RF-Star RF-DG-40A User manual

RF-DG-40A Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0
nRF52840 USB Dongle
User Guide
Version 1.2
Shenzhen RF-star Technology Co., Ltd.
Feb. 6th, 2021

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................................................................ 1
1 Device Overview............................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.1 Description............................................................................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Key Features ....................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Application ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
2 Hardware Description ................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Hardware Drawings .......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Block Diagram..................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 SWD Interface..................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Buttons and LEDs.............................................................................................................................................. 6
2.5 USB......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.6 External Connections ....................................................................................................................................... 7
3 nRF Connect for Desktop (PC Tool)........................................................................................................................ 8
3.1 Minimum Requirements .................................................................................................................................. 8
3.2 Build a Connection ............................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2 Read and Write.................................................................................................................................................13
4 Capture Data Packets of BLE Sniffer ...................................................................................................................15
4.1 Minimum Requirements ................................................................................................................................15
4.2 Software Preparation......................................................................................................................................15
4.3 Instruction for Use ...........................................................................................................................................16
5 Capture Data Packets of ZigBee Sniffer..............................................................................................................22
5.1 Minimum Requirements ................................................................................................................................22
5.2 Software Preparation......................................................................................................................................22
5.3 Environment Setup..........................................................................................................................................22
5.3.1 Configure Wireshark Environment ...............................................................................................22
5.3.2 Specification for ZigBee Sniffer.....................................................................................................25
6 Programming..................................................................................................................................................................26
7 Electrostatics Discharge Warnings ........................................................................................................................27
8 Revision History ............................................................................................................................................................28
9 Contact Us.......................................................................................................................................................................29

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1 Device Overview
1.1 Description
The nRF52840 Dongle is a small, low-cost USB dongle that supports Bluetooth® Low Energy 5, Bluetooth mesh, Thread,
ZigBee, 802.15.4, ANT and 2.4 GHz proprietary protocols. The Dongle is the perfect target hardware for use with nRF
Connect for Desktop as it is low-cost but still supports all the short-range wireless standards used with Nordic devices.
The dongle has been designed to be used as a wireless HW device together with nRF Connect for Desktop as well as
programming through nRFUtil. For other use cases please do note that there is no debug support on the Dongle, only
support for programming the device and communicating through USB.
It can also be used to develop code for the nRF52840 SoC mounted on the dongle. Programming is supported through
a USB-enabled bootloader. Connectors for external debuggers are available.
It is supported by most of the nRF Connect for Desktop APPs and will automatically be programmed if needed. In
addition, custom applications can be compiled and downloaded to the Dongle. It has a user-programmable RGB LED,
a green LED, a user-programmable button as well as 15 GPIO accessible from castellated solder points along the edge.
Example applications are available in the nRF5 SDK under the board name PCA10059.
1.2 Key Features
⚫Bluetooth 5 ready multiprotocol radio
- 2 Mbps
- Long Range
- Advertising Extensions
- Channel Selection Algorithm #2 (CSA #2)
⚫IEEE 802.15.4 radio support
- Thread
- ZigBee
⚫ARM® CortexTM-M4 with floating point support
⚫15 GPIO available via edge castellation
⚫USB interface direct to nRF52840 SoC
⚫Integrated 2.4 GHz PCB antenna
⚫1 user-programmable button
⚫1 user-programmable RGB LED
⚫1 user-programmable LED
⚫1.7 V ~ 5.5 V operation from USB or external
⚫NFC available
1.3 Application
⚫Advanced wearables
- Advanced personal fitness devices
- Connected health
⚫IoT
- Connected home sensors and controllers
- Industrial IoT sensors and controllers
⚫Interactive entertainment devices
- Advanced remote controls
- Gaming controllers
- Virtual/Augmented Reality applications

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2 Hardware Description
The nRF52840 Dongle can be used as a development platform for the nRF52840 SoC. It features user-configurable
LEDs, a button and an NFC connector as well as 15 GPIOs available along the board edges. In addition to radio
communication, the nRF52840 SoC can communicate with a computer through USB.
2.1 Hardware Drawings
The nRF52840 Dongle hardware drawings show both sides of the RF-DG-40A board.
Figure 1. RF-DG-40A Dongle (Front)

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Figure 2. RF-DG-40A Dongle (Back)
The PCB footprint is as follows:
Figure 3. RF-DG-40A PCB Footprint

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2.2 Block Diagram
The block diagram illustrates the nRF52840 Dongle functional architecture.
Figure 4. Block Diagram of RF-DG-40A
2.3 SWD Interface
On the backside of the nRF52840 Dongle, there are connection points for the SWD interface.
The dongle is equipped with a footprint for two different connectors. On footprint P1, a standard 2×5-pin pin header with
a 1.27 mm pitch can be soldered. On footprint J2, it is possible to connect a TC2050 cable from Tag-Connect.
Figure 5. SWD Interface Connectors
nRF52840
GPIOs
Reset
32.0 MHz
32.768 kHz
PCB
Antenna
IPEX
Connector
Antenna
Matching
NFC
Low-pass
Filter
+5 V
Button
USB
Power Supply

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For instance, a Nordic development kit can be used as a programmer for the Dongle.
2.4 Buttons and LEDs
The nRF528540 Dongle is equipped with a green LED (LD1), a multicolor RGB LED (LD2), a user-configurable button
(SW1), and a reset button (SW2).
The LEDs and buttons are connected to dedicated I/Os on the nRF52840 SoC.
Figure 6. nRF52840 Dongle Buttons and LEDs
Part
Description
GPIO
SW1
Button
P1.06
SW2
Reset
P0.18
LD1
Green
P0.06
LD2
Red
P0.08
LD2
Green
P1.09
LD2
Blue
P0.12
The buttons are active low, which means that the input will be connected to the ground when the button is activated. The
SW1 button has no external pull-up resistor, but the reset button (SW2) has a 10 k pull-up resistor. To use SW1, P1.06
must be configured as an input with an internal pull-up resistor.
The LEDs are active low, which means that writing a logical zero '0' to the output pin will illuminate the LED.

