exampleRfalNfca and exampleRfalPoller not found within ST25R3911B-DISCO-FW

[Ted Jackson]

Although the ST25R3911B_DISCO-FW (v1.2.8) includes a couple of example files (exampleRfalNfca.c and exampleRfalPoller.c), those two files don't appear to exist within the distribution, though they are mentioned within the included help files. Are those actually available anywhere?

[Brian TIDAL · Accepted solution]

Hi Ted,

those 2 files are inside ST25R3911B_DISCO_FW_v1_2_8\rfal\rfal.chm (click on Examples). They just give examples on how to use the RFAL API.

For development purposes, many customers use the X-NUCLEO-NFC05A1 board and the X-CUBE-NFC5 firmware package rather than the ST25R3911B-DISCO. Can you share more information about your use case so that we can provide the most useful information?

Rgds

BT

[Ted Jackson]

I know they're supposed to be there. But they don't appear to be anywhere within the ZIP file.

https://my.st.com/content/my_st_com/en/products/embedded-software/st25-nfc-rfid-software/stsw-st25r002.license=1613143592197.product=STSW-ST25R002.version=1.2.8.html#get-software

Notice that the chm file links to them. But the links are empty.

[Ted Jackson]

The DISCO boards are cheaper and I'm just not familiar with the Nucleo boards. I assume I need to buy the Nucleo and then an Arduino Uno to interface with it? Just seems like more difficulty. I ultimately am looking for something like a stripped down DISCO board (i.e. a ST25R3911 hosted by a STM32L476 MCU) for my needs anyway. At this point, I'm just trying to determine if the ST25R3911 will even do the RF job I need it to do. Large diameter custom reader antenna. (Relatively) large diameter custom tag antenna. Long reading distance. I only need the tag to transmit its unique device code. No high speed needs. Hoping the DISCO's capacitance (and/or inductance/phase) measurement wake-up capability will be sufficient for detecting the presence of a tag at approximately the tag's RF read range and do so for a battery-powered reader app. So, I thought I'd start with the ISO15693, which appears more appropriate to long distance readers. It's difficult to know beforehand, since RFID is a two-part system and read range criteria are rarely published for such chips (since the system is always dependent on the unincluded tag, the environment, etc).

[Ted Jackson]

Oh. Found em. Was looking in ST25R3911B-DISCO-STM32L4x6.chm by mistake. Thanks again, Brian.

[Ulysses HERNIOSUS]

Hi Ted,

we generally recommend an STM32 nucleo board. With it the system will become very close to the ST25R3911B-DISCO. When using NUCLEO-L476 + X-NUCLEO-NFC05A1 it will be from SW perspective even compatible to ST25R3911B-DISCO board. So you can run either FW on the other one. The only difficulties are the missing USB plug on the Nucleo vs. the missing COM port on the disco.

So in case you figure the X-CUBE-NFC5 easier to use for your needs (no USB comm, no legacy glue layers, etc) you can also use that one and add you own COM/USB-UART converter on ST25R3911B-DISCO.

Ulrich