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SimpleLink™︎ Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Check  Received Signal Strength

Jan Cumps

Complexity: easy

What do you need:

  • two CC1310 LaunchPads Out of Box
  • A serial communication program (PuTTY or your personal favourite)

 

You can test the reception strength of the CC1310 radio straight away after you pulled the devices out of the box.

This exercise works with the pre-loaded firmware.

 

 

You'll learn the range and the possibilities of the radios by trying this out from different locations in and out your lab.

 

 

Setting things up

 

If you have a Code Composer Studio installation, you will have the right USB drivers.

Plug in both LaunchPads, and check the serial port that's assigned to them.

 

You'll know how to do that for your operating system. Here' how it looks like on my localised Windows 10.

 

 

(you don't have to do this from one pc. This also works when each LaunchPad is attached to a different computer)

 

Fire up your serial communication program. If you don't have one installed, PuTTY is a possible option.

There is also a Terminal view available in CCS.

Set up communication as 115200 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop, no parity, no flow control.

Select the first COM port.

 

Press the Reset button on top of one of the LaunchPads.

If nothing happens in the Terminal, press the Reset on the other one.

 

The one that reacts will be your TX device for today.

 

Click either button 1 or 2 to get a menu

Push button 2 until you are on the Mode line.

Press the left button to go select TX

 

Now start a second terminal program, and connect to the second serial port.

Push the Reset of the other launchpad. This one will become the receiver.

Press any button to go to the menu. This one is already in receive mode, so we don't have to change that.

Use the button 2 to navigate to Start, and press Button 1 to activate the receiving device.

 

It's now waiting for traffic.

 

Start the Communication

 

We're ready now to test the traffic.

Return to your first Terminal session. The one where you set the device to TX.

Use button 2 to navigate to Start

 

Each time you press Button 1, the device will transmit 10 packets.

In the receiver's terminal, you can see the count of received packages increase.

 

You'll also get an indication of the signal's strength. Keep pushing that button 1 of the transmitter, and the count will keep going up.

Try this exercise from different locations in your house, garden, neighbourhood, to appreciate the range of sub-1 GHz.

 

 

What if you have overwritten the Out-of-Box firmware

 

If you want to re-load the Out-of-Box firmware (the project will be included in the next TI-RTOS release, but currently unavailable), you can do that by:

 

Done.

 

 

 

SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Check  Received Signal Strength
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Use SmartRF to Try Radio Configs
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Debug 2 LaunchPads at the Same Time
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Side Note: Recognise your PuTTY Sessions
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Side Note: Recognise your Code Composer Studio Sessions
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Debug a Sender to Receiver Conversation
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Side Note: Start a Fresh Project
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Create a Transmitter with SmartRF Studio Part 1
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Create a Transmitter with SmartRF Studio Part 2
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Sensor Controller Engine Part 1: Dry Run
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Sensor Controller Engine Part 2: RTOS Integration
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Sensor Controller Engine Part 3: Wake Up Options
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - Side Note : Measure Power Use of Sensor Controller Engine
SimpleLinkTm Sub-1 GHz Wireless Microcontroller - ToolKit for Range Testing

on TI E2E community: How to connect a CC1310 LaunchPad to the SIGFOX network

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Top Comments

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    The results with the on-PCB antenna:

    Frequency: 868 MHz

    Speed: 625 bps

    Transmit power: 14 dBm

     

     

     

    range: 250m - after that I had a sudden drop-dead.

    Point1: -80dBm

    Point2: -90dBm

    Point 3: -110dBm

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    I'm ready for the first tests with the on-board pcb antenna.

     

     

     

    I'm using the long-range mode.

    The sender is just one of the BoosterPacks controlled by the SmartRF Studio, pinging packages infinitely.

     

    The receiver is the out-of-box program for the CC1310 LaunchPad, with a Sharp display and a battery.

     

    I can freely move around with that.

     

    In-house measurements:

     

    LR – PCB Antenna (dBm)next to each other-14street level-45basement-54
  • in reply to shabaz

    shabaz wrote:

     

    That looks like a tiny connector! Smaller than UF.L..

    Yes, and very touchy. If properly handled, they have a re-use rate of 30 times. After that, they aren't guaranteed to give a reliable contact.

    These things are so tiny that it's almost impossible to make them strong.

  • in reply to clem57

    It's a kit, Clem, with a range of antennas and frequencies.

    The ones that I'm planning to use are in the Sub-1GHz and WiFi range, 868 MHz -> 2.44 GHz.

    The others I'll keep aside - maybe one day I'll find a purpose...

     

    Here's the list (from the start guide)

     

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    What frequency range(s) does this antenna support?

    Clem