TÜV NORD Hochfrequenztechnik GmbH & Co. KG
Rottland 5a, 51429 Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
Tel: +49 2207 9689-0
Fax +49 2207 9689-20
Annex acc. to FCC Title 47 CFR Part 15
relating to
ecom GmbH
MODUL-AX5243_S
Annex no. 5
User Manual
Functional Description
Title 47 - Telecommunication
Part 15 - Radio Frequency Devices
Subpart C – Intentional Radiators
ANSI C63.4-2014
ANSI C63.10-2013
AND9347/D
AX5043 Programming
Manual
Advances High Performance ASK and
FSK Narrow-Band Transceiver for
27−1050 MHz Range
www.onsemi.com
OVERVIEW
AX5043 is a true single chip low-power CMOS
transceiver for narrow band applications. A fully integrated
VCO supports carrier frequencies in the 433 MHz,
868 MHz and 915 MHz ISM band. An external VCO
inductor enables carrier frequencies from 27 MHz to
1050 MHz. The on-chip transceiver consists of a fully
integrated RF front-end with modulator, and demodulator.
Base band data processing is implemented in an advanced
and flexible communication controller that enables user
friendly communication via the SPI interface.
APPLICATION NOTE
An on-chip low power oscillator as well as Wake-on-radio
enable very low power standby applications. The AX5043
is also available with the AX8052F100 microcontroller in
a single integrated circuit as the AX8052F143. Figure 1
shows the block diagram of the AX5043.
Connecting the AX5043 to an AX8052F100 or other
Microcontroller
The AX5043 can easily be connected to an AX8052F100
or any other microcontroller. The microcontroller
communicates with the AX5043 via a register file that is
implemented in the AX5043 and that can be accessed
serially via an industry standard Serial Peripheral Interface
(SPI) protocol.
Reset is performed by the integrated power-on-reset
(POR) block and can be performed manually via the register
file.
The AX5043 sends and receives data via the SPI port in
frames. This standard operation mode is called frame mode.
In frame mode, the internal communication controller
performs frame delimiting, and data is received and
transmitted via a 256 Byte FIFO, accessible via the register
file. The FIFO is shared between receive and transmit.
Figure 2 shows the corresponding diagram. Connecting the
interrupt line is highly recommended, though not strictly
required. With the AX8052F100, it is also recommended to
connect the SYSCLK line. This allows the Microcontroller
to run from the precise crystal clock of the AX5043, or to
calibrate its internal oscillators from against this clock.
Figure 2. Connecting AX5043 to AX8052F100 or other mC
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AND9347/D
Pin Function Descriptions
Table 1. PIN FUNCTION DESCRIPTION
SymbolPin(s)TypeDescription
VDD_ANA1PAnalog power output, decouple to neighboring GND
GNDCenter PadPGround on center pad of QFN, must be connected
A = analog signal
I = digital input signal
O = digital output signal
I/O = digital input/output signal
N = not to be connected
P = power or ground
All digital inputs are Schmitt trigger inputs, digital input
and output levels are LVCMOS/LVTTL compatible and 5 V
tolerant.
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AND9347/D
SPI Register Access
Registers are accessed via a synchronous Serial Peripheral
Interface (SPI). Most Registers are 8 bits wide and accessed
using the waveforms as detailed in Figure 3. These
SS
SCK
R/WA7S7A6A5A4A3A2A1
MOSI
MISO
S14 S13 S12 S11S9A8S8
A11 A10 A9
111
S6S5S4S3S2S1A0S0
Figure 3. SPI 8bit Long Address Read/Write Access
The most important registers are at the beginning of the
address space, i.e. at addresses less than 0x70. These
Figure 4. SPI 8bit Read/Write Access
Some registers are longer than 8 bits. These registers can
be accessed more quickly than by reading and writing
individual 8 bit parts. This is illustrated in Figure 5. Accesses
are not limited by 16 bits either, reading and writing data
waveforms are compatible to most hardware SPI master
controllers, and can easily be generated in software. MISO
changes on the falling edge of CLK, while MOSI is latched
on the rising edge of CLK.
D7D6D5 D4D3D2D1 D0
D7 D6D5 D4D3 D2D1D0S10
registers can be accessed more efficiently using the short
address form, which is detailed in Figure 4.
bytes can be continued as long as desired. After each byte,
the address counter is incremented by one. Also, this access
form also works with long addresses.
SS
SCK
R/W A6A5A4A3A2A1A0
MOSI
MISO
S14 S13 S12 S11 S10 S9S8
D7 D6D5D4 D3D2D1D0
D7 D6D5D4 D3D2D1D0
AA+1
Figure 5. SPI 16bit Read/Write Access
During the address phase of the access, the chip outputs
the most important status bits. This feature is designed to
handler. The table below shows which register bit is
transmitted during the status timeslots.
speed up software decision on what to do in an interrupt
Table 2. SPI STATUS BITS
SPI Bit CellStatusRegister Bit
0−1 (when transitioning out of deep sleep, this bit transitions from 0→1 when the power becomes ready)
1S14PLL LOCK
2S13FIFO OVER
3S12FIFO UNDER
4S11THRESHOLD FREE ( FIFO Free > FIFO threshold)
5S10THRESHOLD COUNT (FIFO count > FIFO threshold)
6S9FIFO FULL
7S8FIFO EMPTY
8S7PWRGOOD (not BROWNOUT)
Note that bit cells 8−15 (S7…S0) are only available in two
address byte SPI access formats.
