Texas Instruments Development Boards

TI Hercules RM48 MCU Development Kit

I got this development kit in 2024 for just £6.70 shipped from eBay, the board was designed for evaluating TI's Hercules safety MCU R4 chip, geared in particular toward industrial and medical applications. The Hercules platform overall consists of RM4, TMS570, and TMS470M product lines, the following link has a video which gives a very helpful introduction to Hercules:

https://www.ti.com/video/3877726714001

The kit I received has an element14 United States sticker on the box with 'RM48L950' as the model number printed on the sticker on the front of the box, and 'TMDXRM48USB' printed on the sticker on the back of box as well as the main print of the box. RM48L950 it turns out is the microcontroller at the heart of the board, you can view the datasheet at:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/rm48l950.pdf?ts=1713964236718&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252FRM48L950

TMDXRM48USB is more accurately the model number.

In the box there is a Texas Instruments branded torch (appears to be unused as the batteries were still inside and sealed), a USB 2.0 Male-A to Female-A extension lead (if you don't want the board hanging off a USB port), the development board, quick start guide, and a DVD containing documentation and software (v1.0).

The board is powered through USB and contains on-board XDS100v2 JTAG emulation. A summary of the board's features:

On-board SCI to USB serial
6 white NHET LEDs
2 Tri-colour RGB NHET LEDs
Ambient light sensor
Temperature sensor
CAN transceiver
3 axis accelerometer
PORRST and RST buttons

The quick start guide recommends installing Code Composer Studio IDE v4/Hercules Demo Software before plugging the board in. It also says all applications run on the development stick should be limited to 100MHz HCLK speed. Additionally, the guide also takes the user through installing the software from disc, and details the pinout of the communication and peripheral pins on the board.

I had a look at the DVD, it didn't autorun (I used an external DVD USB drive connected to my Surface Pro). Looking at Discinfo.txt on the disc it says:

Hercules Development Kit DVD V1.0
Build 7
August 25, 2011

I ran Hercules.exe, here is the start image:

The Hercules Home link (www.ti.com/hercules) no longer works (results in Error 404), the Videos option gives you four options; Hercules Overview, TMS470M, Hercules Kits, and TMS570 USB Stick. The videos play fine as they run off the DVD rather than online, here is a still from the Hercules Overview video:

On the video selection page there's a link to view more videos on the Hercules wiki but that results in a page not found error. Back to the starting screen, the DVD Documentation when clicked simply opens File Explorer and the Documents folder on the DVD. As there are folders for RM4, TMS470M, and TMS570, which were also featured in the videos, the DVD must have been included for all three development boards. 

Unfortunately, all the links aside the user guide are shortcuts for online datasheets, which no longer are live. I clicked on Install and went for the complete version to install everything. During install it said that Windows 10 Enterprise is not supported by Code Composer Studio v4, I clicked Yes button to continue - I have Windows 10 Pro, not Enterprise, it's odd it detected it as the wrong version. During installation of Code Composer Studio it asks you which version to install; Platinum Edition, Microcontroller Edition, or Custom. Platinum Edition is the full version with a default 30 day evaluation license,  Microcontroller Edition supports MSP430, C2000, Stellaris, and Cortex R4, and Custom lets you choose which device family and features to be installed. I went with Platinum Edition; after selecting some more options it began installing Code Composer Studio.

After installation finishes you'll have various apps and shortcuts under the Texas Instruments start menu entry. I plugged the board into my Surface, the white power LED came on and then the eight LEDs surrounding the main chip turned on and off. I noticed in Device Manager the board showed up as XDS100 Class USB Serial Port.

I launched Hercules Safety MCU Demos, this comes up with a selection for the board you're using or you can select Auto-Detect:

I clicked the Auto-Detect option to see if it would correctly identify the board, but it kept searching for ages so I had to close the app, reopen it and select RM48, and then Hercules USB Kit.

I started with the LED Light Show demo, a pop up warned that the demo software wasn't detected on the microcontroller and prompted whether to install it, I clicked the Yes button. During the programming the blue JTAG LED flashed on the board, but even after the LED remained off the app still said 'Now Programming'. I tried closing the app, opening as admin and trying again, but it still got stuck programming. I also tried with the app’s compatibility set to Win XP but that also made no difference. I noticed when unplugging and plugging the board back in, although it still did the initial light sequence, the two colour LEDs remained lit purple and the red ERR LED was on. Looking online it appears the issue may be that the software won't run correctly on later O/S, such as Win 10, and clearly not even in compatibility mode.

One suggestion was to try programming the board using UniFlash and then launch the demo app. The UniFlash download can be found at:

https://www.ti.com/tool/UNIFLASH

After installing you'll be met with this screen:

I clicked on the Start Now button to auto detect the device, after a few seconds and clicking Allow on a pop up, it found ‘Texas Instruments XDS100v2 USB Debug Probe’. Under Choose Your Device I selected ‘RM48L950’, and for the connection I picked ‘Texas Instruments XDS100v2 USB Debug Probe’. Next, I clicked the Start button, which took me to this screen:

I clicked on the Browse button for flash image selection and navigated to and selected:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\Hercules\Hercules Safety MCU Demos\Demo_Software_Ver1_1.out

Note: the path on your machine may be different.

