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Pololu - Pololu Wixel User's Guide

1. Release bootloader button Pa oie sF CEN RST se VEX S 1 he ii bootloader button Using pushbuttons to put the Wixel into bootloader mode 13 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 2a ie a z mi j iE ie j TE E e 8 ff 55 ef wees on ff 8 of eat Er ef TT Fr oe i Coe 1 e 8 on n ee bo of T 8 roe T gt a E T X m gee ge TE 1 ieee SS y Ee i5 0m re u Ep E on E 8 EE 8 E nag E ye a 0 ff E Wixel on breadboard with a bootloader button and reset button connected 6 Using a Virtual COM Port Most of the available Wixel apps implement a USB interface that consists of a single virtual COM serial port This interface allows you to send and receive bytes from the Wixel in the same way you would send and receive bytes from any other serial port on your computer 6 a Determining the Port Name To connect to a COM port you usually have to know the name of the port In Windows the port name will be something like COM4 and you can determine the port name by selecting the Wixel in the Wixel Configuration Utility and looking at the Port Name property displayed below You can also find out the port name by looking the Ports COM amp LPT list in your Device Manager Windows Tip Besides having names like COM
2. d GND T He eeeeeeeeew T For peripheral module names black text indicates default pin assignment alternative a and The Wixel can connect to a computer s USB port via a USB A to mini B cable not included The USB connection is used to configure the Wixel and also to transmit and receive data The USB connection can also provide power to the Wixel On the side of the board opposite the USB connector the Wixel has a 2 4 GHz PCB trace antenna This antenna along with the other RF circuitry forms a radio that allows the Wixel to send and receive data packets in the 2 4 GHz band The Wiel is based on the CC2511F32 microcontroller from Texas Instruments which makes it compatible with the CC2500 transceiver the CC2510Fx family and the CC2511Fx family of chips from Texas Instruments The Wixel s radio is not compatible with Wi Fi Zigbee or Bluetooth The antenna is a meandered Inverted F design that is described in Texas Instrument s application note AN043 The three GND pins are all connected and are at 0 V by definition When connecting the Wixel to other electronic systems you should make sure that the Wixel s GND is connected to the other system s GND unless you are doing something very advanced The Wixel can be powered from VIN pin Simply connect a 2 7 6 5 V power source between VIN and GND with the positive terminal going to VIN It is OK to connect VIN and USB at the same time See Section
3. www pololu com docs 0J46 all VIN Di igl 3v3 10 3 3v LDO Wi Ae Prik b VBUS_IN a 47 uF VIN IN 17 VBUS_IN 18 nRST 31 uF 01uF 560 pF P21 P2 Ae F 2 2 YELLOW fe ig Di RED i R l Re Yi 48 MHz 20 IN ei gt ik OuF w The schematic also available as a printable pdf 51k pdf 9 Wixel Apps This section describes the available Wixel apps 9 a Example App Blink LED This is an example app that blinks the red LED with a configurable period See Section 3 d for a tutorial on using this app Download link example bink led_v1 0 wxl 11k wxl 9 b Wireless Serial App Overview This app allows you to connect two Wixels together to make a wireless bidirectional lossless serial link It uses an on air radio bit rate of 350 kbps and is capable of carrying up to 10 KB of payload data per second and can reach a range of approximately 40 feet under typical conditions indoors You can also use it to turn one Wixel in to a USB to serial adapter Installation Instructions Download Wireless Serial App v1 1 18k wxl Open it with the Wixel Configuration Utility choose your parameters and then write it to two Wixels See Section 4 for more information on how this is done 560 pF Fa Ra 15k Wii CG2511F32 14 ps mumm ee RS 33 R ei ec ig o Pe 33 4 PCB antenna 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 17 of 2
4. Command Prompt Windows 7 and Windows Vista users Your computer should now automatically install the necessary drivers when you connect a Wixel No further action from you is required W Your devices are ready to use M Device driver software installed successfully he 2 35 PM Windows XP users Follow steps 5 9 for each new Wixel you connect to your computer You will also have to follow these steps again the first time you run an actual Wixel app on the Wixel 5 Connect the device to your computer s USB port 6 When the Found New Hardware Wizard is displayed select No not this time and click Next 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Found New Hardware Wizard Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard Windows will search for current and updated software by looking on Your computer on the hardware installation CD or on the Windows Update Web site with pour permission Read our privacy policy Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software O Yes this time only Yes now and every time connect a device No not this time Click Next to continue This wizard helps you install software for Pololu Witel USB Bootloader a 9 If your hardware came with an installation CD lt or floppy disk insert it now What do you want the wizard to do Install the software automatically Recommend
5. from the ZIP file extract the contents of the ZIP file to a temporary directory on your computer right click setup exe and select Run as Administrator 3 During the installation Windows will warn you that the drivers have not been tested by Microsoft and recommend that you stop the installation Click Continue Anyway Windows XP or Install this driver software anyway Windows 7 and Vista Soltware Inttallation The sofb are pou ane inctalling has not passed Windows Logo i a ee testing lo weep its compahbalty with Windows F Dell me why this testing iz important Continuing pow installation of this solbeme may impan or destabilize the comect operalon of pour system Don t install this driver software eithei immediately mi i i ihe Putune hiciotroft shiongly fou shed check power manuf iare g ie bor eted dere polia recommends that pou stop this installation mow and Por your Severe contect the software vendor for software that has patted Windows Loge letting Install thes driver software anyway Onh emal dees wefbaaere cblaaned From pout dier Winegred wethwane From other Gouge muy harm car oo mamai tat Sap di nn 4 After the installation is finished your start menu should have a shortcut to the Wixel Configuration Utility in the Pololu folder This is a Windows application that allows you to load apps onto your Wixel There will also be a command line utility called WixelCmd which you can run at a
6. on Every subfolder of the apps folder should now have a WXL file in it This is a compiled app which can be loaded onto Wixels using the Wixel Configuration Utility or the Wixel Command Line Utility WixelCmd Loading an App onto Wixels from the Command Line While you are developing an app it can be useful to have a way to load an app onto the target Wixel from the command line You can do this with the Makefile plug a Wixel in to your computer open up a command prompt navigate to the wixel sdk folder and type make load example blink led This should compile the example blink led app if it is out of date and then invoke the Wixel Command Line 21 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Utility WixelCmd in order to load the app onto all Wixels connected to your computer The output should look something like this E Administrator Command Prompt lol x Coxwixe l sdk gt make load_example_blink_led wixelemd write apps example_blink_led example_blink_led wxl a Sending command to get Wixel in to bootloader mode Waiting for Wixel to reconnect Erasing Progress lHHHHHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEHEREHEHEEEEEEEHEEEHHHEHHHHH i Done lriting Progress 1HHHHHHHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEEHHHHHHH i Done C wixe l sdk gt The example blink LED application should be running now The Wixel s yellow LED should be off and the red LED should be blinking If that is the
7. showing a mode Wixel in bootloader mode If you see the Pololu Wixel USB Bootloader entry in your device manager it means that your Wixel is in bootloader mode Your Wixel should go in to bootloader mode when you first plug it in to USB because there is no app on the Wixel by default Once you have loaded an app onto the Wixel using the Wixel Configuration Utility and the app is running then you will not see the Pololu Wixel USB Bootloader entry in your Device Manager The entry you see in the Device Manager will depend on the application that is loaded on the Wixel Some apps might not enable the USB interface in which case you will see no entry for the Wixel in the Device Manager However typical Wixel Apps will appear in your Device Manager as a single Virtual COM port with product ID 0x2200 in the Ports COM amp LPT list as shown below Device Manager Device Manager File Action View Help e H amp H E Network adapters File Action View Help Hes amp Network Bus Enumerator T Forts COM amp LPT ee Ports COM amp LPT iS Communications Port COML Y wisel COMS ae Processors BG ce snske Mewirac ef Processors Windows XP Device Manager showing a Wixel that is Windows Vista or Windows 7 Device Manager showing a running anapp Wire Virus COM port Wixel that is running an app with a virtual COM port 7 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www polo