Deep Sleep
The chip can be programmed into deep sleep mode. In
deep sleep mode, the chip is completely switched off, which
results in very low leakage power. All registers loose their
programming.
To enter deep sleep mode, write the deep sleep encoding
into bits 3:0 of PWRMODE. At the rising edge of the SEL
line, the chip will enter deep sleep mode.
To exit deep sleep mode, lower the SEL line. This will
initiate startup and reset of the chip. Then poll the MISO
line. The MISO line will be held low during initialization,
and will rise to high at the end of the initialization, when the
chip becomes ready for further operation.
Address Space
The address space has been allocated as follows.
Addresses from 0x000 to 0x06F are reserved for “dynamic
registers”, i.e. registers that are expected to be frequently
accessed during normal operation, as they can be efficiently
accessed using single address byte SPI accesses. Addresses
from 0x070 to 0x0FF have been left unused (they could only
be accessed using the two address byte SPI format).
Addresses from 0x100 to 0x1FF have been reserved for
physical layer parameter registers, for example receiver,
transmitter, PLL, crystal oscillator. Adresses from 0x200 to
0x2FF have been reserved for medium access parameters,
such as framing, packet handling. Addresses from 0x300 to
0x3FF have been reserved for special functions, such as
GPADC.
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FIFO OPERATION
AND9347/D
The AX5043 features a 256 Byte FIFO. The same FIFO
is used for both reception and transmission. During transmit,
only the write port is accessible by the microcontroller.
During receive, only the read port is accessible by the
microcontroller. Otherwise, both ports are accessible
through the register file.
In order to prevent transmitting premature data, the FIFO
contains three pointers. Data is read at the read pointer, up
to the write pointer. Data is written to the write ahead pointer .
The write pointer is not updated when data is written,
therefore, new data is not immediately visible to the
consumer. Writing the COMMIT command to the
FIFOSTAT register copies the write ahead pointer to the
write pointer, thus making the written data visible to the
Write ahead pointer
Write pointer
FIFOCOUNT
receiver. Writing the ROLLBACK command to the
FIFOSTAT register sets the write ahead pointer to the write
pointer, thus discarding data written to the FIFO. During
transmit, this means that the transmitter will only consider
data written to the FIFO after the commit command. During
receive, this feature is used by the receiver to store packet
data before it is known whether the CRC check passes.
FIFOCOUNT reports the number of bytes that can be read
without causing an underflow. FIFOFREE reports the
number of bytes that can be written without causing an
overflow. FIFOCOUNT and FIFOFREE do not add up to
256 Bytes whenever there are uncommitted bytes in the
FIFO. Figure 6 illustrates this.
256−FIFOFREE
Figure 6. FIFO Pointer
FIFO Chunk Encoding
In order to distinguish meta-data (such as RSSI) from
receive or transmit data, FIFO contents are organized as
chunks. Chunks consist of a header that encodes the chunk
length as well as the payload data format.
Each chunk starts with a single byte header. The header
encodes the length of a chunk, and indicates the data it
contains. The top 3 bits encode the length (or optionally refer
to an additional length byte after the header byte), and the
bottom 5 bits indicate what payload data the chunk contains.
The following table lists the encoding of the length bits (top
3 bits of the first chunk header byte). Figure 7 shows the
chunk header byte encoding.
The following table lists the chunk payload size encoding:
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AND9347/D
Table 3. CHUNK PAYLOAD SIZE ENCODING (continued)
Top BitsChunk Payload Size
100Invalid
101Invalid
110Invalid
111Variable length payload; payload size is encoded in the following length byte the length byte is part of
the header (and not included in length), everything after the length byte is included in the length
The following table lists the chunk types and their
encodings. The Hdr Byte column lists the complete FIFO
Chunk Header Byte, consisting of the length and data format
encodings.
T01100010Repeat Data
R01110000Timer
R01110011RF Frequency Offset
R01110100Datarate
R01110101Antenna Selection RSSI
TR11100001Data
T11111101Transmit Power
Hdr. Byte
7−0
Description
(Antenna, Power Amp)
Calculation RSSI
Direction: T = Transmit, R = Receive
NOP Command
Table 5. NOP COMMAND
76543210
00000000
The NOP command will be discarded without effect by
the transmitter. The receiver will not generate NOP
commands.
RSSI Command
Table 6. RSSI COMMAND
76543210
00000000
RSSI
The RSSI command will only be generated by the receiver
at the end of a packet if bit STRSSI is set in register
PKTSTOREFLAGS. The encoding is the same as that of the
RSSI register.
TXCTRL Command
Table 7. TXCTRL COMMAND
76543210
00111100
0SETTXTXSE TXDIFFSETANTANTS
TATE
SETPAPAST
ATE
The TXCTRL command allows certain aspects of the
transmitter to be changed on the fly. If SETTX is set, TXSE
and TXDIFF are copied into the register MODCFGA. If
SETANT is set, ANTSTATE is copied into register
DIVERSITY. If SETPA is set, PASTATE is copied into
register PWRAMP.