I clicked the Load Image button but after a few seconds it came back with error: Does not match the target endianness, not loaded. I removed the flash image and then tried RM48_Demo_v1_2 instead (located in the same folder as the other file) and that successfully programmed after clicking the Load Image button. I also clicked the Verify Image button and it said the verify was successful in the Console window and the LEDs on the board lit up in sequence.

Next, I opened the Hercules Safety MCU Demos app, clicked RM48, then Hercules USB Kit, and clicked on the LED Light Show button. This time it didn't prompt to program the board and clicking on the various checkboxes lit the LEDs as expected. Oddly, the board's ERR LED was still on. In the image below you can see I have checked a couple of LEDs:

It takes a few seconds for an LED to update after clicking, during which time the board's SCIRX and SCITX LEDs will briefly flash. You can also click the 'Run Premade Show' button which will light the 8 LEDS in sequence, click the Stop button to end. You can click on the ‘?’ button to get an overview of the demo.

Satisfied the board was working, I returned to the board another day, after opening the Hercules Safety MCU Demos app again and selecting the board, when I clicked on the LED Light Show button it popped up that the Demo software wasn’t detected even though I had previously programmed it. I clicked the No button and when I clicked a checkbox to turn on an LED a pop up said it couldn't communicate with the microcontroller and I should press the reset button. So I pressed the board's button marked ‘RST’ and then I was able to turn the LEDs on/off as before. I now wonder if the board had actually been programmed previously with the demo software and I just needed to reset the board first.

Returning to the main page of the demo selection, I chose ‘Ambient Light’. For this demo a percentage and bar will increase accordingly as the board is exposed to increasing levels of light. A TI logo appears when the light level is at least 50%. The light sensor is located in one corner on the end of the board as ‘Light Sensor’.

The torch included with the kit was intended to be used with the demo but I used my mobile phone’s light instead.

The Ambient Temperature demo was the next one I tried which not surprisingly displays the temperature, or should; the sensor is located in one corner on the end of the board, marked as ‘Temp Sensor’. I found while the demo ran it bogged down my computer and I couldn't get the temperature reading to change even when I brought heat near to the sensor.

See further on when I try V4 of the demo software for a solution to the issue.

The Light Balancing demo also didn't appear to work but pressing the board's RST button and then selecting Light Balancing option brought it to life. Again you can use the included torch to affect the light which will change the brightness of 5 of the LEDs as well as affect the on screen bars.

Safety Features: in this demo example an overview is given of the internal structure of the main processor as a means primarily to demonstrate the Error Signaling Module (ESM). There are buttons for performing a CPU Self Test (LBIST), and Memory Self Test (PBIST). In the following image it can be seen I've run CPU Self Test:

Note that there are two Cortex-R4F cores since they run in lock step.

There are also numerous buttons you can click on to simulate different errors which can be cleared using the Clear ESM button.

The last demo to mention, CAN Reader, I wasn’t able to try since it requires connecting to a CAN network and soldering a header to the DCAN1 (J13) connector on the board.

Note that there are no demos to try out the board's accelerometer - see further on in V4 of the demo software which remedies that oversight.

Code Composer Studio (CCS) can be used to develop code for the board but note that if you try to launch CCS from the Hercules Safety MCU Demos main page it may claim CCS is not installed - instead launch the app instead from the start menu. When CCS launches it will prompt to select a workspace, you can use the default one. You may then get an Adobe Flash Player error - click the No button; Flash Player was likely only needed for displaying the welcome page and such.

We can open the project for the demo code running on the board: in CCS go to Project->Import Existing CCS/CCE Eclipse Project. In the pop up window 'Select search-directory:' should be selected, click the Browse... button and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\Hercules\Hercules Safety MCU Demos\Demo_Software_Ver1_1 (may be different path depending on your installation) and click the OK button. You should then see one discovered project (Demo_Software_Ver1_1), click the Finish button. You'll likely not see anything once opened so select View->Outline to see the project outline. You can then expand the project, and look at the source files (in the src sub directory). A source file can be opened by double-clicking.

I couldn't see the source code for RM48_Demo_v1_2.out, which is what I successfully programmed the board with but Demo_Software_Ver1_1 should be similar; there is no folder with RM48_Demo_v1_2.out as the output binary file. This could be because of the similarity between the larger RM48 board and the smaller one.

In following image you can see I've opened led_demo.c, which appears to handle the LED light show demo:

As can be seen looking at led_demo.c the code adapts depending on which version of the board is detected. It looks like the SCI command interface is used to communicate with the board.

There are a lot of source code files in the project but likely a lot of them are standard includes and aren't necessarily needed for a given project. Unfortunately, it appears the source code for the other demos wasn't included.

I looked online and found a downloadable version of the safety demo v4 thinking that may be worth trying, you can find the download at:

https://www.ti.com/tool/HERCULES_SAFETY_MCU_DEMOS#downloads

After downloading and extracting I ran the executable, the installer had scaling issues so I had to fix the scaling and run again. During the install there is an option for HTTP Proxy Configuration, I didn't check it and just clicked the Next button. At the installation it failed with ‘There has been an error. Error running msiexec…’

(Not the full error.)

