Digi XLR PRO User manual

XLR PRO™
Radio Frequency (RF) Module
User Guide

Revision history—90001407
Revision Date Description
A October
2015
Updated to include full descriptions of all XLR PRO RF Module features.
B October
2016
Added several I/O settings commands. Added a getting started section for
the development kit. Added mechanical drawings. Revised the AT command
and APIframe sections. Added Australian certification information.
C December
2017
Added information about heat dissipation and using a heat sink. Added RF
power level saturation information.
D May 2018 Added note on range estimation. Changed ICto ISED.
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© 2018 Digi International Inc. All rights reserved.
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merchantability for a particular purpose. Digi may make improvements and/or changes in this manual
or in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this manual at any time.
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XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 2

Contents
About the XLR PRO RF Module
Antenna port 10
Mechanical drawings 10
Pinouts 10
Heat dissipation 12
Use a heat sink 13
Operation without a heat sink 14
For more information 14
Technical specifications
General specifications 16
Electrical specifications 16
RF characteristics 17
Rural range line-of-sight 18
Receiver sensitivity 18
Receiver selectivity 19
Interface data rate (software selectable) 19
Networking and security specifications 19
Power requirements 19
Environmental 19
Regulatory conformity summary 19
Connectors 20
Getting started with the XLR PRO RF Module
Development Board for the XLR PRO RF Module 22
Edge connector 22
XLR PRO Modular Development Board LEDs 23
USB communication enable and loopback switches 25
Commissioning and Reset buttons 26
XLR PRO Shutdown control switch 26
XLR PRO direct voltage supply input 27
40-Pin development header 28
Set up a Development kit for a range test 29
Configure the device using XCTU 29
Configure the devices for a range test 29
Perform a range test 30
XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 3

XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 4
Operations
Operational design 33
UART 33
Serial communications 34
SPI signals 34
Signal description 34
Slave mode characteristics 35
Full duplex operation 35
Configuration considerations 36
SPI and API mode 36
SPI parameters 36
Serial port selection 36
Serial receive buffer 37
Serial transmit buffer 37
Networking methods
MAC/PHY layers 39
Addressing basics 39
64-bit addresses 39
Make a unicast transmission 39
Make a broadcast transmission 40
Delivery methods 40
Point to Point / Point to Multipoint (P2MP) 40
Repeater/directed broadcast 40
Transmission timeouts 41
Transmit a broadcast 41
AT commands
Special commands 43
AC (Apply Changes) 43
FR (Software Reset) 43
RE (Restore Defaults) 43
WR (Write) 43
MAC/PHY commands 44
ID (Network ID) 44
BR (RF Data Rate) 44
PL (Power Level) 45
RR (Unicast Retries) 45
MT(Broadcast Multi-Transmits) 45
Diagnostic commands 45
DB (Received Signal Strength) 46
EA (MAC ACK Timeouts) 46
ER (Received Error Count) 46
GD (Good Packets Received) 46
TR (Transmission Failure Count) 47
UA (Unicasts Attempted) 47
%H (MAC Unicast One Hop Time) 47
%8 (MAC Broadcast One Hop Time) 47
N? (Network Discovery Timeout) 48
Network commands 48
CE (Node Messaging Options) 48

XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 5
BH (Broadcast Hops) 48
NH (Network Hops) 49
NN (Network Delay Slots) 49
Addressing commands 49
SH (Serial Number High) 49
SL (Serial Number Low) 49
DH (Destination Address High) 50
DL (Destination Address Low) 50
TO (Transmit Options) 50
NI (Node Identifier) 51
NT (Node Discovery Timeout) 51
NO (Node Discovery Options) 51
CI (Cluster ID) 52
DE (Destination Endpoint) 52
SE (Source Endpoint) 52
Addressing discovery and configuration commands 53
DN (Discover Node) 53
ND (Network Discover) 53
FN (Find Neighbors) 54
Security commands 55
KY (AES Encryption Key) 55
Serial interfacing commands 55
BD (Baud Rate) 55
NB (Parity) 55
SB (Stop Bits) 56
RO (Packetization Timeout) 56
FT (Flow Control Threshold) 56
AP (API Mode) 57
AO (API Options) 57
I/O settings commands 58
D0 (DIO0/AD0) 58
D1 (DIO1/AD1) 58
D2 (DIO2/AD2) 59
D3 (DIO3/AD3) 59
D4 (DIO4) 59
D5 (DIO5/ASSOCIATED_INDICATOR) 60
D6 (DIO6/RTS) 60
D7 (DIO7/CTS) 61
D8 (DIO8/DTR/SLP_RQ) 61
D9 (DIO9/ON_SLEEP) 62
DIO10/PWM0/RSSI 62
P1 (DIO11/PWM1 Configuration) 63
P2 (DIO12 Configuration) 63
P3 (DIO13/DOUT) 64
P4 (DIO14/DIN/CONFIG) 64
P5 (DIO15/SPI_MISO) 64
P6 (SPI_MOSI Configuration) 65
P7 (DIO17/SPI_SSEL ) 65
P8 (DIO18/SPI_CLK) 66
P9 (DIO19/SPI_ATTN) 66
PD (Pull Up/Down Direction) 67
PR (Pull-up/Down Resistor Enable) 68
M0 (PWM0 Duty Cycle) 69
M1 (PWM1 Duty Cycle) 69
LT (Associate LED Blink Time) 69

XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 6
RP (RSSI PWM Timer) 69
I/O sampling commands 70
AV (Analog Voltage Reference) 70
IC (Analog Voltage Reference) 70
IR (Sample Rate) 71
TP (Temperature) 71
%V (Voltage Supply Monitoring) 71
I/O line passing commands 72
IU (I/O Output Enable) 72
IA (I/O Input Address) 72
T0 (D0 Timeout) 72
T1 (D1 Timeout) 73
T2 (D2 Timeout) 73
T3 (D3 Timeout) 73
T4 (D4 Timeout) 73
T5 (D5 Timeout) 73
T6 (D6 Timeout) 74
T7 (D7 Timeout) 74
T8 (D8 Timeout) 74
T9 (D9 Timeout) 74
Q0 (P0 Timeout) 74
Q1 (P1 Timeout) 75
Q2 (P2 Timeout) 75
Q3 (P3 Timeout) 75
Q4 (P4 Timeout) 75
PT (PWM Output Timeout) 76
Command mode options 76
CC (Command Sequence Character) 76
CN (Exit Command mode) 76
CT (Command Mode Timeout) 76
GT (Guard Times) 77
Firmware commands 77
VR (XLR PRO Firmware Version) 77
HV (Hardware Version) 77
DD (Device Type Identifier) 77
NP (Maximum Packet Payload Bytes) 78
CK (Configuration CRC) 78
Operate in API mode
API mode overview 80
Use the AP command to set the operation mode 80
API frame format 80
API operation (AP parameter = 1) 80
API operation with escaped characters (AP parameter = 2) 81
Length field 82
Frame data 82
Checksum field 82
API serial exchanges 83
AT command frames 83
Transmit and receive RF data 83
Remote AT commands 83
Code to support future API frames 83
API frames 84
AT Command frame - 0x08 84

XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 7
AT Command - Queue Parameter Value frame - 0x09 86
Transmit Request frame - 0x10 87
Explicit Addressing Command frame - 0x11 89
Remote AT Command Request frame - 0x17 92
AT Command Response frame - 0x88 94
Modem Status frame - 0x8A 96
Transmit Status frame - 0x8B 97
Receive Packet frame - 0x90 99
Explicit Rx Indicator frame - 0x91 101
Remote Command Response frame - 0x97 103
Advanced application features
Monitor I/O lines 106
Pin configurations 106
Periodic I/O sampling 108
Detect digital I/O changes 108
I/O line passing 109
Configuration example 109
Work with networked devices 110
Network commissioning and diagnostics 111
Local configuration 111
Remote configuration 111
Test links in a network - loopback cluster 112
Test links between adjacent devices 112
General Purpose Flash Memory 115
Access General Purpose Flash Memory 115
Work with flash memory 121
Over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates 122
Distribute the new application 122
Verify the new application 123
Install the application 123
Keep in mind 123
Configure the XLR PRO RF Module using XCTU
Download and install XCTU 125
Connect XLR PRO to your PC 125
Launch XCTU and add the XLR PRO 125
Configure parameters using XCTU 125
Update firmware with XCTU 126
Safety notices and certifications
RF exposure statement 128
FCC (United States) certification 128
FCC labeling requirements 128
FCC notices 128
FCC limited modular approval 129
FCC-approved antennas 129
Fixed base station and mobile applications 129
Portable applications and SAR testing 129
RF exposure 129

XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 8
ISED (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) certification 130
RF exposure 130
IC labeling requirements 130
Transmitters with detachable antennas 130
Australia (RCM) [pending] 131
Power requirements 131
Antennas
Omni-directional antennas 132
Yagi antennas 134

About the XLR PRO RF Module
The XLR PRO RF Module is a high performance, industrial grade, long-range radio solution that
ensures reliable wireless data communications over long distances.
Using patent-pending Punch2™ Technology to maximize range and significantly increase immunity to
interference, the XLR PRO 900 MHz radio can connect a variety of devices across many industrial
applications.
Punch2 Technology leverages chirp spread spectrum (CSS) modulation to provide better receiver
sensitivity, multipath performance, and interference rejection than is available through commonly
used frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) systems.
The advantages of Punch2 Technology arise from the characteristics of the chirp signal as well as
several digital-signal-processing techniques that enhance performance and reliability. With Punch2
Technology, data is spread to a higher bandwidth by multiplying each transmit modulation symbol
with a chirp signal. Operating at an expanded bandwidth provides several benefits:
nGreater receiver sensitivity
nInterference immunity
nImproved multipath performance
nAdjustable data rates
The XLR PRO RF Module flexible configuration and management options allow you to quickly set up
and deploy one or more XLR PRO RF Modules, as well as apply firmware updates, get device status
information, and more.
Antenna port 10
Mechanical drawings 10
Pinouts 10
Heat dissipation 12
For more information 14
XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 9

About the XLR PRO RF Module Antenna port
XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Module User Guide 10
Antenna port
The antenna port is a 50 Ω MMCX RF signal connector for connecting to an external antenna.
Mechanical drawings
The following figures show the XLR PRO RF Module mechanical drawings. All dimensions are in inches.
Pinouts
The following table shows the pin assignments for the XLR PRO RF Module. In the table, low-asserted
signals have a horizontal line above signal name.
Pin
number Name
Default
direction Notes
1 — — do not connect
2 — — do not connect
3 — — do not connect
4 — — do not connect
5 GND —
6 VDD_5V Source
input
7 — — do not connect
8 — — do not connect
9 — — do not connect
10 — — do not connect