How to use SmartRF ?

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Hello world,

as first arduino project I'm working on using a cc1100 RF module ,

I managed with panstamp lib to make it start and read a few of it's informations like PARTNUM and such

thanks to the help of a few blog posts arround

Now my problem is it does not work properly, either emit or receive, and MARCSTATE returns erratic result.

One of the blogpost mention SmartRF as a source for properly tuning code values or something like that.

But I with the actual wiring it does not show up in the device list of SmartRF ,

maybe someone here can help me a bit with that :slight_smile:

here is a blogpost mentioning SmartRF : Arduino : use a Texas CC1101 – Erwan's Blog

thanks !

2

SmartRF Studio is a software package from Texas Instruments to set up and control their RF chips.

3

yep it is ....

if you check out the blogpost mentioned in my first post you'll see he use this software but it's unclear how...

4

Ask him how he used it.

5

hmmm... again thank you,

mail sent a few days ago ...

then again, if somebody has an idea about howto actually do this, or better has exeperience....

6

You've picked a particularly tough nut for a first project - help/info is sparse and hard to come by.
Using SmartRF is on my todo list.
I am using an Arduino with the cheap RF433 modules.
I have bought some CC1101 modules, which I plan to use instead.
I have downloaded SmartRF but not played with it yet.
From memory, the first obstacle is you need to be able to interface the radios with SmartRF, which means a piece of hardware. I did look into it and TI does sell a/some development kit(s), but if I recall correctly it's quite pricey.
Something like this - note the padding in the shipping cost.
I started looking for alternatives which is where I am at.

So I think your starting point should be to scour the web and the TI web site for development kits or interface boards.
You can also sign up to their (TI's) forum which I think will be essential to get help - which I already did.

I tried the labalec code before, and could not get it to compile.
The libraries were out of wack.

I am happy to collaborate on this, but time permitting...
Which modules do u have?

7

hey aisc ! thanks for your answer !! well I've done a good bite yet, and I do dev in few language so it's kinda easier for me.

so, first I don't know if you dwnloaded good version of the lib (wich is only in the comments)

about the devlopment kit the thing is I'm actually trying to do some kind of dev kit just with the arduino

and finaly, after again much reading , I don't actually know if you need to plug the module in, or just read some standard values in the infobox of smartrf, but that seems weird to me.

8

If I recall correctly, u have to write the values from SmartRF into registers on the CC1101 chip.
So there has to be a physical connection.
Whether this can be done over USB via the Arduino, I am not sure - but I have my doubts. That was the point I was researching when I had to stop to finish other things.

9

well if you mind keepin me updated would be a bless :=) and i'll do the same

cheerioz

10

Bump,
I bought a RF1100SE unit which uses C1101 chip, I have downloaded SmartRF studio and can see lots of options for encoding, but no clear method / table for converting them into code.
I am trying to intercept signals from a Solar iBoost clamp, I know it uses C1100 at 868MHz but have no idea what kind of encoding it uses, a scanner that hops through all the possibilities would be ideal.
I have my C1101 working as a receiver and it returning VERSION, PARTNUM and MARCSTATE but no data as yet and not much of a clue on how to change settings

11

Bournetoride:
Bump,
I bought a RF1100SE unit which uses C1101 chip, I have downloaded SmartRF studio and can see lots of options for encoding, but no clear method / table for converting them into code.
I am trying to intercept signals from a Solar iBoost clamp, I know it uses C1100 at 868MHz but have no idea what kind of encoding it uses, a scanner that hops through all the possibilities would be ideal.
I have my C1101 working as a receiver and it returning VERSION, PARTNUM and MARCSTATE but no data as yet and not much of a clue on how to change settings

Smart RF will return the Bytes you need to write into the registry to change settings.

then in setup you can write it like this for example .

cc1101.writeReg(CC1101_FREQ2, 0x0C); // writes the hex value of 0x0C to the registry for Freq2

12

Did you ever get this to work?

I have an iBoost and iBoost Buddy so I'd like to be able to intercept the signals both from the current clamp and the "net" value that is sent to the buddy display.

13

Lockdown is providing some time to have a look at some projects I've been meaning to get around to.

Here's what I have discovered so far:
Radio module is CC1100 so I'm using one of those as the receiver.
Frequency is 868.3MHz (from the manual)
Modulation is MSK
Data rate is 115200 baud
Sync word is 58DC (for mine but this can be used as an identifier so others might not be the same).
Data is in packet format
Data is whitened (or at least I think so at the moment).
Data from the sensor seems to be 46 bytes long. Data from the main unit to the buddy looks like 39 bytes.

So I'm now pretty reliably getting data (I probably need to tune up my gain and sync settings to improve reliability). Next challenge is to decode it!

14

Some updates:
I was one bit out with the sync word and it starts earlier in the bit stream than I though. For my system it is:
2C6E
Data is not whitened.

I'm now receiving 3 transmissions.
One on address DA, which I believe is the buddy;
One on address D3, which I think is the sender; and
One on address E2, which I can only assume is the main unit.

The packet lengths appear to be different for each one but they are not transmitted in the packet length byte.