Silicon Laboratories EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko User Manual
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Silicon Laboratories EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko User Manual

Blue gecko bluetooth starter kit
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UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth
Starter Kit User's Guide
A Silicon Labs Wireless Starter Kit for the EFR32BG13 Blue
Gecko is an excellent starting point to get familiar with the device,
and it provides all necessary tools for developing a Silicon Labs
wireless application.
The Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard contains sensors and peripherals enabling easy
demonstration of some of the EFR32™'s many capabilities. An on-board J-Link debug-
ger allows debugging of the attached radio board as well as providing a debug connec-
tion for external hardware.
A plug-in Radio Board contains the reference design for the EFR32 itself, including the
RF section and device-specific hardware.
silabs.com | Smart. Connected. Energy-friendly.
WSTK MAINBOARD FEATURES
• Ethernet and USB connectivity
• Advanced Energy Monitor
• Virtual COM Port
• Packet Trace Interface support
• SEGGER J-Link on-board debugger
• Supports debugging the attached radio
board or an external device
• Silicon Labs' Si7021 Relative Humidity
and Temperature sensor
• Ultra low power 128x128 pixel Memory
LCD
• User LEDs / Pushbuttons
• 20-pin 2.54 mm header for expansion
boards
• Breakout pads for direct access to all radio
I/O pins
• Power sources include USB, CR2032 coin
cell and AA batteries.
BRD4104A RADIO BOARD FEATURES
• EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Wireless SoC
with 512 kB Flash and 64 kB RAM
(EFR32BG13P632F512GM48).
• Inverted-F PCB antenna (2.4 GHz band)
• 8 Mbit low-power serial flash for over-the-
air upgrades.
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
• Simplicity Studio™
• Energy Profiler
• Network Analyzer
Rev. 1.00

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Summary of Contents for Silicon Laboratories EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko

  • Page 1 I/O pins • Power sources include USB, CR2032 coin cell and AA batteries. BRD4104A RADIO BOARD FEATURES • EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Wireless SoC with 512 kB Flash and 64 kB RAM (EFR32BG13P632F512GM48). • Inverted-F PCB antenna (2.4 GHz band) • 8 Mbit low-power serial flash for over-the- air upgrades.

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....... . 1 1.1 Radio Boards ......1 1.2 Ordering Information .
  • Page 3 7.1 Introduction.......21 7.2 Theory of Operation ......21 7.3 AEM Accuracy and Performance .

  • Page 4: Introduction

    Introduction 1. Introduction The EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Wireless SoC itself is featured on a Radio Board that forms a complete reference design, inluding the RF section and other components. The Radio Board plugs directly into a Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard. The Mainboard features several tools for easy evaluation and development of wireless applications.

  • Page 5: Hardware Overview

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Hardware Overview 2. Hardware Overview 2.1 Hardware Layout The layout of the EFR32BG13 2.4 GHz 10 dBm Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Radio Board Breakout Pads Plug-in Radio Board...

  • Page 6: Block Diagram

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Hardware Overview 2.2 Block Diagram An overview of the EFR32BG13 2.4 GHz 10 dBm Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Board USB Mini-B Controller RJ-45 Ethernet Connector Connector...

  • Page 7: Connectors

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3. Connectors This chapter gives you an overview of the Wireless STK Mainboard connectivity. The placement of the connectors can be seen in the figure below. Ethernet Connector J-Link USB...

  • Page 8: Breakout Pads

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.3 Breakout Pads Most of the EFR32's pins are routed from the radio board to breakout pads at the top and bottom edges of the Wireless STK Main- board. A 2.54 mm pitch pin header can be soldered on for easy access to the pins. The figure below shows you how the pins of the EFR32 maps to the pin numbers printed on the breakout pads.

  • Page 9: Expansion Header Pin-Out

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.4.1 Expansion Header Pin-out The pin-routing on the EFR32 is very flexible, so most peripherals can be routed to any pin. However, many pins are shared between the Expansion Header and other functions on the Wireless STK Mainboard.

  • Page 10: Debug Connector

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.5 Debug Connector The Debug Connector serves multiple purposes based on the "debug mode" setting which can be configured in Simplicity Studio. When the debug mode is set to "Debug IN", the debug connector can be used to connect an external debugger to the EFR32 on the radio board.

  • Page 11: Simplicity Connector

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.6 Simplicity Connector The Simplicity Connector enables the advanced debugging features, such as the AEM, the Virtual COM port and the Packet Trace In- terface, to be used towards an external target. The pinout is illustrated in the figure below.

  • Page 12: Debug Adapter

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.7 Debug Adapter BRD8010A STK/WSTK Debug Adapter is an adapter board which plugs directly into the Debug Connector and the Simplicity Connector on the mainboard and combines selected functionality from these two to a smaller footprint 10-pin connector which is more suitable for space constrained designs.

  • Page 13: Power Supply And Reset

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Power Supply and Reset 4. Power Supply and Reset 4.1 Radio Board Power Selection The EFR32 on a Wireless Starter Kit can be powered by one of these sources: • the debug USB cable;...

  • Page 14: Board Controller Power

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Power Supply and Reset 4.2 Board Controller Power The board controller is responsible for important features such as the debugger and the Advanced Energy Monitor, and is powered exclusively through the USB port in the top left corner of the board. This part of the kit resides on a separate power domain, so a differ- ent power source can be selected for the target device while retaining debugging functionality.

  • Page 15: Peripherals

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5. Peripherals The starter kit has a set of peripherals that showcase some of the features of the EFR32. Be aware that most EFR32 I/O routed to peripherals are also routed to the breakout pads. This must be taken into consideration when using the breakout pads for your application.

