Development kits and gateways for wireless platform IQRF

Observations and experience from trying out the IQRF kits: DK-EVAL-04; DDC-IO-01, DDC-SE-01, DDC-RE-01 the CK-USB-04 programmer and the GW-ETH-01, GW-QVGE-01 gateways.

Programmer, kits

The accessories for development, or rather for a first acquaintance with the various possibilities of using the IQRF platform, are hidden under the designation Development Daisy Chain kits.

The new CK-USB-04 programmer can also be connected to the kits, it is connected to the PC via USB. In the system it reports itself as the same USB device as the older version of the CK-USB-02 programmer, but some additional information differs. Output of the dmesg command:

usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 102
usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1de6, idProduct=0001
usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 3-1: Product: IQRF USB Device
usb 3-1: Manufacturer: MICRORISC s.r.o.
usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 102

usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 106
usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1de6, idProduct=0001
usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-1: Product: PICDEM FS USB Demo Board (C) 2004
usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Microchip Technology Inc

At first I thought I would not even be able to connect the programmer, because it has a different USB connector than the older version. All the new boards and devices now use a Micro USB connector. But fortunately there was a device in another box that needs this cable, so I used its cable. The new version of the programming board is supposed to be compatible with the old one, but programming the modules with it did not work. (I develop on GNU/Linux, of course) Maybe it is because it has some new extra functions, so it is actually different. Plain communication with the new programming board did work.

For powering and charging the kits with a battery, besides a PC you can just as well use the USB power supplies delivered with the "boxes".


The DK-EVAL-03 contains a battery, specifically Li-Pol, and the DK-EVAL-04 reportedly LiIon, on which I measured a voltage of 3.9V. Battery charging on the kits works only in some simple way, discharging is not handled at all. The voltage can be measured by SW in the module, but it measures it only after the regulator and the undervoltage limit of LiIon and LiPol batteries is higher than the voltage at the regulator output, so the battery must suffer.

Thanks to the battery, the DK-EVAL-04 can therefore be carried around and used to test the functionality of the project under development "in the field".

Its main purpose, however, is to be connected to the individual kits.

The DDC-IO-01 kit with buttons:

The DDC-RE-01 kit containing relays:

And the most interesting kit for me, the DDC-SE-01, on which there is:

• a Dallas temperature sensor, which uses the 1-Wire bus
• a Microchip temperature sensor with an I2C interface
• a thermistor - there is a sample program for it with light detection (three states)
• a potentiometer

Ethernet gateway

The GW-ETH-01 gateway is an interesting way to connect the IQRF platform to a network and perhaps even make it accessible from the Internet.
Here I have to complain about the worldwide delayed deployment of IPv6, which would clarify, extremely simplify and solve the deployment of all devices in the internal network.

The supplied USB power supply should be used as the main source, or another one can be connected inside to the terminals. There is also a Li-Ion battery placed in it, on which I measured a voltage of 3.7V.

The module in this gateway can be fitted already from the factory.
The antenna terminal of the module is connected by a short wire to the antenna etched in the PCB.

With the Ethernet gateway it is possible to communicate and, above all, to upload the program into the module using the gw-eth-tool program; the program, however, requires some library which was not in the wine installation, so I had to use Windows. I really did not expect that an ordinary program would not run under WINE. For communication you can use the HTTP protocol, through which you can access it from just about anything. It could even be used from Bash ;-). Most people, however, will use the PHP language, for which a library is already prepared. An excellent option is then to communicate with the device directly over the network using the UDP protocol. When using it, the communication could be well integrated into an already existing application as well.

Both gateways have only two external connectors: an RJ-45 connector for Ethernet and a USB connector, which are placed on the bottom, as can be seen in the following photo:

Gateway with display

The GW-QVGE-01 gateway, which has a display, Ethernet and USB, offers the most possibilities for a programmer. All these interfaces can be programmed.

The gateway also has other internal interfaces. The whole inside can be seen in the following photo: