Connecting SPWF01SA to STM32F469-Discovery

Matti Sillanpaa · ‎2017-03-22

Posted on March 22, 2017 at 13:09

Hi.

I'm trying to use SPWF01SA for connectivity on my discovery board. I've integrated the parts from the SDK extension and now having issues communicating with the HW. I suspect that my connections are not OK.

- I've connected it to usart 6 (+cts&rts signals) (pins 6, 8, 9, 10 according to X-NUCLEO-IDW01M1 - Schematic)

- Reset(3) and boot0(2) (which I assume is the Wifi wakeup)

- I've also connected Vdd (24) and both GND:s (24 and 25).

I can see that the reset line toggles OK, and there activity on the uart control signal. However the Wifi chip never ansvers.

Do I need to connect any of the other pins? Do I need to connect them? Would it be possible to get any documentation about the integration? I mean the 'AN4886 - Wi-Fi module integration design guidelines' in the SAWF01SA page doesn't even have pin out list :O.

As separate note is there any documentation how to use that SPI? Would it be possible to get more bandwidth via SPI vs the UART.

Thanks in advance!

Matti Sillanpaa · ‎2017-03-23

Posted on March 23, 2017 at 11:49

Ok, the connection seemed to be OK. I had the boot0 set to high, so it didn't boot up.

However I seem to have tons of uart overrun errors. It worked fine for hour or so. I got wind traces that it was scanning network. After that it causes uart overrun right away.

Initializing the wifi module...

Initializing SPWF01SA1 Interface..

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

+WIND:21:WiFi Scanning

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

0000007012:

wifi started and ready...

End of Initialization..

0000007021:

>>connecting to AP...

>>Soft Reset Wi-Fi module

+WIND:2:Reset

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:46:WPA: Crunching PSK...

0000015490:Audioloop busy

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

0000018735:.

+WIND:21:WiFi Scanning

+WIND:35:WiFi Scan Complete (0x0)

+WIND:21:WiFi Scanning

0000019240:.

0000019742:.

+WIND:35:WiFi Scan Complete (0x0)

+WIND:21:WiFi Scanning

0000058902:.

0000059404:.

0000059906:.

+WIND:35:WiFi Scan Complete (0x0)

For a while I got Uart overrun right after the start. However thinkering with the reset and ignoring the error I finally got:

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

+WIND:8:Hard Fault:Console1: r0 00000000, r1 00000000, r2 00000000, r3 200006780

The hardfault seems like bad news. Does this module do some sort of FOTA update or something? The SW seems to be a bit old, so perhaps I interrupted it yesterday at inconvenient time?

Gerardo GALLUCCI · ‎2017-03-23

Posted on March 23, 2017 at 20:48

Hi,

you can update by uart or ota. Second one is based on http, so, download FW3.5 from st.com/wifimodules, copy *.ota inside your webserver, and run AT+S.FWUPDATE command over the module.

Follow the handson tutorial to be more familiar with SPWF01S

Matti Sillanpaa · ‎2017-03-24

Posted on March 24, 2017 at 14:52

Hi.

Thanks for the info. I've gone through the training material now few times.

The problem currently is that I cannot get this connected to any ap. I've tried 2 different wifi stations and mobile hotspot.

Initializing SPWF01SA1 Interface..

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

+WIND:21:WiFi Scanning

+WIND:1:Poweron (150410-c2e37a3-SPWF01S)

+WIND:3:Watchdog Running

+WIND:0:Console active

+WIND:32:WiFi Hardware Started

wifi started and ready...

End of Initialization..

0000006939:>>connecting to AP... my_wifi, temp_password, 2

>>Soft Reset Wi-Fi module

+WIND:2:Reset

After that no indication of any kind from the wifi. If I reboot the device then I get hard fault. I've also made a test that I'll poll wifi networks with 5 second interval and that seems to work OK.

As I don't have the shield, I really would like to make the OTA update work. Is the problem related to too new command set or something? I mean you guys must have had some wifi funtionality working when you shipped this with this firmware? One would assume that wifi board would work as wifi board out of box.

I'm using the STM32CubeExpansion_WIFI1_V2.1.1 SDK with the STM32F469i-Discovery board.

If the OTA update is no go, how can I do the UART update without the shield. That would not anyways fit to my disco board. Also if we plan to utilize this outside demo, the OTA -capability is a must _OUT OF THE BOX_.

Gerardo GALLUCCI · ‎2017-03-24

Posted on March 24, 2017 at 23:24

I suggest you to use the basic VCOM application, and send AT commands. One by one.

Matti Sillanpaa · ‎2017-03-30

Posted on March 30, 2017 at 15:15

I had to order USB-to-Serial adapter and shield, but now I've got the firmware update.

However I've got little problems with Amazon AWS communication. I searched this and apparently this is due again firmware version and there's new one (>v3.5) out. Is there any link to this new firmware?

Gerardo GALLUCCI · ‎2017-03-31

Posted on March 31, 2017 at 10:21

Ciao Matti,

modules are currently shipped containing FW3.5.3, that solved a problem on DNS resolution with big DNS replies from DNS server. If you have issues while resolving AWS addresses, please contact your distributor or local ST office to get the last version of the FW.

It's not on st.com because it's considered a minor update...

Hope it helps

j

Matti Sillanpaa · ‎2017-04-13

Posted on April 13, 2017 at 09:15

Yesterday I noticed that in package I got from local ST guys also had cube example/driver package v3.0.0 (I was using 2.1.0). I switched to that and the SPWF01SA no longer hard faults every second boot. I previously had already switched to 3.5.1 firmware, but I didn't notice the updated drivers. This seems to work pretty well, but occasionally I don't get 'wifi connected' -callback after joining ap. But miles better than old 2.1.0 I was using.