGN-18420).

• Fixed an issue where initiating Periodic Advertisement Sync Transfer (PAST) as advertiser may assert when the periodic advertisement train is not running (DRGN-18586).

• Fixed an issue where calling the bt_ctlr_set_public_addr() function before bt_enable() incorrectly failed to set the address (DRGN-18655).

nRF Connect SDK v2.2.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.2.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Support for Connection CTE Response in the angle of arrival (AoA) configuration (DRGN-17365).

• Support for LE Set Data Related Address Changes HCI command (DRGN-17919).

• Support for changing advertising randomness using sdc_hci_cmd_vs_set_adv_randomness() (DRGN-17872).

• Support for enabling the sending of Periodic Advertising Sync Transfer (PAST) using dedicated functions such as sdc_support_periodic_adv_sync_transfer_sender_central() (DRGN-17817).

• Experimental support for the LE Power Control Request feature (DRGN-17350).

Changes

• The functions sdc_hci_evt_get() and sdc_hci_data_get() have been replaced by sdc_hci_get() (DRGN-17060).

• Scheduling performance when doing extended advertising and periodic advertising simultaneously has been improved on Coded PHY (DRGN-17819).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the controller accepts an LL_PAUSE_ENC_REQ packet received on an unencrypted link (DRGN-17777).

• Fixed an issue where the controller accepts CONNECT_IND, AUX_CONNECT_REQ and CONNECTION_UPDATE_REQ packets with the connSupervisionTimeout value set to 0 (DRGN-17776).

• Fixed an issue where the controller would assert if trying to sync to a periodic advertiser with a sync timeout shorter than the periodic advertiser interval (DRGN-19744).

• Fixed an issue in MPSL where the controller would assert when a Bluetooth role was running (DRGN-17851).

• Fixed an issue in MPSL where the controller would abandon a link, causing a disconnect on the remote side (DRGN-18105).

• Fixed an issue where creating a periodic sync could in some cases erase periodic advertising reports for previously created syncs (DRGN-18089).

nRF Connect SDK v2.1.3

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.1.3 release are documented in this section.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue in MPSL where the controller would assert when a Bluetooth role was running (DRGN-17851).

• Fixed an issue in MPSL where the controller would abandon a link, causing a disconnect on the remote side (DRGN-18105).

nRF Connect SDK v2.1.2

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.1.2 release are documented in this section.

Changes

• On nRF53, the fix for Errata 158 is now applied.

nRF Connect SDK v2.1.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.1.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Support for changing the radio transmitter’s default power level using sdc_default_tx_power_set() (DRGN-15903).

• Support for disabling or enabling peripheral latency using sdc_hci_cmd_vs_peripheral_latency_mode_set() (DRGN-15706).

• Stub version of sdc_hci_get() for getting all types of HCI packets from the Link Layer (DRGN-17060).

• Experimental support for generic coex (DRGN-17128).

Changes

• When the SoftDevice Controller is used with the Front-End Module provided by the Multiprotocol Service Layer, the transmit power is expressed as the power on the antenna instead of the power of the SoC output. This allows dynamic gain control of the Front-End Module if the selected Front-End Module supports it. The default transmit power for Bluetooth LE activities does not change, so if the Front-End Module has an exemplary gain of +10 dB, the output power of the SoC will be decreased accordingly. To achieve higher output powers on the antenna, the user must call the appropriate API. For sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_write_tx_power() the transmit power is expressed as the maximum power on the antenna. The returned transmit power is the power on the antenna that can be achieved on the current SoC and Front-End Module. For sdc_hci_cmd_vs_zephyr_read_tx_power() the returned transmit power is the power on the antenna that can be achieved on the current SoC and Front-End Module. (KRKNWK-13714)

• Improved channel selection for secondary advertising packets (DRGN-17452).

• The extended advertiser will now always include the SyncInfo in the AUX_ADV_IND if there is a corresponding periodic advertiser, even if the offset cannot be represented (DRGN-16240).

