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UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with
EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide
A Wireless Starter Kit with the BRD4179B Radio Board is an ex-
cellent starting point to get familiar with the EFR32™ Wireless
Gecko Wireless System-on-Chip. It also provides all necessary
tools for developing a Silicon Labs wireless application.
BRD4179B is a plug-in board for the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard. It is a complete ref-
erence design for the EFR32xG21 Wireless SoC, with matching network and a PCB an-
tenna for 10 dBm output power in the 2.4 GHz band.
The Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard contains an on-board J-Link debugger with a Packet
Trace Interface and a Virtual COM port, enabling application development and debug-
ging of the attached radio board as well as external hardware.
This document describes how to use the BRD4179B Radio Board together with a Wire-
less Starter Kit Mainboard.
silabs.com | Building a more connected world.
BRD4179B RADIO BOARD FEATURES
• EFR32xG21 Wireless Gecko Wireless
SoC with 1024 kB Flash and 96 kB RAM
(EFR32MG21A010F1024IM32).
• Inverted-F PCB antenna (2.4 GHz band)
WIRELESS STK MAINBOARD FEATURES
• Advanced Energy Monitor
• Packet Trace Interface
• Virtual COM port
• SEGGER J-Link on-board debugger
• External device debugging
• Ethernet and USB connectivity
• Low power 128x128 pixel Memory LCD-
TFT
• User LEDs / pushbuttons
• 20-pin 2.54 mm EXP header
• Breakout pads for Wireless SoC I/O
• CR2032 coin cell battery support
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
• Simplicity Studio™
• Energy Profiler
• Network Analyzer
ORDERING INFORMATION
• SLWRB4179B
Rev. 0.1
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Summary of Contents for Silicon Laboratories SLWRB4179B
- Page 1 • 20-pin 2.54 mm EXP header • Breakout pads for Wireless SoC I/O • CR2032 coin cell battery support SOFTWARE SUPPORT • Simplicity Studio™ • Energy Profiler • Network Analyzer ORDERING INFORMATION • SLWRB4179B silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 0.1...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....... . 4 1.1 Radio Boards ......4 1.2 Ordering Information . - Page 3 11. Kit Revision History ......11.1 SLWRB4179B Revision History ......30 12.
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Page 4: Introduction
Wireless STK Mainboard. The combination of these two boards is hereby referred to as a Wireless Starter Kit (Wire- less STK). 1.2 Ordering Information BRD4179B can be obtained as a separate radio board, SLWRB4179B. The radio board is intended to be used together with a Wireless STK Mainboard (BRD4001A) which must be obtained separately. Table 1.1. Ordering Information... -
Page 5: Hardware Overview
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Hardware Overview 2. Hardware Overview 2.1 Hardware Layout The layout of the EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Radio Board Breakout Pads Plug-in Radio Board On-board USB and... -
Page 6: Block Diagram
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Hardware Overview 2.2 Block Diagram An overview of the EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Board USB Mini-B Controller RJ-45 Ethernet Connector... -
Page 7: Connectors
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 are shown in the figure below. Ethernet Connector J-Link USB Connector... -
Page 8: Breakout Pads
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.3 Breakout Pads Most pins of the EFR32 are routed from the radio board to breakout pads at the top and bottom edges of the Wireless STK Mainboard. A 2.54 mm pitch pin header can be soldered on for easy access to the pins. -
Page 9: Exp Header
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.4 EXP Header The EXP header is an angled 20-pin expansion header provided to allow connection of peripherals or plugin boards to the kit. It is loca- ted on the right-hand side of the mainboard, and it contains a number of I/O pins that can be used with most of the EFR32 Wireless Gecko's features. -
Page 10: Exp Header Pinout
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.4.1 EXP Header Pinout 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 EXP header and other functions on the Wireless STK Mainboard. -
Page 11: Debug Connector
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 12: Simplicity Connector
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 Interface, to be used towards an external target. The pinout is illustrated in the figure below. VMCU VCOM_TX VCOM_RX... -
Page 13: Debug Adapter
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Connectors 3.7 Debug Adapter The BRD8010A STK/WSTK Debug Adapter is an adapter board which plugs directly into the debug connector and the Simplicity Con- nector on the mainboard. It combines selected functionality from the two connectors to a smaller footprint 10-pin connector, which is more suitable for space constrained designs. -
Page 14: Power Supply And Reset
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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: •... -
Page 15: Efp01 Pmic Power Topology
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Power Supply and Reset 4.2 EFP01 PMIC Power Topology The EFR32 on the radio board is powered by an EFP01 Energy Friendly Power Management IC (PMIC) in the Wired Buck with LDO C configuration (EFP0104). -
Page 16: Peripherals
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 or the EXP header. This must be taken into consideration when using these. -
Page 17: Virtual Com Port
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.3 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. Isolation &... -
Page 18: Host Interfaces
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.3.1 Host Interfaces Data can be exchanged between the board controller and the target device through the VCOM interface, which is then available to the user in two different ways: •... -
Page 19: Hardware Handshake
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Peripherals 5.3.3 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 20: Board Controller
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 housekeeping functions on the board. -
Page 21: Command Examples
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 22: Troubleshooting
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Board Controller 6.2.4 Troubleshooting Problem Solution No data received after ending a After certain debugger operations the host computer manually disables SWO on the target in order debug session. -
Page 23: Advanced Energy Monitor
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Advanced Energy Monitor 7. Advanced Energy Monitor 7.1 Introduction Any embedded developer seeking to make their embedded code spend as little energy as the underlying architecture supports needs tools to easily and quickly discover inefficiencies in the running application. -
Page 24: Aem Accuracy And Performance
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 25: On-Board Debugger
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 26: Debug Modes
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 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 27: Debugging During Battery Operation
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide On-Board Debugger Note: For "Debug IN" to work, the kit board controller must be powered through the Debug USB connector. 8.3 Debugging During Battery Operation When the EFR32 is powered by battery and the J-Link USB is still connected, the on-board debug functionality is available. If the USB power is disconnected, the Debug IN mode will stop working. -
Page 28: Kit Configuration And Upgrades
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 29: Schematics, Assembly Drawings, And Bom
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless 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 30: Kit Revision History
The kit revision can be found printed on the kit packaging label, as outlined in the figure below. EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Radio Board SLWRB4179B 13-01-20 124802042 Figure 11.1. Kit Label 11.1 SLWRB4179B Revision History Kit Revision Released Description 13 January 2020 Initial release. -
Page 31: Document Revision History
UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide Document Revision History 12. Document Revision History Revision 0.1 January 2020 Document ready for internal, technical review. silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 0.1 | 31... - Page 32 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®, Gecko OS, Gecko OS Studio, ISOmodem®, Precision32®, ProSLIC®, Simplicity Studio®, SiPHY®, Telegesis, the Telegesis Logo®, USBXpress®...
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