FREQOFFS Command
Table 8. FREQOFFS COMMAND
76543210
01010010
FREQOFFS1
FREQOFFS0
The FREQOFFS command will only be generated by the
receiver at the end of a packet if bit STFOFFS is set in
register PKTSTOREFLAGS. The encoding is the same as
that of the TRKFREQ register.
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AND9347/D
ANTRSSI2 Command
Table 9. ANTRSSI2 COMMAND
76543210
01010101
RSSI
BGNDNOISE
REPEATDATA Command
Table 10. REPEATDATA COMMAND
76543210
01100010
00UNENCRAWNOCRCRESIDUEPKTENDPKTSTART
REPEATCNT
DATA
The ANTRSSI2 command will be generated by the
receiver when it is idle if bit STANTRSSI is set in register
PKTSTOREFLAGS. If DIVENA is set in register
DIVERSITY, the ANTRSSI3 command is generated
instead. The encoding of the RSSI field is the same as that
of the RSSI register. The BGNDNOISE field contains an
estimate of the background noise.
The REPEATDATA command allows the efficient
transmission of repetitive data bytes. The DATA byte given
in the payload is repeated REPEATCNT times. See DATA
command for a description of the flag byte. This command
is especially handy for constructing preambles.
TIMER Command
Table 11. TIMER COMMAND
76543210
01110000
TIMER2
TIMER1
TIMER0
The TIMER command will only be generated by the
receiver at the start of a packet if bit STTIMER is set in
register PKTSTOREFLAGS. The payload is a copy of the
µs timer TIMER register. This command enables exact
packet timing for example for frequency hopping systems.
RFFREQOFFS Command
Table 12. RFFREQOFFS COMMAND
76543210
01110011
RFFREQOFFS2
RFFREQOFFS1
RFFREQOFFS0
The RFFREQOFFS command will only be generated by
the receiver at the end of a packet if bit STRFOFFS is set in
register PKTSTOREFLAGS. The encoding is the same as
that of the TRKRFFREQ register.
DATARATE Command
Table 13. DA TARATE COMMAND
76543210
01110100
DATARATE2
DATARATE1
DATARATE0
The DATARATE command will only be generated by the
receiver at the end of a packet if bit STDR is set in register
PKTSTOREFLAGS. The encoding is the same as that of the
TRKDATARATE register.
ANTRSSI3 Command
Table 14. ANTRSSI3 COMMAND
76543210
01110101
ANTORSSI2
ANTORSSI1
ANTORSSI0
The ANTRSSI3 command will be generated by the
receiver when it is idle if bit STANTRSSI is set in register
PKTSTOREFLAGS. If DIVENA is not set in register
DIVERSITY, the ANTRSSI2 command is generated
instead. The encoding of the ANT0RSSI and ANT1RSSI
fields are the same as that of the RSSI register.
The BGNDNOISE field contains an estimate of the
background noise.
DATA Command
The DATA command transports actual transmit and
receive data. While the basic format is the same for transmit
and receive, the semantics of the flag byte differs.
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AND9347/D
Table 15. TRANSMIT DATA FORMAT
76543210
11100001
LENGTH
00UNENCRAWNOCRCRESIDUEPKTENDPKTSTART
DATA
LENGTH includes the flags byte as well as all DATA
bytes.
Setting RAW to one causes the DATA to bypass the
framing mode, but still pass through the encoder.
Setting UNENC to one causes the DATA to bypass the
framing mode, as well as the encoder, except for inversion.
UNENC has priority over RAW.
Setting NOCRC suppresses the generation of the CRC
bytes.
Setting RESIDUE allows the transmission of a number of
data bits that is not a multiple of eight. All but the last data
byte are transmitted as if RESIDUE was not set. The last
byte however contains only 7 bits or less. The transmitter
looks for the highest bit set. This is considered the stop bit.
Only bits below the stop bit are transmitted. If the
MSBFIRST in register PKTADDRCFG is set, the algorithm
Table 16. FIFO COMMAND
0xE1FIFO Command
0x04Length Byte
0x24Flag Byte: Unencoded, to ensure 0−1 remains 0−1, and Residue set, because the number of bits
transmitted is not a multiple of 8
0xAAAlternating 0−1 bits
0xAAAlternating 0−1 bits
0x1AAlternating 0−1 bits; Bit 4 is the “Stop” bit
is reversed, i.e. the lowest bit set is considered the stop bit
and bits above the stop bit are transmitted.
PKTSTART and PKTEND bits enable the transmission of
packets that are larger than the FIFO size. If PKTSTART is
set, the radio packet starts at the beginning of the DATA
command payload. If PKTEND is set, the radio packet ends
at the end of the DA TA command payload. If PKTSTART is
not set, this command is the continuation of a previous
DATA command. If PKTEND is not set, the packet is
continued with the next DATA command.
PKTSTART in RAW mode causes the DATA bytes to be
aligned to DiBit boundaries in 4−FSK mode.
