I have a cc430F5137 board I designed that I am trying to link with a TrxEB board with a cc1120 daughtercard. I am using the latest version of SmartRF studio 7. I guess the first question to ask is can a cc430 and a cc1120 talk to each other in packet mode using SmartRF Studio in Expert Mode?
Since the boards I have are optimized for 915 MHz band, I have to change the base frequency from the typical settings. If I operate in continuous mode (cc430 in TX mode and TrxEB in RX mode), and sweep the TX I can see a signal.
But when I try to use the packet mode I have issues. I set the cc430 to packet TX and the cc1120 to packet RX. The cc430 seems to be sending packets but the cc1120 does not receive them. First I noticed is that the menus for packet mode are completely different between the two chips. The cc430 has sync word length and preamble count options that can be set. The cc1120 packet menus have no way to set these values. So I don't know what the CC1120 is looking for or if the cc430 packets are even compatible with the cc1120 packet handler.
Tim Barr
Multitech Systems Inc
To answer your first question: Yes, a CC430 and a CC1120 can talk to each other in package mode using Studio.
What you have to do is to set both chips to use the same modulation format, datarate, deviation. You also have to use the same package length settings on both sides. The default sync word is different on CC430 and CC1120 so you have to ensure that they use the same sync word.
--PS. Thank you for clicking Verify Answer if this answered your question!
Well, it is good to know they are compatible. But since the cc1120 does not have any way to view or modify packet settings, it is not easy to set up.
Also, there seems to be no compatability between chips in the predefined configurations available in SmartRF Studio. For instance, in easy mode, the cc1120 only has PER test settings whereas the cc1101 has generic SimpliciTI ping packet settings.
What would be helpful would be if all of the chips that are compatible had a set of configuration settings that were common so that you could select these configurations and connect between devices quickly without have to make setting changes. So, for instance, every chip that is capable of running SimpliciTI should have a set of generic settings with SimpliciTI ping packets. And every chip that is supported by the PER test app on the TrxEB should have PER test configurations in SmartRF Studio. And a PER test setting for the cc430 would be useful too.
Well I did some more fiddling around, and I can get a response between the TrxEB/cc1120 and the cc430 boards if I use the continuous TX/RX settings. I also can see packets being transmitted if I set packetTX on the cc430 and continuous RX on the TrxEB/cc1120. But if I try to use the Packet TX/RX settings, I can't see any packets being received from the cc430 by the TrxEB/cc1120. I have tried all the preamble count and sync word length setting packet settings on the cc430 advanced setting menus but see nothing in the packet RX menu for the TrxEB/cc1120.
I have attached two xml files that sets up a link between CC1101 and CC1121 using Studio. CC1101 and CC430 uses the same radio so this should give you an idea on how to set it up.
7080.cc1121_cc1101_60kbsp.xml8623.CC1101_CC1121_60kbsp.xml
Well, I finally figured out what the issue was. Dug up a spectrum analyzer and looked at my signal outputs. My cc430F5137 design is off frequency about 70 kHz, so if I set it to 915 MHz in SmartRF studio, it was sending out a signal at 915.075 MHz. By changing the frequency to 914.97 MHz, I was able to connect to the cc1120EM and transmit packets. The cc1120EM board outputs at 915.01 MHz when programmed to 915 MHz. So I am going to try adjusting the capacitors on my crystal to see if I can bring the frequency down