Other Parts Discussed in Thread: , MSP430FR4133, TRF7970A
Hello everybody,
for a university project I have to develop a design for an application that makes use of NFC data transmission and a small LCD panel.
It is very important to keep the device as small and energy-saving as possible. Because of that I got the advice to start with the RF430FRL152HEVM module and start making experiences and designing from there.
Some sensor values have to be taken, also it is needed to handle some UI elements like a knob and a button. To make this more transparent, an LCD display is incorporated (20 segment drives with 4-mux), and the data has to be transmitted to a smartphone every few days via NFC. Everything should be running on 1-2 1.5 V coincells on a flexible surface board for at least a year. I thought about two possible ways here:
1.) RF430FRL152H with a small LCD controller, for example CP2400/1/2/3 or PCF8576C - Would maybe be the most cost-effective way. Also capable of being powered from as low as 1.8 V.
2.) MSP430 Gen 4 or 6 CPU (for example MSP430FR4133 as there's a launchpad for this one) that can controll an LCD and TRF7970A or - better because smaller - a RF430CL330H for the NFC functionality. But this one needs at least 3V, so a charge pump or 2 1.5V coincells are needed. Also I'm a bit sceptical if the NFC circuit will still work when the battery voltage drops beyond 3 V.
Does anyone have experiences, hints, considerations or ideas he/she might want to share? Currently I think method 2 might be the easiest one as there are already some code examples, but maybe option 1 could be more power-effective. ISO14443B for the NFC is enough BTW, as the data transmission is always initiated by the smartphone. The only argument for the TRF7970A would be that it can be powered from as low as 2.7 V.
Is there a small LCD mux chip from TI actually? On my research for TI LCD controllers I found only bigger ones in packages 5mm high, the TPS series regulators and some BCD to 7-segment interfaces.
best wishes from Germany and have a great weekend,
Nico