For example, to transmit 20 bits of an alternating 0−1
pattern as a preamble, the following bytes should be written
to the FIFO (MSBFIRST = 0 in register PKTADDRCFG is
assumed):
ABOR T i s set if the packet has been aborted. An ABORT
sequence is a sequence of seven or more consecutive one bits
when HDLC [1] framing is used. Note that if ACCPTABR T
is not set in register PKTACCEPTFLAGS, then aborted
packets are silently dropped.
SIZEFAIL is set if the packet does not pass the size
checks. Size checks are implemented using the
PKTLENCFG, PKTLENOFFSET and PKTMAXLEN
registers. Note that if ACCPTSZF is not set in register
PKTACCEPTFLAGS, then packets with an invalid size are
silently dropped.
ADDRFAIL is set if the packet does not pass the address
checks. Address checks are implemented using the
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PKTADDRCFG, PKTADDR and PKTADDRMASK
registers. Note that if ACCPTADDRF is not set in register
PKTACCEPTFLAGS, then packets which do not match the
programmed address are silently dropped.
CRCF AIL i s set if the packet does not pass the CRC check.
Note that if ACCPTCRCF is not set in register
PKTACCEPTFLAGS, then packets which fail the CRC
check are silently dropped.
RESIDUE, PKTEND and PKTSTART work identical as
in transmit mode, see above.
The receiver generates chunks up to PKTCHUNKSIZE
bytes. If PKTMAXLEN is larger than PKTCHUNKSIZE,
multiple chunks may be generated for one packet. Since
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AND9347/D
CRC and size checks may only be performed at the end of
the packet, only the last chunk can be dropped at failure of
one of those tests. It is therefore important that the
microcontroller receiver routine clears its receive buffer at
the beginning of DATA commands whose PKTSTART bit
is set, as the buffer may still contain bytes from erroneous
packets.
TXPWR Command
Table 18. TXPWR COMMAND
76543210
11110010
LENGTH = 10
TXPWRCOEFFA (7:0)
TXPWRCOEFFA (15:8)
TXPWRCOEFFB (7:0)
TXPWRCOEFFB (15:8)
TXPWRCOEFFC (7:0)
TXPWRCOEFFC (15:8)
TXPWRCOEFFD (7:0)
TXPWRCOEFFD (15:8)
TXPWRCOEFFE (7:0)
TXPWRCOEFFE (15:8)
The TXPWR command allows the transmit power to be
changed on the fly. This command updates the
TXPWRCOEFFA, TXPWRCOEFFB, TXPWRCOEFFC,
TXPWRCOEFFD and TXPWRCOEFFE registers.
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PROGRAMMING THE CHIP
AND9347/D
Power Modes
To enable the lowest possible application power
consumption, the AX5043 allows to shut down its circuits
Table 19. PWRMODE REGISTER STATES
PWRMODE registerNameDescriptionTypical Idd
0000POWERDOWNPowerdown; all circuits powered down except for the register file400 nA
0001DEEPSLEEPDeep Sleep Mode; Chip is fully powered down until SEL is lowered
The following list explains the typical programming flow.
Preparation:
1. Reset the Chip. Set SEL to high for at least 1μs,
then low. Wait until MISO goes high. Set, and then
clear, the RST bit of register PWRMODE.
2. Set the PWRMODE register to POWERDOWN.
3. Program parameters. It is recommended that
suitable parameters are calculated using the
AX_RadioLab tool available from Axsem.
4. Perform auto-ranging, to ensure the correct VCO
when not needed. This is controlled by the PWRMODE
register. Idd values are typical; for exact values, please refer
to the AX5043 datasheet [2].
50 nA
7-11 mA
6−70 mA
mode, the FIFO is automatically kept powered until it is
emptied by the microprocessor.
In the transmit case, PWRMODE should first be set to
FULLTX. Before writing to the FIFO, the microprocessor
must ensure that the SVMODEM bit is high in Register
POWSTAT, to ensure that the on-chip voltage regulator
supplying the FIFO has finished starting up. The transmitter
remains idle until the contents of the FIFO are committed
(unless the FIFO AUTO COMMIT bit is set in Register
FIFOSTAT).
range setting.
The chip is now ready for transmit and receive operations.
FIFO Power Management
The FIFO is powered down during POWERDOWN and
DEEPSLEEP modes (Register PWRMODE). The FIFO
EMPTY and FIFO FULL bits (Register FIFOSTAT), as well
as the FIFOCOUNT and FIFOFREE registers read zero.
Reads from the FIFO will return undefined data, and writes
to the FIFO will be lost.
In the receive case, the FIFO is automatically powered on
when the chip PWRMODE is set to FULLRX. The FIFO
should be emptied before the PWRMODE is set to
Autoranging
Whenever the frequency changes, the synthesizer VCO
should be set to the correct range using the built-in autoranging. A re-ranging of the VCO is required if the
frequency change required is larger than 5 MHz in the
868/915 MHz band or 2.5 MHz in the 433 MHz band. Each
individual chip must be auto-ranged. If both frequency
register sets FREQA and FREQB are used, then both
frequencies must be auto-ranged by first starting
auto-ranging in PLLRANGINGA, waiting for its
completion, followed by starting auto-ranging in
PLLRANGINGB and waiting for its completion.