• Split the function sdc_support_dle() into sdc_support_dle_central() and sdc_support_dle_peripheral().

• Added functions sdc_support_phy_update_central() and sdc_support_phy_update_peripheral(), to enable change of PHY independently of the functions sdc_support_le_coded_phy() and sdc_support_le_2m_phy() These changes reduce the code size when using only central or peripheral role. (DRGN-17592)

• Applications may now configure fewer TX/RX buffers than the default. Note that this may lead to reduced throughput (DRGN-17651).

• The scanner is now scheduling cooperatively when the sum of scan windows is equal to the scan interval. This improves scheduling performance when scanning concurrently on multiple PHYs (DRGN-17754).

• Improved scheduling performance when synchronized to a periodic advertiser sending packets on Coded PHY (DRGN-17754).

Bug fixes

• Fixed a HardFault that could occur when receiving legacy PDUs while using the periodic advertising synchronization functionality (DRGN-17656).

• Fixed an issue where the maximum data length capabilities were set to 27 bytes when the configured event length (CONFIG_BT_CTLR_SDC_MAX_CONN_EVENT_LEN_DEFAULT) was more than 65535 us (DRGN-17454).

• Fixed an issue where using the memory macros in sdc.h with fewer TX/RX buffers than the default would report incorrect memory usage (DRGN-17651).

• Fixed an issue where the periodic advertiser sends its AUX_SYNC_IND 40 us later than indicated in the SyncInfo of the AUX_ADV_IND packet (DRGN-17710).

• Fixed an issue where the scanner would attempt to receive the first AUX_SYNC_IND 40 us later than indicated in the SyncInfo of the AUX_ADV_IND packet (DRGN-17710).

nRF Connect SDK v2.0.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v2.0.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Support for Peripheral-initiated Feature Exchange.

• Vendor-specific HCI commands to set the priority and scan mode of Wi-Fi coexistence. See sdc_hci_cmd_vs_coex_priority_config() and sdc_hci_cmd_vs_coex_scan_mode_config() (DRGN-16518).

• Support for periodic advertising intervals larger than ten seconds (DRGN-16873).

• Support for periodic sync timeouts larger than 128 seconds (DRGN-16434).

• The sdc_support_ext_central() function that makes the extended initiator role configurable (DRGN-16392).

• Support for connectionless angle of arrival (AoA) transmitter (DRGN-16588). The following HCI commands are now supported (DRGN-16713):

  • LE Set Connectionless CTE Transmit Parameters

  • LE Set Connectionless CTE Transmit Enable

  • LE Read Antenna Information

• Support for Periodic Advertising ADI (DRGN-16759).

• The nak_count field into QoS Connection event reports that counts the number of received Negative Acknowledges from the peer during the connection event. See sdc_hci_subevent_vs_qos_conn_event_report_t (DRGN-17183).

• The sdc_coex_adv_mode_configure API to configure the behavior of the advertiser when using the coexistence interface (DRGN-16585).

Changes

• Update public API terms to Bluetooth Core Specification v5.3 (DRGN-16271)

  • SDC_DEFAULT_MASTER_COUNT has been renamed to SDC_DEFAULT_CENTRAL_COUNT.

  • SDC_DEFAULT_SLAVE_COUNT has been renamed to SDC_DEFAULT_PERIPHERAL_COUNT.

  • SDC_MEM_PER_MASTER_LINK has been renamed to SDC_MEM_PER_CENTRAL_LINK.

  • SDC_MEM_PER_SLAVE_LINK has been renamed to SDC_MEM_PER_PERIPHERAL_LINK.

  • SDC_MEM_MASTER_LINKS_SHARED has been renamed to SDC_MEM_CENTRAL_LINKS_SHARED.

  • SDC_MEM_SLAVE_LINKS_SHARED has been renamed to SDC_MEM_PERIPHERAL_LINKS_SHARED.

  • SDC_CFG_TYPE_MASTER_COUNT has been renamed to SDC_CFG_TYPE_CENTRAL_COUNT.

