EFR32BG 2.4 GHz 10.5 dBm Radio Board
BRD4100A Reference Manual
The EFR32BG family of Wireless SoCs deliver a high perform-
ance, low energy wireless solution integrated into a small form
factor package.
By combining a high performance 2.4 GHz RF transceiver with an energy efficient 32-bit
MCU, the family provides designers the ultimate in flexibility with a family of pin-compati-
ble devices that scale from 128/256 kB of flash and 16/32 kB of RAM. The ultra-low
power operating modes and fast wake-up times of the Silicon Labs energy friendly 32-
bit MCUs, combined with the low transmit and receive power consumption of the 2.4
GHz radio, result in a solution optimized for battery powered applications.
To develop and/or evaluate the EFR32 Blue Gecko, the EFR32BG Radio Board can be
connected to the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard to get access to display, buttons and
additional features from Expansion Boards.
RADIO BOARD FEATURES
• Wireless SoC:
EFR32BG1P232F256GM48
• CPU core: ARM Cortex-M4 with FPU
• Flash memory: 256 kB
• RAM: 32 kB
• Operation frequency: 2.4 GHz
• Transmit power: 10.5 dBm
• Integrated PCB antenna, UFL connector
(optional).
• Crystals for LFXO and HFXO: 32.768 kHz
and 38.4 MHz.
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Introduction
1. Introduction
The EFR32 Blue Gecko Radio Boards provide a development platform (together with the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard) for the Silicon
Labs EFR32 Blue Gecko Wireless System on Chips and serve as reference designs for the matching network of the RF interface.
The BRD4100A Radio Board is designed to operate in the 2400-2483.5 MHz band with the RF matching network optimized to operate
with 10.5 dBm output power.
To develop and/or evaluate the EFR32 Blue Gecko, the BRD4100A Radio Board can be connected to the Wireless Starter Kit Main-
board to get access to display, buttons and additional features from Expansion Boards and also to evaluate the performance of the RF
interface.
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Radio Board Connector
2. Radio Board Connector
2.1 Introduction
The board-to-board connector scheme allows access to all EFR32BG1 GPIO pins as well as the RESETn signal. For more information
on the functions of the available pin functions, see the EFR32BG1 data sheet.
2.2 Radio Board Connector Pin Associations
The figure below shows the pin mapping on the connector to the radio pins and their function on the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard.
P200
Upper Row
3v3
UIF_BUTTON1 / PF7 / P36
NC / P38
NC / P40
NC / P42
NC / P44
DEBUG.TMS_SWDIO / PF1 / F0
DEBUG.TDO_SWO / PF2 / F2
#RESET / F4
VCOM.TX_MOSI / PA0 / F6
VCOM.#CTS_SCLK / PA2 / F8
DISP_EXTCOMIN / PD13 / F10
UIF_BUTTON0 / PF6 / F12
DISP_ENABLE / PD15 / F14
DISP_SI / PC6 / F16
DISP_EXTCOMIN / PD13 / F18
PTI.DATA / PB12 / F20
USB_VBUS
5V
Board ID SCL
GND
GND
VCOM.#CTS_SCLK / PA2 / P0
P37 / High / SENSOR_ENABLE
VCOM.#RTS_#CS / PA3 / P2
P39 / NC
PD10 / P4
P41 / NC
PD11 / P6
P43 / NC
P45 / NC
PD12 / P8
F1 / PF0 / DEBUG.TCK_SWCLK
DEBUG.TDI / PF3 / P10
F3 / PF3 / DEBUG.TDI
PC10 / P12
F5 / PA5 / VCOM_ENABLE
PA4 / P14
F7 / PA1 / VCOM.RX_MISO
VCOM_ENABLE / PA5 / P16
F9 / PA3 / VCOM.#RTS_#CS
PTI.CLK / PB11 / P18
F11 / PF5 / UIF_LED1
PTI.DATA / PB12 / P20
F13 / PF7 / UIF_BUTTON1
PTI.SYNC / PB13 / P22
F15 / PC8 / DISP_SCLK
DEBUG.TCK_SWCLK / PF0 / P24
F17 / PD14 / DISP_SCS
DEBUG.TMS_SWDIO / PF1 / P26
F19 / PB13 / PTI.SYNC
DEBUG.TDO_SWO / PF2 / P28
F21 / PB11 / PTI.CLK
UIF_LED0 / PF4 / P30
USB_VREG
UIF_LED1 / PF5 / P32
GND
UIF_BUTTON0 / PF6 / P34
GND
Board ID SDA
P201
Lower Row
VMCU_IN
P1 / PC6 / DISP_SI
P3 / PC7
P5 / PC8 / DISP_SCLK
P7 / PC9
P9 / PA0 / VCOM.TX_MOSI
P11 / PA1 / VCOM.RX_MISO
P13 / PC11
P15 / NC
P17 / NC
P19 / NC
P21 / NC
P23 / NC
P25 / NC
P27 / NC
P29 / NC
P31 / PD13 / DISP_EXTCOMIN
P33 / PD14 / DISP_SCS
P35 / PD15 / DISP_ENABLE
VRF_IN
Figure 2.1. BRD4100A Radio Board Connector Pin Mapping
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Radio Board Block Summary
3. Radio Board Block Summary
3.1 Introduction
This section gives a short introduction to the blocks of the BRD4100A Radio Board.
3.2 Radio Board Block Diagram
The block diagram of the EFR32BG Radio Board is shown in the figure below.
I2C
GPIO
UFL
Connector
2.4 GHz RF
UART
Debug
AEM
Radio
Board
Connectors
I2C
Packet Trace
SPI
EFR32
EFR32
Wireless SoC
SPI
2.4 GHz RF
Matching
Network &
Path
Selection
2.4 GHz RF
Inverted-F
PCB
Antenna
24AA0024
Serial EEPROM
8 Mbit
MX25R
32
.76
8k
38
.4M
Serial Flash
LF
Crystal
HF
Crystal
Figure 3.1. BRD4100A Block Diagram
3.3 Radio Board Block Description
3.3.1 Wireless MCU
The BRD4100A EFR32 Blue Gecko Radio Board incorporates an EFR32BG1P232F256GM48 Wireless System on Chip featuring 32-bit
Cortex-M4 with FPU core, 256 kB of flash memory and 32 kB of RAM and a 2.4 GHz band transceiver with output power up to 10.5
dBm. For additional information on the EFR32BG1P232F256GM48, refer to the EFR32BG1 Data Sheet.
3.3.2 LF Crystal Oscillator (LFXO)
The BRD4100A Radio Board has a 32.768 kHz crystal mounted.
3.3.3 HF Crystal Oscillator (HFXO)
The BRD4100A Radio Board has a 38.4 MHz crystal mounted.
3.3.4 Matching Network for 2.4 GHz
The BRD4100A Radio Board incorporates a 2.4 GHz matching network which connects the 2.4 GHz TRX pin of the EFR32BG1 to the
one on-board printed Inverted-F antenna. The component values were optimized for the 2.4 GHz band RF performace and current con-
sumption with 10.5 dBm output power.
For detailed description of the matching network, see Chapter
4.2.1 Description of the 2.4 GHz RF Matching.
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Radio Board Block Summary
3.3.5 Inverted-F Antenna
The BRD4100A Radio Board includes a printed Inverted-F antenna (IFA) tuned to have close to 50 Ohm impedance at the 2.4 GHz
band.
For detailed description of the antenna see Chapter
4.5 Inverted-F Antenna.
3.3.6 UFL Connector
To be able to perform conducted measurements, Silicon Labs added an UFL connector to the Radio Board. The connector allows an
external 50 Ohm cable or antenna to be connected during design verification or testing.
Note:
By default the output of the matching network is connected to the printed Inverted-F antenna by a series component. It can be
connected to the UFL connector as well through a series 0 Ohm resistor which is not mounted by default. For conducted measurements
through the UFL connector the series component to the antenna should be removed and the 0 Ohm resistor should be mounted (see
Chapter
4.2 Schematic of the RF Matching Network
for further details).
3.3.7 Radio Board Connectors
Two dual-row, 0.05” pitch polarized connectors make up the EFR32BG Radio Board interface to the Wireless Starter Kit Mainboard.
For more information on the pin mapping between the EFR32BG1P232F256GM48 and the Radio Board Connector, refer to Chapter
2.2 Radio Board Connector Pin Associations.
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