For 2014, a wave of unlawful, a wave of smart hardware is unlawful to become one of the most hot topics, this combination of hardware, software, and cloud services (current The universal way is to achieve the communication interaction of hardware and cloud platforms through WiFi) to present the characteristics of an Internet of Things. Similarly, relying on the strong rise of intelligent hardware, some excellent WiFi modules at home and abroad have gradually entered our vision.
Today, I'm introducing you a WiFi development board from E Rano Electronics - Discover Wi-Fi. To put it, this development board is quite special. I believe some engineers can also see that it is also a unusual relationship with the St Discovery Series development board. It is indeed, the Discover Wi-Fi development board itself is aimed at STM32F4 The DISCOVERY development board (of course, not limited to STM32F4), and its core WiFi scheme is Murata's SN8200 WiFi module.
First, let's take a look at what the discover Wi-Fi development board contains.
Discover Wi-Fi development board packaging is very simple, accessories in the box:
A Discover Wi-Fi Development Board
6 DuPont
Guidance documentation for quick start
It is very intimate, after all, if there is no, if you want to use it, you can easily develop debugging in the board.
At a glance, the design and resources of the board are very simple. The board is designed with a 4-layer board. The actual size is about 69.337mm * 43.944mm, and the entire board is not as good as a film.
Carefully observe the lowerboard card, there is no exaggeration, the entire board is based on the extension of the MURATA SN8200 WiFi module, and the development board is not equipped with too many peripheral functions.
SN8200 WiFi module
The SN8200 WiFi module is a low-power, self-contained embedded wireless module developed by Murata, mainly facing M2M application, as shown below:
The SN8200 module includes a STM Cortex-M3 controller, a WiFi BB / MAC / RF SoC, a RF front end, and two clocks, etc., the entire module is 30.5mm x 19.4mm x 2.8mm, In terms of volume, compared to the current mainstream WiFi single-chip program, it feels that it does not occupy any advantage. Of course, we have to look down, the main features of SN8200 are:
2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 B / g / N wireless technology
Antenna configuration: onboard antenna or u.fl connector
Transmission power: +18
[email protected]
Receive sensitivity: -96 dBm
WiFi chip: Boyong bcm43362
MCU: Semiconductor STM32 ARM Cortex-M3
Support WPA / WPA2 PSK
Built-in TCP / IP protocol stack, HTTP, DHCP, DNS, and Web Server
Support AP / STA dual mode
Serial Interface Options: UART, SPI
Peripheral Interface Options: ADC, DAC, I2C, I2S, GPIO
Working temperature range: -40oC to + 85oC
FCC / IC certification, CE certification
Compatible with Bo Tong WICEDTM SDK
The SN8200 is very exquisite, compared to some of the domestic WiFi modules, but from the fundamental solution, the SN8200 does not have something special, STM32 Cortex-M3 kernel + BCM43362 WiFi chip, the only satisfaction It is integrated with many software stacks, such as built-in TCP / IP protocol stacks, HTTP, DHCP, DNS, and web servers, which makes engineers for fast development, using Bo Tong's WiFi baseband chip to make modules can also be compatible with BoTong's WICE IDE development tool .
In addition, the SN8200 module supports the commonly used extensions such as ADC, DAC, I2C, I2S, GPIO, which makes it easy for engineers to build their own circuits, and the output of module data supports UART and SPI serial communication interfaces. Simple introduction may not have any intuitive impression. If the EMW3161 WiFi module previously evaluated previously (a relatively excellent WiFi module business) is a simple contrast, I believe that everyone has an intuitive impression on the SN8200.
The above figure is the physical map of the SN8200 and the EMW3161 WiFi module. From the first impression, the SN8200 workmanship is more trustworthy, and the EMW3161 has a smaller PCB solution, and the two module performance and function contrast, such as the table shown.
Actually, the result is a little unexpected, although the EMW3161 of Qingke belongs to the kind of uncomfortable type, but the actual performance and function is better than SN8200, but also rely on high intensive SOC scheme, EMW3161 can be very small in standby power or spatial layout, and domestic local programs are also true.
