CC1310 sub-1Ghz breakout board - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: jgabcgr
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 12, 2017, 07:42:11 pm
content: This is a simple breakout board for TI's CC1310.It's a single chip cost-effective and ultra-low power solution of sub-1GHz and intended for IoT applications such as buildings automations and robust data broadcasting.Incorporates a powerfull ARM Cortex-M3 up to 48MHz, a complete RF system, an on-chip DC to DC converted and a few peripherals that makes it capable of handling wide variety applications like temperature and humidity monitoring, remote control or any M2M communications.The pcb is 4 layer and designed for as low as possible electromagnetic emissions and contains very few passive components in order to be cheaper for developers. The pcb stack is considered to match the antenna impedance at 50 ohms, after the balun. The balun’s placement has already reviewed by Johanson technology. The whole physical size ended up in very tiny dimensions.This is an ongoing project. Is not complete yet, and I haven’t built it either. The final goal is an IoT module with predefined firmware and/or firmware customization easy in use by anyone who wants to build a simple machine to machine communication without any knowledge in programming. Energy harvesting would also be added for better power management in the board.schematics and pcb (Altium Designer)https://github.com/jgabcgr/cc1310

author: HSPalm
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2017, 08:46:08 am
content: Be very wary on what crystal oscillator your fab puts on these boards. I had to redo 100 pcs which had a random no-name oscillator on them (even though I specifically told them that was not a generic part...) because the radio did not get the exact frequency to talk to my other CC1310 boards.You should also break out DIO0 and DIO1 because they are internally connected to the UART that is used for bootloader. A very handy feature that you can also use to program your devices even without a JTAG or XDS device. You can also use DIO9, DIO10, DIO11 and DIO12 for bootloader over SPI, but that is more cumbersome.You really don't need those loading caps on the main oscillator, the internally tunable ones are just fine, but of course it doesn't hurt to have the footprints unpopulated.As long as you don't use a pcb antenna, and the balun and UFL connector are that close to the chip, I would not worry much about the exact 50 ohm controlled impedance on the feed line. For sub ghz it is not as crucial.The board looks nice, maybe you can consider making a version with castellated headers (like an SMD module) since there's no bottom side components.

author: jgabcgr
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 18, 2017, 06:44:01 pm
content: Hello again.Dear HSPalm, thanks a lot for your advice!Few days ago I made the board. I bought all the parts by myself from a local distributor and I manage to solder it by hand with hor air, I used stencil and solder paste of course.I made one board. I programmed and tested it through the TI's LAUNCHPAD.I've checked the radio of course and I think I got pretty good numbers in signal strength.I used a wire whip as an antenna approximately 18cm long and at the other side I put the TI's LAUNCHPAD.There were two house walls between my board and the TI's LAUNCHPAD and I saw about -69dB to -73dB (in uart terminal) while the one board was transmitting to another.I forgot to break out the bootloader pins, I didn't consider it because I've already got a LAUNCHPAD for programming, but I will on the next revisionMoreover, I decided to add a ceramic antenna and make an effort for resize the board and make it a little smaller.I stacked between the two of these antennas "0868AT43A0020" and "0900AT43A0070".Both of them are Johanson technology and work as well in 868MHz band. My only concern is the trace element length which in the second one (0900AT43A0070) is longerand the limited space of my board will may not afford it.These are a few links with photos of my board. Any review is acceptablehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDYlJnaWVLYm0ycGs/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDZkNQVF9ldWJqZEk/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDNG5qa09jd051VWs/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDQlRaTnJlWVRoenc/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDcGFlbUtDRW9YdVU/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDdFdlN2hZNHRSMFE/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDTF9EQ1JodTdnMVU/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDWXA4NFZRdnBUNFU/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1jQUqBjaFnDYTdkR091bV9Jd2M/view?usp=sharingThanks again!

author: pedro_nf
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 06, 2017, 08:44:08 am
content: Hi jgabcgr, I'm thinking on building a PCB using the CC1310, the github link is no longer valid... do you have any other info about this circuit and chip you can share?Thanks in advance

author: kian79
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 16, 2017, 02:07:57 pm
content: Can someone recommend a 24MHz crystal to use for volume production? The recommended EPSON crystal in TI's reference design is out of stock.