  • SDC_CFG_TYPE_SLAVE_COUNT has been renamed to SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIPHERAL_COUNT.

  • sdc_cfg_t.master_count has been renamed to sdc_cfg_t.central_count.

  • sdc_cfg_t.slave_count has been renamed to sdc_cfg_t.peripheral_count.

  • sdc_support_master() has been renamed to sdc_support_central().

  • sdc_support_slave() has been renamed to sdc_support_peripheral().

• HCI interface was updated according to Bluetooth Core Specification v5.3. For a list of the original terms and names and their replacements, refer to Appropriate Language Mapping Table.

• The scanner now waits until the host has pulled the previous event’s periodic advertising reports before enqueuing a report for the next event. Note that this does not apply to single-PDU periodic advertising events (DRGN-16920).

• The binary size of an application using the scanner but not the central role is decreased (DRGN-16392).

• The functions sdc_support_scan() and sdc_support_ext_scan() can no longer be called together with sdc_support_central() (DRGN-16392).

• Removed support for running the SoftDevice Controller on the nRF5340 PDK (DRGN-15174).

• The VersNr field in the LL_VERSION_IND packet now contains the value 0x0C to indicate compatibility with Bluetooth Core Specification v5.3 (DRGN-16109).

• The sdc_hci_subevent_vs_qos_conn_event_report_t structure has been redefined (DRGN-17183).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where Advertiser Address Type in the LE Periodic Advertising Sync Established event was never set to 0x02 or 0x03, even if the advertiser’s address was resolved (DRGN-17110).

• Fixed an issue where Advertiser Address Type was not set in the LE Periodic Advertising Sync Established event when using the Periodic Advertiser List (DRGN-17110).

• Fixed an issue where setting advertiser radio output power using the vendor-specific HCI command Zephyr Write TX Power Level returned “Unknown Advertiser Identifier (0x42)”.

• Fixed an issue where reading advertiser radio output power using the vendor-specific HCI command Zephyr Read TX Power Level returned “Unknown Advertiser Identifier (0x42)”.

• Fixed an issue where an assert could occur if sdc_disable() was called while a Bluetooth role was running (DRGN-16515).

• Fixed an issue where the advertiser would incorrectly set Offset Adjust in the SyncInfo when the offset to the AUX_SYNC_IND is large (DRGN-16887).

• Fixed an issue where issuing a legitimate connection update could result in an BT_HCI_ERR_INVALID_PARAM error (DRGN-17324).

• Fixed an issue where connecting to the same device using a different address got denied as a duplicate connection (DRGN-17232).

nRF Connect SDK v1.9.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.9.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Added support for Periodic Advertising for production for nRF52 Series.

• Added support for a vendor-specific HCI command setting the periodic advertising event length (DRGN-16513).

• Added SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_ADV_LIST_SIZE to allow the application to configure the size of the periodic advertiser list (DRGN-16357).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue on the nRF53 Series where an assert could occur when connected as a peripheral, and the RC oscillator is used as the Low Frequency Clock source (DRGN-16808).

nRF Connect SDK v1.8.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.8.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Added experimental support for Periodic Advertising. Use sdc_support_le_periodic_adv() or sdc_support_le_periodic_sync() or both to enable this feature.

  • SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_ADV_COUNT can be used to set the number of periodic advertisers.

  • SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_SYNC_COUNT can be used to set the number of synchronizations to periodic advertisers.

  • SDC_CFG_TYPE_PERIODIC_SYNC_BUFFER_CFG can be used to configure the number of periodic synchronization report buffers.