POWERDOWN. In Wake-on-radio or POWERDOWN
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AND9347/D
Figure 8 shows the flow chart of the auto-ranging process.
Set PWRMODE to STANDBY
Enable TCXO if used
Wait until crystal oscillator
Set RNGSTART of PLLRANGINGA/B
Set PWRMODE to POWERDOWN
Figure 8. Autoranging Flow Chart
is ready
RNGSTART = 1?
no
RNGERR = 1?
no
Disable TCXO if used
yes
yes
Error
Before starting the auto-ranging, the appropriate
frequency registers (FREQA3, FREQA2, FREQA1 and
FREQA0 or FREQB3, FREQB2, FREQB1 and FREQB0)
need to be programmed. Auto-ranging starts at the VCOR
(register PLLRANGINGA or PLLRANGINGB) setting;
if you already know the approximately correct synthesizer
VCO range, you should set VCORA/VCORB to this value
prior to starting auto-ranging; this can speed up the ranging
process considerably . If you have no prior knowledge about
the correct range, set VCORA/VCORB to 8. Starting with
VCORA/VCORB < 6 should be avoided, as the initial
synthesizer frequency can exceed the maximum frequency
specification.
Hardware clears the RNG START bit automatically as
soon as the ranging is finished; the device may be
programmed to deliver an interrupt on resetting of the RNG
START bit.
Waiting until auto-ranging terminates can be performed
by either polling the register PLLRANGINGA or
PLLRANGINGB for RNG START to go low, or by enabling
the IRQMPLLRNGDONE interrupt in register
IRQMASK1.
Choosing the Fundamental Communication
Characteristics
The following table lists the fundamental communication
characteristics that need to be chosen before the device can
be programmed.
Table 20. FUNDAMENTAL COMMUNICATION CHARACTERISTIC
ParameterDescription
f
XTAL
modulationFSK, MSK, OQPSK, 4−FSK or AFSK (for recommendations see below)
f
CARRIER
BITRATEDesired bit rate in bit/s
hModulation index, determines the frequency deviation for FSK
encodingInversion, differential, manchester, scrambled, for recommendations see the description of the register
Frequency of the connected crystal in Hz
Carrier frequency (i.e. center frequency of the signal) in Hz
32 > h ≥ 0.5 for FSK, 4−FSK or AFSK, f
h = 0.5 for MSK and OQPSK
(For AFSK, f
often approximately 3 kHz)
ENCODING.
is usually set according to the FM channel specification. For 25 kHz channels, it is
deviation
= 0.5 * h * BITRATE
deviation
The following table gives an overview of the trade-offs
between the different modulations that AX5043 offers, they
should be considered when making a choice.
Table 21. TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MODULATION
ModulationTrade-offs
f
XTAL
FSKFor bit rates up to 125 kbit/s
Frequency of the connected crystal in Hz
Frequency deviation is a free parameter
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x16+x12+x5+1
16
32
5
Table 21. TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MODULATION (continued)
ModulationTrade-offs
MSKFor bit rates up to 125 kbit/s
Robust and spectrally efficient form of FSK (Modulation is the same as FSK with h = 0.5)
Frequency deviation given by bit rate
The advantage of MSK over FSK is that it can be demodulated with higher sensitivity.
Slightly longer preambles required than for FSK
OQPSKFor bit rates up to 125 kbit/s
Very similar to MSK, with added precoding / postdecoding
For new designs, use MSK instead
PSKFor bit rates up to 125 kBit/s
Spectrally efficient and high sensitivity
Very accurate frequency reference (maximum carrier frequency deviation ±
preambles required
4−FSKFor bit rates up to 100 kSymbols/s, or 200 kbit/s
Similar to FSK, but four frequencies are used to transmit 2 bits simultaneously
Very slightly more spectrally efficient compared to FSK
((1 + 3 h/2) ⋅ BITRATE versus (1 + h) ⋅ BITRATE) for small h.
Longer preambles required as frequency offset estimation needs to be more precise to successfully
demodulate
For new designs, use FSK instead
AFSKFor bit rates up to 25 kbit/s
Bits are FSK modulated in the audio band, then frequency modulated on the carrier frequency.
For legacy compatibility applications only.
1
/4 ⋅BITRATE) and long
Given these fundamental physical layer parameters,
AX_RadioLab should be used to compute the register
settings of the AX5043.
Framing
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the AX5043. After
the user writes a transmit packet into the FIFO, the Radio
Controller sequences the transmitter start-up, and signals the
Packet Controller to read the packet from the FIFO and add
framing bits, allowing the receiver to lock to the transmit
waveform, and to detect packet and byte boundaries. If MSB
first is selected (register PKTADDRCFG), then the bits
within each byte are swapped when the data is read out from
the FIFO.
