September 25, 2015

Atmel ATA2270-EK1 RFID Demo Kit

Modifications Instructions

for operation in the

SALT RSS-NIR Instrument

  1. Plug an antenna/coil into connector JP1 on the Reader Board (RB).
  2. Plug a 12V power supply into the power jack PS1 on the Main Board (MB). Turn the power switch to the On position if it is not already there. A splash screen with the main menu will appear on the LCD display.
  3. Verify hardware functionality by operating user interface, reading a tag, and communicating over the serial port. Use the joystick to navigate to menu items. Press the joystick to select an item and display submenus. Press any of the buttons F1-F4 to return from submenus. See the Atmel document “AVR based 125kHz RFID Evaluation Kit – User Guide” for details.

Use the user interface to set the default RFID tag type to x5551. From the main menu, use the joystick on the Main Board to navigate to highlight the item ‘RFID’. Press the joystick button to select the item and enter a submenu. Navigate to ‘Select Reader/Tag’. Press to select. Navigate to x5551 in the ‘Tags’ column and press to select. A checkmark will appear next to the selection. The selection is stored in nonvolatile memory. Press any of the buttons F1-F4 to return from a submenu.

Read a formatted tag. If only unformatted tags are available, see User Guide for formatting instructions. Press F1 until the main menu is displayed. Navigate to RFID item and select. Scroll down to the Read/Write Menu item and select. Select ‘No’ item. In Read column, scroll down to Auto item and select. The unit will repeatedly attempt to read a formatted tag. Hold a formatted tag opposite the antenna at a distance of 1-2 mm. The buzzing failure alarm should change to a beeping success alarm. Also the seven display memory locations should display numerical values instead of and ‘?’ symbols.

Test serial communications. Press F1 until the main menu is displayed. Navigate to the PC item and select. Select the Serial item. Move joystick up/down to select a data rate of 57.6k. Use a terminal program or RSS-NIR software VI to send and receive commands from the unit.

  1. Reprogram the demo kit flash program memory with the UW modified firmware program ‘ATA2270-EK1-NIR-3_4_2_0.elf’. This program was modified from version 3.4 of the standard demo kit firmware program. The program is modified to enable RS-232 communications with the demo kit on power up. The standard version required user intervention after power up to enable RS-232 communications.

To reprogram the demo kit, install and launch the Atmel development environment Atmel Studio v6.2 or above on a computer running the Microsoft Windows™ operating system. This environment is already installed in the RSS-NIR maintenance computer. Connect an Atmel In-Circuit-Programmer (ISP) module to the computer. Connect the ISP module to the ISP port J1 on the demo kit Main Board. Make sure the ISP module is recognized in the Atmel Studio development environment. Open the UW modified firmware project ‘ATA2270-EK1-NIR-3_4_2_0.atsln’ in the development environment, compile, and program. For more detailed instructions refer to the “AVR based 125kHz RFID Evaluation Kit (Re)Programming Guide”, Atmel document # 5241A–RFID–12/07.

  1. Cycle power to the unit. Do not just use the switch, but also remove 12V power from jack PS1 on the Main Board. The display should power up with the RS-232 Interface menu displayed. The data rate 57.6k should be selected.
  2. Verify functionality by operating user interface, reading a tag, and communicating over the serial port.Do not change any settings such as the tag type or the data rate.
  3. Remove power from the unit.
  4. The default power supply shipped with the unit is 12 volts. It needs to operate at 24 volts in the RSS-NIR instrument. All the voltage regulators can handle the higher voltage. The only adjustment to the board is the voltage drop resistor for the smaller voltage regulators on the Reader Board (RB). Change R11 from 360 Ω to 2.0 kΩon the Reader Board (RB).
  5. Apply 24V to power jack PS1 on the Main Board.
  6. Verify the following voltages:
  • V(supply) = 24 volts (±0.2 volts)
  • V(after input bridge BD1 on Main Board) = 22.3 volts (±0.2 volts)
  • V(out after regulator U1 on the Main Board) = 5.03 volts (±0.2 volts)
  • TP1 on Reader Board = 7.62 volts (±0.2 volts)
  • TP2 on Reader Board = 7.97 volts (±0.2 volts)
  1. Verify functionality by operating user interface, reading a tag, and communicating over the serial port. Do not change any settings such as the tag type or the data rate.
  2. Remove power from the unit.
  3. Unscrew the plastic standoffs for the LCD display.
  4. Unlatch the ribbon connector for the display (pull up on the brown latch). Slide out ribbon.
  5. Unsolder the two red wires for the display.
  6. Remove LCD display.
  7. Unsolder and remove Joystick ‘JOY1’ from the Main Board.
  8. The red LEDs on the RF board show the status of the unit. If you want them off permanently, remove resistors R7, R8, R9, R10 and R26. The correct indications of the LEDs are all On except for Tune 0.
  9. Apply 24V to power jack PS1 on the Main Board.
  10. Verify functionality by operating user interface, communicating over the serial port and reading a tag.Do not change any settings such as the tag type or the data rate. If they do get changed somehow, reprogram the unit.
  11. Remove power from the unit.

Paul Sendelbach