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915MHz RF Explorer block
This Edison Block makes use of a TI CC1110 RF transciever to allow a connected Edison to communicate on the 915MHz band. It is also capable of transmitting at 868MHz (a small antenna alteration will make it much more efficient at that band).
The 915MHz Edison Explorer Block allows an Intel Edison to serve as a bridge from WiFi or Bluetooth to a 915MHz protocol, such as Z-wave, Zigbee, or other manufacturer specific protocols.
The 900Mhz Explorer board has everything you need to give an Intel Edison the ability to communcate in the 900MHz ISM band.
The heart of the Explorer board is a TI CC1110 radio transciever. This radio can communicate on 315/433/868/915 MHz ISM/SRD bands. The radio has it's own firmware, which allows the board to operate stand-alone or with an Intel Edison controlling it. The Intel Edison can also reprogram the firmware on the CC1110 with no external hardware required (no bulky programmer).
The CC1110 communicates with the Intel Edison over the SPI interface. We have several Edison libraries to manage this:
CC1110 firmware (default): https://github.com/EnhancedRadioDevices/subg_rfspy Edison Library: https://github.com/EnhancedRadioDevices/915MHzEdisonExplorer_SW
The radio has an integrated on-board antenna that's optimized for 868/915MHz.
The Explorer Boards also have UMCC connectors if you want to attach an external antenna. Please note that there is less filtering on the UMCC port than there is for the on-board antenna. If you use an external antenna, you will have to also add your own Low Pass Filters.
The bottom of the Explorer board is where the Edison is connected.
The Explorer board can be powered from a 3.7V LiPo battery or from USB. You can use either power source, or both. The board also has a battery charger, so if you connect both battery and USB, the battery will be charged automatically. There's a charge LED to indicate when the battery is charging. When the LED goes out, your battery is fully charged.
The total current draw of the Explorer Board + Edison will depend heavily on usage. Below you will find some rough current measurements in different scenarios. All of these measurements were made with a 3.7V LiPo battery used for power, with WiFi on.
- Peak Boot Current: 200mA
- Idle Current: 75mA
- 900MHz Rx Current: 90mA
- 900MHz Tx Current: 110mA
Lithium batteries can be dangerous. If you puncture them, charge them incorrectly, or get them too hot then they may explode. Please be careful with how you store and connect any batteries that you connect to the Explorer.
If you're going to carry around the Explorer board with a battery, please use a hard-sided case that gives enough air-flow to the battery.
The battery port is a 2mm JST connector. These connectors fasten securely, to keep the battery from disconnecting if the unit is exposed to vibration. This does mean that it can be difficult to disconnect the battery on purpose. Please don’t pull on the wires themselves, as this can pull the wires out of the connector housing itself. Instead, pull on the plastic JST connector that the wires are inserted into. If you’re having trouble, try slowly wiggling the connector out of the port.
The Intel Edison supports a USB On-The-Go interface. You can connect it to other USB devices and use the Edison as a host. If you connect it to your computer, the default Yocto image will look like a storage drive.
To connect an external device (like a thumb drive) to the USB OTG port, you'll have to provide external power to the device. This is easy with the Explorer board. Connect your USB device (e.g. thumb drive) to the OTG port. Then connect a 5V USB supply (like a computer, external 5V battery, or wall wart) to the USB UART port. The USB UART port will feed power to the USB-OTG port.
NOTE: If your board says v1.2 or later on it, this section doesn't apply to you and OTG should work fine by default.
There's an error on the beta board that may cause USB OTG to sporadically stop functioning. The stopgap fix for this is to cut a trace on the PCB.
Note that the trace to be cut is quite small, and this is best done with a microscope and an xActo knife. If you have one of the Explorer beta boards, you can ship it back to us and we'll do the cut for you. If you'd like this, please email us at [email protected] prior to shipment so we can arrange it.
The USB UART port connects to the Intel Edison's serial terminal. This allows you to get a shell on the Edison to write whatever software or execute whatever commands you want.
See Serial Over USB with the Explorer Board for more.
Metric: 5.4cm x 3cm x 0.8cm
SAE: 2.2" x 1.2" x 0.4"
(LxWxH)
While you can use the board on it's own as a radio without an Intel Edison, the Edison adds a lot of control and flexibility. Therefore, we recommend that you get started by putting an Edison on the board and installing linux on it.
Putting the Edison onto the Explorer board is very easy. Just align the connectors and press them together. The connectors can be delicate, so you may want to use M2 screws and nuts to align the boards and keep them stable. That puts less torque on the connectors.
Once you have the Edison on the Explorer board, make sure that you have a current version of Linux installed on the Edison:
Linux Install Instructions for the Intel Edison
Once you have an updated version of Linux, connect to the Edison over the USB-Serial interface:
Serial Over USB with the Explorer Board
Now you're ready to do whatever you want with the board. You're running linux, so you can write whatever programs you want. We have several RF libraries for the Edison that will get you started quickly.
If you want to use the default serial over RF interface, check out library:
https://github.com/EnhancedRadioDevices/915MHzEdisonExplorer_SW
If you want to do some RF exploration with new devices, you may be more interested in using rfcat:
https://github.com/EnhancedRadioDevices/rfcat
The antennas can be tuned to improve RF performance.
The Explorer board also has a UMCC jack on it for an external antenna. If you get a 868MHz/915MHz antenna with UMCC adapter cable, you can probably improve range significantly.
For use with Z-wave, 6LowPan, etc.
For Smart Meters, see Wireless-M bus: http://www.ti.com/tool/wmbus
For the firmware that goes on the CC1110 itself, see:
For the software that runs on the Edison to communicate with the CC1110, see :