Basic RF Testing of CCxxxx Devices - TI.com

1 ApplicationReportSWRA370 'low-powerRFproductswithanoverviewofthed ifferentcharacterizationtests(conducted, notradiated) ,thetermCCxxxxreferstothelow-powerCC25xx ,CC11xx,CC10XX, : RFTesting RXTest ConformanceTesting OutputPower SmartRFStudio TXTest CharacterizationTest SensitivitySmartRFis a , a a , a a August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011, August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011, (Example).. (withoutLabVIEW) August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011, 'low-powerRFproductswithanoverviewofthed ifferentcharacterizationtests(conducted, notradiated) betterunderstandingofthesystemsandfuncti ons, low-powerRFproductsmakeit easiertobuildwirelesslinksforremotecontr ol,metering, ,theyareusedinsideunlicensed,orlicense-f ree, ; ,ETSI, ( ).

2 Listsmanyofthetermsandabbreviationsusedi n decibels(dB)ofthemeasuredpowerdBmreferen cedto1 mWDUTD eviceundertestEBEvaluationboardEMEvaluat ionmoduleETSIE uropeanTelecommunicationsStandardsInstit uteEVME rrorvectormagnitudeFCCF ederalCommunicationsCommissionFSQF ullspectrumquantizationGUIG raphicaluserinterfaceIEEEI nstituteofElectricalandElectronicsEngine erINTI nterferencesource,interferencesignalISMI ndustrial,scientific,medicalMSKM inimumshiftkeyingPERP acketerrorratePSDP owerspectraldensityRSSIR eceivedsignalstrengthindicatorRXReceive, receiverSMASubMiniatureversionA connectorSoCSystemonchipSPIS erialparallelinterfaceTXTransmit,transmi ssion,transmitter4 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSWRA370 August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011.

3 Bluetooth LowEnergyRFPHYS tandard ZigBee RF4 CEStandard ZigbeeStandard FCC,Section47 CFR15 Part15 Standard ETSIEN300440 Standard ETSIEN300220 Standard Rohde&Schwarz Agilent Anritsu Tektronix TestEquity typicaltestsystemgenerallyconsistsofthes ecomponentsandsubsystems: Signalanalyzers(spectrumanalyzers):These toolsarewidelyusedtomeasurethefrequencyr esponse,noise, typicaltestsystemusuallyrequiresonlyones ignalanalyzer. Signalgenerators:Thesedevicesgeneraterep eatingornon-repeatingelectronicsignals(i neithertheanalogordigitaldomain).A typicalsystemshouldhaveatleasttwosignalg enerators:onetogeneratetheprimarysignal, signalsourcein ,thepowerresolutionmaynotbeasgoodasthatp roducedbya signalgenerator. singletemperaturechambershouldbesufficie ntformosttestsystems.

4 Connectors/cables/splitters:Thesecompone ntsconnectdifferentsignalsusingcoaxialca blefromthetestsystemto(andfrom)thedevice undertest(DUT). LabVIEW :LabVIEW,orLaboratoryVirtualInstrumentat ionEngineeringWorkbench,is a softwareplatformanddevelopmentenvironmen tfora namedG. OriginallyreleasedfortheApple Macintosh in 1986,LabVIEWis commonlyusedfordataacquisition,instrumen tcontrol,andindustrialautomationona varietyofplatformsincludingMicrosoft Windows , variousversionsofUnix,Linux , usedasa platformtoautomatetheentiretestsystem. SmartRF Studio:SmartRFStudio( ) is a is especiallyusefulforgenerationofconfigura tionregistervalues,forpracticaltestingof theRF5 SWRA370 August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011, , RFIC developmentkits.

5 Networkanalyzer(vectornetworkanalyzer):T histoolis ,butthereareothernetworkparametersetssuc hasy-parameters,z-parameters, ; is usefultohaveonenetworkanalyzeravailable. Oscilloscope:Thiselectronictestinstrumen tallowsuserstoobserveconstantlyvaryingsi gnalvoltages,usuallyasa two-dimensionalgraphofoneormoreelectrica lpotentialdifferenceswithaverticalorYaxi s,plottedasa functionoftime(horizontalorxaxis).Althou ghanoscilloscopedisplaysvoltageonthevert icalaxis,anyotherquantitythatcanbeconver tedtoa , usefulfora thetestconfiguration,thegreaterneedthere is ,then,oneshouldusea mindthatthecapabilitiesoftheavailableequ ipmentusedin a (WithoutLabVIEW) (one) (two) (combiner) (two) (UsingLabVIEW) (one) (combiner) (two)6 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSWRA370 August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedSmartRF Evaluation BoardUSB MCUPCW indows OSCEBALUSB DriverSmartRF Studio/LabVIEWS martRF Eval BoardFirmwareCCxxxx Transceiver/ CCxxxx SoCSPI/Debug (DUT)is connectedtothetesterviaa 50- thereis noantennainterface,a temporary50- interfaceora suitablecouplingdevice(50- load)

6 ,theinputreferencesignal(bothasthedesire dsignalandtheinterferencesignal) used,theinterferencesignalcharacteristic smustbedefinedbytheapplicablestandardsfo rwhichthedeviceis (ChipconEvaluationBoardAccessLayer(CEBAL ). illustratestheconnectionbetweena , thefirmwareis out-of-date,SmartRFStudio7 August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedAny board withTI LPRFR adioUSB MCUPCW indows OSCEBALUSB DriverSmartRF Studio/LabVIEWCEBAL FirmwareUSBC ableSmartRF Evaluation Board orCC DebuggerNote (1) is possibletoconnectyourownhardwaretotheSma rtRFEvaluationBoardtotestyourownradiodes ignwithSmartRFStudio7 ,orusethetargetconnectorontheCCDebugger. ForSoCs,usethedebuginterface;fortranscei vers,usetheserialperipheralinterface(SPI ).)

