Silicon Laboratories UG507: xG23B User Manual
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Silicon Laboratories UG507: xG23B User Manual

Silicon Laboratories UG507: xG23B User Manual

868-915 mhz 20 dbm radio board
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UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio
Board User's Guide
A Wireless Starter Kit with the BRD4210A Radio Board is an ex-
cellent starting point to get familiar with the EFR32™ Wireless
Gecko Wireless System-on-Chip, and it provides all necessary
tools for developing a Silicon Labs wireless application.
BRD4210A is a plug-in board for the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard. It is a complete ref-
erence design for the EFR32ZG23 Wireless SoC, with matching networks for 20 dBm
output power, and an SMA connector for the 868-915 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 contains
sensors and peripherals for easy demonstration of some of the EFR32's many capabili-
ties.
This document describes how to use the BRD4210A Radio Board together with a Wire-
less Starter Kit Mainboard.
silabs.com | Building a more connected world.
Copyright © 2021 by Silicon Laboratories
BRD4210A RADIO BOARD FEATURES
• EFR32ZG23 Wireless Gecko Wireless
SoC with 512 kB Flash, and 64 kB RAM
(EFR32ZG23B020F512IM48)
• Dual band integrated radio transceiver
• 20 dBm output power
• Inverted-F PCB antenna (2.4 GHz)
• SMA antenna connector (868-915 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
• xG23-RB4210A
Rev. 1.1

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Summary of Contents for Silicon Laboratories UG507: xG23B

  • Page 1 UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide A Wireless Starter Kit with the BRD4210A Radio Board is an ex- cellent starting point to get familiar with the EFR32™ Wireless BRD4210A 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 6.2.3 Limitations ......24 6.2.4 Troubleshooting ......25 7.

  • Page 4: Introduction

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Introduction 1. Introduction The EFR32ZG23 Wireless Gecko Wireless SoC is featured on a radio board that plugs directly into a Wireless Starter Kit (Wireless STK) Mainboard. The mainboard features several tools for easy evaluation and development of wireless applications. An on-board J- Link debugger enables programming and debugging on the target device over USB or Ethernet.

  • Page 5: Hardware Overview

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Hardware Overview 2. Hardware Overview 2.1 Hardware Layout The layout of the xG23 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Radio Board Breakout Pads...

  • Page 6: Block Diagram

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Hardware Overview 2.2 Block Diagram An overview of the xG23 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board Wireless Starter Kit is shown in the figure below. Board USB Mini-B Controller RJ-45 Ethernet...

  • Page 7: Connectors

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 is shown in the fig- ure below. VMCU VMCU Figure 3.1. Mainboard Connector Layout 3.1 J-Link USB Connector...

  • Page 8: Breakout Pads

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Connectors 3.3 Breakout Pads Most of the EFR32 pins 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 map to the pin numbers printed on the breakout pads.

  • Page 9: Exp Header

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Connectors 3.4 EXP Header The EXP header is an angled, 20-pin expansion header that allows connection of peripherals or plugin boards to the kit. It is located on the right-hand side of the mainboard and contains several I/O pins that can be used with most of the EFR32 Wireless Gecko's features.

  • Page 10: Expansion Header Pin-Out

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 Interface, to be used towards an external target. The pinout is illustrated in the figure below.

  • Page 13: Debug Adapter

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 AEM, 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 different power source can be selected for the target device while retaining debugging functionality.

  • Page 16: Peripherals

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Peripherals 5. Peripherals The has a set of peripherals that showcase some of the EFR32 features. Note that most EFR32 I/Os routed to peripherals are also routed to the breakout pads or the EXP header, which must be taken into consideration when using these I/Os.

  • Page 17: Memory Lcd-Tft Display

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 x 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Peripherals 5.3 Serial Flash The BRD4210A Radio Board is equipped with an 8 Mbit Macronix MX25R SPI flash that is connected directly to the EFR32. The figure below shows how the serial flash is connected to the EFR32.

  • Page 19: Si7021 Relative Humidity And Temperature Sensor

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Peripherals 5.5.1 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 22: Hardware Handshake

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 housekeeping functions on the board.

  • Page 24: Command Examples

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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: Troubleshooting

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board 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. to conserve power. This might cause SWO data to not appear if the target application initialized SWO before the debugger has disconnected.

  • Page 26: Advanced Energy Monitor

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board 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. This is what the Simplicity Energy Profiler is designed to do.

  • Page 27: Aem Accuracy And Performance

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 28: On-Board Debugger

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 29: Debug Modes

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide On-Board Debugger 8.2 Debug Modes To program external devices, use the debug connector to connect to a target board and set the debug mode to [Out]. The same con- nector can also be used to connect an external debugger to the EFR32 Wireless SoC on the kit by setting debug mode to [In].

  • Page 30: Debugging During Battery Operation

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide On-Board Debugger 8.3 Debugging During Battery Operation When the EFR32 is battery-powered 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 31: Kit Configuration And Upgrades

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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 32: Schematics, Assembly Drawings, And Bom

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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. They are also available from the kit page on the Silicon Labs website: http://www.silabs.com/.

  • Page 33: Kit Revision History

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 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. xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board...

  • Page 34: Document Revision History

    UG507: xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board User's Guide Document Revision History 12. Document Revision History Revision 1.1 December, 2021 • Fixing part number of xG23B 868-915 MHz 20 dBm Radio Board kit in Section 1.2 and Section 11.
  • Page 35 Note: This content may contain offensive terminology that is now obsolete. Silicon Labs is replacing these terms with inclusive language wherever possible. For more information, visit www.silabs.com/about-us/inclusive-lexicon-project Trademark Information Silicon Laboratories Inc. , Silicon Laboratories , Silicon Labs , SiLabs...

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