Range of Features

• A pair of Evaluation PCBs to evaluate SP2, RPC and FRPC modules
• Direct interface to Parallel port
• Visual indications of operational mode and test results through LEDs
• Access to internal diagnostic/Test modes and EEPROM using RPC Development Kit Software
• All I/O are brought out with adjacent headers for developing applications and analyzing signals
• PP3 9V Battery operation makes the board portable for easy wireless evaluation

• 2 SP2-433-160 modules (RPC or FRPC should be ordered separately)
• 2 Evaluation boards
• 2 1/4 wavelength whip antennas (433MHz)
• 2 9V battery (PP3)
• BiM2 data sheet
• 1 SP2 data sheet
• 1 SP2 Evaluation Kit manual

• DB25M-DB25F parallel extension/straight through cable
• PC/laptop with ECP parallel port with MS-DOS, Win3.X, Win95/98.
• RPC Development Kit Software

This mode selects the internal diagnostics modes built into the RPC, FRPC or SP2.

Set-up:

• Connect the 1/4 wavelength antenna into the antenna terminal on the evaluation board. Plug the SP2 into the DIL socket marked SpacePort. RPC/FRPC should be plugged in with RPC/FRPC IC facing the Evaluation Kit and shielding can or module facing the other way.
• Connect a 7.5VDC-24VDC supply or 9V battery to the supply input terminals and slide the power switch to ON position.
• Put the DEBUG jumper on and press 'Reset'
• The Hex switch selects the required debug mode 0 to 8. A reset is not required after a mode change.

Digital Storage Oscilloscope probes can be connected to TXD/AF, TX, RX to monitor data transmission to and from RF circuit. Probes can be connected to TXR, TXA, RXR, RXA and D3:D0 data lines to monitor data upload/download from/to Host/PC.

Mode 0 - Preamble Detector

In this mode, receiver circuit is continuously powered up (RX LED on) and if preamble, 80kHz or 160kbps square wave signal is detected the SIGNAL line is pulled low lighting the SIGNAL LED to indicate valid Preamble is detected. RXR will also be pulled low lighting the OK LED to indicate a pass.
If the RESET jumper is inserted, then the internal Fast Radio Packet Controller will be disable enabling the internal BiM2 equivalent receiver circuit to function independently.

Mode 1 - Pulsed Receiver

Receiver is switched on for 10ms and SP2 checks for preamble. If preamble is detected the SIGNAL line is pulled low. This will light up the SIGNAL LED. If not, the Receiver is turned off for 10ms and the process is repeated. OK LED will also light up to indicate a pass. This mode can be used to test the power up time and settling time of the receiver circuit.

Mode 2 - Transmit Preamble Modulation

Transmitter is turned on continuously and preamble (160kbps square wave) is transmitted. This complement mode can be used with Mode 0 as a pair.
If the RESET jumper is inserted, then the internal Fast Radio Packet Controller will be disable enabling the internal BiM2 equivalent transmitter circuit to function independently.

Mode 3 - Transmit 100Hz (200bps) square wave modulation

Transmitter is turned on continuously and 100Hz square wave signal is transmitted which can be used to estimate the FM deviation and power levels of the RF transmitter circuit using a spectrum analyser.

Mode 4 - Transmit Random Code

Transmitter is turned on and the carrier is modulated by a 8 bit maximal length (255) pseudo-random code at 6.25ms per bit (at 160kbps). On the receiving end, the data output AF line can be connected to an Oscilloscope to obtain an eye diagram.

An eye diagram is an oscilloscope display in which a pseudo-random data signal from AF output of a receiver is repetitively sampled and applied to the vertical input, while the data rate (RXR) on the transmitting unit is used to trigger the horizontal sweep.

System performance information can be derived by analyzing the display. The horizontal width of the lines gives the jitter (phase noise) and the rise and fall times of the data pulses can be measured from the "crossings". An open eye pattern corresponds to minimal signal distortion. Distortion of the signal waveform due to intersymbol interference and noise appears as closure of the eye pattern.

