Support Resources for JN517x MCUs

JN517x Wireless Microcontrollers

The JN517x wireless microcontrollers each comprise an ultra-low power, high-performance MCU together with an IEEE802.15.4-compliant 2.4GHz radio transceiver.

They share a number of common features and benefits, including:

  • Arm® Cortex®-M3 processor with programmable clock speeds and debug support
  • On-chip Flash memory for non-volatile storage of application, networking stack and software libraries
  • On-chip RAM and EEPROM, allowing the device to run a wireless networking stack together with an embedded application, or to run in a co-processor mode
  • A rich mix of analog and digital peripherals
  • Low-current solution for long battery-life, allowing operation directly from a coin cell

The available chips, their memory sizes and supported protocols are summarized below.

Chip RAM EEPROM Flash Max Tx Power Supported Protocols Literature
JN5179-001 32KB 4KB 512KB +10dBm IEEE, ZB3, ZGP
JN5178-001 32KB 4KB 256KB +10dBm IEEE, ZB3, ZGP
JN5174-001 32KB 4KB 160KB +10dBm IEEE, ZB3, ZGP

IEEE = IEEE 802.15.4, ZB3 = ZigBee 3.0, ZGP = ZigBee Green Power

JN517x Development Kits

A JN517x development kit is available containing components based around the JN5179 microcontroller, allowing simple wireless networks to be constructed. The kit contents can be supplemented with extra nodes that are available as expansion kits.

The development kit components are pre-programmed with demonstration applications that can be run 'out of the box'. The development kit contents can be used as a platform for developing custom JN517x applications in your chosen network protocol. Example applications and templates that can be used with these kits are available, which are provided on the web pages for the relevant wireless network protocols.

The development kit and expansion kits are summarized below.

Kit Description Chip Supported Protocols Literature
JN517x-DK005 Development Kit JN5179-001 IEEE, ZB3, ZGP
JN517x-XK030 Generic Node Expansion Kit JN5179-001 IEEE, ZB3, ZGP
JN517x-XK040 Lighting/Sensor Node Expansion Kit JN5179-001 IEEE, ZB3, ZGP
OM15021 USB Dongle JN5179-001 IEEE, ZB3, ZGP

IEEE = IEEE 802.15.4, ZB3 = ZigBee 3.0, ZGP = ZigBee Green Power

JN517x Support Software

Comprehensive software support for the development of custom applications on the JN517x microcontrollers is provided in a free-to-download Software Developer's Kit (SDK) for each of the supported wireless network protocols. The SDKs and associated resources are for the following protocols:

Each SDK includes APIs for controlling the hardware:

  • Integrated Peripherals API, comprising functions that can be used to control the on-chip peripherals of the JN517x devices
  • Board API, comprising functions for controlling resources on the development kit boards

Toolchains

JN517x application development using the above SDKs is carried out in the LPCXpresso Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is an Eclipse-based IDE available from the NXP LPCXpresso web page. This IDE must be installed on the development machine before the relevant JN517x SDK. The required version of LPCXpresso is specified in the SDK Release Notes (within the SDK package).

A Flash programmer utility is supplied in the JN517x SDK and this utility is accessible within the LPCXpresso IDE. In addition, a separate command-line JN51xx Flash programmer utility (JN-SW-4107) is available.

Software, Documentation and Support Resources

A wide range of user resources are provided to aid in the development of custom JN517x solutions, including Software, Datasheets, User Guides, Reference Manuals, Reference Designs and Application Notes. The resources that are relevant to the JN517x hardware are listed below (note that SDKs are provided on the web pages for the wireless network protocols).

Note: Compliance information for the JN517x devices and related products is provided on the page JN516x/7x Product Compliance and Certification.

Type Part Number Title Description Version
Software JN-SW-4107 JN51xx Production Flash Programmer Utility for loading built applications into JN51xx devices in a production environment. For details, refer to the Release Notes and User Guide JN-UG-3099. 1365
Datasheets
JN517X JN517x Datasheet Details the JN517x series of microcontrollers. 2.0
JN5179M1x JN5179-001-M1x Datasheet Details the JN5179-001-M1x series of modules. 2.0
User Guides
JN-UG-3099 JN51xx Production Flash Programmer User Guide Describes use of the JN51xx Production Flash Programmer (JN-SW-4107). 1.1
JN-UG-3118 JN517x Integrated Peripherals API User Guide Details the JN517x Integrated Peripherals API used in IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee 3.0 application code to interact with JN517x on-chip peripherals. 1.1
JN-UG-3121 JN517x-DK005 Development Kit User Guide Describes the contents of the JN517x-DK005 Development Kit, and how to set up and run the pre-loaded demonstration. 1.1
Reference Manuals  
JN-RM-2003 Board API Reference Manual Details the Board API, used in application code to interact with components on the boards supplied in the development kit. 2.4
JN-RM-2013 JN516x/7x AES Coprocessor API Reference Manual Details the API functions for accessing the AES Coprocessor, used for data encryption/decryption, on the JN517x wireless microcontrollers. Only required when explicitly encrypting/decrypting data outside the security provided by the protocol stacks. 2.0
JN-RM-2027 Production Test API Reference Manual Details an API used to program tests to be performed on the JN51xx devices during product design and production. 1.6
Reference Designs
JN-RD-6036 Carrier and Expansion Boards Details the designs for carrier boards and expansion boards with which JN517x devices can be used. 1.4
JN-RD-6052 JN517x Modules Details the designs of the JN517x modules. 1.0
JN-RD-6053 JN517x USB Dongle Details the designs of the JN517x USB dongle. 1.0
Application Notes
JN-AN-1003 JN51xx Bootloader Operation Describes the functionality of the boot loaders for the JN51xx wireless microcontrollers. 1.13
JN-AN-1035 Calculating 802.15.4 Data Rates Describes how to calculate the data rates in an IEEE802.15.4-based wireless network containing JN517x-based nodes. 1.2
JN-AN-1059 Wireless Network Deployment Guidelines Provides basic RF guidelines for the deployment of an IEEE802.15.4-based wireless network. 1.2
JN-AN-1079 Co-existence of IEEE 802.15.4 at 2.4 GHz Highlights the issues affecting the performance of IEEE 802.15.4-based systems in the presence of interferers such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. 1.1
JN-AN-1186 JN516x and JN517x Temperature-Dependent Operating Guidelines Describes software functions that can be used to deal with variations in radio and 32-MHz crystal oscillator operation on the JN516x and JN517x devices due to temperature changes. 1.1
JN-AN-1210 JN517x Customer Module Evaluation Tool Provides the JN517x Customer Module Evaluation Tool which allows JN517x module performance to be assessed. 1053
JN-AN-1235 JN517x Power Consumption Describes how to calculate the power required by a JN517x device running an IEEE 802.15.4-based application. 1.0