This blog introduces to New FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z Wireless Microcontrollers(MCU development board and demonstrates the connectivity test application
The FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z development board is an evaluation environment supporting NXP’s KW41Z/31Z/21Z(KW41Z Wireless Microcontrollers(MCU The KW41Z integrates a radio transceiver operating in the 2.36 GHz to 2.48 GHz range(supporting a range of FSK/GFSK and O-QPSK modulations and an ARM Cortex-M0 MCU into a single package NXP supports the KW41Z with tools and software that include hardware evaluation and development boards software development IDE applications drivers custom PHY usable with IEEE Std 802.15.4 compatible MAC and BLE Link Layer
The FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z development board consists of the KW41Z device with a 32 MHz reference oscillator crystal RF circuitry(including antenna 4-Mbit external serial flash and supporting circuitry in the popular Freedom board form-factor The board is a standalone PCB and supports application development with NXP’s Bluetooth Low Energy Generic FSK and IEEE Std 802.15.4 protocol stacks including Thread
The FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z Freedom development board is a small low-power and cost-effective evaluation and development board for application prototyping and demonstration of the KW41Z/31Z/21Z(KW41Z family of devices These evaluation boards offer easy-to-use mass-storage-device mode flash programmer a virtual serial port and standard programming and run-control capabilities
The KW41Z is an ultra-low-power, highly integrated single-chip device that enables Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Generic FSK (at 250, 500, and 1000 kbps) or IEEE Standard 802.15.4 with Thread support for portable, extremely low-power embedded systems.
The Kinetis KW41Z/31Z/21Z MCU family for wireless applications is the second Multi-mode family in the Kinetis W series portfolio. Primarily used for automation and Healthcare purposes, these MCUs enable low-energy and long-range connectivity.
The FRDM KW41Z development board has the following features:
• NXP’s ultra-low-power KW41Z Wireless MCU supporting BLE, Generic FSK, and IEEE Std. 802.15.4 (Thread) platforms
• IEEE Std. 802.15.4-2006 compliant transceiver supporting 250 kbps O-QPSK data in 5.0 MHz channels, and full spread-spectrum encoding and decoding
• Fully compliant Bluetooth v4.2 Low Energy (BLE)
• Reference design area with small-footprint, low-cost RF node:
— Single-ended input/output port
— Low count of external components
— Programmable output power from -30 dBm to +3.5 dBm at the SMA connector, when using DCDC Bypass or operating the DCDC in Buck mode
— Receiver sensitivity is -100 dBm, typical (@1 % PER for 20-byte payload packet) for 802.15.4 applications, at the SMA connector
— Receiver sensitivity is -95 dBm (for BLE applications) at the SMA connector
• Integrated PCB inverted F-type antenna and SMA RF port (requires moving C7 to C8)
• Selectable power sources
• DC-DC converter with Buck, Boost, and Bypass operation modes
• 32 MHz reference oscillator
• 32.768 kHz reference oscillator
• 2.4 GHz frequency operation (ISM and MBAN)
• 4-Mbit (512 kB) external serial flash memory for Over-the-Air Programming (OTAP) support
• NXP FXOS8700CQ Digital Sensor, 3D Accelerometer (±2g/±4g/±8g) + 3D Magnetometer
• Integrated Open-Standard Serial and Debug Adapter (OpenSDA)
• Cortex 10-pin (0.05) SWD debug port for target MCU
• Cortex 10-pin (0.05) JTAG port for OpenSDA updates
• One RGB LED indicator
• One red LED indicator
• Two push-button switches
• Two TSI buttons (Touch Sensing Input electrodes)
The software package contains RTOS-based and KSDK-based framework, drivers, connectivity stack with SMAC as layer two, and several demonstration applications. The application projects are developed using the IAR Embedded Workbench
IDE and Kinetis Design Studio IDE.
Out-Of-Box Demo
FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Zboard comes loaded with a demo that flashes the multi-colored LEDs when you connect the board If you do not see the LEDs flashing first unplug and replug in the board
Preliminaries:
1. Download KW41Z Connectivity Software
The KW41Z Connectivity Software package integrates the Kinetis Software Development Kit v2.0 and all the wireless connectivity stacks required to develop your solution using IEEE 802.15.4 and/or Bluetooth Low Energy.
Click below to download the KW41Z Connectivity Software appropriate for your computer's operating system.
After installation you can find Connectivity Example Codes at below folder location:
C:\NXP\MKW41Z_ConnSw_1.0.2
2.Install Your Toolchain
NXP offers a complimentary toolchain called Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) https://nxp.flexnetoperations.com/control/frse/download?element=7490587
The KW41Z Connectivity Software includes support for other tools such as IAR (https://www.iar.com/iar-embedded-workbench/freescale/)
3. Optional J-Link driver
If you are facing problem in connecting the board in KDS debug environment for the FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z board you need to update J-Link driver“JLinkWindowsV610g.exe for newly introduced KW41Z family devices from below link
https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/JLink_Windows_V610g.exe
SMAC-based Connectivity Test demonstration applications
The MKW41Z Connectivity Test application is a SMAC-based demonstration application which enables testing basic transmission/reception functionalities and includes several advanced testing features based on the ASP and SMAC APIs.
Below are the steps to be followed:
1. Load and build the demo application in Kinetis Design Studio.
2. Download and run the demo application.
Load and build the application demo
Open KDS tool and select below options:
Select "File->Import" from the KDS IDE menu. In the window that appears, expand the "General" folder and select "Existing Projects into Workspace". Then, click the "Next" button.
As we have installed the KW41 connectivity software at below location: point the browse option to this location or copy the path and paste it as shown in picture
“C:\nxp\MKW41Z_ConnSw_1.0.2\boards\frdmkw41z\wireless_examples\smac\connectivity_test\FreeRTOS\kds”
Click the "Finish" button.
Now project is opened in our workspace as shown below:
Building the project demo:
There are two project configurations (build targets) supported for each KSDK project:
Debug – Compiler optimization is set to low, and debug information is generated for the executable. This target should be selected for development and debug.
Release – Compiler optimization is set to high, and debug information is not generated. This target should be selected for final application deployment.
Choose the appropriate build target, "Debug" or "Release", by clicking the downward facing arrow next to the hammer icon, as shown below. For this example, select the "Debug" target.
Now click on build the project. The application will begin building after the build target is selected
It builds successfully without errors and can be seen in console tab
Download and Run the application demo
To begin debug Connect your FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z board to your PC And click on debug configuration
Select the options as shown below:
In the Debug Configurations dialog box, select the J-Link debug configuration that corresponds to the build you are targeting: debug or release. This example focuses on the debug build.
After selecting the debugger interface, click the "Debug" button to launch the debugger.
Note if you are facing problem in connecting the board in KDS debug environment for the FRDM-KW41ZFRDM-KW41Z board you need to update J-Link driver“JLinkWindowsV610g.exe for newly introduced KW41Z family devices from below link
https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/JLink_Windows_V610g.exe
The application is downloaded to the target and automatically runs to main():
We will continue the connectivity demo in next blog of Part-2: Executing SMAC connectivity demo application on terminal window