The Packet Controller also (optionally) adds cyclic
redundancy check bits at the end of the packet, to enable the
receiver to detect transmission errors. Both 16 and 32 Bit
CRC can be selected, as well as different generator
polynomials. The CRC polynomial can be selected in
register FRAMING. The following polynomials are
supported:
• CRC-CCITT (16bit):
(hexadecimal: 0x1021)
• CRC-16 (16bit):
+ x15+ x2+1
x
(hexadecimal: 0x8005)
• CRC-DNP (16bit):
16
+ x13+ x12+ x11+ x10+ x8+ x6+ x5+ x2+1
x
(hexadecimal: 0x3D65)
This polynomial is used for Wireless M-Bus.
• CRC-32 (32bit):
x
+ x26+ x23+ x22+ x16+ x12+ x11+ x10+ x8+ x7+
5
x
x4+ x2+x+
+
(hexadecimal: 0x04C11DB7)
1
The CRC is always transmitted MSB first regardless of
the MSB first setting of register PKTADDRCFG, to enable
the receiver to process CRC bits as they arrive (otherwise,
they would have to be stored and reordered). For an in-depth
guide on how CRC’s are computed, see [3].
Finally, the encoder is able to perform certain bit-wise
operations on the bit-stream:
• Manchester:
Manchester transmits a one bit as 10 and a zero bit as
01, i.e. it doubles the data rate on the radio channel. Its
advantage is that the resulting bit-stream has many
transitions and thus simplifies synchronizing to the
transmission on the receiver side. The downside is that
it now requires twice the amount of energy for the
transmission. Manchester is not recommended, except
for compatibility with legacy systems.
• Scrambler:
The scrambler ensures that even highly regular transmit
data results in a seemingly random transmitted
bit-stream. This avoids discrete tones in the spectrum.
Do not confuse the scrambler with encryption – it does
not provide any secrecy, its actions are easily reversed.
Its use is recommended.
• Differential:
Differential transmits zero bits as constant level, and
one bits as level change. This allows to accomodate
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AND9347/D
modulations that can invert the bit-stream, such as PSK.
It is available for compatibility with other Axsem
transceivers, but usually not used on the AX5043.
• Inversion:
If on, the bit-stream is inverted. Useful for example for
compatibility with legacy systems, such as POCSAG,
which differ from the usual convention that the higher
FSK frequency signifies a one.
The encoder is controlled using the register ENCODING.
It may be temporarily bypassed except for the inversion by
setting the UNENC bit of the FIFO chunks DATA or
REPEATDATA. This is useful for synthesizing preambles.
The receiver performs these tasks in reverse order.
Transmitter
Figure 9 shows the transmitter flow chart. The
microprocessor first places the chip into FULLTX mode.
This prepares the chip for a future transmission, enables the
FIFO in transmit direction, but does not yet power-up the
synthesizer or any other transmit circuitry.
The microprocessor can now write the preamble and the
actual packet to the FIFO. The preamble is programmable to
allow standards to be implemented that specify a specific
preamble to be used. Otherwise, the recommendations for
preambles can be found below.
Waiting for the crystal oscillator to start up may be
performed by polling the register XTALSTATUS, or by
enabling the IRQMXTALREADY interrupt in register
IRQMASK1.
After the FIFO contents are committed (writing the
Commit command to the FIFOSTAT register), the
transmitter notices that the FIFO is no longer empty. It then
powers up the synthesizer and settles it (registers
TMGTXBOOST and TMGTXSETTLE determine the
timing). The Preamble and the Packet(s) are then
transmitted, followed by the transmitter and synthesizer
shut-down.
The transmitter is automatically ramped up and down
smoothly, to prevent unwanted spurious emissions. The
ramp time is normally one bit time, but may be longer by
changing the SLOWRAMP field of register MODCFGA.
The PWRMODE register should stay at FULLTX until
the transmission is fully completed. The end of the
transmission may be determined by polling the register
RADIOSTATE until it indicates idle, or by enabling the
radio controller interrupt (bit IRQMRADIOCTRL) in
register IRQMASK0 and setting the radio controller to
signal an interrupt at the end of transmission (bit
REVMDONE of register RADIOEVENTMASK0).
Set PWRMODE to FULLTX
Enable TCXO if used
Write Preamble to FIFO
Write Packet to FIFO
Wait until crystal oscillator
Wait until transmission is done
Set PWRMODE to POWERDOWN
is running
Commit FIFO
Disable TCXO if used
Figure 9. Transmitter Flow Chart
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AND9347/D
Recommended Preamble
The main purpose of the preamble is to allow for the
receiver to acquire vital transmission parameters before the
actual packet data starts. The minimum duration of the
preamble is dependent on how much time the receiver needs
to acquire these parameters to sufficient precision. More
specifically, it depends on:
• The time needed for the receiver adaptive gain control
(AGC) to acquire the signal strength.
• The time needed for the receiver to acquire the
maximum possible frequency offset (registers
MAXRFOFFSET0, MAXRFOFFSET1 and
MAXRFOFFSET2).
• The time needed for the receiver to acquire the
maximum possible data rate offset (registers
MAXDROFFSET0, MAXDROFFSET1 and
MAXDROFFSET2).
• The time needed for the receiver to acquire the exact bit
sampling time (registers TIMEGAIN0, TIMEGAIN1,
TIMEGAIN2 and TIMEGAIN3).
