Silicon Laboratories Thunderboard EFR32BG22 User Manual
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Silicon Laboratories Thunderboard EFR32BG22 User Manual

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UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22
User's Guide
The Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 is a low cost, small form factor
prototype and development platform for the EFR32BG22 Wireless
Gecko System-on-Chip.
The board is a small and cost effective, feature rich, prototype and development platform
based on the EFR32™ Wireless Gecko System-on-Chip. The Thunderboard
EFR32BG22 is an ideal platform for developing energy-friendly connected IoT devices.
The Thunderboard EFR32BG22 ships with a Bluetooth demo that works with a cloud
connected smartphone app, showcasing easy collection of environmental and motion
sensor data, as well as button and LED control.
A built in SEGGER J-Link debugger ensures easy debugging through the USB Micro-B
connector.
silabs.com | Building a more connected world.
TARGET DEVICE
• EFR32 Wireless Gecko System-on-Chip
(EFR32BG22C224F512IM40)
• 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M33 with 76.8
MHz maximum operating frequency
• 512 kB flash and 32 kB RAM
• Energy-efficient radio core with low
active and sleep currents
• Bluetooth 5.2 Direction Finding
• Integrated PA with up to 6 dBm (2.4
GHz) TX power
• Secure Boot with Root of Trust and
Secure Loader (RTSL)
KIT FEATURES
• 2.4 GHz ceramic chip antenna
• Power control of on-board peripherals for
ultra low power operation
• Relative humidity and temperature sensor
• UV index and ambient light sensor
• Hall effect sensor
• 6-axis inertial sensor
• 8 Mbit flash for OTA programming and
data logging
• User LED and push button
• 20-pin 2.54 mm breakout pads
• SEGGER J-Link on-board debugger
• Virtual COM port
• Packet Trace Interface (PTI)
• Mini Simplicity connector for AEM and
packet trace using external Silicon Labs
debugger
• USB or coin cell battery powered.
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
• Simplicity Studio™
Rev. 1.0

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Summary of Contents for Silicon Laboratories Thunderboard EFR32BG22

  • Page 1 • 512 kB flash and 32 kB RAM • Energy-efficient radio core with low The Thunderboard EFR32BG22 ships with a Bluetooth demo that works with a cloud active and sleep currents connected smartphone app, showcasing easy collection of environmental and motion •...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....... . 4 1.1 Kit Contents ....... 4 1.2 Getting Started .
  • Page 3 5.2.3 Applied Emission Limits ......24 5.3 Relaxation with Modulated Carrier ..... . .24 5.4 Radiated Power Measurements .

  • Page 4: Introduction

    The following items are included in the box: • 1x Thunderboard EFR32BG22 board (BRD4184A) 1.2 Getting Started Detailed instructions for how to get started with your new Thunderboard EFR32BG22 can be found on the Silicon Labs web pages: https://www.silabs.com/support/getting-started/thunderboard 1.3 Hardware Content The following key hardware elements are included on the Thunderboard EFR32BG22: •...

  • Page 5: Kit Hardware Layout

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Introduction 1.4 Kit Hardware Layout The layout of the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 is shown below. 2.4 GHz Chip Antenna EFR32BG22 30.4 mm Wireless Gecko Top View Bottom View Hall Effect Sensor Reset Button On-board USB J-Link Debugger...

  • Page 6: Specifications

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Specifications 2. Specifications 2.1 Recommended Operating Conditions Parameter Symbol Unit USB Supply Input Voltage +5.0 Battery Supply Input Voltage +3.0 VBAT Supply Input Voltage (VMCU supplied externally) +3.0 VMCU Operating Temperature ˚C silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev.

  • Page 7: Current Consumption

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Specifications 2.2 Current Consumption The operating current of the board greatly depends on the application. The table below attempts to give some indication of how different features of the board contribute to the overall power consumption. Please note that the numbers are taken from the datasheets for the devices.

  • Page 8: Hardware

    Hardware 3. Hardware The core of the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 is the EFR32BG22 Wireless Gecko System-on-Chip. The board also contains several pe- ripherals connected to the EFR32BG22. For placement and layout of the hardware components the reader is referred to section 1.4 Kit...

