Note the following details of the code protection feature on Microchip devices:
•Microchip products meet the specification contained in their particular Microchip Data Sheet.
•Microchip believes that its family of products is one of the most secure families of its kind on the market today, when used in the
intended manner and under normal conditions.
•There are dishonest and possibly illegal methods used to breach the code protection feature. All of these methods, to our
knowledge, require using the Microchip products in a manner outside the operating specifications contained in Microchip’s Data
Sheets. Most likely, the person doing so is engaged in theft of intellectual property.
•Microchip is willing to work with the customer who is concerned about the integrity of their code.
•Neither Microchip nor any other semiconductor manufacturer can guarantee the security of their code. Code protection does not
mean that we are guaranteeing the product as “unbreakable.”
Code protection is constantly evolving. We at Microchip are committed to continuously improving the code protection features of our
products. Attempts to break Microchip’s code protection feature may be a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If such acts
allow unauthorized access to your software or other copyrighted work, you may have a right to sue for relief under that Act.
Information contained in this publication regarding device
applications and the like is provided only for your convenience
and may be superseded by updates. It is your responsibility to
ensure that your application meets with your specifications.
MICROCHIP MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR
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suits, or expenses resulting from such use. No licenses are
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intellectual property rights.
Trademarks
The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo, dsPIC,
K
logo, rfPIC and UNI/O are registered trademarks of
Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other
countries.
FilterLab, Hampshire, HI-TECH C, Linear Active Thermistor,
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Solutions Company are registered trademarks of Microchip
Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A.
Analog-for-the-Digital Age, Application Maestro, CodeGuard,
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ECONOMONITOR, FanSense, HI-TIDE, In-Circuit Serial
Programming, ICSP, Mindi, MiWi, MPASM, MPLAB Certified
logo, MPLIB, MPLINK, mTouch, Omniscient Code
Generation, PICC, PICC-18, PICDEM, PICDEM.net, PICkit,
PICtail, REAL ICE, rfLAB, Select Mode, Total Endurance,
TSHARC, UniWinDriver, WiperLock and ZENA are
trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the
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SQTP is a service mark of Microchip Technology Incorporated
in the U.S.A.
All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their
respective companies.
Microchip received ISO/TS-16949:2002 certification for its worldwide
headquarters, design and wafer fabrication facilities in Chandler and
T empe, Arizona; Gresham, Oregon and design centers in California
and India. The Company’s quality system processes and procedures
are for its PIC
devices, Serial EEPROMs, microperipherals, nonvolatile memo ry and
analog products. In addition, Microchip’s quality system for the desig n
and manufacture of development systems is ISO 9001:2000 certified.
All documentation becomes dated, and this manual is no exception. Microchip tools and
documentation are constantly evolving to meet customer needs, so some actual dialogs
and/or tool descriptions may differ from those in this document. Please refer to our web site
(www.microchip.com) to obtain the latest documentation available.
Documents are identified with a “DS” number. This number is located on the bottom of each
page, in front of the page number. The numbering convention for the DS number is
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document.
For the most up-to-date information on development tools, see the MPLAB® IDE online help.
Select the Help menu, and then Topics to open a list of available online help files.
INTRODUCTION
This preface contains general information that will be useful to know before using the
MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board. Items discussed in this chapter
include:
• Document Layout
• Conventions Used in this Guide
• Recommended Reading
• The Microchip Web Site
• Development Systems Customer Change Notification Service
• Customer Support
• Document Revision History
DOCUMENT LAYOUT
This document describes how to use the MRF24J40 M C P ICtail™/PICtail Plus
Daughter Board as a development tool to emulate and debug firmware on a target
board. This user’s guide is composed of the following chapters:
• Chapter 1. “Overview” This chapter provides a brief overview of the
MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board, including board contents and
features.
• Chapter 2. “Getting Started”This chapter describes how to start using your
MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board.
• Appendix A. “MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board Schemat-
ics” This appendix contains the schematics, PCB information and Bill of Materials
for the MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board.
This user’s guide describes how to use the MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus
Daughter Board. The following Microchip do cume nt s are availab le from the Micro chip
web site (www.microchip.com), and are recommended as supplemental reference
resources.