Checking the start menu, while it had installed some new apps there didn't appear to be the new demo app, however, I found Hercules Safety MCU Demos.exe in C:\ti\Hercules\Hercules Safety MCU Demos\4.0.0 (your install path may be different), which has a date of 2014 whereas the version from the DVD has a date of 2011. When v4 Hercules Safety MCU Demos.exe is run it will immediately look for a board, with the RM48 board plugged in it prompted to update the Hercules Kit ID:

In the Kit ID drop-down I selected TMDXRM48USB and clicked the Program button. It supposedly programmed but got stuck on ‘Validating EEPROM for RM48x’ so I closed it using the Task Manager. 

Note: in Device manager the board shows up as XDS100 Class USB Serial Port.

Opening the Hercules Safety MCU Demos app again it reported ‘RM48x USB Stick Board Detected’ and popped up that the Demo software wasn't detected on the MCU, it prompted to try resetting the board or to try programming. As prompted, I pressed PORRST on the board, clicked No but a pop up appeared saying to 'Please try again' and then the app closed.

Opening the demos program again, it came up with the same pop up about not detecting the demo software so I clicked the Yes button to program it. It then announced it was programming RM48x_demo_software.out. After waiting three minutes I terminated using Task Manager.

The solution, as before, was to use UniFlash; set device to RM48L950, connection as Texas Instruments XDS100v2 USB Debug Probe, then click Start button. With the Flash Image set to RM48x_demo_software.out in C:\ti\Hercules\Hercules Safety MCU Demos\4.0.0. I clicked Load Image and after about 53 seconds I got a data verification error and the board's ERR LED was now lit.

I closed UniFlash and reopened the demos app and after detecting the board it popped up with the demo selection screen:

However, none of the demos worked without me closing the app, pressing the board's PORRST button, and then reopening the demo app. I was pleased to see the temperature example works, now showing a continually changing reading and responding to changes in heat unlike the fixed 25degC from the earlier version, which perhaps had a bug related to RM48 boards.

Compared to the DVD version of the demos there are two extra tests which make use on the on board accelerometer, Maze Game and Digital Level. In Digital Level two virtual spirit levels respond to the tilt of the board:

The Maze Game is a simple game and another example demo of the accelerometer, in which you guide the TI logo from start to end. It's best to have the board flat and then enter the Maze Game. You need to tilt the board in the opposite direction that you want to move and the time will count up until you reach the exit. Here’s my completion attempt:

The other demos also worked and I noticed that the Safety Features demo now correctly controls the board’s ERR LED; if you click an ESM button to simulate an error the board’s LED lights and goes off if you click the Clear ESM button.

TI SmartRF Evaluation Boards & Modules

Texas Instruments have released a number of different evaluation boards that let users experiment with various TI RF modules, this section details my experiences with using the ones I have acquired.

In 2024 I bought a TI bundle consisting of SmartRF05 and SmartRF06 development boards, along with 2x CC2530EM and 2x CC2538-CC2592EM evaluation modules, and TI EM Adapter BoosterPack, all together from eBay for £28 ($35.196) shipped as they looked interesting and were reasonably priced. Separate sections on this page deal with the SmartRF05 and CC2530EM since they work together, similarly a different section deals with the SmartRF06 and CC2538-CC2592EM. Note that I tested the SmartRF06 and CC2538-CC2592EM first so you may want to read that section before the SmartRF05 even if you are not concerned with the SmartRF06/CC2538-CC2592EM. The EM Adapter BoosterPack has its own section.

In 2025 I bought another TI job lot, this time two SmartRF06 evaluation boards for £11.48 ($15.48) total, which will also be covered but of course will be similar to the first SmartRF06 I got.

TI EM Adapter BoosterPack

The EM Adapter BoosterPack provides a way to bridge between TI MCU (microcontroller) LaunchPads and the TI RF evaluation modules. Please see TI's page for more information:

https://www.ti.com/tool/BOOST-CCEMADAPTER

On the page you will find various links including the user guide, design guide, and application note.

Looking at the PCB on the top there is a female Micro USB connector labelled ‘Max 5.5V’ and ‘USB Power (power only)’, 2x 2x10 male connector for interfacing with an evaluation module - some of the pins are labelled, 7x 10-way male headers, 1x 13-way headers, and 2x unpopulated 10-way headers. There is an unpopulated ‘O1’ component, which is for a '32.768 kHz oscillator for EMs that require an external clock' according to TI's site.

There are four male header pins grouped in 2x2, which select where to get power, with a shunt already across 'VDD to EM (2)' and 'From DC/DC (4)', which selects USB power (for when the LaunchPad can't provide enough power to the evaluation module). Pin 1 is 'VDD LP' and pin 3 unlabelled but is connected to pin 4. A jumper across pins 1 and 2 select the LaunchPad as the power source, or a shunt across pins 1 and 3 and another over pins 2 and 4 to power the LaunchPad and evaluation module from USB.

I cannot read the part number for U1 but it looks to be part of a DC-DC converter and on page 9 of the user’s guide is the schematic and we can see that U1 is a TPS63030, a buck-boost converter.

Written on the PCB is:

TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS
EM Adapter
BoosterPack
PCB v1.1

On the bottom of the PCB are 2x 2x10 female headers for interfacing with the LaunchPad which have extra long pins that go through to the PCB top to form four of the male headers for stacking.

Going by the photo shown in the user’s guide on page 1, which shows PCB v1.0, the earlier version has less connectors soldered (P10, P11, P20, P21), but I do not know of any other differences.

Since I do not have a suitable LaunchPad I am unable to test the adapter but should I get one I'll update this page.

