u-blox EVK-NORA-W10 Evaluation kit User Guide

June 9, 2024
u-blox

u-blox EVK-NORA-W10 Evaluation kit

u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-PRODUCT

Abstract
The document describes how to set up the EVK-NORA-W101 and EVK-NORA-W106 evaluation kits to evaluate the NORA-W10 series modules. To obtain the different options for debugging and the development capabilities included in the evaluation board see the NORA-W10 system integration manual [2].

Document information

Title| EVK-NORA-W1|
---|---|---
Subtitle| Evaluation kit for NORA-W10 series modules
Document type| User guide|
Document number| UBX-22002764|
Revision and date| R01| 3-May-2022
Disclosure restriction| C1-Public|
Product status| Corresponding content status
---|---
In development / Prototype| Objective specification| Target values. Revised and supplementary data will be published later.
Engineering sample| Advance information| Data based on early testing. Revised and supplementary data will be published later.
Initial production| Early production information| Data from product verification. Revised and supplementary data may be published later.
Mass production/ End of life| Production information| Document contains the final product specification.

This document applies to the following products:

Product name Document status
EVK-NORA-W101 Objective specification
EVK-NORA-W106 Objective specification
  • For information about the hardware, software, and status of the available product types, see the NORA-W10 data sheet [1].

Product Description

  • The EVK-NORA-W10 evaluation kit provides stand-alone use of the NORA-W10 series module.
  • All features of the NORA-W10 series modules are easily accessed from the evaluation board. A simple USB connection provides power, programming, and COM ports.
  • Four user buttons are available, as well as a USB peripheral connector, user LEDs, and a reset button.
  • GPIO signals are available on headers that are compatible with the Arduino® form factor. This allows easy use of existing Arduino shields.
  • Current sense resistors allow for measuring current into the module and into the shield.
  • This guide provides setup instructions for starting development and describes the hardware functionality of the EVK-NORA-W10 board.

Key features

  • Used for evaluation of NORA-W101 or NORA-W106 modules
  • COM ports and debug ports over USB
  • Full GPIO of the NORA-W1 series
  • Buttons and LEDs for user interaction
  • 32.768 kHz Crystal
  • USB peripheral connector
  • Power input via USB-C or pin sockets
  • Current measurements via pin headers and jumpersu-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-1

Figure 1: EVK-NORA-W10 evaluation board (top view)

Items included in the kit

EVK-NORA-W101 kit contents

  • EVK-NORA-W10 evaluation board with NORA-W101 module
  • USB-C to USB-A cable
  • 2.4 GHz U.FL antenna kit

EVK-NORA-W106 kit contents

  • EVK-NORA-W10 evaluation board with NORA-W106 module
  • USB-C to USB-A cable
  • 2.4 GHz antenna integrated onto NORA-W106 module (no external antenna)

Setting up the evaluation board

  • The EVK-NORA-W10 is delivered without any software (open CPU) and the software must be developed by the user.

The following devices are applicable:

  • EVK-NORA-W101
  • EVK-NORA-W106
  • The module is designed to be used only with the applicable software and only compatible software can be flashed on the module.
  • Connect external power supply to the EVK as described in Powering the board. The status light (D10) (green) lights up, indicating that the internal EVK 3.3 V is on.
  • When using the evaluation board with external antenna, before powering up the EVK, ensure that you have connected the 2.4 GHz antenna with the U.FL antenna connector (J12). Failing to do so may cause undesired operation.
  • Observe that the inrush current when powering-up the EVK can be significantly higher than during normal operation.
  • The operating system will install the correct COM port drivers automatically. The drivers will need to be installed only when you connect the unit to a new computer for the first time. For more information about the COM ports and their configuration, see the FTDI FT231XQ-R Datasheet [3].
  • One COM port will automatically be assigned to the unit by the Windows OS. To view the assigned COM ports on Windows 10, follow the steps mentioned below:
  • Open the Control Panel and click Hardware and Sound.
  • Click Device Manager in Devices and Printers. This will open the Device Manager window where you can view the assigned COM ports.
  • The NORA-W10 open CPU variants are to be used when developing custom software based on the Espressif SDK ESP-IDF. Before compiling custom software, the ESP-IDF must be configured for the NORA-W10 open CPU variant.
  • More information on this topic can be found in the NORA-W10 system integration manual [2].