MRF24J40 IEEE 802.15.4 2.4 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet (DS39776)
MRF24J40MC 2.4 GHz IEEE Std. 802.15.4 RF Transceiver Module with
PA/LNA and External Antenna Connector (DS75002)
PICDEM™ PIC18 Explorer Demonstration Board User’s Guide (DS51721)
Explorer 16 Development Board User’s Guide (DS51589)
2K SPI Bus Serial EEPROM with EUI-48™ Node Identity Data Sheet
(DS22123)
THE MICROCHIP WEB SITE
Microchip provides online support via our web site at: http://www.microchip.com. This
web site makes files and informati on easily available to customers. Accessible by most
Internet browsers, the web site contains the following information:
• Product Support – Data sheets and errata, application notes and sample
programs, design resources, user’s guides and hardware support documents,
latest software releases and archived software
• General Technical Support – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), technical
support requests, online discussion groups, Microchip consultant program
member listings
• Business of Microchip – Product selector and ordering guides, latest Microchip
press releases, listings of seminars and events; and listings of Microchip sales
offices, distributors and factory representatives
MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board User’s Guide
DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS CUSTOMER CHANGE NOTIFICATION SERVICE
Microchip’s customer notification service helps keep customers current on Microchip
products. Subscribers will receive e-mail notification whenever there are changes,
updates, revisions or errata related to a spec ified product family or development tool of
interest.
To register, access the Microchip web site at http://www.microchip.com, click Customer Change Notification and follow the registration instructions.
The Development Systems product group categories are:
• Compilers – The latest information on Microchip C compile rs and other language
tools. These include the MPLAB
assemblers; MPLINK™ and MPLAB 16-bit object linkers; and MPLIB™ and
MPLAB 16-bit object librarians.
• Emulators – The latest information on the Microchip MPLAB REAL ICE™
in-circuit emulator.
• In-Circuit Debuggers – The latest information on the Microchip in-circuit
debugger , MPLAB ICD 3.
• MPLAB IDE – The latest information on Microchip MPLAB IDE, the Windows®
Integrated Development Environment for development systems tools. This list is
focused on the MPLAB IDE, MPLAB SIM simulator, MPLAB IDE Project Manager
and general editing and debugging features.
• Programmers – The latest information on Microchip programmers. These include
the MPLAB PM3 device programmer and the PICkit™ 3 development
programmers.
®
C compiler; MPASM™ and MPLAB 16-bit
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Users of Microchip products can receive assistance through several channels:
• Distributor or Representative
• Local Sales Office
• Field Application Engineer (FAE)
• Technical Support
Customers should contact their distributor, representative or field application engineer
(FAE) for support. Local sa les of fices ar e also available to help cu stomers. A listing of
sales offices and locations is included in the back of this document.
Technical support is available through the web site at: http://support.microchip.com
DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY
Revision A (May 2011)
This is the initial release of the MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board
User’s Guide.
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board is a demonstration and development daughter board for the MRF24J40MC 2.4 GHz IEEE Std. 802.15.4 RF Transceiver Module with PA/LNA and External Antenna Connector.
The daughter board can be plugged into multiple Microchip Technology demonstration and development boards. For example, the daughter board is appropriate for
8-bit microcontroller development using the PIC18 Explorer Board (DM183032) or
for 16-bit or 32-bit microcontroller development using the Explorer 16 Development
Board (DM240001).
Supporting software stacks and application notes may be downloaded from the
Microchip web site
This chapter discusses the following topics:
• MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board Contents
• MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board
MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail
PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
USER ’S GUIDE
Chapter 1. Overview
http://www.microchip.com/wireless.
1.2MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD CONTENTS
Depending on the development tool ordered, package contents will contain the
following development boards listed in
TABLE 1-1:MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
DescriptionPart Number
MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter BoardAC164143
Table 1-1.
1.3MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board is a complete IEEE 802.15.4
2.4 GHz wireless transceiver. The daughter board is shown in
Figure 1-1.
IMPORTANT
The MRF24J40MC module contains a power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier
(LNA). It is important that the MRF24J40 be configured to control the PA and LNA.
Refer to Section 4.2 External PA/LNA Control in the MRF24J40 IEEE 802.15.4
2.4 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet (DS39776). When using the source code, refer
to the compile options to enable the PA and LNA.
CAUTION
Power to the MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board should be in the
range of 2.7V – 3.6V. Ensure that the development/demonstration board that the
daughter board is plugged into meets this voltage requirement; otherwise, damage
to the MRF24J40 may occur.
MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board User’s Guide
FIGURE 1-1:MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
PICtail Plus Connector (P1) – 30-pin card edge connector for connecting into 16-bit
and 32-bit development boards’ PICtail Plus connector.
PICtail Connector (P2) – 28- pin right angle connector to connect to 8-bit development
boards’ PICtail connector.
MRF24J40MC (U2) – 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 RF Transceiver Module.