8. that the app s drivers are installed correctly After the app gets this message the green LED turns solidly on The green LED also turns off during USB Suspend Mode which happens when the computer goes to sleep or shuts down the USB port for any other reason Red LED While the Wixel is in bootloader mode i e the app is stopped this LED indicates whether there is an application on the Wixel If there is no application the red LED will be on Otherwise it will be off By default the Wixel does not have an application on it so this LED will be on the first time you power your Wixel The P2_1 pin is connected to the red LED so this line will go high when the red LED is on and otherwise be pulled low While the Wixel is running its app the behavior of this LED depends on the app See the documentation of your particular app for more details Yellow LED While the Wixel is in bootloader mode i e the app is stopped this LED turns solidly on and flickers whenever the bootloader receives a command from Wixel software on the computer The Wixel Configuration Utility queries the state of the bootloader once per second so if the Wixel Configuration Utility is open then the LED will flicker once per second While the Wixel is being programmed the yellow LED will constantly flicker The P2_ 2 pin is connected to the yellow LED so this line will go high when the yellow LED is on and otherwise be pulled low While the Wixel is running its a
9. 1k wxl If you want to see the source code it is in the Wixel SDK under apps example blink led See Section 10 a 3 Open the app in the Wixel Configuration Utility To do this in Windows you can simply double click on the Wixel App WXL file Alternatively you can open the Wixel Configuration Utility click the Open button and select the Wixel App file In Windows you can find the Wixel Configuration Utility in the Pololu folder in your Start Menu 4 Connect a Wixel to your computer via USB You should see it appear in the Wixels list If it does not appear you might need to use a button or wire to get your Wixel into bootloader mode see Section 5 c At this point your screen should look something like this Wixel Configuration Utility ba fee File Connections Wixel Help Winels App Configuration Get Apps E C User xample _blink Jed _v1 0 wxi Pe settings Parameter Auto Read blink_period_rmns Selected Wixel Serial Number USB Product ID Port Name otatus Action Output The Wixel Configuration Utility with the Example Blink LED App open 5 Note that in the Wixels box there is a list of all the Wixels connected to USB that the Wixel Configuration Utility can recognize There is one Wixel 8 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all connected and its 32 bit serial number is displayed in the list Also note that in the App Configuratio
10. 4 Pinout e Pl 5 Radio Transmit Debug Signal e P1 6 Serial TX 0 3 3V e Pl 7 Serial RX 0 3 3V not 5 V tolerant Description This device appears to the USB host as a Virtual COM Port with USB product ID 0x2200 If you are using Windows you should see an entry labeled Wixel in your Device Manager in the Ports COM amp LPT category while the app is running There are three basic serial modes that can be selected 1 USB to Radio Bytes from the USB virtual COM port get sent to the radio and vice versa 2 UART to Radio Bytes from the UART s RX line get sent to the radio and bytes from the radio get sent to the UART s TX line 3 USB to UART Just like a normal USB to Serial adapter bytes from the virtual COM port get sent on the UART s TX line and bytes from the UART s RX line get sent to the virtual COM port You can select which serial mode you want to use by setting the serial mode parameter to the appropriate number using the numbers above Or you can leave the serial mode at 0 which is the default If the serial mode is 0 then the Wixel will automatically choose a serial mode based on how it is being powered as described in the table below and it will switch between the different serial modes on the fly Auto Detect Serial Mode Power Source Serial Mode USB only USB to Radio VIN only UART to Radio USB and VIN USB to UART Parameters e serial mode Selects the serial mode 1 3 see li
11. 5 a el for more information about powering your Wixels a aoe i ePi 4 8 SNA The VALT pin is connected to three things the 5V USB bus power from the USB port through a diode SP17 SS ee ie VIN through a diode and to the input of the Wixel s on board 3 3 V regulator The connection to 5V is SRST yn 1 apar switched off when a power supply is connected to VIN Most people will not need to use the VALT pin see i oo Polok Fa Section 5 a for example uses 032377 a iy The pin labeled 3V3 on the board 3 3V Output in the diagram above is connected to the output of the Wi BE aS Z d Wixel s 3 3V regulator This power source can be used to power other low current peripherals in your Wixel programmable USB wireless system With an input voltage of 5 V either from USB VIN or VALT this output can provide up to module bottom view with US quarter for size reference 150 mA of current At higher input voltages this output can provide up to 100 mA The pin labeled RST on the board RESET in the diagram above is the reset line of the microcontroller This pin can be driven low to perform a hard reset of the Wixel s microcontroller This should not be necessary for typical users but it can be useful while you are developing a Wixel application see Section 5 c This pin is internally pulled high to 3 3 V so it is okay to leave it unconnected If you do wire something to this pin the CC2511F32 datasheet recommends adding an exte
12. El Enable P15 CI Clock P16 DI Data P17 LI Latch GND GND Ground Additionally the Wixel and ShiftBrites may share the same VIN as long as the voltage requirements for both modules are satisfied For initial testing you may alternatively use VALT to power the ShiftBrites from USB see Section 5 a Using the ShiftBrite App After making the correct connections and applying power open a terminal program and connect to the COM port created by the Wixel running the Wireless Serial App Type ffffff As you type the characters they will be echoed back to your terminal Press Enter and the first ShiftBrite in your chain will light up in white Then type ff0000 and press Enter now the first ShiftBrite should be red and the second should be white To shift out multiple color commands at once for example when you want to set the colors of the entire chain type a series of single color commands without pressing Enter then press Enter once to apply them all Parameters e radio channel A number from 0 to 255 that determines which frequency to broadcast on The default is 128 Wixels must be on the same channel to communicate with each other To avoid interference Wixels that aren t supposed to talk to each other should be at least 2 channels away from each other For example you could have one pair of Wixels on channel 128 and another pair on 130 e input _ bits The number of bits per channel that you would like to use to sen
13. Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Pololu Wixel User s Guide 1 Overview l a Module Pinout and Components 1 b Supported Operating Systems 2 Contacting Pololu 3 Getting Started 3 a Installing Windows Drivers and Software 3 b Installing Linux Drivers and Software 3 c Installing Mac OS Drivers and Software 3 d Loading an Example App 4 Configuring Your Wixels 5 Connecting Your Wixels 5 a Connecting Power 5 b Connecting a Microcontroller via TTL Serial 5 c Connecting Buttons and Starting the Bootloader 6 Using a Virtual COM Port 6 a Determining the Port Name 6 b Using a Terminal Program 6 c Writing PC Software to Use a Serial Port 7 Ensuring a Good Radio Signal 8 Schematic Diagram 9 Wixel Apps 9 a Example App Blink LED 9 b Wireless Serial App 9 c USB to Serial App 9 d I O Repeater App 9 e ShiftBrite App 10 Writing Your Own Wixel App 10 Troubleshooting 10 a Getting Started in Windows 10 b Compiling an Example App 10 c Sharmg Your App with the Wixel Community 10 d USB Configurations Recognized by the Wixel Configuration Software 1 Overview The Pololu Wixel is a general purpose programmable module featuring a 2 4 GHz radio and USB The Wixel is based around the CC2511F32 microcontroller from Texas Instruments which has an integrated radio transceiver 32 KB of flash memory 4 KB of RAM and a full speed USB interface A total of 15 general purpose I O lines are avai