7 Figure2 showstheconnectionbetweena PCandagenericevaluationboardwitha TILPRF radio.(1)ConnecttheboardtotheTIevaluatio nboardviathebreak-outpinsontheboard, ,usethedebuginterface;fortransceivers, , youarenotusinglevelshiftersandthevoltage levelonyourboardis differentfromthevoltagelevelontheEB( ).Formoreinformation, ,it haslevelconvertersthatwilldetectthevolta geonthetargetboardandensurethatthedebugc ontrollinesaresettoa TXmodewhenusingLabVIEW: SettheDUTtoTXmodeusingSmartRFStudio7. SupplyandtemperaturearesetbyLabVIEW. Thesignalanalyzeris configuredbyLabVIEW tomeasurethetransmitteddata. LabVIEW capturesthedatafromthesignalanalyzer. Thecollectedinformationthencanbeinterpre tedeitherin August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedf=CARRI ER FREQ[23:0]f2 XOSC16(( RXmodewhenusingLabVIEW: SettheDUTtoRXmodeusingSmartRFStudio7.))

8 Supply/temperaturearesetbyLabVIEW. Thesignalanalyzeris configuredbyLabVIEW totransmitdatacontinuouslyorin packetsthatadheretostandards. SmartRFStudio7/LabVIEW capturesthedatafromtheDUT. Thiscollectedinformationthencanbeinterpr etedeitherin vibratingpiezoelectriccrystaltocreateane lectricalsignalwitha commonlyusedtoprovidea temperature,humidity,pressure,andexterna lvibrationcanchangetheresonantfrequencyo fa alwayssomeinaccuracyin thecrystalsusedwithradios,onewaytocorrec tforthiserroris requiredin thechipis ,fortheCC2500thecarrierfrequencyis calculatedasshownbyEquation1:(1)WhereFRE Q[23:0]is thebasefrequencyforthefrequencysynthesiz erin incrementsofHowever,theactualcrystalfreq uencyis notthesameasthestatedcrystalfrequencyasa , ,continuousTXmodewiththesettingsfoundusi ngSmartRFStudio,usea thenputintoEquation1 fromtheproductdatasheet, ,theFREQTUNE registeris '1111' extracapacitancetotheoscillator, result,thefinalcrystalfrequencycanbecont rolledbyadjustingthevalueoftheFREQTUNE registerin August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedf=XOSCf =XOSCf= MHzXOSCFREQ[23:0]f2 CARRIER16 (((( GHz 26-MHzcrystalfora : FREQ2[23:16]= 0x5C FREQ1[15:8]= 0x4E FREQ0[7:0]= 0xC4 FREQ[23.))))]

9 0]= 0x5C4EC4 FREQ= 6049476[hextodecconversion]If themeasuredcarrierfrequencyis , :Eventhoughthecrystalis ratedat26 MHz,asa , August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011, (andsubsequentpages)canbeprintedanduseda sa liststhegeneraltestinstrumentdata.( ) August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedPC with SmartRF Studio installedSmartRF Eval Boardand Eval ModuleSpectrum fora :Figure3 ,continuousTXmodewiththeappropriateoutpu tpowerlevelthroughSmartRFStudio( ). (dBm)(dBm)Pass/Fail?Freq1 (MHz)Freq2 (MHz)Freq3 (MHz)xxxxTestResults:12 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSWRA370 August2011 SubmitDocumentationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporated100 kHz-20 dB or more-30 dBm or with SmartRF Studio installedSmartRF Eval Boardand Eval ModuleSpectrum :ToverifythatthePSDoftheDUTis (Example)FrequencyRelativeLimitAbsoluteL imit|f fC|> 20dB :Figure5 (%)(%)Pass/Fail?

10 Freq1 (MHz)Freq2 (MHz)Freq3 (MHz)xxxxTestResults:13 SWRA370 August2011 BasicRFTestingofCCxxxxDevicesSubmitDocum entationFeedbackCopyright 2011,TexasInstrumentsIncorporatedQIError VectorMagnitude Error(IQ Error Magnitude)MeasuredSignalIdeal (Reference)SignalPhase Error(IQ Error Phase)fQIErrorVectorRange ofWorst-CaseErrorIdealConstellationPoint MeasuredPointPC with SmartRF Studio installedSmartRF Eval Boardand Eval ModuleSpectrum :Transmissionmodulationaccuracyis measuredusingerrorvectormagnitude(EVM).E VM,asillustratedin Figure6 andFigure7, is themagnitudeofthephasedifferenceasa :Figure8 thetoolusermanual.(SeeAppendixA formoreinformation.)Example:EVMmeasureme ntsonZigBeesignalsusinga Rohde&SchwarzFSQcanbesetupfollowingthein structionsin (%)at____kbp/s(%)Pass/Fail?