TI SmartRF05 Evaluation Board (EB) + CC2530EM Evaluation Module (EM)

SmartRF05 Overview

The SmartRF05EB is a motherboard for several TI low power RF development kits. A brief summary of features follows:

3x16 character serial LCD
Full speed USB 2.0 interface
UART
LEDs
Serial Flash
Potentiometer
Joystick
Buttons
Breakout pins

I could not find the product page for the SmartRF05 but the user's guide (Rev. A) is here:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/swru210a/swru210a.pdf

The manual has details about the different board revisions. I have Rev.: 1.8.1.3, this is shown on a sticker on the back of the PCB which states the revision along with the model name SmartRF05EB. On the PCB top it says Rev. 1.8.1.

The photo on page 1 of the user's guide shows Rev 1.7, which has different placement of some components compared to mine. However, my SmartRF05 appears to have a unique mod (compared to photos online) involving an elevated 8-pin IC socket soldered to a PCB which in turn has metal legs soldered to the PCB, surrounded by glue. The socket appears to be replacing the serial flash chip (intended for general purpose data and parameter storage), U5. We can see on page 12 of the user's guide the serial flash cannot be accessed over USB and on page 16 it explains that the serial flash is accessible over SPI from the EM (Evaluation Module). Thus the mod likely was performed to facilitate programming the chip externally using a standalone programmer.

In the user's guide they suggest installing SmartRF Studio which will install the necessary drivers, since I had already done that when testing the SmartRF06 I skipped that part.

SmartRF05EB supports:

CC2520EM and variants with CC2590/CC2591

CC2530EM and variants with CC2590/CC2591

CC2430EM and variants with CC2590/CC2591

CC2431EM

CC2510EM

CC1110EM

CCMSP-EM430F2618

CC1111 USB Dongle (connected through the debug header)

CC2511 USB Dongle (connected through the debug header)

CC2531 USB Dongle (connected through the debug header)

SmartRF05EB is included in the CC2520 and CC2530 development kits.

Note that the SmartRF05EB can also be used as a debugger interface to the SoCs from IAR Embedded Workbench for 8051.

On page 12 of the user's guide we find:

There are several versions of SmartRF05EB. The main revisions are currently 1.3, 1.7.x and 1.8.x. Revisions 1.7.x and 1.8.x provide the same functionality, meaning that

specific pin-out details and interconnections that apply to rev 1.7 also apply to 1.8 (and newer).

Be sure to read the user's guide further to learn more about the SmartRF05 and EM (Evaluation Module). However, I have summarised some important details:

The USB controller communicates with the EM using SPI/UART and/or the Debug Interface (System-on-Chips only) but not all of the peripherals on the board are accessible from via USB. It has access to the UART RS232 interface, LCD, one LED (D6), joystick and one button (USB button) but not the serial flash on the board.

The connected module has potentially access to all of the EB peripherals; full access to the LCD, serial flash, four LEDs, 2 buttons, joystick and UART RS232 interface.

The standard firmware running on the USB controller handles potential conflicts between USB and the MCU EM I/O by setting all shared I/O to three-state (high impedance).

The TI CC2511F32 is the USB MCU (microcontroller), programmed with a boot loader and the standard SmartRF05EB firmware but if no application is detected (blank flash/firmware upgrade failed) USB LED D6 will blink rapidly.

The standard firmware application controls the attached EM RF device and communicates with PC applications via USB, and allows programming of new applications over USB using either SmartRF Studio or SmartRF Flash Programmer.

The SmartRF05EB can be powered in one of four ways, selected using the power source selection jumper on header P11. Main power supply switch P8 turns off all power sources, with exception of option 4 listed below. The power sources:

1. Two 1.5V AA batteries. A LOW BATT LED (not present on SmartRF05EB rev 1.8) indicates the voltage has dropped beneath 1.56 V. Maximum current consumption limited to 100 mA on rev 1.3 and 1.7.x, 800 mA on rev 1.8.x.

2. DC Jack 2.5mm centre pin positive, 4-10 V DC. Maximum current consumption limited to 250 mA on rev 1.3 and 1.7.x, 1500 mA on rev 1.8.x.

3. USB power. Maximum current consumption limited to 250 mA on rev 1.3 and 1.7.x, 1500mA on rev 1.8.x.

4. Laboratory power supply. Connect power supply GND to any board GND pad, remove power source selection jumper and apply in the range from 2.7V to 3.6V to pin 2 on header P11.

The pin out of the break out connectors is slightly different on revision 1.3 and revision ≥1.7 of SmartRF05EB. 

The LCD and Flash reset signal is no longer available from the EM on EB revision ≥1.7, The motherboard controller will ensure controlled reset of these devices.

LEDs

The four (active high) LEDs D1 - D4 are controllable from the EM.

USB LED D6 is controlled by the USB controller:
OFF Power is off/USB controller software corrupted.

ON Transceiver detected, standard firmware is running/RF MCU detected and UART over USB is not enabled in the EB firmware.

SHORT BLINK Might blink once during the power on then turned off/RF MCU has been detected and UART over USB is enabled in the EB firmware.

BLINKING 1 Hz USB controller has entered boot recovery mode.

BLINKING 10 Hz USB controller boot loader could not find a boot valid application. Basic USB services available, you can program USB Controller flash application with SmartRF Studio/SmartRF Flash Programmer.