14. S5 and COM6 the virtual COM ports provided by the Wixel also have names like USBSERO00 and USBSERO01 These names are assigned sequentially whenever a device with a virtual COM port is plugged in If you only have one device with a virtual COM port plugged in to your computer the name USBSERO000 will usually be assigned to it These names will work with most programs that allow you to specify arbitrary port names 6 b Using a Terminal Program There are many free terminal programs available which are capable of sending and receiving bytes on a virtual COM port These programs include PuTTY Windows or Linux Tera Term Windows and Br y Terminal Windows Advanced users developing scripted applications may prefer the free terminal program kermit To use any of these terminal programs with the Wixel you must specify the port name see Section 6 a and the baud rate The baud rate may or may not affect anything see your application s documentation The characters you type will be transmitted on the programmer s TX line Bytes received by the programmer on the RX line will be displayed on the screen by the terminal program Typical terminal programs will allow you to choose several other settings besides the baud rate If you are not sure what settings to use then you should pick 8 data bits 1 stop bit no parity and no flow control Typical terminal programs will not allow you to use the serial contr
15. a Wixel to make sure that your system is set up correctly Compiling Apps Go to the folder where you installed the Wixel SDK C wixel sdk is the default and run make _all bat If everything is installed correctly the output of that batch file should look something like this Em C Windows system32 cmd exe _ O x lt This app has no paprams gt packihx read 4 lines wrote 52 OK i apps test_ radio _link test_radio_link rel apps test_radio_link test_radio_link hex apps test_radio_link test_radio_link wxl read 860 lines wrote 476 OK apps test_radio_signal_rx test_radio_signal_rx rel apps test_radio_signal_rx test_radio_signal_rx hex apps test_radio_signal_rx test_radio_signal_rx wxl read YAH lines wrote 385 OK apps test_radio_signal_tx test_radio_signal_tx rel apps test_radio_signal_tx test_pradio_signal_tx hex apps test_radio_signal_tx test_radio_signal_tx wxl packihx read 386 lines wrote 222 OK apps test_randonm test_random rel apps test_randonm test_random hex apps test_randonm test_randonm wxl lt This app has no Mince a packihx read 446 lines wrote 245 OK apps wire less_serial wire less_serial rel apps wire less_serial wire less_serial hex apps wire less _serial wire less serial vxl packihx read 680 lines wrote 379 OK You may now close this window You have now built all the apps in the Wixel SDK and all the libraries that they depend
16. case then congratulations You have successfully compiled a program and loaded it onto the Wixel You can also specify settings at the command line Try running this command make load example blink led S blink period ms 100 You should now see the LED blinking 5 times faster than it was before To specify multiple settings put other settings inside the quotes and separate all settings with spaces Opening an App with the Wixel Configuration Utility You can also open the app in the Wixel Configuration Utility if you want to Try running this command make open example blink led The Wixel Configuration Utility should start running and open the example blink led app Creating Your Own Apps Now that you know how to compile apps and quickly load them onto the Wixel to test them you are ready to develop your own Wixel apps You can either modify one of the existing apps in the SDK or create your own app To create your own app simply copy one of the existing app folders and change the name You do not need to modify the Makefile when you create a new app the Makefile will automatically detect the app When you are developing your app you can use all of the commands above except you should replace example blink led with the name of your app the name of the subfolder in the apps folder 10 c Sharing Your App with the Wixel Community Preparing your app for the community Please make sure that you have set up the following se
17. ctions in your WXL file e description this should fully describe what your app does or link to a web site with a complete description Since other people will be trying this on their Wixels make sure to bring our attention to anything that may cause damage or incompatibility Most importantly any JO ports used as outputs should be explicitly listed in the description e license this specifies the terms under which others may distribute copies or modifications of your app We recommend and use the MIT license which is simple and allows widespread use of your code Note that if you have used the Wixel SDK to build your app you need to include our license though you may add your own restrictions if necessary We recommend using the following template which will make it easy for us to share your app or to include it in the Wixel SDK Copyright c 2011 lt YOUR NAME gt Documentation for this app is available at http 7 lt YOUR SITE gt Copyright c 2011 Pololu Corporation For more information see http www pololu com http forum pololu com Permission is hereby granted free of charge to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files the Software to deal in the Software without Announcing your app on the Wixel forum When you are ready for the community to try out a version of your app you may announce it on the Wixel forum attaching your WXL file It is helpful to paste a cop
18. d color information The default is 8 which allows you to send 6 digit hex values However the ShiftBrite supports 10 bits of resolution so choose a value of 10 to make use of its full dynamic range In this case you must send 9 digits to set a color For example 3ff3ff3ff is the brightest possible white and 001000000 is the dimmest possible red Other values for this parameter might be useful in special situations e echo_on Set to 0 to disable echoing of every character sent While echoes are useful for debugging you might want to disable them for the highest possible speed Data Format 20 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all The data consists of a series of R G and B values as ASCII hex strings Each value contains from to 4 characters depending on the value of input_bits specifying a number from 0 to pinput_bits_ When a complete set of R G and B values has been received the values are multiplied or divided by the appropriate factor to match the 10 bit ShiftBrite data format and shifted out to the ShiftBrite chain An Enter character ASCII 10 or 13 causes the Latch pin to be toggled instantly setting each ShiftBrite to its new color Tips e The yellow LED turns on when the first Enter is received which might be useful for debugging your wireless connection e You can use wires with pre crimped terminals and crimp connector housings to make a custom cable between th
19. e Specifically it must implement a USB CDC ACM virtual COM port with vendor ID Ox1FFB and product ID 0x2200 When the USB host sends a command to your app that sets the baud rate to 333 your app should enter bootloader mode Your app should work with the wixel serial inf driver which is installed along with the other Windows software see Section 3 a The easiest way 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all to write an app that meets these requirements is to use the usb cdc acm lib library in the Wixel SDK In the future we will add support for other types of USB interfaces if there is a need for it Please contact_us if you would like to use other types of interfaces in your apps 24 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02
20. e Wixel and the ShiftBrite chain 10 Writing Your Own Wixel App 10 Troubleshooting Trouble getting the Wixel Configuration Utility to recognize your Wixel To force your Wixel to go in to bootloader mode so that the Wixel Configuration Utility will recognize it follow these steps 1 Power off your Wixel by removing power or put it in to reset mode by driving the RST pin low If you choose to power off the Wixel then be aware that Wixel can be inadvertently powered through any IO line if is connected to a voltage source that is driving high 10 a Getting Started in Windows To get started developing your own Wixel Apps using Windows as the development platform we recommend that you download and install the Pololu Wixel Development Bundle wixel dev bundle 110322 exe 9393k exe This bundle contains four things e Wixel SDK Contains source code for libraries and applications that will help you develop your own applications for the Wixel e SDCC Small Device C Compiler A free compiler that is used to compile the code in the Wixel SDK e Pololu GNU Build Utilities Windows versions of some open source utilities that are required by the SDK e Notepad A free text editor which is convenient to use when editing Wixel code 10 b Compiling an Example App After you have installed all the necessary software either from the Wixel Development Bundle or from other sources you should try compiling an example app and loading it onto
