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Low-level access to radio core on CC13xx/26xx parts?

Mark Haun
Prodigy 40 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC1120

For the new CC13xx/26xx partrs, will TI eventually provide access / documentation for those wishing to customize the code running on the Cortex-M0 radio controller, or access the front-end hardware directly?  Or is this part of the chip locked down apart from the provided APIs?

Mark

  • 0
    TI__Guru* 86471 points

    Hi

    Access to the RF Core is only available through the provided API-

    BR

    Siri

  • 0
    TI__Guru**** 317180 points

    We are not planning to provide access to the cortex M0 directly. To write code for the M0 require full understanding and overview of how the chip is designed and that this something we don't want to share. We will however provide new patches etc giving access to more features over time. If you have a special usecase requiring special access to the M0, let us know.

  • 0 in reply to TER
    Prodigy 40 points
    Thanks for the concise answer. It seems eminently reasonable. My question was driven by curiosity, not any commercial requirement. These are the first wireless MCUs (that I am aware of) where the radio hardware is, at least in theory, fully programmable at a low level, so I was thinking they might make a fun base for SDR experimentation. With my hobbyist hat on, that is far more interesting than, say, making an 802.15.4 or BLE link work through the provided API.

    For example, I am curious if the hardware is capable of implementing chirp spread-spectrum (a la LoraWAN). I suspect not, but if it were, that would be an example of something a hobbyist could do, whereas TI could not, due to the IP barriers.

    My hope is that eventually, when integrated radios become passe, there won't be the same commercial incentive to keep the details secret. It would be a shame if the radio became the IP equivalent, in the MCU world, to the GPU in the applications-processor world: black boxes with massive capabilities that go largely unused because of single-source drivers and generally poor support. (See: Imagination Technologies)

    I haven't studied the TRM to see how much potential bandwidth there is between the radio and the M3 core, but I wonder if a half-way house might be to provide a dummy mode in which raw IQ samples are DMAed into a RAM buffer.

    Mark
  • 0 in reply to Mark Haun
    TI__Mastermind 19535 points
    Not sure if you are interested, but you can find some information on the implementation of using the rf_core, looking at Contiki:

    github.com/.../rf-core

    LPRF Rocks the World
  • 0 in reply to Morten Braathen
    Prodigy 40 points

    Thanks LPRF, but I think this is orthogonal to my question.  The Contiki code is a useful programming example for the TI-supplied API, but as far as I am aware, all of that code is still running on the M3, not the M0.  Indeed, there is no [public] provision for flashing new code onto the M0 that I am aware of, and in any case it wouldn't do you any good without a thorough description of the low-level radio hardware and associated registers.

  • 0 in reply to Mark Haun
    TI__Mastermind 19535 points

    Yes, it is.

    Actually, some of the RFE registers are document in the CC13xxWare, but to generate radio settings we use SmartRF Studio, and code export to configure the radio.

    ..\\cc13xxware_2_00_04_16084\doc\register_descriptions\ANATOP_MMAP

    On a separate note,

    Maybe if you are interested in Long Range, I would go with a narrow band solution like CC1120: