SAM9X75 Curiosity Wireless Kit - Wi-Fi® Quick Start Guide for MPLAB® Harmony v3

Last modified by Microchip on 2025/04/11 09:33

Introduction

Thank you for evaluating the SAM9X75 Curiosity Wireless Kit. This guide will assist you in running the demonstration application designed for the kit. For a more detailed exploration of the kit's features and capabilities, please refer to the links in the "Explore Applications" section of this guide.

Pre-Requisites:

Confirm the following components are present out of the box:
- SAM9X75 Curiosity Board
- LAN8840 EDS2 SODIMM extension board (P/N: EV12N54A)
- RNBD451 Add-on Board (P/N EV25F14A)
- WILCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi^® Module Card (P/N EV59Y78A)
- SD card
- USB Type-A to Micro-USB cable (power)

Prepare the following hardware:
- PC with an SD card reader and admin rights
- Serial to USB dongle (FTDI)
Install the following applications on the Windows^® PC
- A serial terminal software like TeraTerm or PuTTY
- balenaEtcher

This quick start guide will help you enable the Soft Access Point (SoftAP) on the SAM9X75 Curiosity Wireless Kit, allowing a smartphone or PC to access a static web page through a browser over Wi-Fi.

MPLAB® Harmony Hardware Setup

Program the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module with the correct firmware image.

Download the M2_Harmony_support.img file from the repository, GitHub EA03X56A-wifi/m2.

Copy the downloaded file into the SD memory card using balenaEtcher.

Insert the SD memory card into the PC.

Download, install and run balenaEtcher.

Select the downloaded M2_harmony_support.img file.

balenaEtcher window Flash from File button

Click Select target to download.

balenaEtcher window Select target button

Select the mounted SD card.

balenaEtcher window Select 1 button

Select Flash.

balenaEtcher window Flash button

The SD card will be ready for use once flashing is completed.

Connect the components as shown in the accompanying images:

Insert the flange and antenna assembly into the antenna hole labeled FD1 .

Secure the antenna into the flange with the antenna wire going under the hole provided.

Secure the antenna into the flange

Insert the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module into the J20 M.2 connector.

Insert WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module

Secure the provided screw on the tapped hole provided labeled as STANDOFF1.

Secure the provided screw

Insert the SD card in the SD Boot J14 slot.

Connect the serial USB dongle to the UART DEBUG J35 header.

Set the J24:M.2 I/F SEL to SPI.

Connect the USB Type-A to Micro-USB cable to J2 Micro-USB port for power.

Connect components

Set Up and Start SAM9X75 Curiosity Board Serial Terminal

Set up the SAM9X75 Curiosity Board serial terminal on the PC.

On the PC, open a serial terminal with the following settings:

Baud Rate: 115200
Data: 8-bit
Parity: None
Stop: 1-bit
Flow Control: None

Open PuTTY.

Open Windows Device Manager to find out which COM port to use (COM10 will be used in this example).

Open PuTTY > Category > Connection > Serial and configure the parameters as shown in the accompanying image (adapt the COM port to your local setup).

Putty configuration

Press Open.

Verify M.2 Module Update

Power the board on.

Using the console, confirm that the image copied in Step 2 is used in the Device Firmware Update.

Confirm Device Firmware Update Image

Prepare the Application Image

Re-use the SD card used in Step 2 to program the MPLAB Harmony application image.

Download the harmony_application.img file from the repository, GitHub_EA03X56A-wifi.

As already done in Step 2, copy the harmony_application.img in the SD card.

Re-insert the SD card into the SD Boot J14 slot.

Press the RESET (SW3) button on the SAM9X75 Curiosity Board to force a reset.

When the system is ready, the serial terminal that was set up earlier in this tutorial should show the application running.

Verify that the Soft-AP MPLAB Harmony application is running and displaying [APP] : Wi-Fi [AP] connect to ... on the terminal.

Soft AP Harmony application is running image

Note: The password to use ("password") when connecting to the access point is also shown on the terminal.

Perform the Test

Perform the test to display the static web page.

On the PC, connect to the Wi-Fi access point using the network name "microchip-SoftAP".
Connect to access point image

Ensure there is no active Ethernet connection running simultaneously, as this may prevent the demo page from displaying properly.

Enter "password" for the passphrase/password.

On the PC, open a browser, then connect to the access point and enter the address "http://192.168.1.1" as the URL.

connect to the access point using the address: http://192.168.1.1 image

Confirm on the browser that the following page is displayed.

Success expected image

Terminal will show connection activities. Show connection activities image

Another way to test the Wi-Fi Soft-AP is to use a smartphone, connect to the access point using the network name, microchip-SoftAP.

Connect to Soft-AP using smart phone image

Ensure there is no active internet connection (e.g., 4G, 5G) running simultaneously, as this may prevent the demo page from displaying properly.

Enter "password" for the passphrase/password.

On the smartphone, open a browser, then connect to the access point and enter the address "http://192.168.1.1" as the URL.

browser connection to access point using the address: http://192.168.1.1 image

Confirm on the smartphone browser that the following page is displayed.

Smart phone connection success image

Note: The terminal will show connection activities. Terminal showing connection activities image

Congratulations! Your SAM9X75 board running MPLAB Harmony v3 is now connected over Wi-Fi to your PC or smartphone.

What's next? See the following sections for more resources.

Explore Applications

Wireless Applications	Transparent UART communication between a smartphone and the SAM9X75 Curiosity Board using a Bluetooth® LE connection (SAM9X75 Curiosity Wireless Kit - BLE Quick Start Guide for Linux®)
MPLAB Harmony Wireless Solutions	Repository containing the MPLAB Harmony v3 Wireless_wifi solutions
MPLAB Harmony Wireless System Services	Repository containing MPLAB Harmony v3 Wireless system services for RNWF02/WINCS02 device
Ethernet Applications	iPerf networking test between host PC (as a TCP Client) on Microchip Curiosity Board (as a TCP Server) (SAM9X75 Curiosity LAN Kit - Quick Start Guide for MPLAB® Harmony v3)
MPLAB Harmony v3 Solutions	MPLAB Harmony v3 Solutions
MPLAB Discover Code Examples	SAM9X75 Peripherals and Drivers code examples
Microchip Graphics Suite	SAM9X75 User's Guide for Microchip Graphics Suite (MGS) for Harmony
Linux solutions	Linux Solutions for SAM9X75

Explore Hardware

SAM9X75 Curiosity LAN Kit	The SAM9X75 Curiosity Development Board, featuring the high-performance, ultra-low power SAM9X75D2G MPU with an ARM926EJ-S CPU running up to 800 MHz and integrated 2 Gbit DDR3L memory, serves as the evaluation platform for the SAM9X7 Series MPU devices.
RNDB451 Add-On Board	The RNBD451 Add-on Board is a cost-effective development platform for evaluating the RNBD451PE Bluetooth LE module, featuring compliance with the mikroBUS™ standard and an on-board MCP2200 USB-to-UART converter for immediate use without additional hardware.
LAN8840 EDS2 Daughter Card	The EV12N54A LAN8840 EDS2 PHY Daughter Card offers copper Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for Microchip development platforms using the EDS2 interface, featuring the LAN8840 transceiver with PTP support for data transmission over standard CAT-5, CAT-5e, and CAT-6 UTP cables.
WINCS02UC Wi-Fi Network Controller Module	The WINCS02IC is a low-power IC featuring a 2.4 GHz IEEE^® 802.11b/g/n-compliant radio with integrated HPA, LNA, RF switches for TX/RX control, and a hardware-based security accelerator, designed to run Microchip's Wi-Fi and Networking stack via SPI.
RNWF02UC Controller Module	RNWF02UC is a 2.4-GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n plug-and-play, Wi-Fi controller module with a U.FL antenna connector and Trust&GO secure element. With its on-chip network stack, this module is easy to set up and connect to any cloud platform.

Troubleshooting

Serial terminal is not showing anything	There are multiple possible reasons why the terminal does not show anything: Verify that the RX-TX signals of the serial cable are properly connected to the RX-TX signals of the board. Verify that the ground signal is properly connected. Verify that the SD card contains the right files.
Terminal shows a WINC Initialize time out message	Check the connection between the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module and the SAM9x75 Curiosity Board. Make sure the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module is programmed with the correct M2_Harmony_support.img from the GitHub repository. Make sure jumper J4 is set to the right position.
When performing the hardware setup (program the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module with the correct firmware image), the terminal shows: No File Found or Failed to read the file from sdcard DFU Failed - looping here	Confirm that the M2_Harmony_support.img from the GitHub repository has been correctly written to the SD card: Verify that the Harmony_support.bin and boot.bin files are present on the SD card.
Fail to connect the Soft-AP or fail to load the webpage	Verify that the external antennal is properly connected to the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module. Try to disable the Ethernet connection on the PC. Try to disable the 4G connection on the smartphone.
Terminal shows RomBOOT message.	Verify that the harmony.bin and boot.bin files are present on the SD card. Verify that the SD card is inserted properly.