21. e identical to the app and settings displayed on the right in the App Configuration box 5 Connecting Your Wixels This chapter explains some of the electrical connections you might need to make to get your Wixel working the way you want it to 5 a Connecting Power The two main ways of powering the Wixel are the USB port and the VIN pin The schematic of the Wixel s power system is shown below a fi Di i Ri O1 WALT wa A U2 3 3v LDO 100k m UJIN ouTL D LT ONOFF BYP 4 i n Zz Ri ik ae D2 GND D napi igi Ban _ W E U S N C z Cc D3 GREEN g C1 ces USB VBUS WIN_IN Wixel power system schematic diagram 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all VIN Power Input The Wixel can be powered from VIN if you connect a 2 7 6 5 V power supply e g battery or regulator to the GND and VIN pins The negative terminal should be connected to GND The positive terminal should be connected to VIN It is okay to have both USB and VIN connected at the same time 2 7 6 5V Power Supply o g battery regulator etc USB Power Input i 1 peaa EEE H og i 33V The Wixel can be powered from USB if you connect a USB cable and leave VIN disconnected The Wixel will draw its power from USB if VIN is disconnected or it is below about 4 V 3V3 Power Output The Wixel can be powered from an external The Wixel s 3V3 pin gives access to
22. e radio Detailed information about this app is available in Section 9 c Our I O Repeater app allows you to wirelessly extend the reach of your microcontroller s I O lines up to 40 feet using two or more Wixels Detailed information about this app is available in Section 9 d We plan to release additional apps in the future for wireless AVR programming wireless sensing and more You can also write your own apps using the open source Wixel SDK see Section 10 and share them with the community Included Hardware The Wixel is available in two versions The Partial Kit version comes with a 25x1 straight 0 1 male header strip This version is ideal for compact installations and allows flexibility in choice of connectors The Assembled version comes with its header pins soldered in so it is ready to be connected to your project with no soldering required Wixel programmable USB wireless module Wixel programmable USB wireless module fully without header pins installed assembled 1 a Module Pinout and Components 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Wixel Pinout and peripherals GND VIN 2 7 6 5 V VALT PO 0 PO 1 PO 2 PO 3 PO 4 PO 5 Red LED P2 1 BOOTLOAD Yellow LED P2 2 Ww A peN aI P ti fm E Bs re 6 Fae hi i Eri Cc i gt a i E H wer pi eo a b E IE B gt p 3 3V Output
23. ed Install from a list or specific location Advanced Click Next to continue 8 Windows XP will warn you again that the driver has not been tested by Microsoft and recommend that you stop the installation Click Continue Anyway Le rR Mhi ee A lhe rte geri me od lies bo Gee hmhage F Peiris LLA aA Poyga Pogg amera Prr Pral AE Popa Peayaerasy Pe ha nol pared ted Logo erage oe d cob wo oe rab E 0 Gee eb En bole poet G gt 9 When you have finished the Found New Hardware Wizard click Finish 6 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Found Mew Hardware Wizard Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard The wizard has finished installing the software for Pololu Witel USB Bootloader Click Finish to chose the wizard After installing the drivers if you go to your computer s Device Manager and expand the Pololu USB Devices list you should see an entry for the Pololu Wixel USB Bootloader Device Manager File Action View Help H m amp H E Network adapters dF Pololu USB Devices Ey Pololu Wixel USB Bootloader J Ports COM amp LPT oo Processors File Action View Help He Em A Network Bus Enumerator 2 Pololu USB Devices ad Pololu Wiel USB Bootloader ai Processors BG cesnske Mewireac Windows XP Device Manager showing a Wixel in bootloader Windows Vista or Windows 7 Device Manager
24. ee Section 10 for help The text displayed in the Wixel list e g O07 C2 C8 3A is the serial number of your Wixel Each Wixel has a unique 32 bit serial number which was randomly generated and assigned to it when the Wixel was manufactured The icon displayed in the Wixel list represents the current state of the Wixel Each Wixel will be in one of these states Wixel Status Icon Description App Running Fu The app you loaded on the Wixel is now running App Stopped F The app you loaded on the Wixel is currently stopped the Wixel is in bootloader mode No App There is no app on the Wixel the Wixel is in bootloader mode Reconnecting FU The Wixel is reconnecting disconnecting or in a transitional state If you select a Wixel you can see more information about it in the area below the list The USB Product ID is the current product ID presented by the Wixel on its USB interface as defined in the USB Specification The Port Name is the name of the virtual COM port that has been assigned to the Wixel In Windows the Port Name is also available in the Device Manager 10 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 11 of 24 The Stop App button stops the application that is running on the currently selected Wixel putting that Wixel in to bootloader mode The Start App button takes the Wixel out of bootloader mode to run the application that is currently on it App Co
25. em into your code by typing the following command git pull pololu Initially you will commit your changes to your local repository but when you are ready to publish them you should set up your own repository on GitHub to make them accessible to the community To do this sign up for a GitHub account and fork our repository into a repository on your account Please do this by clicking the fork button at the top of our repository so that it will be connected within the GitHub system this way we will see your changes and can easily incorporate them into the SDK After making your fork you can push all of the changes from your local repository to GitHub with git remote add myrepo lt GitHub URL gt git push myrepo where lt GitHub URL gt is the SSH or HTTP URL shown on your GitHub page Finally you will probably want to post a link to your GitHub repository on the Wixel forum This will help others find out about it and give you feedback on your contribution 10 d USB Configurations Recognized by the Wixel Configuration Software The Wixel Configuration Utility and the Wixel Command Line Utility can currently only recognize certain Wixel apps If your app is not recognized then users of your app will not easily be able to reconfigure it after they have loaded it onto their Wixel they will have to get their Wixel in to bootloader mode using some other method To be recognized your app must implement a particular USB interfac
26. g at 5 V or any voltage significantly above 3 3 V then you will need to add extra components to ensure that your microcontroller never drives the Wixel s RX line higher than 3 3 V A simple voltage divider consisting of 2 resistors as shown in the diagram above will suffice The Wixel s RX line has an internal 20 kQ pull up resistor e RST If you want the microcontroller to be able to reset the Wixel then connect the Wixel s RST line to any free general purpose I O GPIO line on the microcontroller The microcontroller can drive this line low to reset the Wixel and then stop driving the line to release the Wixel from reset The Wixel s RST line is not 5 V tolerant If your microcontroller is running at 5 V or any voltage significantly above 3 3 V then you must avoid driving the 12 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Wixel s RST line high If that is not possible then you could put a diode between the Wixel s RST line and the microcontroller s GPIO to prevent current from flowing in the wrong direction from the GPIO The connection to RST is optional and not required for sending or receiving data Please refer to the documentation of your specific Wixel app to determine the location of the TX pin s and RX pin s 5 c Connecting Buttons and Starting the Bootloader In order to load a new app or new settings onto your Wixel or read the Wixel s flash memory you w
27. ill need to get it in to bootloader mode Most Wixel apps support a special USB command for putting the Wixel in to bootloader mode and the Wixel Configuration Utility can send that command automatically when you try to access the Wixel s flash However you may find yourself in a situation where that method will not work This can happen for two reasons e You accidentally loaded a malfunctioning program onto the Wixel that is incapable of responding to the special USB command e You loaded a program which uses a different type of USB interface or no USB interface In this case check the documentation of the the app to see if there is a convenient way for getting the Wixel in to bootloader mode No matter what state the Wixel is in you can force it to go in to bootloader mode by having USB connected and P2 2 connected to 3V3 at the moment when the microcontroller starts running There are two main ways to accomplish this One way is to disconnect the Wixel from any possible power sources connect P2_2 to 3V3 using a wire and then plug it in to USB Using a wire to put the Wixel into bootloader mode Another way to is to wire a bootloader button and a reset button to the Wixel and follow the procedure shown in the picture below GND Using Buttons to Start the Bootloader 1 Connect USB cable F oo 2 Press both buttons T i adi button 3 Release reset button Be re 4
28. int response port ReadByte 12 13 Show the user what byte was received 14 MessageBox Show Received byte response 15 16 Disconnect from the port so that other programs can use it 17 port Close 7 Ensuring a Good Radio Signal Here are some tips for improving the quality of the radio signals sent between a pair of Wixels e Reduce the distance between the Wixels if possible e Try different frequencies Most Wixel apps that use the radio have a radio channel parameter that determines what frequency will be used By switching to a different channel you might be able to avoid interference from other nearby 2 4 GHz radios You might even want to buy a spectrum analyzer such as the Wi Spy to find out which frequencies in your area have the least activity e Remove objects that are very close to the Wixel s antenna For example if the Wixel has no header pins installed and it is resting flat on your desk find a way to get the Wixel at least an inch or two above the desk e Reduce obstructions between the two Wixels Many objects can interfere with 2 4 GHz radio waves including walls trees people and anything with water in it e Try different Wixel orientations The Wixel s antenna sends and receives better in some directions than others 8 Schematic Diagram The schematic diagram of the Wixel is shown below 15 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide 16 of 24 http
29. l applications may use different sets of these peripherals Consult the application documentation for details on the behavior of the I O lines The pinout and peripheral diagram at the top of this section is also available as a printable pdf 145k pdf The Wixel has three indicator LEDs e Green USB LED The green LED is powered from USB so it can only be turned on when USB cable is connected and supplying power to the Wixel While the Wixel is in bootloader mode i e the app is stopped this LED is used to indicate the USB Green USB LED status of the device When the Wixel USB Bootloader connects to USB the green LED starts blinking slowly The blinking continues until the bootloader receives a particular message from the computer indicating that the Wixel USB Bootloader drivers are installed correctly see Section 3 a for driver installation instructions After the bootloader gets this message the green LED will do a Red LED double blinking pattern The green LED also turns off during USB Suspend Mode which happens when the computer goes to sleep or shuts down the USB port for any other reason Yellow LED While the Wixel is running its app the behavior of the LED depends on the app The standard apps provided by Pololu all behave as follows When the app connects to USB the green LED starts blinking slowly The blinking continues until the app receives a particular message from the computer Wixel indicator LEDs indicating
30. lable including 6 analog inputs and the 0 1 pin spacing makes the Wixel easy to use with breadboards and perfboards Wixel programmable USB wireless module 1 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 2 of 24 We provide free open source apps for the Wixel that you can load and configure with its built in USB bootloader turning it into whatever you need for your current project Simply download a different app to reuse the Wixel in your next project Our Wireless Serial app turns a pair of Wixels into a wireless USB TTL serial link for communication between two microcontrollers or between a PC and a microcontroller This can be used for example for communication between two robots or to remotely monitor a robot from a computer Using an RF bit rate of 350 kbps the rs serial app is capable of transmitting or receiving up to 10 KB of data per second and can reach a range of A approximately 40 feet under typical conditions indoors Multiple serial links can be used simultaneously on different channels Detailed information about the wireless serial app is available in Section 9 b Wixel programmable USB wireless module enabling wireless communication between a PC and Our USB to Serial app turns a single Wixel in to a USB to TTL serial adapter that is capable of baud rates as robot high as 350 000 bps and supports four serial control signals This app does not use th
31. ll your computer to switch to the other COM port when you do this Caveats Data will be lost if the Wixel receives bytes on the RX line faster than the radio can convey them to the other Wixel If you have trouble try reducing the amount of data sent to the RX line or adding delays to your microcontroller s code Versions e Wireless Serial App v1 1 18k wxl released 2011 3 23 Improved the radio protocol to fix a problem in v1 0 where if one Wixel resets but the other Wixel does not then depending on the state of the other Wixel there is a 50 probability that the next radio packet sent in either direction will be ignored by the receiver e Wireless Serial App v1 0 18k wxl released 2011 3 22 Initial release 9 c USB to Serial App Overview This app allows you to turn a Wixel into a USB to TTL serial adapter capable of baud rates up to 350 000 bps While this app does not use the radio it has more features than the USB to UART 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 18 of 24 mode of the Wireless Serial App see Section 9 b Installation Instructions Download USB to Serial App v1 0 13k wxl Open it with the Wixel Configuration Utility and write it to a Wixel See Section 4 for more information on how this is done Pinout Pin Function P1_ 0 DTR general purpose output pin controlled by computer P1_ 1 RTS general purpose output pin controlled by compute
32. lows you to wirelessly control a chain of one more ShiftBrite RGB LED modules at a distance of 40 feet or more from a PC You will need two Wixels to set up the wireless link one connected to the ShiftBrites running the ShiftBrite app and one connected to your PC with USB running the Wireless Serial App Section 9 b Using a terminal or your own software you can send a series of hex characters indicating the desired color for each module to the virtual COM port The characters are transmitted wirelessly received by the remote Wixel decoded and sent to the ShiftBrite chain causing each module to light up with the specified color Approximately 1000 color commands can be sent per second allowing large displays or smooth animations The ShiftBrite App is also compatible with the ShiftBar which uses the same control electronics A Wixel controlling a chain of ShiftBrites Installation Instructions Follow the instructions for the Wireless Serial App in Section 9 b to set up and test a basic wireless serial link between two Wixels Download ShiftBrite App v1 0 18k wxl Open it with the Wixel Configuration Utility choose your settings and write it to one of the Wixels See Section 4 for more information on how this is done Connecting the Wixel to the ShiftBrite chain The following connections should be made between the Wixel running the ShiftBrite App and the first ShiftBrite in the chain Wixel ShiftBrite Function Pl 4
33. lu com docs 0J46 all In parentheses you will see the name of the port for example COMS or COM6 Some software will not allow connection to higher COM port numbers If you need to change the COM port number assigned to a Wixel you can do so using the Device Manager Bring up the properties dialog for the COM port and click the Advanced button in the Port Settings tab From this dialog you can change the COM port assigned to your device Windows will remember which COM port was assigned to which Wixel using the built in serial number of the Wixel a given Wixel will always get assigned to the same COM port regardless of which USB port it is plugged in to 3 b Installing Linux Drivers and Software The Wixel software currently does not work on Linux but certain Wixel apps should See Section 1 b for details 3 c Installing Mac OS Drivers and Software The Wixel software currently does not work on Mac OS but certain Wixel apps should See Section 1 b for details 3 d Loading an Example App When you first get your Wixel it will have no application loaded To make your Wixel do something useful you must load an app onto it This section guides you through the steps needed to load an example application onto the Wixel using the Wixel Configuration Utility 1 Install the Wixel drivers and software by following the instructions in the preceding sections 2 Download the example application here Example Blink LED App v1 0 1
34. n box we have opened the example blink led v1 0 wxl app This app has one parameter blink period ms and it is currently set to 500 the default 6 Select the Wixel by left clicking on its entry in the Wixels list If you see a dialog box pop up this is because the Wixel already has an application on it and the Auto Read checkbox is checked Click the Cancel button in that dialog because we are not interested in reading the contents of the Wixel yet 7 Click the Write to Wixel button This writes the currently open app and the settings to the selected Wixel and then starts running the application 8 The example blink LED application should be running now The Wixel s yellow LED should be off and the red LED should be blinking If you are in Windows XP and this is the first time you have run an application on this Wixel the Found New Hardware Wizard will pop up and you will have to follow steps 5 9 from Section 3 a to install the drivers properly After the USB drivers are installed properly the green LED should be on solid Congratulations you have successfully configured your Wixel 9 The speed of the blinking is determined by the blink period ms parameter The units of this parameter are milliseconds ms Try changing blink period ms to 100 by double clicking on the number and typing 100 You can now write the new configuration to the Wixel by clicking the Write to Wixel button After the writing is done and the ap
35. nfiguration On the right side of the window in the App Configuration box you can see the name of the currently open app and the current settings You can open a different app by clicking the Open button In Windows you can also open an app simply by double clicking on it The Wixel Configuration Utility can open app files in either the WXL format documented in 0J603 or the standard Intel HEX format You can change the current settings by double clicking on a value and typing a new value in The parameters that are available depend on the app that is open different apps have different parameters available Please see the documentation for your specific application for an explanation of what the parameters mean and what the valid values are The Wixel Configuration Utility will not prevent you from entering invalid or inconsistent values Writing to a Wixel After you have chosen the app and settings you want to use and selected a Wixel you can write the app and settings to the Wixel by clicking the Write to Wixel button This will erase whatever application was previously on the Wixel and write the new application to the Wixel When the write operation is done the Wixel will be restarted and the application should start running Reading from a Wixel To read the settings from a Wixel that has been programmed select the Wixel If the Auto Read checkbox is checked then the Wixel will automatically be read Uncheck this bo
36. ol signals but Br y terminal does You can click the DTR and RTS buttons to change the state of the DTR and RTS signals The state of the CTS CD DSR RI DTR and RTS signals are indicated by the colors of the corresponding buttons 14 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all tee PuTTY Configuration al Session Basic options for your PuTTY session al g al Specify the destination you want to connect to a Connection Serial line Cpe comM4 115200 Connection type O Raw Telnet Rlogin SSH Serial PuTTY is a free Windows terminal program that can send and receive bytes on a serial port If you need to send and receive non ASCII bytes you can use the Pololu Serial Transmitter Utility for Windows or Br y Terminal 6 c Writing PC Software to Use a Serial Port You can write your own computer program that communicates with a serial port The freely available Microsoft NET framework contains a SerialPort class that makes it easy to read and write bytes from a serial port Here is some example C NET code that uses a serial port 1 Choose the port name and the baud rate 2 System 1I0 Ports SerialPort port new System IO Ports SerialPort COM4 115200 3 4 Connect to the port 5 port Open 6 7 Transmit two bytes on the TX line 1 2 8 port Write new byte 1 2 2 9 10 Wait for a byte to be received on the RX line 11
37. ose is to let the Wixel Configuration Utility easily get the Wixel in to bootloader mode Parameters e radio_channel A number from 0 to 255 that determines which frequency to broadcast on The default is 128 Wixels must be on the same channel to communicate with eachother To avoid interference Wixels that aren t supposed to talk to eachother should be at least 2 channels away from eachother For example you could have one group of Wixels on channel 128 and another group on 130 e Pm_n_link The link ID of pin Pm_n where m is the port number 0 2 and n is the pin number 0 7 Default Settings The default settings are Pin Link ID Function PO O 1 Input with pull up resistor P2_1 red LED pin 1 Output linked to PO_0 on the other Wixel Therefore if you load this app on to two Wixels using the default settings they should behave as follows If nothing is connected to either Wixel s PO_0 line the red LEDs on both Wixels will be on If you connect the PO_0 line of one Wixel to GND using a wire then you should see the red LED on the other Wixel turn off This demonstrates the basic operation of the app Example Uses e A Wixel output pin can be used to control an LED Be sure to use an appropriate current limiting resistor in series with the LED e g 1 KQ e A Wixel input pin can be used to read the state of a button or switch Connect the button or switch between the input pin and GND so that when the switch is open the
38. owing the instructions in this document your code is located within the wi xe1 sdk folder along with the rest of the Wixel SDK This folder is actually a clone of our Git repository which means that it includes history and version information as well as a link back to our repository a remote within the folder git As long as you have not modified the contents of git you should be able to use Git to commit your changes pull updates from us and push your changes to a public repository To make sure that Git is working correctly try typing the following command at the command prompt from within the wixel sdk folder git log This should display a list of recent commits in the repository As an alternative you can the program gitk to view a much more detailed graphical representation of the log After reviewing the log you can add and commit all of your new files git add lt list of new files gt git commit a When you run the commit you will be shown a list of new or modified files and prompted for a commit message Please check this over carefully and write a good description of your changes because it is very hard to change your commits after you make them public In some cases you might want to start over with a fresh copy of the Wixel SDK which you can make by typing git clone 0o pololu git github com pololu wixel sdk git into a command prompt At any time you can download the latest updates from us and merge th
39. p is running you should see the red LED blinking 5 times faster than it was before 10 The Wixel Configuration Utility can also read the settings from the Wixel To demonstrate this close the Wixel Configuration Utility reopen it and select your Wixel Since the Auto Read checkbox is checked by default and there is an application on the Wixel the Wixel Configuration Utility will attempt to read the Wixel s settings If you have not yet opened the correct app a dialog box like the one below will pop up Wixel Configuration Utility Winels App Configuration DD 00 82 26 Read Wixel ee a settings zan Parameter V Auto Read WixelConfig E No App File open Selected Wixel To read settings you must open the App Serial Number pD 00 82 26 that is currently on the Wixel USB Product ID 0 2200 Port Name coma Show Details Cancel status App Running Ce hi Cha beac If Auto Read is enabled when you select a Wixel with an app on it then you might be prompted you to open the App File 11 To read the settings from a Wixel you will need to open the app that is currently on the Wixel Click the Open button in the dialog and select example blink led _v1 0 wxl It is necessary to open the app file that you originally loaded onto the Wixel because the file contains metadata required to interpret the settings contained in the Wixel s flash memory If you open a different app file even a different version of the same a
40. pin will read high and when the switch is closed the pin will read low e A Wikxel output pin can be connected to an input pin on another microcontroller e A Wikxel input pin can be connected to an output pin on another microcontroller The output must not drive to a voltage higher than 3 3 V If your microcontroller is running at 5 V you could get around this by using a diode or putting your output pin in to open collector mode never drive high Caveats e A change on an input pin will usually be reflected on the corresponding output pin s within 10 100 ms but every radio packet has a chance of being lost so there is no guaranteed latency Therefore this app is only suitable for very low speed digital signals such as the signal from a pushbutton or the signal used to control an LED This app is not suitable for PWM or RC servo signals 19 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all e This app uses digital I O which means that every reading is transmitted as a 0 or 1 This app does not support analog voltages Caution The Wixel s I O lines are not 5V tolerant You must use level shifters diodes or voltage dividers to connect the Wixel to outputs from 5V systems Also avoid drawing more current from an I O line than it can provide see the discussion of P1_0 and P1_1 in Section 1 a Avoid connecting multiple output pins together 9 e ShiftBrite App Overview This app al