Mode 5 - Pulsed Preamble Transmitter

The transmitter is turned on and normal preamble (length used for normal data transmission) is sent. Then transmitter is turned off and waits for 10ms before another cycle. This is used to measure the lock in time of the receiver.

Mode 6 - Echo/Transponder

Receiver is turned on to checks for preamble and if a preamble is found, then receiver locks on to the data and receives the data packet. SIGNAL LED will be turned on if valid preamble is detected.
Then error check is carried out and if it passes, the OK LED is turned on. Receiver waits for a Transmit to Receive Change Over Delay period. Then it retransmits (echoes back) the packet to the transmitter.

Echo or transponder mode is very useful for remote loop-back testing of user host software and for "ping-pong" range testing in conjunction with the other development board in RADAR mode.

Mode 7 - Radar

Transmitter is turned on and sends a packet RADIOMETRIX / TEST PACKET WITH 60 DATA BYTES / RPC32 V3.0 XX as test data where XX will be a Packet Counter. Then transmitter is turned off and receiver is turned on. Unit on this mode checks for preamble and if it finds a valid preamble, then it locks on to the data and receives the packet. Then error check is carried out and if it passes, the OK LED is turned on.

Even if a valid packet was not received, it will continue the above process but the packet counter value will be increased with each transmission.

This mode can be used along with Mode 6 (Echo Mode) to function as a 'Pin-Pong' system. This provides a very effective method for Range Testing and Antenna Type Evaluation. If one eval kit is set to Mode 6, then other eval kit can be set to Mode 7. By walking around the site where the final product based on the Radiometrix Modules are going to be used, the range and antenna type requirements, interference, etc could identified well in advance. The OK LED will be continuously lit with no flickering as long as the 'Ping-Pong' the units are within reliable radio range and the wireless link is error free.

Mode F - Normal RPC Mode

DEBUG jumper should be removed and the RESET button should be depressed to exit from Debug mode to normal SpacePort operation. Therefore, Spaceport can be interfaced with Host Microcontroller or a PC to send/receive data packets.

If RESET jumper is inserted, the internal Packet Controller IC will be RESET leaving direct access to raw RF Transceiver. Jumper across RX-GND will enable receiver circuit and jumper across TX-GND will enable transmitter circuit.

Set-up

• Connect the antenna into the antenna terminal on the development board and also plug the SP2 into the socket.
• Connect a DC supply/9V battery to the supply input terminals and switch on.
• Connect the development board to the LPT port of a PC or Laptop with DB25M-DB25F parallel extension/straight through cable
• Remove debug jumper.
• Download the RPC Development Kit software files into a suitable directory on your hard disk.
  http://www.radiometrix.co.uk/products/rpceval/rpc_soft.htm

The RPC Development Kit software gives immediate access to a Radiometrix SP2 module and enables simple ASCII message transmission/reception. The software will display the EEPROM memory map of the SP2 which can be changed to configure the SP2 parameters.

For Bidirectional PS/2 or Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) in new PCs

It contains the following files:
DEMO.BAT Batch file to set the Byte Mode or PS/2 Mode in ECP before running SP2 software (Run this file)
RPC-BI.EXE main PS/2 SP2 driver program
RPC.DAT ASCII data file holds system information used by SP2-BI.EXE

D.A sample ASCII test files
D.B
D.C
D.D
D.E

The main program RPC-BI.EXE is designed to run under MS-DOS 3.3 or higher on any IBM PC or compatible with printer port set to ECP mode.

Using this program it is possible gain access to the onboard EEPROM to evaluate the extended functionality provided via the Reserved Memory settings and to also read/write the User EEPROM area.

The program provides a set of commands allowing the user to operate the SP2 module. These command functions enable the user to include send and receive messages, write to EEPROM memory, send continuous messages to the SP2 and enable the 7 SP2 debug modes.