• The time needed to acquire the actual frequency
deviation in 4−FSK mode (registers FSKDMAX0,
FSKDMAX1, FSKDMIN0 and FSKDMAX0).
On the AX5043, these loops run in parallel. An AGC that
is significantly off however causes the received signal to fall
outside the IF strip dynamic range, and thus prevents the
other loops from working. And a frequency offset that is
compensated insufficiently causes the received signal to fall
(partially) outside the IF filter, thus also preventing the
timing and 4−FSK loops from working.
The minimum possible preamble duration can be
achieved under the following conditions:
• Use a transmitter with a sufficiently precise bit timing.
If the maximum deviation of the transmitter data rate
from the receiver data rate is less than approximately
0.1%, then the data rate acquisition loop should be
switched off completely (setting registers
MAXDROFFSET0, MAXDROFFSET1 and
MAXDROFFSET2 to zero). The AX5043 is able to
track the remaining small offset without the data rate
offset loop. All Axsem transmitters derive the bit rate
timing from the crystal reference and can therefore
easily meet this requirement.
• Use an FSK frequency deviation that is larger than the
maximum frequency offset between transmitter and
receiver. In this case, receiver frequency offset
acquisition is not needed. Do not use 4−FSK.
• Use the AX5043 receiver parameter set feature, below.
Finally, the frame synchronization word achieves byte
synchronization.
The recommended preamble bit pattern is now discussed.
If the standard to be implemented requires a specific
preample, use it.
In FEC mode, HDLC [1] flags (pattern 01111110) must be
transmitted. The convolutional encoder ensures enough bit
transitions, and the AX5043 receiver needs flags to
synchronize its interleaver.
If the scrambler or manchester is enabled, send RAW
bytes 00010001. The scrambler or manchester encoder
ensure enough transitions to acquire the bit timing.
In 4−FSK mode, send UNENCODED bytes 00010001.
This ensures that the preamble toggles between the highest
and the lowest frequency. The frequent transitions ensure the
bit timing is acquired as quickly as possible, and the
maximum and minimum frequencies allow the deviation to
be acquired.
Otherwise, use UNENCODED 01010101. This preamble
ensures the maximum number of transitions for bit timing
synchronization. This preamble could also be used with the
scrambler enabled; the main purpose of the scrambler is
however to ensure no spectral lines (tones), this would be
defeated by this preamble.
If MSBFIRST in register PKTADDRCFG is set, then the
preamble sequences should be reversed.
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AND9347/D
Receiver
Figure 10 shows the receiver flow chart. When the
microprocessor places the chip into FULLRX mode, the
AX5043 immediately powers up the synthesizer, settles it
Set PWRMODE to FULLRX
Enable TCXO if used
yes
Timeout?
no
no
Packet Received?
(FIFO not empty)
yes
Read Packet from FIFO
(registers TMGRXBOOST and TMGRXSETTLE
determine the timing) and starts receiving. The reception
continues until the microprocessor changes the PWRMODE
register.
Set PWRMODE to WORRX
TCXO controlled by PWRAMP or
ANTSEL if used
no
Packet Received?
(FIFO not empty)
yes
Read Packet from FIFO
Continue
yes
Reception?
no
Set PWRMODE to POWERDOWN
Disable TCXO if used
Figure 10. Receiver Flow Chart
If antenna diversity is enabled, the AX5043 continuously
switches between the antennas (controlled by the ANTSEL
pin) to find the antenna with the better signal strength, until
a valid preamble is detected. Antenna scanning is resumed
after a packet is completed.
Actual packet data in the FIFO may be preceded and
followed by meta-data. Meta-data may be a time stamp at the
beginning of the packet, and signal strength, frequency
offset and data rate offset at the end of the packet. Which
meta-data is written to the FIFO is controlled by the register
PKTSTOREFLAGS.
Wake-on-Radio mode allows the AX5043 to periodically
poll the radio channel for a transmission while using only
very little power. Figure 11 shows the wake-on-radio flow
yes
Continue
Reception?
no
Set PWRMODE to POWERDOWN
Disable TCXO if used
Figure 11. Wake-on-Radio Receiver Flow Chart
chart. The AX5043 periodically wakes up. The wake-up is
controlled by the on-chip low-power 640 Hz/10 kHz RC
oscillator and the period is programmed using the
WAKEUPFREQ1 and WAKEUPFREQ0 registers.
After waking up, the AX5043 quickly settles the AGC and
computes the channel RSSI. If it is below an absolute
threshold (register RSSIABSTHR) and a dynamic threshold
(register BGNDRSSITHR), it is switched off immediately.
Otherwise, it looks for a valid preamble. If none is found
within a preprogrammed time (registers TMGRXPREAMBLE1 and TMGRXPREAMBLE2), the receiver is powered
down. Otherwise, it continues to receive the packet.
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AND9347/D
If a packet is successfully received, the receiver may
either be shut down again, or continue to run if
WORMULTIPKT is set in register PKTMISCFLAGS.
In Wake-on-Radio mode, the AX5043 is completely
autonomous until a packet is received. The microprocessor
may be shut down and only wake up once the FIFO is no
longer empty (IRQMFIFONOTEMPTY interrupt in
register IRQMASK0).