On page 23 of the user's guide we can see an overview of rev 1.3 board features. In particular:

SmartRF05EB has a mode selection switch (P21) that allows two EB configurations:

NORMAL position: EB is in normal operating mode, enabling hardware support for debugging an external SoC and a special CC2520EM packet sniffer interface.

CC2511JOYSTICK position: custom application special case where CC2511 using the joystick (JOY_LEVEL and JOY_MOVE) for user input. In this position, external debug interface and CC2520 packet sniffer won't work.

On page 27 of the user's guide we can see an overview of rev 1.7 board features. Here is a summary of the changes from rev 1.3:

Changed board layout.

More accurate current consumption measurements through improved power routing.

On-board regulated voltage is always 3.3V regardless of power source.

On-board SPI Flash increased from 128 kB to 256 kB.

Added mode switch to select MSP/SoC mode:

MSP: as rev 1.3.

SoC: all four LEDs accessible from the SoC mode.

Button 1 signal polarity can be changed.

EM Selection Switch

Controls a on-board multiplexer allowing either a connected RF SoC EM/MSP430 board to access all four EB LEDs. The switch affects the operation of the LEDs and Button 1.

Page 32 of the user's guide shows an overview of rev 1.8 board features. Here's an overview:

Changes from rev 1.7

NO differences in functionality, software compatible with rev 1.7.

Board layout change - in particular, ON/OFF switch is closer to the USB/DC Jack power sources.

On-board DC/DC regulators and improved decoupling providing very stable power for the RF EM.

New battery regulator lacks “power good” signal, “Low Batt” LED removed.

Optimized RF performance through improved routing.

Page 33 of the user's guide details how to update the firmware, which is normally done automatically by SmartRF Studio if it detects old/incompatible firmware on the controller but a manual update is possible through SmartRF Studio/SmartRF Flash Programmer. You can also update the board's firmware/boot loader using the USB Controller debug interface and an external programmer.

The SmartRF05EB rev 1.8.1 schematics start on page 40 of the user's guide, rev 1.7.1. start on page 47, and rev 1.3 start on page 55.

Looking at the SmartRF05EB I have on the PCB top there are:

Mounting hole in each corner.
GND pads.
USB Debug 2x5 male header.
2x 2x10 male connectors (EM interface).
Unpopulated P22 2x10 connector (possibly for internal testing).
USB-B female connector (PC connection).
Barrel jack female connector (power).
LCD with flat cable connecting to underside.
Miniature joystick.
POTMETER (general purpose potentiometer).
2x pushbuttons Button 1 and Button 2 (general purpose use).
DE-9 female connector (UART).
Debug 5x2 male header (unknown use).
2x Debug Connectors both 2x10 male headers.
'USB RESET' and ‘USB Button’ pushbuttons.
‘USB LED’ LED.
Power on/off slide switch.
Power source header with shunt to select Battery or USB/DC, V_IO header (possibly for measuring I/O current), V_EM header for measuring EM current.
4x LED1 to LED4 (general purpose use).
EM RESET button.
Elevated 8-pin chip holder where serial flash chip normally would be (this is assumed to be a mod done by the previous owner). The chip is U5, since board is Rev. 1.8.1 user’s guide says it would be M25PE20.
RS232 Enable and EM Selection sliding switches.
P1 USB jumpers x35 and P10 'IO periferial' (should be peripheral, TI typo) jumpers x35 with some shunts fitted (their purpose written on the PCB underside).
ExtSoC Debug 5x2 header.

There are various chips including:

CC2511-F32 2.4 GHz Radio Transceiver, 8051 MCU.
PS7A4501 probably TPS7A4501 Low-Dropout Voltage Regulator.
U4 unreadable, looks to be part of the DC-DC converter. TPS63030 Buck-Boost Converter according to schematic.
ALVC14 likely 74ALVC14 inverters with tri-state outputs.
CL257 which is 74CBTLV3257 Quad 1-of-2 multiplexer/demultiplexer according to schematic.
AVC4T245 which is 74AVC4T245 4-bit dual supply translating transceiver.
65C3243 3V to 5.5V RS-232 LINE DRIVER/RECEIVER.
HC32 which is 74HC32 Quad 2−Input OR Gate.
T272C which is TLV272 Dual 3MHz operational amplifier according to schematic.

Notice that the CC2511-F32 is a 2.4 GHz Radio Transceiver yet looking at the schematic RF pins (RF_P and RF_N) aren’t connected so it doesn't seem to be used for its RF abilities, the SmartRF05EB's RF transceiver is provided by the EM (funny enough the user’s guide mentions a CC2511 USB Dongle that can be used with the EB). The user’s guide refers to the on-board CC2511-F32 as the USB MCU so perhaps its inclusion was to simplify the design and lower cost at the sacrifice of some functionality not being used.

More information about the CC2511 can be found at:

https://www.ti.com/product/CC2511

Last for the top side of the PCB I'll just mention what's written on it:

TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS
SmartRF05
Evaluation Board
Rev. 1.8.1

On the bottom side of the PCB are the two AA battery holders and a label which says:

SmartRF05EB
Rev.: 1.8.1.3
SN: XXXXXX

I have replaced the actual serial number with X's. 

CC2530EM Overview

The CC2530EM is a small PCB which acts as a means to evaluate the CC2530 2.4GHz Zigbee and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless MCU (microcontroller) and is typically used with an evaluation board, such as the SmartRF05EB. You can find the CC2530EM reference design page at:

https://www.ti.com/tool/CC2530EM

There are various links including BOM and schematics and a link to the CC2530EMK Evaluation Module Kit for $149 (£109.83) which contains 2x CC2530EM evaluation modules and 2x 2.4GHz antennas.

As mentioned I got two CC2530EM evaluation modules both of which are very similar.

On the PCB top is the antenna connector, type SMA-10V21-TGG according to the BOM. There are also various passive components and two crystals, X1 has part number 3200P and X2 is A433L. The BOM reveals that X1 is 32.000MHz and X2 is 32.768 KHz. On my other CC2530EM X1 and X2 are 3200T and A533L respectively. The only chip on the PCB is the CC2530 F256 IC. To read more about the chip please see this page:

https://www.ti.com/product/CC2530

On the PCB it has written:

TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS
Model: CC2530EM
Revision: 1.6

On the bottom side of the EM there are two 2x10 female connectors that interface with the EB, one of the connectors is marked as Max. 3.6V. There is a label that has the following printed:

Model: CC2530EM
(DK) Rev.: 1.6.0
SN: XXXX XXXX

I have replaced the actual serial number with X's. 

The '(DK)' suggests that the evaluation modules were originally from a Development Kit. My second CC2530EM is Rev. 1.6.1.

Testing

I plugged the SmartRF05 into my Surface Pro without an EM plugged in and put the Power switch to ON, LED 1 and LED 4 came on and went off, and the USB LED stayed on. In Device manager the board appeared as SmartRF05EB under Cebal controlled devices.

Opening SmartRF Studio 7 it detected the board as SmartRF05EB (USB device ID=5572, Firmware revision=0044), -- No chip.

I then looked at the P10 and P1 headers, which are used to select various features. Page 30 of the user's guide has the listing for rev 1.7 (also apples to 1.8), I saw that some headers had been removed, one of which was LCD_CS on 7-8 of P10. I powered off the board, put a header shunt on 7-8, powered back on and now the LCD came to life announcing:

TexasInstruments
SmartRF05 EB
(No EM detected)

I powered off, plugged the CC2530EM into the SmartRF05 connectors P5 and P6, fortunately the EM will only go one way in (note that the EM sticks out from the SmartRF05). Now when I powered on the SmartRF05 the LCD reported CC2530 instead of (No EM detected). Also, LED1 came on briefly, and SmartRF Studio 7 detected the CC2530 module.

Having got the LCD working I found however it didn't respond to the joystick so I placed a shunt on both JOY_MOVE and JOY_LEVEL but still I got no response to the joystick. I found that if I set P19 to SOC/TRX, powered on and pressed Button 1 LED4 lit for as long as I held the button down. Looking at this CC2530DK Quick Start Guide, which included x2 SmartRF05EB in the kit:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ml/swra273c/swra273c.pdf?ts=1712944886277

There should be a Packet Error Rate (PER) test (as was the case with the SmartRF06) so likely that isn't present. However, as I got two CC2530EM modules, I plugged in the other, powered on, got the same message as before but pressing the joystick caused following to display:

CC2530 (2)
PER Tester
TI LPW

Along with a logo. Thus the second CC2530 must have the PER test firmware and the other is blank. Oddly, pressing Button 1 as instructed in the CC2530DK Quick Start Guide didn't do anything, whether P19 was set to MSP or SOC/TRX. What I found was that if I had the RS232 Enable switch set to Enable, then powered on it automatically displayed CC2530 (2) PER Tester TI LPW. Pressing Button 1 then displayed ‘Channel:’ but with no number and it didn't respond to the joystick.

Pressing Button 1 cycled through the different options:

Operating Mode
TX Output Power
Burst Size

Matching as described in the CC2530DK Quick Start Guide.

I found if I had EM Selection set to SOC/TRX and powered on and then pressed Button 1 a channel number and frequency was displayed but again, it didn't respond to the joystick. I wonder if the firmware requires the (absent) serial flash chip.

If the EM Selection switch is set to SOC/TRX, and power on and pressed Button 1 it switched to PER Tester, so clearly Button 1 working.

To actually run the test you need to use two EBs with EM, with one set to receiver, the other to transmitter.

Next, I looked at SmartRF Studio 7. When launched it detected the EB and the EM after a few seconds:

As seen below, I clicked the 2.4 GHz tab where it shows the CC2530 detected, which you can see highlighted: 

I did try the CC2538-CC2592EM in the SmartRF05 but when powered on the LCD says 'No EM detected' so the CC2538-CC2592EM doesn't seem to be compatible.

TI SmartRF06 Evaluation Board (EB) + CC2538-CC2592EM Evaluation Module (EM)

 SmartRF06 Overview

This appears to be the TI SmartRF06 Evaluation Board (SmartRF06EB) product page:

https://www.ti.com/tool/SMARTRF06EBK

The site has links to the schematic, layer plots, user's guide, and other technical information. The User’s guide is dated 2012 and revised 2017 (concerning the accelerometer) and the top level design and schematics from page 31.

At the time of checking the SmartRF06 retails for $149 (£118).

The SmartRF06 EB is intended to be used with the CC2538EM Evaluation Module Kit (CC2538EMK) for radio performance testing and software development, the kit contains two CC2538EM modules and costs $149.00. Integrated into the SmartRF06 is a XDS100v3 debug probe, enabling downloading and debugging of software running on the CC2538-CC2592EM device. The debugger is supported by IAR Embedded Workbench for ARM and Code Composer Studio (CCS). Other IDEs and debugger agents are also be supported.

Here is a summary of the SmartRF06's features:

XDS100v3 for debugging and flash programming
UART back-channel over USB
Break-out connectors for easy probing and experimenting
Adjustable voltage regulators for stable and low noise power supply
Accelerometer and Light Sensor for demo applications
SD Card holder enabling off-chip data storage
LCD, buttons and LEDs for user interface
6 buttons; left, right, up, down, select, and reset (resets the mounted EVM).
Four active high LEDs controllable from mounted EVM.
Two XDS100v3 emulator LEDs (indicate power, and active cJTAG debug state).
EVM connectors used for connecting an EVM board.

Note: EVM=Evaluation Module (e.g. CC2538-CC2592EM).

The SmartRF06 originally came with a micro USB cable and ribbon cable.

The User’s guide describes:

"The SmartRF06EB is a flexible test and development platform that works together with RF Evaluation Modules from Texas Instruments.

An Evaluation Module is a small RF module with RF chip, balun, matching filter, SMA antenna connector and I/O connectors. The modules can be plugged into the SmartRF06EB, which lets the PC take direct control of the RF device on the EVM over the USB interface.

SmartRF06EB currently supports: CC2538EM

SmartRF06EB is included in the CC2538 development kit.

The PC software that controls the SmartRF06EB + EVM is SmartRF Studio. Studio can be used to perform several RF tests and measurements, for example, to set up a CW signal and send or receive packets.

SmartRF06EB acts as the motherboard in development kits for ARM Cortex-based low power RF SoCs from Texas Instruments."

From the User’s guide we can get some more details about the SmartRF06 features:

128x64 pixels display DOGM128E-6 via SPI.
microSD allows over-the-air upgrades, etc. Connected via SPI.
BMA250E digital accelerometer via SPI.
Analog SFH 5711 ambient light sensor.
Probe headers P406, P407, P411 and P412 give access to the I/O signals of the mounted EVM. Breakout headers P403, P404 and P405 allow the user to map any EVM I/O signal to any peripheral on the SmartRF06EB.
The XDS bypass header (P408) makes it possible to disconnect the XDS100v3 Emulator onboard the EB from the EVM. Using the 20-pin ARM JTAG header (P409) or the 10-pin ARM Cortex Debug Header (P410), it is possible to debug external targets using the onboard emulator. When debugging an external, self-powered target using SmartRF06EB, make sure to remove the jumper from the current measurement header (J503).
Current measurement header, J503, for easy measurement of EVM current consumption.

Note: SmartRF06EB (1.2.2 and earlier) used the original BMA250 IC, while later versions (1.2.3 and later) use BMA250E. The primary difference is that the BMA250E uses a different device ID. On my SmartRF06 board it has a sticker on the back declaring SmartRF06EB Rev.:1.2.2.

CC2538-CC2592EM Overview

The CC2538-CC2592EM is a small PCB designed for evaluating the CC2592 2.4 GHz range extender combined with the CC2538 2.4GHz Zigbee and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless MCU (microcontroller) and can be used in combination with an evaluation board, such as the SmartRF06. For the CC2538-CC2592EM reference designs go to:

https://www.ti.com/tool/CC2538-CC2592EM-RD

There is a link to the schematic (which is actually a zip file with multiple design files), and a link to the CC2538-CC2592EMK Evaluation Module Kit for $99 (£73.10) which contains 2x CC2538-CC2592EM evaluation modules.

Note that there is also the CC2538EM:

https://www.ti.com/tool/CC2538EM-RD

Which has a green PCB instead of the black PCB of the CC2538-CC2592EM, and lacks the CC2592 chip and antenna connector (although it has provision to solder the connector). CC2538-CC2592EM should provide better performance than the CC2538EM.

As mentioned I got two CC2538-CC2592EM evaluation modules which appear to be identical and one of them is still sealed.

On the PCB top is the antenna connector type SMA-10V21-TGG according to the schematic, and the metal can which shields the CC2592 IC, which you can read more about at:

https://www.ti.com/product/CC2592

There are also various passives and two crystals which are marked 3200P and A534L for X1 and X2 respectively on one of my CC2538-CC2592 evaluation modules, and 3200T and A533L on the other. Looking at the schematic X1 is 32MHz and X2 is 32.768KHz. Another component is the CC2538SF53 IC, which you can learn more about at:

https://www.ti.com/product/CC2538

The other components on the PCB are the unpopulated P6 GPIO connector, the female Micro USB connector for providing power, a voltage regulator (which doesn't appear to have a full part number but it's U2, which the schematic shows is a TLV70233 3.3V voltage regulator), and P5 power selection with shunt fitted across VDD and EB (which can be moved to select USB power).

On the PCB it has the following printed in the corner:

TEXAS
INSTRUMENTS
Model: CC2538-CC2592EM
Revision: 2.0
FCC ID: ZAT25382592EM
IC: 451H-25382592EM

Searching for the FCC ID I found:

https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/ZAT25382592EM

The page has a Final Action Date of 2014-02-24, which helps date the EM, and there are various downloads including links to the CC2538-CC2592EM quick start guide, test report, etc. Unfortunately the parts list wouldn't load, however, it is available in the CC2538-CC2592EM_2_0_Pick_Place.txt file from the swrc286.zip 'schematic' download previously mentioned.