  • Page 9: Power Supply

    VMCU net. Failure to obey this can cause power conflicts and back- feeding of the battery. Powering the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 through the Mini Simplicity connector allows current measurements using the Advanced Energy Monitoring (AEM) as described in section 4.2 External...

  • Page 10: Peripherals

    3.4 Peripherals The Thunderboard EFR32BG22 contains a set of peripherals that can be accessed from the EFR32BG22. All the peripherals have ena- ble signals which can be used to completely turn off the peripherals that are not in use, or they can be put into a state that draws minus- cule amount of power.

  • Page 11: Si7021 Relative Humidity And Temperature Sensor

    On Thunderboard EFR32BG22, the Si7021 is powered down and isolated through an analog switch. The analog switch must therefore be enabled by setting PA04 high before it can be used by the application. This enables power to the Si7021 and connects the I...

  • Page 12: Si1133 Uv Index And Ambient Light Sensor

    On Thunderboard EFR32BG22, the Si1133 is powered down and isolated through an analog switch. The analog switch must therefore be enabled by setting PA04 high before it can be used by the application. This enables power to the Si1133 and connects the I...

  • Page 13: Icm-20648 6-Axis Inertial Sensor

    C interface. On Thunderboard EFR32BG22, the inertial sensor is located close to the geometrical center of the board. The coordinate system and rotation of the sensor follows the right-hand rule, and the spatial orientation of the board is shown in the figure below.

  • Page 14: Push Button And Led

    3.4.6 External Memory The Thunderboard EFR32BG22 is equipped with an 8 Mbit Macronix SPI Flash that is connected directly to the EFR32BG22 Wireless Gecko. The MX25R series are ultra low power serial flash devices, so there is no need for a separate enable switch to keep current consumption down.

  • Page 15: On-Board Debugger

    3.5 On-board Debugger The Thunderboard EFR32BG22 contains a microcontroller separate from the EFR32BG22 Wireless Gecko that provides the user with a on-board J-Link debugger through the USB Micro-B port. This microcontroller is referred to as the "on-board debugger", and is not programmable by the user.

  • Page 16: Connectors

    3.6 Connectors Featured on the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 is a Mini Simplicity Connector, a USB Micro-B connector and 20 breakout pads that follow the expansion header pinout. The connectors are placed on the top side of the board, and their placement and pinout can be seen in Figure 3.12 Thunderboard EFR32BG22 Connectors on page...

  • Page 17: Breakout Pads

    The pin-routing on the EFR32 is very flexible, so most peripherals can be routed to any pin. However, pins may be shared between the breakout pads and other functions on the Thunderboard EFR32BG22. The table below includes an overview of the expansion header and functionality that is shared with the kit.

  • Page 18: Mini Simplicity Connector

    3.6.2 Mini Simplicity Connector The Mini Simplicity connector featured on the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 is a 10-pin 1.27 mm pitch connector that allows the use of an external debugger such as the one found on a Silicon Labs Wireless Starter Kit (WSTK) mainboard. In addition to providing serial wire debug (SWD) and virtual COM port functionality, the WSTK can also support advanced energy profiling, wireless network analysis and debugging tools.

  • Page 19: Debugging

    Debugger. When using an external debugger it is very important to make sure that there is no power source present on the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 if the external debugger is also sourcing a voltage on VMCU. Failure to do so will create power conflicts and there is no protection against backfeeding the on-board LDO or the battery.

  • Page 20: On-Board Debugger

    Wireless STK to "BAT" and back to "AEM" assuming a battery is not inserted in the Wireless STK mainboard. It is possible to have the Thunderboard EFR32BG22 powered by a battery, and still use the Mini Simplicity Connector with a Wireless STK mainboard for debugging and communication.

  • Page 21: Virtual Com Port

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Debugging 4.3 Virtual COM Port The virtual COM port is a connection to a UART of the target EFR32BG22, and allows serial data to be sent and received from the device. The on-board debugger presents this as a virtual COM port on the host computer that shows up when the USB cable is inser- ted.