Receiver State Machine
Figure 12 shows the receiver timing diagram. The actions
in the first two lines are time controlled. The arrows below
indicate which register controls the timing. The actions
colored in a darker shade of blue are only performed when
diversity mode is enabled (DIVENA is set in register
DIVERSITY). The actions in the last line are detailed in the
state diagram Figure 13.
SYNTHBOOST and SYNTHSETTLE form the two
stage procedure to settle the synthesizer on the first LO
frequency. During SYNTHBOOST, the synthesizer is
operated at a higher loop bandwidth (register
PLLLOOPBOOST), while during SYNTHSETTLE, the
final settling is done at the nominal, lower noise, loop
bandwidth (register PLLLOOP).
IFINIT settles the IF strip. COARSEAGC uses a fast AGC
time constant to quickly settle the AGC to a value close to
the correct one. This is especially important during
wake-on-radio, as it is desirable to keep the receiver
powered the shortest possible time to save power. AGC
settles the AGC using a slower time constant. RSSI
measures the received signal strength. This value is then
used to determine whether the receiver should be kept
running in wake-on-radio, or to select the antenna with the
stronger signal in diversity mode.
Once the receiver is initialized, PREAMBLE1,
PREAMBLE2, PREAMBLE3, and PACKET coordinate
the reception of packets. The receiver contains several loops
that acquire and track transmission parameters the receiver
needs to know in order to correctly receive a packet.
• The AGC acquires and tracks the signal strength
• The frequency tracking loop acquires and tracks the
frequency offset
• The timing and data rate tracking loop acquires and
tracks the sampling time and the data rate offset
The bandwidth of these loops is programmable. The
bandwidth controls the acquisition time as well as the
Antenna
Diversity only
noisiness of the parameter estimates. In order to allow both
fast acquisition to enable short preambles and low steady
state noise performance to enable high receiver sensitivity,
the receiver supports multiple acquisition and tracking loop
parameter sets. When the receiver searches for a
transmission signal, it uses wide loop bandwidths. Once it
detects a preamble with sufficient probability, it switches to
a lower loop bandwidth. Once a frame start is detected, it
switches to an even lower loop bandwidth. Figure 13 shows
the state diagram that controls which receiver parameter set
is used.
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AND9347/D
Crystal
or TCXO
LPOSCREF
FD
LPOSCKFILTLPOSCFREQ
Figure 13. Receiver State Diagram
Conditions are evaluated in priority order. The priority
number is given in parentheses at the beginning of arrow
labels.
In order to reduce the number of registers that need to be
programmed if not all parameter sets are different, the
parameter set number of Figure 13 is not directly used to
address the parameter set. Instead, it indexes into register
RXPARAMSETS, where the actual parameter set number is
read out.
Low Power Oscillator Calibration
The low power oscillator is used to control the wake-up
frequency , o r polling period, during wake-on-radio mode. In
Figure 14. Low Power Oscillator Calibration Logic
order to increase the precision of the wake-up frequency,
calibration logic allows the low power oscillator to be
calibrated against the crystal oscillator or TCXO.
Figure 14 shows a block diagram of the calibration logic.
It works similarly to a PLL. The reference frequency from
the crystal or TCXO is divided by the value of the
LPOSCREF register. This signal is then compared to the
actual frequency of the Low Power Oscillator. The
frequency difference is then low pass filtered
(LPOSCKFILT register) and used to adjust the Low Power
Oscillator frequency (LPOSCFREQ register).
When enabled (LPOSCCALIBR or LPOSCCALIBF
enabled in register LPOSCCONFIG), the calibration logic
is only activated when the crystal oscillator or TCXO is
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enabled as well. This allows “opportunistic” calibration –
the Low Power Oscillator is calibrated whenever the
reference frequency is enabled.
The AX5043 contains an auxiliary DAC. It can be used to
output various receiver signals, such as RSSI or Frequency
Offset, or just a value under program control. The DAC
signal can be output either on the PWRAMP or ANTSEL
pad.
The DAC may be operated in two modes. ΣΔ mode
employs a digital modulator to output a high resolution
signal. Its output voltage range is ¼ VDDIO to ¾ VDDIO
for a DACVALUE range from *2048 to 2047.
PWM mode outputs a pulse width modulated signal. It is
only suitable for low frequency signals. Its output voltage
range is 0 to VDDIO for a DACVALUE range from *2048
to 2047.
Figure 15. DAC RC Filter
A low pass filter, such as a simple R-C filter as shown in
Figure 15, must be used to obtain the analog voltage.
Figure 16. DAC Signal Scaling
Figure 16 shows the DAC Signal scaling. DACINPUT in
register DACCONFIG selects the source signal. The input
signals are left aligned to 24 bits and padded with zeros. A
signed shifter then shifts the selected value to the right by 0
to 15 digits as selected by the lower four bits of the
value range of *2
DAC core. Note that if DACVALUE is selected as input, the
register value is directly sent to the DAC, the shifter is not
used. In fact, DACVALUE and DACSHIFT share the same
register bits.
DACVALUE register. The signal is then limited to the DAC