The 'IC' number is the IC ID/ISED Certification Number, the Canadian equivalent of the FCC ID, which you can look up devices on:

https://sms-sgs.ic.gc.ca/equipmentSearch/searchRadioEquipments?&lang=en

Put the IC number into the 'Certification Number' box and click the Search button. The page confirms the EM module number, unfortunately I can't directly link to the page. Interestingly, although the approval date was 2014-02-25, it was modified 2025-06-23 as version 2.30.1.1, showing that the EM is still being revised even in 2025.

On the PCB underside of the EM there are two 2x10 female connectors that interface with the EB, one of the connectors is marked as Max. 3.6V. There is a label that has the following printed:

Texas Instruments
Model: CC2538-CC2592EM
(DK) Rev.: 2.0.1
SN: XXXX XXXX

I have replaced the actual serial number with X's. 

The '(DK)' suggests that the evaluation modules were originally from a Development Kit.

Testing

The development software is called SmartRF Studio, the installer also provides the drivers for the SmartRF06. It can be downloaded from:

https://www.ti.com/tool/SMARTRFTM-STUDIO

Which also has links for the user guide and other useful resources.

Following through the SmartRF06 user's guide I installed SmartRF Studio.

Note: the software only runs on Windows. 

I went with SMARTRF-STUDIO-7 (released 2023) rather than SMARTRF-STUDIO-8 (released 2024) since the former supports CC2530EM, CC2538, SmartRF06, although not SmartRF05, however. I clicked the download link smartrftm_studio-2.30.0.zip It states ‘Requires export approval (1 minute)’. I had to log in to my myTI account, if signing up it warns you to use a ‘valid company email for the best TI.com experience’. Once you log in/sign up and try to download you have to submit a form declaring various things, likely because the software is tied to RF equipment. Fortunately, the approval was instant and I was given the download link. Once downloaded and extracted you get a number of files including executable Setup_SmartRF_Studio_7-2.30.0.exe, which install the main app as well as various drivers.

I plugged the board into my Surface Pro using the micro USB port on the SmartRF06 with the POWER switch set to ON, SOURCE set to BAT (that was the positions they were already in). The green POWER LED and red ADVANCED MODE LEDs on the board lit. In Device manager it showed up as XDS100v3 Class USB Serial Port, XDS100v3 Class Auxiliary Port and XDS100v3 Class Debug Port under Texas Instruments Debug Probes. In the user's guide it mentions “TI XDS100v3 Channel A” and “TI XDS100v3 Channel B” so perhaps the names changed.

As can be seen on the SmartRF Studio 7 start screen under the List of Connected Devices it reported Texas Instruments XDS100v3 Unknown:

I unplugged the board, plugged in the CC2538-CC2592EM into the SmartRF06’s RF1 and RF2 connectors (the board will go in one way only, sticking out), plugged the SmartRF06 back into my Surface and with POWER set to ON and SOURCE set to USB the LCD showed the Ti logo, arrow keys and select, with the message CC2538 PER TEST.

Note: PER=Packet Error Rate.

I didn't have any instructions so I had to work out how to use the demo. Pressing the select button takes you to the menu, on the page and subsequent it will have ‘PER TEST’ at the top and two numbers, the first being the option highlighted with arrow up/down and second total number of options. Then there will be a list of numbered options, an arrow represents the chosen option, which is done using the select button, which also takes you to the next page. Use arrow left/right to move back/forward a page.

There are two modes, receiver and transmitter, which is selectable one or the other after the first two pages, the first of which is ‘Select Module’, with options being CC2538EM or CC2538-CC2592EM. On this page it will also display what is assumed to be the firmware version, which for me showed as v1.1.0. Since I had CC2538-CC2592EM module inserted I chose that.

The second page lets you select from 16 channels and thus frequency, from 2405MHz to 2480MHz.

Third page choose mode, transmitter or receiver. If you select transmitter you have the following pages:

Select TX power (from 22dBm to 0dBm).

Select Burst Size (1000 packets to 1000000 packets).

Select Packet Rate (1 packet/s to 100 packet/s).

The last page shows ‘TX Idle’ with instruction to Use SELECT to start/stop TX.

If instead you selected the receiver mode you have the following pages:

Select Gain (High gain or Low gain).

The last page shows channel number, PER%, Good pkts., Lost pkts., and Avrg. RSSI. Instruction ‘SELECT to reset’.

To actually run the test you need to use two EBs with EM, with one set to receiver, the other to transmitter. Since I have a SmartRF05EB and CC2530EM I can possibly use that with the SmartRF06EB and CC2538-CC2592EM, but I cannot get the former combination to work fully so I cannot start the test. However, I have since bought another two SmartRF06EB boards so I can possibly use one of them as the transmitter/receiver.

It is stated in the SmartRF06 user's guide on page 30 that a CC2530 cannot be debugged using a SmartRF06. I did try with the CC2530 plugged in the SmartRF06, but when powered on nothing appeared on the LCD, suggesting indeed it isn't compatible.

All content of this and related pages is copyright (c) James S. 2024-2025