Hardware description

  • Design files for the EVK-NORA-W10 PCB may be requested from your local u-blox support team.
Power

The EVK-NORA-W1 has three possible power sources, as listed below:

  • USB from the debug interface

  • USB peripheral on the NORA-W1 itself

  • 2.54 mm pitch pin header (J1 pin-8) for supplying + 5 V [ 3.6 – 5.5 V]

  • Each of the three power sources is separated via a Schottky diode (D1 – D3, MBR120VLSFT3G). This prevents reverse voltage to any of the other supplies thus the power sources can be connected simultaneously.

  • Only if the power protection circuits are left intact can the USB be safely connected at the same time as external power.

  • This makes programming of the module easier.

  • The EVK USB type C connectors are only capable of handling 5 V input, 12 V is not allowed.

Powering the board

  • By moving the power switch to “ON” VBUS is fed into the 3.3 V LDO regulator and the board is powered-up.
  • This is indicated by the power LED D10 (green) lights up.
  • The LDO regulator powers the +3V3, VDD, and VDD-IO power rails.u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-2
  • Figure 3: EVK schematic – IOREF separation
  • +3V3 (J1 pin 4) can source a max of 50 mA to supply external parts.
  • IOREF (J1 pin 2) is the external supply input to the IO voltage level shifters (optional). It is separated from +3V3 with a protection diode (Maxim MAX40203AUK) having a voltage drop of 28 mV at 100 mA.

Reset

  • The EVK-NORA-W10 provides a hardware reset to the NORA-W10 module. The Reset button is connected to the module RESETn signal.
  • If the BOOTn button is held down during the EVK power-on, it causes the module to enter its bootloader mode.

Figure 4: EVK schematic – reset and boot buttonsu-blox-EVK-NORA-W10
-Evaluation-kit-FIG-4

Signal name Description
GPIO0/BOOTn GPIO0 input to module interface during normal operation.

Drive low during power-up to enter bootloader mode on the NORA-W1 module.

RESETn| NORA-W1 reset signal.

Table 1: EVK reset signals

Buttons
  • The evaluation board has four user buttons that are active low and connect to the ground when pressed. Table 2 associates the button number and corresponding components.
  • The internal pull-up resistor of each NORA-W10 GPIO pin must be enabled for proper operation.
Button Switch GPIO Protection diode
1 SW1 GPIO46 D21
2 SW2 GPIO0 D22
3 SW3 GPIO47 D23
4 SW4 GPIO48 D24

Table 2: User button componentsu-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-
FIG-5

LEDs

  • An RGB LED is provided on the evaluation board. It is powered by +3V3 and turned on by pulling the associated GPIO low.
  • The RGB LED can be disconnected from the GPIO by removing the associated resistor R78 – R79. The evaluation board is also equipped with LEDs that show the signal status of UART0
RGB LED Associated GPIO Comments
Red (pin1) GPIO5/ADC1-CH4 Remove R77 to disconnect R-LED
Green (pin2) GPIO2/ADC-CH1 Remove R78 to disconnect G-LED
Blue (pin3) GPIO8/ADC1-CH7 Remove R79 to disconnect B-LED

Table 3: RGB LED-associated signalsu-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-
FIG-6

Table 4: UART0 LEDs associated signals

LED LED color GPIO Pin socket Comments
D4 Green GPIO43/UART0-TxD J3-7
D5 Orange GPIO44/UART0-RxD J3-8
D6 Green GPIO45/UART0-RTS J5-1
D7 Orange GPIO6/UART0-CTS J5-2
D8 Green GPIO1/UART0-DTR J5-3
D9 Orange GPIO7/UART0-DSR J5-4
D10 Green Power ON LED

Serial communication

  • The evaluation board allows for easy serial communication with the NORA-W10 module and a connected computer. The EVK is using a single FTDI interface IC providing one COM port.
  • The single port is connected to module UART0 through 1K resistors. This allows for simultaneously connecting UART0 signals to pin sockets J3 and J5. See also Table 5.

NORA-W1 pin name| NORA-W1 function| Resistor/Jumper enable| Interface IC function
---|---|---|---
G9| GPIO44/UART0-RxD| R20| FTDI-TxD
G8| GPIO43/UART0-TxD| R22| FTDI-RxD
F9| GPIO6/UART0-CTS| R23| FTDI-RTS
F8| GPIO45/UART0-RTS| R29| FTDI-CTS
E9| GPIO7/UART0-DSR| R30| FTDI-DTR
E8| GPIO1/UART0-DTR| R32| FTDI-DSR

Table 5: COM port connectionsu-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-
FIG-7u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-
FIG-8

32.768 kHz low-frequency clock

  • The evaluation board has a 32.768 kHz crystal connected to the NORA-W10 module to allow the use of the external crystal oscillator option
  • If the signals GPIO15/ADC2-CH4 and GPIO16/ADC2-CH5 want to be used, the crystal can be removed from the circuit by opening jumpers J19 and J21 and soldering across the normally open positions. This connects XT-32k-p and XT-32k-n to the EVK pin socket J2 pin 5 and pin 6.
Current sensing headers

The evaluation board provides two current sensing headers:

  • J7 allows for power consumption measurement of the NORA-W10 module VDD supply.
  • J8 allows for power consumption measurement of the NORA-W10 module VDD-IO supply.
  • Each of the 2.54 mm pitch 3-pin header have two pins connected across a 1 Ω current-sense resistor and the third pin connected to GND. Module VDD supply and module VDD-IO supply are sourced via these resistors. To measure current consumption, use a multimeter or other precision voltage measurement device to measure
  • the voltage drop across pins 2 and 3. Current can also be measured directly by opening JRMOD, or JRIO to remove the current-sense resistor from the circuit. Use an amp meter in series with the two voltage pins.
  • Pin 1 of J7 and J8 is connected to GND.
  • Any current sense resistor can be bypassed by soldering the respective jumper: JMOD, or JIO.
  • The default hardware configuration does not require any modification of the current sense headers for the EVK-NORA-W10 to perform properly.u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-10

External JTAG debug interface

  • External target hardware can be connected to J20 for firmware programming and debugging. The JTAG debug interface is implemented, as shown in Figure 13.
  • J20 is implemented with a 2×5, header with a 1.27 mm pitch.u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-11

QSPI

  • EVK-NORA-W10 can be populated with a Quad SPI FLASH and a Quad SPI PSRAM. These can be supplied via +3V3 or NORA-W10 module internal VDD-SPI supply. The selection between the two is made by populating either R11 or R69 (U1) and R70 or R71 (U2).u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-12

Table 6: Quad SPI interface signal overview

Interface function| ESP32-S3 pin| NORA-W10 pin| Interface IC function
---|---|---|---
QSPI-CS0| 28| E1|
QSPI-CS1| 32| C4|
QSPI-CLK| 33| F1|
QSPI-IO3 HD| 30| F2|
QSPI-IO2 WP| 31| D1|
QSPI-IO1 Q| 34| E2|
QSPI-IO0 D| 35| D2|

GPIO jumpers

  • Several solder bridge jumpers on the board are available to configure the GPIO functions.
  • Most solder jumpers disconnect onboard components from the GPIO nets thus eliminating interference with external circuitry added on the I/O sockets (female).
  • The GPIO jumpers and associated functions are shown on the bottom of the EVK-NORA-W10 PCB.u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-13

Header pin-out

  • Figure 14 shows the 2.54 mm pitch sockets exposing the IO signals in the NORA-W10 module.u-blox-EVK-NORA-W10-Evaluation-kit-FIG-14
  • To enable the EVK-NORA-W10 I/O pins to handle 5 V signals the level shifters (U102 – U104, TI TXS0108EPWR) must be populated and IOREF must be supplied with +5 V. If using 3.3 V on the EVK-NORA-W1 I/O pins, the Arduino Uno® style shields must be configured to use +3.3 V I/O voltage reference.

