• State
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 55 subscribers
  • Views 1067 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

CC1350: Radio Test Library Questions

Matt Zenthoefer
Intellectual 550 points
Part Number: CC1350

I have been investigating the Radio Test Library to support our production test efforts and have several questions about the library. 

They are: 

1. The Limitations section of the documentation provided for the Radio Test Library states that, "When an instance of the RTLDevice is created, an instance of the DAL object will be created in the background. The DAL object loads a special FW image to target RAM that handles commands from DAL (for RF testing)." Given this, my question is: can the firmware that is loaded by the DAL object be incorporated into our production firmware for our device? This way, we can have the test interface while only loading our production firmware. 

2. If #1 is not possible, is there a way the Radio Test Library can provide me some unique identifier for the device, like a MAC address or the like?

3. In the provided example, what exactly is the Frequency offset (command fo) test doing? I looked through the source code, but I'm not sure I understand what the point of this test is. Can someone enlighten me please?

4. I'm interested in modifying the radio_test_lib_app_ex main.cpp so that I can set RF amplitude(when appropriate) and RF frequency for the startContinuousTx(), startContinuousRx(), and rssiTest() functions. Would it be better to do this by passing arguments directly to these functions to change these parameters or should I do it another way? When I ask about if I should do it another way, I mean does an interface exist already for these parameters in something like the pTestDevices object?

Thanks in advance.

  • 0
    TI__Expert 4870 points

    Hi Matt,

    1. Unfortunately you will not be able to incorporate the "DAL FW" with your production firmware since the source code is not available. What you could do is to start with RF testing using the Radio Test Library, then at the end as the last step, you could program your production firmware and start executing this.

    2. I think all the CC1350 devices are preprogrammed with a BLE MAC address and a IEEE 802.15.4 MAC address. You should be able to read this from the flash address 0x500012F0 and 0x500012E8.

    3. The frequency offset test could be used to measure the frequency offset of a transmitter. The device used to measure the frequency offset in RX will typically try to compensate for any offset of the expected center frequency from the transmitter. The compensation value can then be read from the measuring device and used as  the frequency offset. The accuracy depends on the selected PHY. The resolution is better for Sub-1GHz than for the 2.4GHz band. You can't replace a real spectrum analyzer, but it could be used to give an indication of the center frequency of the transmitter. You would need to know the offset value of the measuring device also to get the correct result. For example, if the measuring device have an offset of 5 kHz (Depending on the accuracy of the used xosc), then this must be taken into account. If the measured offset says "zero" in this case, it is in reality 5 kHz offset. 

    4. You should be able to use the "setParameter" method of the pTestDevice object.

    Example: pTestDevice->setParameter(<device id>, "carrier_frequency", "868");

    With "RF amplitude" I assume you think of the "output power"? 

    Example: pTestDevice->setParameter(<device id>, "txPower", "14");

    The txPower value to use should be taken from SmartRF Studio: www.ti.com/.../SMARTRFTM-STUDIO

  • 0 in reply to Øyvind K
    Intellectual 550 points

    This is exactly what I needed to know. thank you!

  • 0 in reply to Øyvind K
    Intellectual 550 points
    Follow up question: Is the binary for the DAL firmware available? Or does that question even make sense? Does the Radio Test Tool load the DAL firmware? I'm confused about how that firmware gets into a CC1350. Could you clarify that for me?

    We are trying to figure out how to test the BT part of this in production and if we use TI's provided tools we will need to be able to load that DAL firmware into products that are returned for refurbishment.

    Thanks