Texas Instruments CC26x2 Launchpad

UPDATE: Pre-production silicon versions earlier than Revision E (from Jan 2019 on) will only support CC26X2 SDK 2.30 and earlier (SDK available clicking here). Silicon revision E and later will only be compatible with CC26X2 SDK 2.40 and later. Production silicon is expected to be launched on early second quater 2019.

As defined in the project roadmap, in the first stage some technology will be developed in parallel to the definition of interfaces and protocols.

To do that it is necessary to choose a powerful yet flexible evaluation board that allowed developing and testing different devices (vehicle controller, discrete actuator,...)

Texas Instruments has recently launched a new SOC (System On Chip) called CC2652R with interesting features:

• Supports wireless communications based on the protocol 802.15.4 (as Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, Thread or raw 802.15.4)
• Supports wired communications as RS-232, I2C or SPI
• Supports a wide range of analog and digital IOs and sensors (as, for instance, PWM outputs)
• Allows programming from a solid, free, environment (Code Composer Studio, or CCS) in C/C++ over real time operating systems (both Texas Instruments RTOS or FreeRTOS)
• It has a small form factor (VQFN) and contained price (around 3$)

In order to "play" with this little wonder, Texas Instruments has launched too an evaluation board called Simplelink CC26x2R Launchpad (shown in the photo) that allows an optimal integration between the CC2652R MCU and the programming environment (Code Composer Studio) thanks to its included JTAG interface. As can be seen, the evaluation board allows access to most of the MCU IOs, specifically the mapping of these IOS is defined in this table:

GPIO Id	Pin	Type	Description	CC26x2 Launchpad mapping	Launchpad usage	User usage
DIO_0	5	Digital	Sensor controller	DIO0	-	DIO
DIO_1	6	Digital	Sensor controller	DIO1_RFSW	?	?
DIO_2	7	Digital	Sensor controller	UART(0)_RX	UART	-
DIO_3	8	Digital	Sensor controller	UART(0)_TX	UART	-
DIO_4	9	Digital	Sensor controller	I2C_SCL	I2C interface	-
DIO_5	10	Digital	Sensor controller, high drive	I2C_SDA	I2C interface	-
DIO_6	11	Digital	Sensor controller, high drive	PIN_RLED, PWMPIN0	Launchpad red led, PWM0	DIO high drive (removing Launchpad led jumpers)
DIO_7	12	Digital	Sensor controller, high drive	PIN_GLED, PWMPIN1	Launchpad green led, PWM1	DIO high drive (removing Launchpad led jumpers)
DIO_8	14	Digital		SPI0_MISO	SPI	-
DIO_9	15	Digital		SPI0_MOSI	SPI	-
DIO_10	16	Digital		SPI0_CLK	SPI	-
DIO_11	17	Digital		-	Not used / Not documented	?
DIO_12	18	Digital		DIO12, LCD_EXTCOMIN	Sharp LCD boosterPack	-
DIO_13	19	Digital		PIN_BTN1	Launchpad button 1	-
DIO_14	20	Digital		PIN_BTN2	Launchpad button 2	-
DIO_15	21	Digital		DIO15	-	DIO
DIO_16	26	Digital	JTAG_TDO, high drive	DIO16_TDO	-	DIO high drive
DIO_17	27	Digital	JTAG_TDI, high drive	DIO17_TDI	-	DIO high drive
DIO_18	28	Digital		UART(0)_RTS	JTAG UART	UART (removing JTAG Rx/Tx jumpers)
DIO_19	29	Digital		UART(0)_CTS	JTAG UART	UART (removing JTAG Rx/Tx jumpers)
DIO_20	30	Digital		SPI_FLASH_CS	SPI	-
DIO_21	31	Digital		DIO_21	-	DIO
DIO_22	32	Digital		DIO_22, LCD_ENABLE	Sharp CLD boosterPack	-
DIO_23	36	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO23_Analog, LCD_POWER	Sharp CLD boosterPack	-
DIO_24	37	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO24_Analog, LCD_CS	Sharp CLD boosterPack	-
DIO_25	38	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO25_Analog	-	Analog
DIO_26	39	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO26_Analog	-	Analog
DIO_27	40	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO27_Analog	-	Analog
DIO_28	41	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO28_Analog	-	Analog
DIO_29	42	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO29_Analog	-	Analog
DIO_30	43	Digital/Analog	Sensor controller, analog	DIO30_Analog	-	Analog

The evaluation board pricing is around 40$ and, together with the fantastic CC26X2 Software Development Kit (available for Windows, Linux and MacOS) and Texas Instrument online developer tools allows start developing code in a record time.

