Using Freaklabs RF Antennas with the LPC1114 or LPC1343
How to connect an AT86RF212-based RF antenna from Freaklabs to the LPC1114 or LPC1343
The LPC1343 Code Base and LPC1114 Code Base both include an easy to use, light-weight, open-source wireless stack from Freaklabs named Chibi (though the ony chip currently supported on the LPC1114 and LPC1343 is the 700/800/900MHz AT86RF212). This tutorial will show you how you can connect some of the various AT86RF212 boards available from Freaklabs to the LPC1114 or LPC1343 to add wireless support to your project.
Supported Antennas
The 900MHz 802.15.4 Radio Peripheral Board from Freaklabs is main antenna board we used when adding Chibi support to the LPC1114 and LPC1343. It includes an external antenna (which will provide the best range and flexibility), or optionally an on-board 868MHz or 915MHz SMT antenna if size is a concern or if you need to make a weather-resistant, enclosed device. If you are in the EU you'll want to purchase the 868MHz SMT antenna, or if you're in North America you'll want to use 915MHz. The transceiver can, of course, be configure to operate at any frequency supported by the AT86RF212, but 868MHz and 915MHz are both 'unlicensed' and allow you to freely use them within certain signal strength limits.
The 900 MHz 802.15.4 High Power Radio Peripheral Board from Freaklabs is a combination of the AT86RF212 900MHz transceiver above, with a TI CC1190 900MHz front-end that provides a hefty 500mW power amplifier and an 11dB low noise amplifier, meaning a 50x increase in transmit power and a nearly 16x increase in receive sensitivity, giving you a signal strength roughly comparable to a mobile phone. This increase almost certainly puts you above the maximum signal strength range in most countries, so please verify what restrictions are in place in your own region before firing this thing up and transmitting messages indiscriminately.
Pin Connections
All antennas from Freaklabs use a standard 20-pin (2x10) connector. The numbers below represent the pin number on the antenna board. Pin 1 can be identified by looking at the pads underneath the board: Pin 1 has a square pad, and all the rest are round. Pins are counted bottom to top, and then side to side.
The pin values shown below for the LPC1114 and LPC1343 Base Boards are the default values in the respective code bases. If you wish to use a different pin layout, the pin assignment can be modified in 'drivers/chibi/chb-drvr.h'.
| Freaklabs Antenna Pin | LPC1114 Base Board Pin | LPC1343 Base Board Pin |
| 13 (IRQ) | 3.1 | 1.8 |
| 7 (RST) | 3.2 | 1.9 |
| 8 (SLP_TR) | 3.3 | 1.10 |
| 10 (HGM)* | 1.9 | 1.11 |
| 19 (SPI - SSEL) | SSEL0 | SSEL |
| 20 (SPI - SCK) | SCK0 | SCK |
| 17 (SPI - MOSI) | MOSI0 | MOSI |
| 18 (SPI - MISO) | MISO0 | MISO |
| 1 (3.3V) | 3.3V | 3.3V |
| 11 (GND) | GND | GND |
* Toggle High Gain Mode (CC1190 / High Power Radio Peripheral Board only)