  The following HCI commands are now supported (DRGN-11505):

  • LE Set Periodic Advertising Data

  • LE Set Periodic Advertising Enable

  • LE Set Periodic Advertising Parameters

  • LE Periodic Advertising Create Sync

  • LE Periodic Advertising Create Sync Cancel

  • LE Periodic Advertising Terminate Sync

  • LE Add Device To Periodic Advertiser List

  • LE Remove Device From Periodic Advertiser List

  • LE Clear Periodic Advertiser List

  • LE Read Periodic Advertiser List Size

  • LE Set Periodic Advertising Receive Enable

Changes

• The default advertising data size is now 31 bytes, even for extended advertising (DRGN-16209). SDC_CFG_TYPE_ADV_BUFFER_CFG can be used to change the maximum buffer size before enabling the controller. The required memory for an advertising set with a given advertising data size will then be returned by SDC_MEM_PER_ADV_SET.

• The type sdc_cfg_scan_buffer_cfg_t is replaced with sdc_cfg_buffer_count_t.

• The controller will now prevent establishing a connection to a device it is already connected to (DRGN-15989).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the active scanner could assert when performing extended scanning on Coded PHY with a full whitelist (DRGN-16113 and DRGN-16013).

• Fixed an issue where extended advertising reports with advertising data with length 228 were lost (DRGN-16341).

• Fixed an issue where the peripheral would always listen on data channel 0 if the initiator sent a connection request with all channels marked as bad (DRGN-16394).

• Fixed an issue where an assert may occur when switching from a faster to a slower PHY (DRGN-15547). The assert would only occur when:

  • sdc_cfg_t with event_length is set to less than 2500 us and the PHY is updated from 2M to 1M, or from either 1M or 2M to Coded PHY.

  • sdc_cfg_t with event_length is set to less than 7500 us and a PHY update to Coded PHY is performed.

• Fixed an issue where the host callback was called after an advertising event even if there were no events generated (DRGN-16405).

• Fixed an issue where a MPU fault may occur when switching between extended and legacy advertising (NCSIDB-572).

nRF Connect SDK v1.7.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.7.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Added SDC_CFG_TYPE_SCAN_BUFFER_CFG to allow the application to configure the number of scan buffers (DRGN-15899).

• Added SDC_CFG_TYPE_ADV_BUFFER_CFG to allow the application to configure the maximum advertising buffer size (DRGN-15661).

Changes

• The Direct_Address_Type and the Direct_Address in extended advertising reports are updated to reflect the latest BLE specification. See Specification errata 14566 and 15752 (DRGN-15927).

• The scanner is now scheduling cooperatively when the scan window is equal to the scan interval. This improves the performance in the case of Bluetooth Mesh applications (DRGN-13146).

• Support for radio front-end module (FEM) in nRF53 Series, based on the Front-end module feature (DRGN-14908).

• The application must now call the APIs prefixed with sdc_support_ before calling sdc_cfg_set() (DRGN-15899).

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the scanner did not check that the scan window was smaller than the scan interval (DRGN-15586).

• Fixed an issue where the channel map provided by the “LE Host Set Channel Classification” HCI command was not always applied on the secondary advertising channels (DRGN-15695).

• Fixed an issue on the nRF53 Series where an assert could occur while scanning using legacy commands (DRGN-15852).

• Fixed an issue on the nRF53 Series where the scanner could generate corrupted advertising reports (DRGN-15852).

• Fixed an issue where the mpsl_tx_power_channel_map_set() API would not work on peripheral-only or central-only configurations (DRGN-16091).

• Fixed an issue where an assert may occur when legacy advertiser is used after “HCI LE Clear Advertising Sets” (DRGN-15993).

• Fixed an issue where an assert could occur when in LLPM mode and the connection interval was more than 1 ms (DRGN-16079).

nRF Connect SDK v1.6.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.6.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• Added support for multiple advertising sets (DRGN-15426).

• Added radio front-end module (FEM) support, based on the Front-end module feature (nRF52 Series only) (DRGN-11059).

• Added support for the vendor-specific HCI command: Read Supported Vendor Specific Commands (DRGN-13763).

• Added support for the vendor-specific HCI command: Zephyr Read Key Hierarchy Roots (DRGN-13237).

• Added support for nRF5340, which was previously only supported for evaluation purposes (DRGN-8639).

Changes

• Moved permanent limitations from the Known issues page to Limitations.