41. pp the behavior of this LED depends on the app See the documentation of your particular app for more details 1 b Supported Operating Systems The Wixel USB drivers and configuration software currently work under Windows 7 Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows XP SP 3 We plan to support Linux and Mac OS in the future Any Wixel app that implements a single USB virtual COM port will work in Mac OS or Linux with no special driver installation required so you could configure your Wixel using Windows but then use it on a Mac or Linux computer 2 Contacting Pololu We would be delighted to hear from you about any of your projects and about your experience with the Wixel h 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 5 of 24 You can contact us directly or post on our forum Tell us what we did well what we could improve what you would like to see in the future or anything else you would like to say 3 Getting Started 3 a Installing Windows Drivers and Software Before you connect a Wixel to a computer running Microsoft Windows you should install the drivers 1 Download the Wixel Windows Drivers and Software 12007k zip 2 Open the ZIP archive and run setup exe The installer will guide you through the steps required to install the Wixel Configuration Utility the Wixel command line utility WixelCmd and the Wixel drivers on your computer If the installer fails when run directly
42. pp your settings will likely be corrupted In this case a warning dialog box will pop up to warn you and give you some options Since you still have the correct app file you should not see that dialog now 12 After you open the Wixel App file the Wixel Configuration Utility will read the Wixel and compare its contents to what is in the app You will then see the Wixel s settings displayed on the right blink period ms should be 100 Note that the number 100 is displayed in bold This is because it differs from the default setting which is 500 You can reset it to the default at any time by right clicking on the number and selecting Reset to Default Value After completing this tutorial you should be comfortable with writing apps to the Wixel and reading back the settings This is all you need to know in order to configure your Wixels When you load a real application such as the Wireless Serial App the only thing that will be different are the names and meanings of the parameters To understand what the different parameters mean refer to the documentation for your specific app Some apps might implement a non standard USB interface or no USB interface at all In that case they will not be recognized by the Wixel Configuration Utility while the app is running so you will need to get them in to bootloader mode some other way see the app s documentation and also Section 5 c 4 Configuring Your Wixels The Wixel Configuration U
43. r P1 2 DSR general purpose input pin reported to computer P1 3 CD general purpose input pin reported to computer P1 6 TX_ transmits serial data from computer P1 7 RX receives data and sends it to the computer Description After you have loaded this app onto a Wixel the Wixel will appear to the computer as Virtual COM Port with USB product ID 0x2200 If you are using Windows you should see an entry labeled Wixel in your Device Manager in the Ports COM amp LPT category while the app is running You can connect to this COM port using a terminal program in order to send and receive data on the TX and RX lines Typical terminal programs will allow you to set the baud rate parity type and number of stop bits Some terminal programs will allow you to use the control signals DTR RTS DSR and CD For more information on how to use a virtual COM port see Section 6 This app supports all integer baud rates between 23 and 350 000 bps This app supports all the different types of parity None Odd Even Mark and Space This app supports 1 stop bit or 2 stop bits mode The RX line has an internal pull up resistor so you can leave this line disconnected The DSR and CD input pins have internal pull up resistors so when they are disconnected they will read as high logical 0 The DTR and RTS output pins are designed for high current see the information on P1_0 and P1_1 in Section 1 a The control signals are all in
44. rnal RC filter with values of 1 nF and 2 7 kQ close to the pin in order to avoid unintended reset of the microcontroller The Wixel has 15 free I O lines whose behavior depends on the application that is loaded onto the Wixel Specifically these are all of the pins on Port 0 PO 0 through P0_5 all of the pins on Port 1 P1_0 through P1l_ 7 and P2_ 1 The P2_1 pin is tied to the red LED but the other 14 free I O lines are only connected to the microcontroller The P2_2 line is also accessible but it is tied to the yellow LED and is used to get the Wixel in to bootloader mode see Section 5 c The amount of current that can be supplied by the CC2511F32 s I O pins is not well documented by the manufacturer According to this forum post by a TI Employee regular I O pins are designed to be able to source 4 mA while P1_0 and P1_1 are designed for 20 mA 3 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 4 of 24 Caution The Wixel s I O lines are not 5V tolerant You must use level shifters diodes or voltage dividers to connect the Wixel to outputs from 5V systems The CC2511F32 has several peripherals that are available to be used in Wixel applications e 2 USARTs which can perform asynchronous serial or SPI communication e 3 timers that are capable of PWM output as shown above plus 1 more internal timer e 6 analog input capable pins connected to a 7 12 bit ADC Different Wixe
45. se note that currently none of the Wixel apps support low power modes so the Wixel will draw approximately 30 mA at all times To make your Wixel operate with low power you would have to write your own app or modify one of the existing apps You will need to make sure that all of the I O lines are either outputs or get pulled high or low an input line at an intermediate voltage can consume several microamps of extra current 5 b Connecting a Microcontroller via TTL Serial If you have loaded a Wixel app that employs one of the Wixel s two UARTs such as the Wireless Serial App then the Wixel can send and or receive asynchronous TTL serial bytes from a microcontroller Wikel 5vMcU Wikel 3 3V MCU Making serial connections between a Wixel and Making serial connections between a Wixel and a 5V microcontroller a 3 3V microcontroller To connect your microcontroller to a Wixel for serial communication make these connections e GND Connect the ground also known as GND or VSS of your microcontroller to one of the GND pins on the Wixel This connection is required e TX If you want the microcontroller to be able to receive serial bytes from the Wixel connect the Wixel s TX line to the microcontroller s RX line e RX If you want your microcontroller to be able to send serial bytes to the Wixel connect the microcontroller s TX line to the Wixel s RX line The Wixel s RX line is not 5 V tolerant If your microcontroller is runnin
46. st above or auto detect serial mode 0 The default is 0 e baud_rate The baud rate to use for the UART in bits per second The default is 9600 e radio channel A number from 0 to 255 that determines which frequency to broadcast on The default is 128 Wixels must be on the same channel to communicate with each other To avoid interference Wixels that aren t supposed to talk to each other should be at least 2 channels away from each other For example you could have one pair of Wixels on channel 128 and another pair on 130 Example Uses 1 This application can be used to make a wireless serial link between two microcontrollers with no USB involved except for initially configuring the Wixels To do this use the UART to Radio mode on both Wixels 2 This application can be used to make a wireless serial link between a computer and a microcontroller Use USB to Radio mode on the Wixel that is connected to the computer and use UART to Radio mode on the Wixel that is connected to the microcontroller If you are powering both Wixels in the usual way you should be able to use auto detect serial mode serial mode 0 3 If you are doing option 2 above and using the the auto detect serial mode serial mode 0 then you have the option to at any time plug a USB cable directly in to the Wixel that is connected to your microcontroller to establish a more direct wired serial connection with the microcontroller You would of course have to te
47. the output of the Wixel s 3 3 V regulator If the Wixel s power power sorce connected to VIN supply drops below approximately 3 5 V the 3V3 output will be less than 3 3 V Normally this output can provide up to 150 mA but if the Wixel s power supply is above 5 V then it is limited to 100 mA You can use 3V3 to power your own 3 3 V devices Ferrit a 5V GNDA External VALT provides access to the input pin of the Wixel s 3 3 V regulator which is connected through a Devices diode to VIN or to the USB bus voltage depending on which power source is connected You can VALT Power Output VALT VUSB 5V use VALT to power your own circuits as long as you do not draw more than about 500 mA For example if you leave VIN disconnected VALT can power 5V devices rE 3 aV Low Power Considerations Ae External o BeESNDLS Devices The CC2511F32 is capable of a sleep mode PM2 where the chip draws less than 1 pA and is still Feet Sree capable of waking itself up Without modifying the Wixel s hardware it is possible to power it from VIN and get the current consumption down to around 100 pA Most of that current is consumed by The Wixel can be powered from USB the Wixel s 3 3 V regulator To get rid of it you will need to sever the output pin of the regulator and power the Wixel directly from the 3V3 pin with a 2 0 3 6 V power supply For details on how to do this please contact Pololu Plea