  • Page 22: Radio

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio 5. Radio 5.1 RF Section This section gives a short introduction to the RF section of the BRD4184A board. The schematic of the RF section is shown in the figure below. 2.4 GHz Chip Antenna and High Matching Antenna Matching Network...

  • Page 23: Antenna

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio 5.1.4 Antenna The BRD4184A has an on-board ceramic antenna. The land pattern for the antenna on the PCB layout was designed based on the recommendations of the antenna datasheet. Due to the fact that there is a significant difference between the layout (practically the board size) of the BRD4184A and the antenna evaluation board, the applied antenna matching network deviates from the recommendation.

  • Page 24: Applied Emission Limits

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio 5.2.3 Applied Emission Limits The overall applied limits are shown in the table below. For the harmonics that fall into the FCC restricted bands, the FCC 15.209 limit is applied, and the ETSI EN 300-328 limit is applied for the rest. Table 5.3.

  • Page 25: Radiated Power Measurements

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio 5.4 Radiated Power Measurements The output power of the EFR32BG22 was set to 6 dBm. The board was supplied through its USB connector by connecting to a PC through a USB cable. During the measurements the board was rotated in three cuts, see the reference plane illustration in the figure below. The radiated powers of the fundamental and the harmonics were measured with horizontal and vertical reference antenna polarizations.

  • Page 26: Antenna Pattern Measurement

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio 5.4.2 Antenna Pattern Measurement The measured typical antenna patterns are shown in the figures below. Figure 5.4. Antenna Pattern - XY silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 1.0 | 26...
  • Page 27 UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio Figure 5.5. Antenna Pattern - XZ silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 1.0 | 27...

  • Page 28: Emc Compliance Recommendations

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Radio Figure 5.6. Antenna Pattern - YZ 5.5 EMC Compliance Recommendations 5.5.1 Recommendations for 2.4 GHz ETSI EN 300-328 Compliance As it was shown in the previous chapter, with the EFR32BG22 output power set to 6 dBm, the radiated power of the fundamental of the BRD4184A complies with the 20 dBm limit of the ETSI EN 300-328.

  • Page 29: Schematics, Assembly Drawings, And Bom

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Schematics, Assembly Drawings, and BOM 6. Schematics, Assembly Drawings, and BOM Schematics, assembly drawings, and bill of materials (BOM) are available through Simplicity Studio when the kit documentation pack- age has been installed. silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev.

  • Page 30: Kit Revision History And Errata

    7.1 Revision History The kit revision can be found printed on the box label of the kit, as outlined in the figure below. The kit revision history is summarised in Table 7.1 Kit Revision History on page Thunderboard EFR32BG22 SLTB010A 01-22-20 1632000360 Figure 7.1.

  • Page 31: Board Revision History And Errata

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Board Revision History and Errata 8. Board Revision History and Errata 8.1 Revision History The board revision can be found laser printed on the board, and the board revision history is summarised in Table 8.1 Board Revision History on page Table 8.1.

  • Page 32: Document Revision History

    UG415: Thunderboard™ EFR32BG22 User's Guide Document Revision History 9. Document Revision History Revision 1.0 March, 2020 • Initial document release. silabs.com | Building a more connected world. Rev. 1.0 | 32...
  • Page 33 Trademark Information Silicon Laboratories Inc.® , Silicon Laboratories®, Silicon Labs®, SiLabs® and the Silicon Labs logo®, Bluegiga®, Bluegiga Logo®, ClockBuilder®, CMEMS®, DSPLL®, EFM®, EFM32®, EFR, Ember®, Energy Micro, Energy Micro logo and combinations thereof, "the world’s most energy friendly microcontrollers", Ember®, EZLink®, EZRadio®, EZRadioPRO®, Gecko®, Gecko OS, Gecko OS Studio, ISOmodem®, Precision32®, ProSLIC®, Simplicity Studio®, SiPHY®, Telegesis, the Telegesis Logo®, USBXpress®...

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