Silicon Laboratories UG179 User Manual
  1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Silicon Laboratories Manuals
  4. Computer Hardware
  5. UG179
  6. User manual

Silicon Laboratories UG179 User Manual

2400/915 mhz 19.5 dbm radio board
Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz
19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide
A Wireless Starter Kit with the BRD4150B Radio Board is an ex-
cellent starting point to get familiar with the EFR32™ Mighty
Gecko Wireless System-on-Chip, and it provides all necessary
tools for developing a Silicon Labs wireless application.
BRD4150B is a plug-in board for the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard. It is a complete ref-
erence design for the EFR32MG1 Wireless SoC, with matching networks for 19.5 dBm
output power, a 2.4 GHz PCB antenna, and an SMA connector for the 915 MHz 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 the attached radio board as well as external hardware. The Mainboard also con-
tains sensors and peripherals for easy demonstration of some of the EFR32's many ca-
pabilities.
This document describes how to use the BRD4150B Radio Board together with a Wire-
less Starter Kit Mainboard.
silabs.com | Building a more connected world.
BRD4150B RADIO BOARD FEATURES
• EFR32MG1 Mighty Gecko Wireless SoC
with 256 kB Flash, and 32 kB RAM
(EFR32MG1P233F256GM48)
• Dual band integrated radio transceiver
• 19.5 dBm output power
• Inverted-F PCB antenna (2.4 GHz)
• SMA antenna connector (915 MHz)
• 8 Mbit low-power serial flash for over-the-
air upgrades.
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
• Silicon Labs Si7021 Relative Humidity and
Temperature sensor
• Low Power 128x128 pixel Memory LCD
• 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
• SLWRB4150B
Rev. 1.01

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the UG179 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Silicon Laboratories UG179

Summary of Contents for Silicon Laboratories UG179

  • Page 1 UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide A Wireless Starter Kit with the BRD4150B Radio Board is an ex- cellent starting point to get familiar with the EFR32™ Mighty BRD4150B RADIO BOARD FEATURES Gecko Wireless System-on-Chip, and it provides all necessary •...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....... . 4 1.1 Radio Boards ......4 1.2 Ordering Information .
  • Page 3 7.1 Introduction.......25 7.2 Theory of Operation ......25 7.3 AEM Accuracy and Performance .

  • Page 4: Introduction

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Introduction 1. Introduction The EFR32MG1 Mighty Gecko Wireless SoC itself is featured on a Radio Board that forms a complete reference design, including 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

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Hardware Overview 2. Hardware Overview 2.1 Hardware Layout The layout of the EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Radio Board Breakout Pads...

  • Page 6: Block Diagram

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Hardware Overview 2.2 Block Diagram An overview of the EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Board USB Mini-B Controller RJ-45 Ethernet Connector...

  • Page 7: Connectors

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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. 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

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Connectors 3.4 Expansion Header On the right hand side of the Wireless STK Mainboard an angled 20-pin expansion header is provided to allow connection of peripher- als or plugin boards. The connector contains a number of I/O pins that can be used with most of the EFR32 Mighty Gecko's features.

  • Page 10: Expansion Header Pin-Out

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 11: Debug Connector

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 13: Debug Adapter

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 14: Power Supply And Reset

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 15: Board Controller Power

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 16: Peripherals

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 17: Memory Lcd-Tft Display

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 18: Serial Flash

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Peripherals 5.3 Serial Flash The BRD4150B 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 18 shows how the serial flash is connected to the EFR32.

  • Page 19: Si7021 Relative Humidity And Temperature Sensor

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 20: Virtual Com Port

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 21: Host Interfaces

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 22: Hardware Handshake

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 23: Board Controller

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 24: Command Examples

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 25: Advanced Energy Monitor

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 26: Aem Accuracy And Performance

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 27: On-Board Debugger

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 28: Debug Modes

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 29: Debugging During Battery Operation

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 30: Kit Configuration And Upgrades

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 31: Schematics, Assembly Drawings And Bom

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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 32: Kit Revision History

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board 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. EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Dual Band Radio Board...

  • Page 33: Document Revision History

    UG179: EFR32MG1 2400/915 MHz 19.5 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Document Revision History 12. Document Revision History Revision 1.01 2017-09-26 Updated section on Virtual COM port. Revision 1.00 2016-04-15 Initial document version. silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 1.01 | 33...
  • Page 34 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...

This manual is also suitable for:

Efr32mg1Slwrb4150b

Table of Contents