• Increased the maximum supported radio output power on nRF53 Series devices from 0 dBm to 3 dBm. If the output power is above 0 dBm, NRF_VREQCTRL->VREGRADIO.VREQH is set (DRGN-15476).

• Reduced SDC_DEFAULT_RX_PACKET_COUNT from 3 to 2. Now the controller can achieve full throughput with only two RX buffers (DRGN-7696).

• Decoupled the controller from the random number generator (DRGN-12507). This functionality must now be provided by the user. The user must provide rand_prio_low_get(), rand_prio_high_get() and rand_poll() through the newly introduced sdc_rand_source_register(). These functions can be mapped to the Zephyr Entropy APIs:

  • rand_prio_low_get() <-> entropy_get_entropy_isr() (*_isr() for nonblocking behavior)

  • rand_prio_high_get() <-> entropy_get_entropy_isr()

  • rand_poll() <-> entropy_get_entropy()

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where a slave connection could disconnect prematurely if there were scheduling conflicts with other roles (DRGN-15469).

• 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).

• Fixed an issue where, in rare cases, an assert could occur when receiving a packet as a slave. This could only occur after performing a data length procedure on Coded PHY (DRGN-15251).

• Fixed an issue where “HCI Read RSSI” would always return a Command Disallowed (0x0C) error code (DRGN-15310).

• Fixed an issue where setting radio output power using the vendor-specific HCI command Zephyr Write TX Power Level returned “Unsupported Feature or Parameter value (0x11)”. Now the controller will select an output power level that is lower or equal to the one requested. The command returns success and the selected power level (DRGN-15369).

• Fixed an issue where an assert could occur when running an extended advertiser with maximum data length and minimum interval on Coded PHY. The assert would only occur if there were scheduling conflicts (DRGN-15694).

• Fixed an issue where a connectable or scannable advertiser ends with sending a packet without listening for the CONNECT_IND, AUX_CONNECT_REQ, and SCAN_REQ (DRGN-15484).

• Fixed an issue where an extended advertiser with limited duration may time out after the first primary channel packet in the last advertising event (DRGN-10367).

• Fixed an issue where the coding scheme provided by the LE Set PHY HCI Command was ignored after a remote initiated PHY procedure (DRGN-15531).

• Fixed an issue where the controller may still have pending events after sdc_hci_evt_get() returns false. This would only occur if the host has masked out events (DRGN-15758).

• Fixed an issue where the extended scanner generated reports containing truncated data from a chained advertising PDU (DRGN-13338).

nRF Connect SDK v1.5.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.5.0 release are documented in this section.

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 that 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 the “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).

Known issues

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

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.4.0 release are documented in this section.

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

Known issues and limitations

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

nRF Connect SDK v1.3.0

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.3.0 release are documented in this section.

Added

• 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

All the notable changes included in the nRF Connect SDK v1.2.0 release are documented in this section.

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 the corresponding API in MPSL instead.

• Temperature API (ble_controller_temp_get()) is removed. Use the corresponding API in MPSL instead.

• Timeslot API is removed. Use the 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 occurred when sending a packet on either LE 1M or LE 2M PHY after receiving or transmitting a packet on LE Coded PHY. If this occurred 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

All the notable changes included in this release are documented in this section.

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

All the notable changes included in this release are documented in this section.

Bug fixes

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

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.3.0-1.prealpha

All the notable changes included in this release are documented in this section.

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 is 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 the “HCI Read Local Supported Commands” command did not indicate support for the “HCI LE Set Privacy Mode” command.

• Fixed an issue where an ASSERT occurred when setting advertising data after HCI Reset without setting advertising parameters.

• Fixed an issue where an ASSERT occurred 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 a 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.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.2.0-3.prealpha

Fixed a bug causing an assert in ble_controller_soc.c:29.

nRF Bluetooth LE Controller 0.2.0-2.prealpha

Minor documentation fixes.

Changes

• 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 bug fixes 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

• Added the 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