Texas Instruments CC112 EM Series User manual

SWRU291
June 2011
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CC11
2
x
Evaluation Module
Kit
Quick Start
Guide
Opening the B
ox an
d R
unning the Packet Error Rate Test
1. Kit Contents
2 x CC1120
or CC1121
E
valuation Modules
2 x
Pulse A
ntennas
Documentation
The EMK is an add
-
on kit to supplement the
CC1120DK wi
th evaluation boards supporting
additional frequency bands.
This document
covers both the CC1120EMK and
CC1121EMK.
2.
How to use the Modules
The CC112
x
EM boards can be plugged into
several development boards from Texas
Instruments. Most notably, you can u
se the
SmartRF Transceiver EB, which is included in
the CC1120DK. This board lets you run a packet
error rate (PER) test, control the device from
SmartRF™Studio and it can be used as
a
development platform.
It is also possible to connect the EM to other
TI
development boards with the appropriate
connectors or
to the basic “SoC
Battery Board”.
The
latter can be used as a
carrier board for the
EM to simplify the
connection to other boards
with a microcontroller. See
:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/fo
lders/print/socbb
.html
This guide will show how to use the modules
together with SmartRF Transceiver EB (TrxEB).
3. Plug
the
EM into
the
Trx
EB
Insert a CC11
2x
EM into
the
TrxEB
. The
connectors will only fit in one position so that the
EM cannot be ins
erted the wrong way. Do not
use excessive
force
on
the EM. Remem
ber to
mount the antenna
.
4. Select Board Mode
Use the switches S1 and S2 to select the
operating mode of the board. For the sake of this
quick start guide, please select “
Enable
” and
“
UART”
. This configuration will make it possible
to communicate directly with the MSP430 over a
virtual COM port on the PC.
5
. Power
Options
There are several ways of applying power to
the
TrxEB.

2 x 1.5
V AA batteries

USB

External
P
ower
S
upply

MSP430 De
bugger
For the batteries and USB, there are voltage
regulators on the TrxEB that will set the on
-
board voltage to 3.3
V. The external power
supply should set a voltage
that does not
exceed 3.3 V.
B
y default, the MSP430
debugger supplies 3.0
V.
Note that
there should only be one active
power source at any one time.
6
.
Select Power Source
Depending on the power source, make sure
you connect jumpers to the appropriate pins
on the “Power Source” header. For instance,
if you use batteries, use a jumper to
short
-
circuit pin 1 and 2 on the header.
The last
jumper in the row (pin 9
-
10) should always
be mounted, unless the MSP430 FET is
used as the power source.
7
.
Welcome Screen
Turn
on
power
with the Main Power
switch. You
should
now
see the Texas Inst
ruments logo
and
a short description of the buttons on the LCD.
Pushing any of the five buttons on the board will
take you to the main menu.
NB! If you don’t see anything on the screen
–
don’t panic.
First, make sure the mode switches
are in the correct p
ositions (see step 4 above).
Secondly, the first build of TrxEB unfortunately
uses a connector that doesn’t fit exactly to the
pins of the LCD. It should be sufficient to tilt the
LCD slightly to get a snug fit with the connector.
8
. Packet
E
rror
Rate T
e
st
Select the PER (Packet Error Rate) test by
highlighting the selection
using the up/down
buttons. Confirm your selection by pressing
Enter (right button).
9
. S
elect
T
est
Mode
The PER test can be run is several modes. Easy
Mode sets up a one
-
way t
est and uses default
settings. This test is convenient for practical
range testing.
The other test modes are described in the
“
TrxEB RF
Software Examples User’s Guide
”
.
Highlight “Easy Mode” and press Enter (right
button).

10
. Select
Frequency
Se
lect which frequency to use for the test. Make
sure that the evaluation modules you have
match the selected frequency.
1
1
. Select
Mode
One of the boards must operate as the slave
(transmitter) and the other as master (receiver).
Select
Slave
on one board
…
…and
Master
on the other board.
1
2
.
Establish Link
The slave node will now wait for a configuration
package from the Master. The configuration
contains the parameters used for the PER test.
The configuration package will be sent when you
select “
link devices” on the master node.
1
3
.
Link E
stablished
When the initial linking has completed, the slave
node will start the test by co
ntinuously
transmitting packets to the master.
1
4
.
Start the R
eceiver (master)
On the master node, you can sel
ect the number
of packets you want to receive in order to
calculate the packet error.
When selecting “Start PER Test”, the master
(receiver) will begin to count the number of
received packets and provide some statistics.
1
5
. PER Test
Results
The mast
er will display a window that plots the
received signal strength (RSSI) for each packet.
Press the “Up” button to go to the detailed
statistical window.
1
6
. PER Test R
esults
The statistics window will show the error rate
based on
the number of lost
or erroneous
packets divided by the total number of packets
that should have been received.
1
7
. Troubleshooting
It you are experiencing problems with this test,
please check the following:

Nothing is shown in the display!
Unfortunately, the first seri
es of TrxEB uses
a connector that doesn’t fit exactly to the pins
of the LCD. It should be sufficient to tilt the
LCD slightly to get a snug fit with the
connector.

Please visit the kit web page and check for
updated SW and documentation. Updated
SW can be
downloaded to the device using
IAR EW430 or SmartRF Flash Programmer.

If you get poor PER results at short
distances, try to move the transmitter and
receiver further apart. The CC11
2
0
/CC1121
receiver may experience saturation if it
is too
close to the ot
her CC112
0
/CC1121
transmitting at full output power.
1
8
. References
Please visit
www.ti.com
and
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/cc1120.
html
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/cc1121.
html
On the
device
product page, you will find
additional documentation, links to
the kit web
pages,
updated software examples
and software
tools like SmartRF Studio.
You will also find a lot of information on the TI
E2E forum at
http://e2e.ti.com
We hope that you will enjoy working with the
CC1120
and CC1121
device
s
.
SmartRF
™
Studio
1. Download and Install
Before connecting SmartRF
Trx
EB to your PC,
download
and install
SmartRF Studio from
www.ti.com/smartrfstudio
.
2. Launch SmartRF Studio
After installing the tool, connect the EB to the PC
using the USB cable and start SmartRF Studio.
Select the “Sub 1 GHz
” tab and double click the
highlighted
CC112
0
or CC1121
device icon.
3.
Test
the Radio
You can now configur
e the radio, run
performance
tests, export register settings and
run link tests with another CC11
2
0
or C1121
on
a SmartRF
Trx
EB connected to the PC.

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