ESP RF Test Tool v2.5 & v2.8 Packet Tx/Rx not working

[tmadushan]

[Background]

We recently sent a few custom-designed devices based on ESP32 Pico D4 to a test lab for CE Compliance testing. There they informed me that the devices are not Txing on 2.4GHz WiFi band.

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I had sent them the ESP RF Test tool v2.5 back then. I also tried to replicate the scenario but with crappy monitoring tools like SDRs and WiFi analyzer apps since I do not have access to a Spectrum analyzer. I too realized that the devices are not really Txing.

[Issue]

Now I am doing the same test using ESP RF Test tool v2.8 running with two dev boards. (One based on ESP WROOM 32 and the other on PICO D4). The result is still the same no matter if I load it into RAM or Flash. What am I doing wrong here?

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[*]Aren't they supposed to show the Tx and RX Packets on the logs?
[*]Is the RF Test tool made for a specific chip variant only?

The test lab wants to Tx on different channels with different power levels. Any help would be much appreciated.

[ns1668]

Just to confirm - I have tested this recently on a WROOM32 devkit, and a custom designed board, and had success with both.
I tested WiFi and BT tx with a spectrum analyzer and was getting good signal strength.

This was download into RAM.
Sorry - not very helpful...

I would re-check the basics.
Delete the test tool and firmware - redownload from the correct source.
Get a devkit, run some basic wifi/bt sample code to validate the hardware. Then run the RF firmware and go from there.

Good luck

[tmadushan]

Just to confirm - I have tested this recently on a WROOM32 devkit, and a custom designed board, and had success with both.
I tested WiFi and BT tx with a spectrum analyzer and was getting good signal strength.

This was download into RAM.
Sorry - not very helpful...

I would re-check the basics.
Delete the test tool and firmware - redownload from the correct source.
Get a devkit, run some basic wifi/bt sample code to validate the hardware. Then run the RF firmware and go from there.

Good luck

Thank you ns1668. Which version of the test tool were you using? I downloaded from https://www.espressif.com/en/support/do ... d%5B%5D=13 which I think is the original link.

And the hardware works! WiFi/BT and all other peripherals work as expected. That is why I am confused here.

Thanks for your response btw.

[ns1668]

I was using v2.5

[freeride01]

Hello,
is there a solution to this problem?
We have exactly the same issue, but with the BLE TX test.
We have a product based on ESP32-PICO-D4 that's undergoing a RF certification process. We sent it to the test lab with the RF Test firmware on it (RFTestBIN 179), along with a link to download ESP RF Test Tool v2.8.
The lab informed us that they start the BLE TX test, but there is "no transmission signal present". These are their settings:

ble_TX_test_1.png (33.83 KiB) Viewed 8454 times

I don't have access to a signal analyzer and cannot confirm the absence of a signal myself. The hardware itself works as expected with its "normal" firmware, so this problem is pretty strange. Can somebody provide any assistance?

Thank you in advance.
(sorry for the huge screenshot).

[tmadushan]

Hi @freeride01,

I don't know the exact reason, but I managed to get this running on v2.8. I erased the device completely before loading the test f/w.
I'll put a link to a small video I made for everyone's reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dnm0A4OP7Y
Wish you all the best!

[freeride01]

Hi tmadushan,
thanks a lot for the help, I will try it.
I am a little confused though. If you load the firmware image to RAM anyway, what difference does it make if you completely erase the flash or not?
P.S. Our firmware image is in flash now.

[hegetluk]

For me the RF Test Tool works. When erasing the entire memory and then flashing the firmware. I have another question to the TX Packet Test: What payload is sent in the test? Is it possible to send some random playload or is there another test to send random data like like PN9 Mode?

Kind Regards

[freeride01]

@ hegetluk
Yes, erasing the flash first and then uploading the test FW solved the problem.
I don't know exactly what payload is sent, though. Maybe the Ulap, Itaddr and Syncw fields have some relation to that, but I don't know exactly what they mean, they are not mentioned in the RF test guide.