Radiocrafts Embedded Wireless Solutions RCxxxxDK-USB RCxxxxDK-USB Demonstration Kit User Manual Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ 1 QUICK START GUIDE .............................................................................................................. 2 DEMONSTRATION KIT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 3 DEMO BOARD INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 4 BLOCK DIAGRAM .................................................................................................................... 5 JUMPER SECTION ................................................................................................................... 7 PROTOTYPING WITH THE RCXXXXDB-USB ........................................................................ 9 ANTENNA SELECTION VERSUS RANGE PERFORMANCE ................................................ 9 RCXXXXDB-USB CIRCUIT DIAGRAM .................................................................................. 10 RCXXXXDB-USB PCB AND ASSEMBLY LAYOUT .............................................................. 10 RCXXXXDB-USB BILL OF MATERIALS ............................................................................... 11 TROUBLESHOOTING ............................................................................................................ 14 DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY ......................................................................................... 15 DISCLAIMER ........................................................................................................................... 15 TRADEMARKS ....................................................................................................................... 15 LIFE SUPPORT POLICY ........................................................................................................ 15 CONTACT INFORMATION ..................................................................................................... 15 2009 Radiocrafts AS RCxxxxDK-USB User Manual (rev. 1.10) Page 1 of 15 Radiocrafts Embedded Wireless Solutions RCxxxxDK-USB Quick Start Guide How do I set up a simple link between the boards To do a basic communication test, do like this for each of the Demonstration Boards: Attach the antenna to the SMA connector Download the latest version of RCTools from www.radiocrafts.com Install RCTools (this will also install the USB VCP (Virtual COM Port) driver) Connect the USB port to a PC Start a terminal program on the PC (RC CCT or Microsoft HyperTerminal program) Select the correct COM-port and set data rate 19200, 1 start bit, no parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control The module will now be in idle mode listening for a valid data packet to arrive. Now you can enter data in one terminal window and after a predefined timeout, the ASCII string is transmitted to the other module and shown in the other terminal window if the transmission was successful. How do I find the COM Port to use A list of all available COM-ports on your PC is found from the Windows Device manager. This is opened by Start->Run and type devmgmt.msc. Alternatively, Open System from Control Panel and select the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button. In The Device Manager you can expand the Ports (COM & LPT) tab to get the list of both Standard COM ports and USB COM ports connected to your PC. For details please see the Installation Guide. How do I go on and change the RF channel or any other parameter To change configurable parameters, assert the CONFIG pin (pulling low by pressing CONFIG-button, see Figure 1), and send the command string using the same serial interface as for transmitting data. Parameters can be changed permanently and stored in non-volatile memory in the module. See the User Manual for the CCT software for details on how to change settings by using this tool. The details for the configuration memory contents can be found in the RC232 User Manual and the MBUS User Manual respectively. Why is it an USB connector when the Radiocrafts modules use a serial UART The benefit of USB is that power is available from the Port. The RCxxxxDB has an USB to UART converter from FTDI that includes a Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver that allows you to use the demo boards with any PC software that originally require a serial COM port. This means that the PC will communicate with the module using a serial connection via the virtual COM port. Both standard terminal program and the RCTools PC suite from Radiocrafts can for this reason be used together with the RCxxxxDK-USB. For simplicity it is recommended to first use the RCTools from Radiocrafts since the USB VCP driver is included in this installation. Details on how to use this software is available from separate User Manuals. Figure 1: RC232-CCT, one of the applications in RCTools 2009 Radiocrafts AS RCxxxxDK-USB User Manual (rev. 1.10) Page 2 of 15