Table 7: Header J1Table 7 – Table 12 show the pin assignments of each header.

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin Function
1 NC. No connection
2 IOREF Level shifter supply voltage
3 RESET J3 ESP-GPIO/AIN6
4 +3V3 Supply
5 VBUS Supply
6 GND Ground
7 GND Ground
8 +Vin Supply

Table 7: Header J1

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin PT1/PT2 Function
1 GPIO11 G3 GPIO ADC2-CH0
2 GPIO12 G2 GPIO ADC2-CH1
3 GPIO13 A6 GPIO ADC2-CH2
4 GPIO5 J8 GPIO ADC1-CH4
5 GPIO15 C6 GPIO ADC2-CH4, XTAL-32K-P
6 GPIO16 B6 GPIO ADC2-CH5, XTAL-32K-N

Table 8: Header J2

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin Function
1 GPIO10 H3 FSPI-IO4
2 GPIO14 A5 FSPI-DQS
3 GPIO2 H8 ADC1-CH1
4 GPIO3 J9 ADC-CH2
5 GPIO4 D8 ADC1-CH3
6 GPIO46 H7 GPIO46
7 TxD G8 GPIO43
8 RxD G9 GPIO44

Table 9: Header J3

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin Function
1 GPIO0 F7 BOOTn
2 GPIO21 C8 GPIO21
3 NC.
4 GND
5 GPIO36 B1 FSPI-CLK
6 GPIO37 C1 FSPI-Q
7 GPIO35 C2 FSPI-D
8 GPIO34 B3 FSPI-CS0
9 GPIO38 A2 FSPI-WP
10 GPIO33 D3 FSPIHD

Table 10: Header J4

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin Function
1 GPIO45 F8 RTS
2 GPIO6 F9 CTS
3 GPIO1 E8 DTR
4 GPIO7 E9 DSR
5 GPIO47 F3 SPICLK_P
6 GPIO48 E3 SPICLK_N
7 GPIO18 B4 SDA
8 GPIO17 A3 SCL

Table 11: Header J5

Pin Pin name NORA-W1 pin Function
1 +3V3 Supply
2 JTAG-TMS H2 GPIO42 if J15 is changed
3 GND Ground
4 JTAG-TCK J2 GPIO-39 if J16 is changed
5 GND Ground
6 JTAG-TDO G1 GPIO40 if J17 is changed
7 NC. No connection
8 JTAG-TDI H1 GPIO41 if J18 is changed
9 GND Ground
10 RESET J3 Module reset

Table 12: Header J20

Appendix A Glossary

Abbreviation Definition
ARM Arm (Advanced RISC Machines) Holdings
CPU Central Processing Unit
CTS Clear To Send
DC Direct Current
DC-DC DC to DC converter
DFU Device Firmware Update
EVK Evaluation Kit
FICR Factory Information Configuration Register
GPIO General Purpose Input / Output
LDO Low Drop-Out voltage regulator
LE Low Energy
LED Light Emitting Diode
LF Low Frequency
LiPo Lithium-Polymer battery
NCS nRF Connect SDK
NFC Near-Field Communications
QSPI Quad Serial Peripheral Interface
RC Resistor-Capacitor network
RTS Request To Send
RXD Receive data signal
SES SEGGER Embedded Studio
SIG Special Interest Group
SoC System on Chip
SPI Serial Peripheral Interface
TXD Transmit data signal
PRICE User Information Configuration Register
USB Universal Serial Bus

Table 13: Explanation of the abbreviations and terms used

Related Documentation

  1. NORA-W10 data sheet, UBX-21036702
  2. NORA-W10 system integration manual, UBX-22005601
  3. FTDI FT231XQ-R Datasheet, FT231X ( ftdichip.com)
  4. For product change notifications and regular updates of u-blox documentation, register on our website, www.u-blox.com.

Revision history

Revision Date Name Comments
R01 29-04-2022 ovik, hekf Initial release for EVK-NORA-W1 PT2

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References

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