Discover Wi-Fi Development Board
Understand the WiFi module program, let's take a look at the resources of the entire Discover Wi-Fi development board, as shown below
The resources on the discover Wi-Fi development board can basically have the few hands, as follows:
5V / 450MA power supply
MURATA SN8200 WIFI module
20PINJTAG interface, WiFi peripheral expansion interface (SPI, UART)
A 5V DC Jack, a miniusb, a reset button, a power indicator
Available Crystal Epson SG-3040JC
The discover Wi-Fi board is based on the Simple extension of the SN8200 WiFi module. You can choose from 5V DC JACK power supply or Miniusb power supply. No matter which power supply is output. Give the WiFi module, and the other LDO is an active crystal power supply that provides 32.768 kHz onboard.
In addition, the board also has a reset button, a standard 20PIN JTAG interface and a peripheral extension interface of a WiFi module, the engineer can be easily DIY, the interface is defined as shown below.
Plate caller
How do you use it after a simple understanding of the resource situation of the Discover WiFi development board?
According to the information provided by the E-listed official website, the most convenient development is to use the STM32F4 Discovery development board.
Relevant development data documents can be found in the E-listed product interface, and package provided for STM32F4 Discovery development boards needs to pass the link address in the quick play document (Element14.com/stm32f4-expansion), the download process needs the corresponding Access Code, that is, if you don't buy this product, it is impossible to download it.
Downloading the DISCOVER WIFI software package except for the relevant documentation, it also includes routine source code, STM32 download tools, Bo Tong WICE IDE and other software tools and materials, as shown below
The routine to be used next is to control the WiFi module to implement some of the features and operations through the STM32F4 development board. The specific information will be output through the PC10 on the STM32F4 Discovery development board, and the WiFi module and the STM32F4 development board. The signal connection is through the UART interface, the hardware's physical connection diagram, and the principle block diagram are as follows.
To build a hardware development environment, you can use the IDE tool to develop. Here, the source code supplied by the E Ranger will be downloaded to the STM32F4 development board. After reset, we can view the logo output by serial tool PUTTY, as shown below.
At this point we can use the output menu command prompts to set the corresponding network environment, related network function tests
If you can perform functional tests such as TCP, UDP, AP, HTTP (related software) can be found in the downloaded package), this is no longer introduced, you want to know more details Can refer to Discover WiFi's user manual.
Finally, the firmware development upgrade of the Discover WiFi module is, which is further based on the use of WiFi module development products, which requires the tool to download software for Bo Tong's WICE IDE tool and STM32 ST-LINK Utility download software. (There is provided in the downloaded package).
To develop the Murata SN8200 module, we also need to install the SN8xxx series support patches in the installed WICE IDE tool, as shown in the following figure.
The firmware bin file compiled by the WICE IDE can be downloaded into the WiFi module via the STM32F4 development board. The specific hardware connection is shown below. At this time, the STM32F4 development board needs to remove two hops on the onboard ST-LINK.
Open the STM32 ST-LINK UTILITY download tool, load the compiled bin file, where the SN8200-SNIC-UART BIN file provided by the E Ranger will be used. After the download is complete, the firmware upgrade of the Discover WiFi module is completed.
summary
This paper introduces the functional characteristics of the Discover Wi-Fi development board of E-listening, and the function of functioning with the STM32F4 Discovery development board, firmware upgrade. Discover Wi-Fi Development Board Based on MURATA SN8200 WiFi Module (STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 + Boyong BCM43362), well-operated, support 820.11b / g / n, integrated with many software stacks, such as TCP / IP protocol stack, HTTP, DHCP , DNS and Web servers, etc., convenient for engineers to use development. Similarly, the Discover Wi-Fi development board can support Bo Tong's WICE IDE tool, which is convenient for engineers to upgrade the firmware development of WiFi modules. However, compared to some of the domestic manufacturers, such as the Qingke EWM3161 WiFi module mentioned in the article (but this not a single sale), Discover WiFi's price is not high enough, and the current board is 274RMB / piece in the E-listed electronic. Interested in seeing.
Reference
DiscoR Wi-Fi Development Board Purchase Link
DiscoR Wi-Fi Development Board to use instructions
Discover Wi-Fi Development Board Data Collection
Murata SN8200 Module Information
Original declaration: This article is originally created by the panel network, declined!
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