This evaluation board together with all the defined software is chosen as technological resource for developing the LItems on the Elbert project

Some detailed photos of the evaluation board can be seen below:

General evaluation board view, with CC2652R MCU on first plane

Detail of the CC2652R MCU, its small size can be appreciated by comparing it with the left jumpers

Detail of the CC2652R MCU. At right and left the pins giving access to the MCU IOs can be seen

JTAG interface, on first plane the microUSB connector and reset button. The CC2652R MCU can be fully isolated from the onboard JTAG by removing all the jumpers on the photo, allowing both using external JTAG or using the onboard JTAG with other MCUs

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Upgrading a Digi Connectport X2 from Zigbee to 802.15.4 coordinator

In order to create a star topology XBee/802.15.4 network, a coordinator is necessary. That coordinator will be the responsible of managing some aspects of the network and, optionally, acting as gateway to other networks.

I own an old Digi Connectport X2 with ZB firmware, therefore suitable to act as a coordinator of a Zigbee network. This device has an ethernet port that, properly configured, allows sending and receiving radio network packets to or from a TCP/UDP connection, what is really useful in order to make tests from any computer able to access to the ethernet gateway port.

Since I need to form not a Zigbee but a 802.15.4 network, some changes are necessary in order to convert the Connectport X2 Zigbee coordinator into a 802.15.4 coordinator. These are the steps to be done: Upgrading the X2 gateway and Xbee PRO radio module firmwares or, in the last case, replacing the radio module by a 802.15.4 compliant module.

Upgrading the X2 gateway firmware

In order to get the proper firmware, go to the Digi Support Page, "Firmware updates" section and search "Connectport X2 - 802.15.4 - Ethernet" (link here). In case that the installed version was older than the available versions, the best is updating first the POST firmware and then updating the Connectport X2D (that was the exact name of my gateway firmware) firmware. Both the POST and the gateway installed firmwares can be checked in the Gateway "Administration/System information" page. In this case I updated the firmwares to version 1.1.3 release 82002548_B for POST and version 2.17.1.2 release 82002549_G1 04/20/2017 for gateway firmware.

Upgrading the Xbee PRO radio module

After upgrading the gateway firmware, it is necessary upgrading the radio module. The way to do depends on the installed radio module:

• If the gateway contains a Xbee Pro S2(B) module, it is not compatible with the 802.15.4 firmware and therefore it must be replaced by another, 802.15.4 compatible, radio module. The valid options are two:
• Replacing it by a Xbee Pro S1 module: it is old, expensive and it will become deprecated on December 2018, so it is not a good option to buy one.
• Replacing it by a Xbee Pro S2C module: better and cheaper than the S1 module, it is compatible with Connectport X2D from firmware version 2.17.1.1, so upgrading the gateway firmware to that version (or higher) is necessary.
• If the gateway contains a Xbee Pro S2C module, just upgrade the firmware by downloading the latest from the Digi support page (go to the Digi Support Page, "Firmware updates" section and search "XBee / XBee-PRO S2C 802.15.4 Modules", link here). The usual firmware option should be that containing "TH" (through hole) in its name, that is addressed to the Xbee Pro through hole modules that usually are mounted in the X2 gateways. However, in case of trying to upgrade the module with a wrong firmware, the gateway will generate an error and the process will be aborted, so no risk in this step in case of choosing the wrong firmware.

In order to know the radio module used by the gateway, open a session via the gateway web interface and go to Configuration/Xbee Network/Gateway Firmware Update and check the radio type: If it is "Xbee-PRO XNet 2.5 / ZB / SE (0x1a47)" your gateway contains a Xbee Pro S2 radio module, being 0x1a47 the radio module hardware version. If not sure, the last option is just opening the gateway enclosure and checking the installed radio module.

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