4. Exercise: Packet Transmission

Most protocol in communication networks are packet oriented. To send a packet, all user data stored in the TX FIFO will be send. To store data in TX FIFO, function cc1200_reg_write will be used. As address parameter the address 0x3F will be provided and the data to store. After the TX FIFO has been filled. The CC1200 has to be switched into sending mode.

In sending mode, CC1200 will prepend the data to send with a programmable preamble and a sync word. After the data of the TX FIFO has been sent, an optional CRC will be calculated and also been sent. After sending a packet, CC1200 will go back to idle mode. The mode to enter after sending a packet can be changed by programming the RFEND_CFG0 register.

The aim of this exercise is to send fixed length packets and variable length packets.

This task requires

• a ready BeagleBone Black equipped with the CC1200
• one TI Development Kit for the CC1200
• Smart RF Studio.

• connect the TI Development Kit to your computer and execute Smart RF Studio
• open the CC1200 panel and select “Symbolrate 38.4kbps, 2-GFSK, RX BW 100kHz, ETSI Standard (868MHz)” in the typical settings part
• press the button “Packet TX” in the lower window. Some registers in the register view will change their value
• in the option length config change variable to fixed.
• now, choose an appropriate length of the Length field, e.g. 10.
• export all registers to a file. This means 208 registers must be exported.
• connect the BeagleBone Black to your computer and login as superuser.
• copy the export file from SmartRF Studio to the BeagleBone Black
• import the export file into your program and initialize the registers according the values of the export file.
• verify that the registers have been written correctly.
• Read chapter 8 about the packet handling of the CC1200 Users Guide and implement it.
• Bring SmartRF Studio in “Packet RX” mode, change the length config to fixed and change the Length field to the value used in the export file
• start the transmitter. At the receiver at SmartRF Studio, you should now receive the packets.

If you are able to transmit packets in fixed length mode, the next step will be to transmit packets in variable length mode:

• go back to SmartRF Studio and change the length config to variable
• look, which registers have been changed.
• modify the changed registers in your program. You do not need to reexport the complete registers.
• now, implement variable length packets and test it.

• keep in mind, that SmartRF Studio receiver will expect a CRC.