SAM9X75 Curiosity Wireless Kit - Wi-Fi® Getting Started Guide for MPLAB® Harmony V3

Last modified by Microchip on 2025/01/07 16:12

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.

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)
Secure Digital (SD) card
USB A to USB C cable (power)

Required components not included in the box:

Serial to USB dongle

This getting started 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.

MPLAB® Harmony Hardware Setup

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

Download the Harmony_support.bin and boot.bin from the repository.

Warning: The file named boot.bin is used both in the programming of the M.2 module and during the application runtime.

These boot.bin files are two distinct files that share the same name. Ensure that the copied files are taken from the specific GitHub link for that step.

Open the repository in a new window (to keep this instruction page open), GitHub EA03X56A-wifi/m2

Perform steps 1.2 - 1.3 for each file (Harmony_support.bin and boot.bin) to get to each specific file.

Click on each file to get to download option.

Click on each file

Click on Download raw file option.

Click on Download raw file

Copy the downloaded Harmony_support.bin and boot.bin to the SD card.

SD cards need to be formatted to a file system compatible with Microchip MPU devices, such as FAT32. For SD cards larger than 32 GB, a specific procedure must be followed. Please refer to this guide for detailed instructions on preparing your SD card for use with the MPU device.

Take the SD card and set aside to be used in the hardware setup section.

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-A to Micro USB-B cable to J2 Micro USB-B port for power.

Connect components

Set Up and Start SAM9X75 Curiosity Board Serial Terminal

Set up the SAM9X75 Curiosity Board Serial Terminal on the host computer.

On the host computer, open a Serial terminal with the following settings:

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

Open Putty.

In the Category pane, select Connection > Serial then set the configuration.

Note: Set the COM port assigned by the window's Device Manager.

Putty configuration

Press Open.

Verify M.2 Module Update

Power the board on.

Confirm using the console that the image copied in Step 1.2 of the MPLAB Harmony Hardware Setup section is used in the Device Firmware Update.

Confirm Device Firmware Update Image

Prepare Application and Boot binaries

Take the SD card used in Step 1.2 of the MPLAB® Harmony Hardware Setup section to copy application and boot binaries.

Download the harmony.bin and boot.bin from the repository, GitHub_EA03X56A-wifi.

Download Harmony.bin and Boot.bin image

Copy the downloaded harmony.bin and boot.bin to 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 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 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 this address as the URL: http://192.168.1.1

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 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 this address as the URL: http://192.168.1.1.

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

Confirm on the smart phone browser that the following page is displayed.

Smart phone connection success image

Terminal will show connection activities. Terminal showing connection activities image

Explore Applications

Wireless Applications	Transparent UART communication between a smartphone and the SAM9X75 Curiosity Board using a BLE connection
MPLAB Harmony Wireless Solutions	Repository containing the MPLAB Harmony 3 Wireless_wifi solutions
MPLAB Harmony Wireless System Services	Repository containing MPLAB Harmony 3 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)
MPLAB Discover Code Examples	SAM9X75 Peripherals and Drivers code examples
Microchip Graphics Suite	SAM9X75 User's Guide for Microchip Graphics Suite (MGS) for Harmony

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: Double-check if the RX-TX signals of the serial cable are properly connected to the RX-TX signals of the board. Double-check that the ground signal is properly connected. Verify if the SD card contains the right files.
Terminal show 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 FW.
When performing Step 5: 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 all files are copied from the correct GitHub repository path: Verify that the Harmony_support.bin file is copied to the SD card. Verify that the correct boot.bin file is copied to the SD card.
Fail to connect the softAP or fail to load the webpage	Double-check if the external antennal is connected to the WIxCS02 M.2 Wi-Fi Module properly.
Terminal shows RomBoot message.	Verify if the SD card contains the right files. Verify that the SD card is inserted properly.