48. tility allows you to write and read settings from the Wixel This section explains all of the features of the Wixel Configuration 9 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all Utility in detail Wixel Configuration Utility File Get Apps Connections Winel Help Wixels App Configuration fA DD 00 82 26 Sete C User wireless serial v1 0 wxl DD 00 82 27 5 ze Parameter Auto Read serial mode baud_rate radio_channel Selected Wixel Serial Number DD 00 82 27 USB Product Id Ox2200 Port Name COM4 Status App Running Acton Output The Wixel Configuration Utility with 2 Wixels connected and an App file open Wixels On the left side of the window in the Wixels box you can see a list of all the Wixels connected to the computer that are recognized by the Wixel Configuration Utility The Wixel Configuration Utility should recognize any Wixel that is in bootloader mode i e the app is stopped or is running an app that implements a single USB Virtual COM port with a USB Vendor ID of 0x1 FFB for Pololu and a Product ID of 0x2200 If your Wixel is connected to your computer but does not show up in the Wixel Configuration Utility then your drivers might not be installed properly or the Wixel might be running an application that uses a different type of USB interface or doesn t use USB at all If you have trouble getting the Wixel Configuration Utility to recognize your Wixel then s
49. verted which means that a logical 0 corresponds to a high voltage 3 3 V and a logical 1 corresponds to a low voltage 0 V This app will discard bytes received on the RX line that have framing errors or parity errors and it will also throw out bytes if there is an RX buffer overrun An RX buffer overrun should not happen if you are using a baud rate of 350 000 bps or less Example Uses e The TX line can be used to send commands to a microcontroller or other serial device e The RX line can be used to receive data from a microcontroller or other serial device e The DTR and RTS lines are general purpose digital outputs that can be used to control something such as an LED from a computer e The DSR and CD lines are general purpose digital inputs that can be used to connected to a sensor or other circuit and read from a computer Caveats e The CC2511 s UARTs do not actually support 1 5 stop bits so if you try to set the number of stop bits to 1 5 this app will use 1 stop bit instead e The CC2511 s UARTs do not support having 2 stop bits very well so if you set the number of stop bits to 2 this app may fail to detect framing errors that occur during the second stop bit Also the next byte received after the framing error occurred may be discarded even if that byte is valid This problem only applies to receiving bytes on the RX line this app has no problem transmitting bytes on the TX line with 2 stop bits 9 d I O Repeater App O
50. verview This app allows you to wirelessly extend the reach of your microcontroller s I O lines up to 40 feet using two or more Wixels An input pin on one Wixel can be mapped to an output pin on another Wixel When the input pin reads high the output pin will be driven high 3 3 V and when the input pin reads low the output pin will be driven low 0 V Each Wixel can have up to 15 input pins 15 output pins or a mixture of input and output pins Each input pin can map to one or more output pins 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all on one or more Wikxels Installation Instructions Download I O Repeater App v1 0 18k wxl Open it with the Wixel Configuration Utility choose your settings and write it to two or more Wixels See Section 4 for more information on how this is done Description The following 15 pins on each Wixel can be used as inputs or outputs or be disabled e All the pins on Port 0 PO 0 PO 1 PO 2 PO 3 PO 4 PO 5 e Allthe pins on Port 1 P1 0 P1 1 P1 2 P1 3 P1 4 P1 5 P1 6 Pl 7 e Pin P2 1 the red LED pin The behavior of each pin is determined by its link ID which is a parameter that you can set individually for each pin on each Wixel using the Wixel Configuration Utility A link ID of 0 means the pin will be disabled it will be an input but its input value will not have any effect A negative link ID between 1 and 127 means that the pin
51. will be a digital input and its value will be transmitted over the radio A positive link ID between 1 and 127 means that the pin will be a digital output and its output value will be determined by the input value of the pin with the opposite negated link ID on another Wixel For example if the P1_ 3 pin on one Wixel has a link ID of 13 then it will be a digital input and its value will be reflected on all the output pins that have a link ID of 13 on all the other Wixels Input pins do not have any effect on output pins that are on the same Wixel If a Wixel is running this app and has one or more pins configured to be inputs then it will transmit a single radio packet every 10 ms approximately that contains input values and link IDs of all of its inputs Any other Wixel that successfully receives this packet will process it and use it to update the state of its output pins Every pin configured as an input has an internal 20 kQ pull up resistor except P1_0 and P1_1 which float when they are inputs This means that if you leave the input pin disconnected it will be pulled high by default After you have loaded this app onto a Wixel the Wixel will appear to the computer as Virtual COM Port with USB product ID 0x2200 If you are using Windows you should see an entry labeled Wixel in your Device Manager in the Ports COM amp LPT category while this app is running You can not send or receive data on this COM port Its only purp
52. x if you want to retain current settings when changing Wixels for example when you want to write the same app and settings to multiple Wixels If the box is unchecked you can click the Read Wixel button at any time to read settings from the selected Wixel To read the settings from a Wixel you will need to open the app that is currently on the Wixel This is necessary because the app file contains metadata which is needed in order to correctly interpret the settings contained in the Wixel s flash memory If you have lost the app file and want to read the contents of your Wixel select Read Flash and Export to HEX File from the Wixel menu You can then open the exported HEX File as an App and use it to program other Wixels The settings from the Wixel will be contained in the exported HEX file but you will not be able to read these settings in the Wixel Configuration Utility If the Wixel s application is running when the read operation starts the Wixel Configuration Utility will temporarily stop the application and put the Wixel in to bootloader mode in order to read its contents When the read operation is completed the Wixel Configuration Utility will restart the app Other Commands The Erase Wixel command found in the Wixel menu erases the app from the currently selected Wixel every bit in the application flash section becomes a 1 The Verify Wixel command reads the currently selected Wixel and tells you whether its contents ar
53. y of your description into your post so that we can see what your app is about before downloading it 22 of 24 04 04 2011 12 02 Pololu Pololu Wixel User s Guide http www pololu com docs 0J46 all 23 of 24 Contributing your source code Sharing your source code greatly increases the value of your app since other members of the community will be able to adapt it to their own projects or learn from your code You might also have made changes to the common sections of the Wixel SDK that you would like us to incorporate or you might have discovered and want to share your fixes For all of these reasons we are maintaing the Pololu_Wixel SDK Repository on GitHub as a central location for sharing Wixel code You can easily use this site to fork your own version of the Wixel SDK show us what you are working on submit changes and so on GitHub uses the Git Version Control System for tracking versions and branches of code so we highly recommend learning how to use Git if you want to share your code with the Wixel community or even just to get the latest version for your own use Teaching Git is beyond the scope of this User s Guide but there are many good tutorials available on the web For example this Git tutorial provided by GitHub focuses on Windows installation and configuration but it should be useful to Linux and Mac users as well For the rest of this section we will assume that you are comfortable with Git If you have been foll

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