  • Page 16: Memory Lcd-Tft Display

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.2 Memory LCD-TFT Display A 1.28-inch SHARP Memory LCD-TFT is available on the kit to enable interactive applications to be developed. The display has a high resolution of 128 by 128 pixels, and consumes very little power. It is a reflective monochrome display, so each pixel can only be light or dark, and no backlight is needed in normal daylight conditions.

  • Page 17: Serial Flash

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.3 Serial Flash The BRD4104A radio board is equipped with an 8 Mbit Macronix MX25R SPI flash that is connected directly to the EFR32. Figure 5.3 Radio Board Serial Flash on page 14 shows how the serial flash is connected to the EFR32.

  • Page 18: Si7021 Relative Humidity And Temperature Sensor

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.4 Si7021 Relative Humidity and Temperature Sensor The Si7021 I C relative humidity and temperature sensor is a monolithic CMOS IC integrating humidity and temperature sensor ele- ments, an analog-to-digital converter, signal processing, calibration data, and an I C Interface.

  • Page 19: Virtual Com Port

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.5 Virtual COM Port An asynchronous serial connection to the board controller is provided for application data transfer between a host PC and the target EFR32. This eliminates the need for an external serial port adapter.

  • Page 20: Host Interfaces

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.5.1 Host Interfaces Data sent to the board controller through the VCOM interface is available in two different ways to the user. At the same time, data can be sent to the target device using these interfaces: •...

  • Page 21: Hardware Handshake

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.5.3 Hardware Handshake The VCOM peripheral supports basic RTS/CTS flow control. VCOM_CTS (target clear to send) is a signal that is output from the board controller and input to the target device. The board controller de-asserts this pin whenever its input buffer is full and it is unable to accept more data from the target device.

  • Page 22: Board Controller

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Board Controller 6. Board Controller The Wireless STK Mainboard contains a dedicated microcontroller for some of the advanced kit features provided. This microcontroller is referred to as the "Board Controller", and is not programmable by the user. The board controller acts as an interface between the host PC and the target device on the radio board, as well as handling some house-keeping functions on the board.

  • Page 23: Command Examples

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Board Controller 6.1.3 Command Examples PTI Configuration pti config 0 efruart 1600000 Configures PTI to use the "EFRUART" mode at 1.6 Mb/s. Serial Port Configuration serial config vcom handshake enable Enables hardware handshake on the VCOM UART connection.

  • Page 24: Advanced Energy Monitor

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Advanced Energy Monitor 7. Advanced Energy Monitor 7.1 Introduction Any embedded developer seeking to make his embedded code spend as little energy as the underlying architecture supports, needs tools to easily and quickly discover inefficiencies in the running application.

  • Page 25: Aem Accuracy And Performance

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Advanced Energy Monitor 7.3 AEM Accuracy and Performance The AEM is capable of measuring currents in the range of 0.1 µA to 95 mA. For currents above 250 µA, the AEM is accurate within 0.1 mA.

  • Page 26: On-Board Debugger

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide On-Board Debugger 8. On-Board Debugger The Wireless STK Mainboard contains an integrated debugger, which can be used to download code and debug the EFR32. In addition to programming a target on a plug-in radio board, the debugger can also be used to program and debug external Silicon Labs EFM32, EFM8, EZR32 and EFR32 devices connected through the debug connector.

  • Page 27: Debug Modes

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide On-Board Debugger 8.2 Debug Modes Programming external devices is done by connecting to a target board through the provided Debug IN/OUT Connector, and by setting the debug mode to [Out]. The same connector can also be used to connect an external debugger to the EFR32 Wireless SoC on the kit, by setting debug mode to [In].

  • Page 28: Debugging During Battery Operation

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide On-Board Debugger Board Host Controller Computer RADIO BOARD External Debug Probe DEBUG HEADER Figure 8.3. Debug IN Note: For "Debug IN" to work, the board controller on the kit must be powered throught the USB connector.

  • Page 29: Kit Configuration And Upgrades

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Kit Configuration and Upgrades 9. Kit Configuration and Upgrades The kit configuration dialog in Simplicity Studio allows you to change the J-Link adapter debug mode, upgrade its firmware and change other configuration settings.

  • Page 30: Schematics, Assembly Drawings And Bom

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Schematics, Assembly Drawings and BOM 10. Schematics, Assembly Drawings and BOM Schematics, assembly drawings and bill of materials (BOM) are available through Simplicity Studio when the kit documentation pack- age has been installed.

  • Page 31: Kit Revision History

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Kit Revision History 11. Kit Revision History The kit revision can be found printed on the kit packaging label, as outlined in the figure below. EFR32 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit...

  • Page 32: Document Revision History

    UG279: EFR32BG13 Blue Gecko Bluetooth Starter Kit User's Guide Document Revision History 12. Document Revision History Revision 1.00 2017-05-15 Initial document version. silabs.com | Smart. Connected. Energy-friendly. Rev. 1.00 | 29...
  • Page 33 Trademark Information Silicon Laboratories Inc.® , Silicon Laboratories®, Silicon Labs®, SiLabs® and the Silicon Labs logo®, Bluegiga®, Bluegiga Logo®, Clockbuilder®, CMEMS®, DSPLL®, EFM®, EFM32®, EFR, Ember®, Energy Micro, Energy Micro logo and combinations thereof, "the world’s most energy friendly microcontrollers", Ember®, EZLink®, EZRadio®, EZRadioPRO®, Gecko®, ISOmodem®, Micrium, Precision32®, ProSLIC®, Simplicity Studio®, SiPHY®, Telegesis, the Telegesis Logo®, USBXpress®, Zentri and others are trademarks or registered...

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