Upon start-up of the utility if an SP2 is connected to the parallel port and is working, the Reserved Memory and User Memory areas of the display will be updated.

The Outgoing and Incoming message area can be expanded or reduced as the user requires by pressing the TAB key (or alternatively entering switcH at the command prompt). This has the effect of either hiding or showing the user memory area. In order to view the help list properly the display needs to be in the expanded mode.

Messages sent from the SP2 are displayed under the Outgoing (TX) message heading to the left of the display. Messages received by the SP2 are displayed under the Incoming (RX) heading to the right of the display.

The following list has been taken from the RPC demonstration program and details the commands which are available for evaluating the SP2.

Note:
1. The capital letter in each command may be used in place of the full word.
2. All values required by specific commands should be entered in hex.

Note: Square brackets [] means the argument(s) are optional.
Angle brackets <> means the argument(s) are required.
The capital letter in the command represents an abbreviation of that command.

SP2 Configuration File:

The demonstration program requires a configuration file. This file is called SP2.DAT. Following is an example SP2.DAT file:

PORT = 378
COLOUR = 1
FILE = 8 d.a d.b d.c d.d d.e

PORT = <xxx>
This entry determines the base address of the PC printer port.
The value is entered as a hex value.

COLOUR = <0 | 1>
This is a Boolean of either 0 or 1.
Setting this entry to 0 disables the colour display. i.e.; all output will be in black and white. This is suitable for a monochrome display device such as a laptop.
Setting this entry to 1 will enable the coloured output.

FILE = <delay> <file1> <file2> <file3>
This entry has the same format as the FILE command.
It is the command line used when the TEST command is entered.

For New PCs: Bi-directional Port (PS/2)

Port requirement: 8 bit bi-directional PS/2 (PS/2 or ECP set to PS/2 Mode / Byte Mode)

In PS/2 Mode, Status Lines are used for Control line input from SP2 (RXR, TXA) and Printer Port Control Lines are used to output the SP2 Control signals (RXA & TXR). In Bidirectional PS/2 mode, Printer port data lines can be used as SP2 data lines in bidirectional mode.

Most of the PCs come with Extended Capabilities Port (ECP). ECP can be set to operate in PS/2 compatible bidirectional mode. Program supplied with bidirectional version will automatically change the mode from ECP to PS/2 and change it back to ECP when the SP2 Dev Kit software is closed.

PC Printer port registers
(addresses given for base address of 0378h)

However, it may be necessary to change it back to SPP or EPP mode for some printers to operate properly.

Note: RXA and TXR pins are inverted drives from the register ie a 1 in the control register gives a 0 on the pin all other registers / bits are true.

Figure 3: SpacePort Evaluation Kit interfaced to a PIC16F870 host microcontroller

The following subroutines may by used by a PIC16F870 host microcontroller to upload serial data it received from its serial port to SP2 and download the data packet from SP2 and send it out via its serial port to a PC.

OUT_BYTE & IN_BYTE
Additionally LISTEN_BUS is called on completion of a packet transfer to the SP2 to return the data bus to high impedance input mode (default state).

Limitation of liability

The information furnished by Radiometrix Ltd is believed to be accurate and reliable. Radiometrix Ltd reserves the right to make changes or improvements in the design, specification or manufacture of its subassembly products without notice. Radiometrix Ltd does not assume any liability arising from the application or use of any product or circuit described herein, nor for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from the use of its products. This data sheet neither states nor implies warranty of any kind, including fitness for any particular application. These radio devices may be subject to radio interference and may not function as intended if interference is present. We do NOT recommend their use for life critical applications.
The Intrastat commodity code for all our modules is: 8542 6000.

R&TTE Directive

After 7 April 2001 the manufacturer can only place finished product on the market under the provisions of the R&TTE Directive. Equipment within the scope of the R&TTE Directive may demonstrate compliance to the essential requirements specified in Article 3 of the Directive, as appropriate to the particular equipment.
Further details are available on The Office of Communications (Ofcom) web site:
Licensing policy manual