Power Disconnect/Current Measure Jumpers (JP1/JP2) – Two 2-pin headers are
connected in parallel. A shunt on one of the two headers connects power to the
MRF24J40MC module. A current meter can be placed on the open header and when
the shunt is removed from the opposite header, current consumption can be measured
without interrupting power. A useful cable that can be connected to the 2-pin header
and current meter, using banana plugs, is the XLP Current Measurement Cable
(AC002023).
External Antenna – 2 dBi dipole whip antenna P/N RFA-02-L2H1-70B-150 from
Aristotle Enterprises Inc.
INT2 Jumper (JP3) – Jumpering JP3 with a shunt allows you to connect RA5 to
RB2/INT2, this enables push button switch S2 on the PIC18 Explorer to trigger an
interrupt. For more information, see
S2 to RB2/INT2”.
EUI Node Identity Serial EEPROM (U3) – Contains a unique IEEE EUI address. For
more information, refer to the “2K SPI Bus Serial EEPROM with EUI-48™ Node Identity
Data Sheet” (DS22123).
The MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board can be plugged into multiple
Microchip Technology demonstration and development boards. This allows the
developer to choose the microcontroller that best suits the customer ’s development
environment.
The PICtail connector right-angle header, P2, can be plugged into 8-bit
demonstration and development board PIC18 Explorer Board (DM183032). The
PICtail Plus card-edge connector, P1, can be plugged into 16-bit or 32-bit Explorer
16 Development Board (DM240001).
This chapter describes how the MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board is
plugged into the PIC18 Explorer and Explorer 16 Development Boards.
2.2PLUGGING INTO THE PIC18 EXPLORER BOARD
USER ’S GUIDE
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daught er Board can be plugged into the PIC1 8
Explorer Board PICtail connector, J3, as shown in
to RE2 as shown.
Figure 2-1. Make sure to align pin 1
IMPORTANT
The MRF24J40MC module contains a power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier
(LNA). It is important that the MRF24J40 be configured to control the PA and LNA.
For more information, refer to Section 4.2 External PA/LNA Control in the MRF24J40 IEEE 802.15.4 2.4 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet (DS39776). When
using the source code, refer to the compile options to enable the PA and LNA.
CAUTION
Ensure that the PIC18F87J11 PIM is plugged into the PIC18 Explorer Board. This
sets the system V
PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board.
2.2.1Configuring Push Button Switch S2 to RB2/INT2
On the PIC18 Explorer Board, push button switch S2 is normally connecte d to I/O port
pin RA5. RA5 is not an interrupt-on-change or external interrupt capable I/O pin.
Jumpering JP3 with a shunt allows the connection of RA5 to RB2/INT2 to allow push
button switch S2 to trigger an interrupt. Remember that RB2 also connects to pin 10
(input) of U6 (RS232 level shifter) which is a Clear-to-Send (CTS) signal on P2 pin 8
(DE9 receptacle).
DD voltage to 3.3 volts, which is required by the MRF24J40MC
MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail Plus Daughter Board User’s Guide
Align Pin 1 to RE2
FIGURE 2-1:MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
PLUGGED INTO PIC18 EXPLORER BOARD
2.3PLUGGING INTO THE EXPLORER 16 DEVELOPMENT BOARD
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board can be plugged into the
Explorer 16 Development Board as shown in
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board’s 30-pin card-edge connector
is plugged into the top section of the PICtail Plus connector . This will connect to the SPI
Port 1 on the PIC
The MRF24J40MC PICtail/PICtail Plus Daughter Board’s 30-pin card-edge connector
is plugged into the mid-section of the PICtail Plus connector. This will connect to SPI
Port 2 on the PIC microcontroller that is plugged into the PIM socket.
®
microcontroller plugged into the Plug in Module (PIM) socket.
FIGURE 2-2:MRF24J40MC PICtail™/PICtail PLUS DAUGHTER BOARD
PLUGGED INTO EXPLORER 16 DEVELOPMENT BOARD
2.4DOWNLOADING AND RUNNING THE DEMO PROGRAM
Sample source code is available from the Microchip Wireless Development
Environment, MiWi Media Access Controller (MiMAC) and MiWi Application
Programming Interface (MiApp). For detailed description on MiMAC and MiAPP refer
to the application notes AN1283 “Microchip Wireless (MiW i™) Media Access Controller
– MiMAC” (DS01283A) and AN1284 “Microchip Wireless (MiWi™) Application
Programming Interface – MiApp” (DS01284A). A Quick Start Guide is included in the
software installation package that explains the installation and operation of the
demonstration program. It may be downloaded from the Microchip web site