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2.5 USB
The nRF52840 Dongle features a USB-A-type connector printed on the circuit board.
Figure 7. USB Port
2.6 External Connections
The nRF52840 Dongle has 15 GPIOs in addition to the ground, power, and SWD connections along the castellated
edges.
The castellated edge holes have a pitch of 0.1 inches (2.54 mm) and a row spacing of 0.6 inches (15.24 mm)2, making
it suitable for stripboard connection. Test points for additional nine GPIOs are available on the backside of the circuit
board, leaving a total of 24 GPIOs accessible.
Note: There is no reverse voltage protection on the power connections.
The SWD connections are located 0.2 inches (5.08 mm) away from the GPIOs with a row spacing of 0.4 inches (10.16
mm)

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3 nRF Connect for Desktop (PC Tool)
3.1 Minimum Requirements
Before you start, check that you have the required hardware and software.
Hardware requirements
⚫PC with a standard type-A USB port
⚫RF-DG-40A
Software requirements
⚫nRF Connect for Desktop
Download address:
https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-tools/Development-Tools/nRF-Connect-for-desktop/Download#infotabs
⚫Operating system: macOS, Linux, or Windows 7 or later
3.2 Build a Connection
Connect the Dongle RF-DG-40A to a computer and get started with nRF Connect for Desktop.
1. Download and install nRF Connect for Desktop.
This includes the driver for the nRF52840 USB Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) feature. For documentation on the
tool, see nRF Connect.
2. Insert the nRF52840 Dongle into a USB port on your computer.
The status light (LD2) starts pulsing red, indicating that the Dongle is powered up and is in bootloader mode. After a
few seconds, the computer will recognize the Dongle as a USB composite device. The driver needed for the
nRF52840 USB DFU feature is also installed.
3. Open nRF Connect for Desktop, and choose Bluetooth Low Energy. If there is no Open choice, you need to install,
see as follows:

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4. After installation, click Open and the following interface will appear. At this time, you need to select the
corresponding Dongle device to use normally.
5. Click Select device to pop up the device name, and then click Select the corresponding device (the device
name actually corresponds to the MAC address of the device).

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6. After selecting the device successfully, the following interface will appear. You can click Generic Access to view
the information about the device as the host. Then click Start scan to start scanning the broadcast device.
7. After clicking Start scan, the scanned devices will be listed in the window on the right.

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8. If there are too many devices to find a specific device, you can click the small triangle of Option and enter the
device name or MAC address in the filter box to filter the redundant devices. Check "Sort by signal strength" to
select whether the signals are arranged in descending order from strong to weak.
9. Click Connect to specify the slave, and the interface is as follows:

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10. Multi connection operation: just click Connect in the scan window on the right (without disconnecting the
currently connected device), you can connect multiple slaves.

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3.2 Read and Write
1. Device read operation. For example, to read the 8902 channel of the 8900 service, you only need to click the
arrow to complete the reading, provided that the characteristic value of the service has a read attribute.
2. Device write operation. For example, to write 17 bytes of 0xff to 8901 channel of 8900 service, just fill in the
data in the box in the figure and click the button indicated by the arrow, provided that the characteristic value
of the service has write attribute.

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3. Receive a notify message. For example, to receive the notify notification of 8900 service from 8901 channel,
you need to click the button indicated by the arrow to receive the message of the channel, provided that the
characteristic value of the service has the notify attribute.

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4 Capture Data Packets of BLE Sniffer
4.1 Minimum Requirements
Before you start, check that you have the required hardware and software.
Hardware requirements
⚫PC with a standard type-A USB port
⚫RF-DG-40A
Software requirements
⚫Download the Wireshark 2.4.5 and above version
Wireshark download address: https://www.wireshark.org/#download
⚫Install the python v3.7.0 and above version
Python v3.7.x environment download address: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-378/
⚫Download nRF Sniffer for Bluetooth LE v3.x.x environment
Download address: https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-tools/Development-Tools/nRF-Sniffer-for-Bluetooth-
LE/Download#infotabs
⚫Operating system: macOS, Linux, or Windows 7 or later
4.2 Software Preparation
Pay attention to the following items when installing Wireshark
1. Click "Wireshark Desktop Icon".
2. Click "USBPcap" and install.

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3. Python 2.7 and above development environment. Python 3.7 version is used here.
Click "next" at each step when installing python
4. Refer to the Chapter 3 for Preparation for Development Environment in “20220523 RF-DG-32B User Guide V1.2”.
4.3 Instruction for Use
1. After the software is successfully installed, connect the RF-DG-40A to the PC via USB, open Wireshark, and select
nRF Sniffer COMx.
2. Select -> View -> Interface Toolbar -> nRF Sniffer in the toolbar, the following interface will appear (by default, all
BLE broadcast signals are captured).

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3. Select any RF-star BLE slave development board to power on for broadcasting.
4. Capture the data packets of the specified MAC address device.
You can check the device's MAC address through the APP, as shown below:
As shown in the red box in the figure below, click the device filter drop-down box to select the device with the

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corresponding MAC address. After selecting the fixed device, only the data packets related to the device will be
captured.
5. After Wireshark selects the MAC address device, the broadcast packet, scan request packet and scan response
packet of the device will be captured.
6. The data packets that the device communicates with any master can be captured, including the connection