RAK4631 WisBlock Core Module

Overview

The RAK4631 WisBlock Core Module is a WisBlock Core module for RAK WisBlock. It is based on the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 MCU with an integrated Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver, offering Bluetooth 5.0 (BLE) and LoRa radio connectivity in a module compatible with WisBlock Base boards.

Hardware

Supported Features

The rak4631 board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board: Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2: Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo: Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

`rak4631/nrf52840` target

On-target memory for this board target: 256 KiB of RAM, 1 MiB of Flash.

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M4F CPU1	`arm,cortex-m4f`
ADC	on-chip	Nordic Semiconductor nRF family SAADC node1	`nordic,nrf-saadc`
ADC	on-board	WisBlock ADC Channel Map1	`wisblock-adc`
ARM architecture	on-chip	Nordic UICR (User Information Configuration Registers)1	`nordic,nrf-uicr`
	on-chip	Nordic EGU (Event Generator Unit)6	`nordic,nrf-egu`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family ACL (Access Control List)1	`nordic,nrf-acl`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family MWU (Memory Watch Unit)1	`nordic,nrf-mwu`
Audio	on-chip	Nordic PDM (Pulse Density Modulation interface)1	`nordic,nrf-pdm`
Clock control	on-chip	Nordic nRF clock control node1	`nordic,nrf-clock`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF HFCLK clock control node1	`nordic,nrf-clock-hfclk`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF LFCLK clock control node1	`nordic,nrf-clock-lfclk`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF high-frequency crystal oscillator (nRF52 series)1	`nordic,nrf52-hfxo`
Comparator	on-chip	Nordic nRF COMP (analog COMParator)1	`nordic,nrf-comp`
Counter	on-chip	Nordic nRF timer node5	`nordic,nrf-timer`
Cryptographic accelerator	on-chip	Nordic ECB (AES electronic codebook mode encryption)1	`nordic,nrf-ecb`
	on-chip	Nordic nRF family CCM (AES CCM mode encryption)1	`nordic,nrf-ccm`
	on-chip	ARM TrustZone CryptoCell 3101	`arm,cryptocell-310`
Debug	on-chip	ARMv7 instrumentation trace macrocell1	`arm,armv7m-itm`
Flash controller	on-chip	Nordic NVMC (Non-Volatile Memory Controller)1	`nordic,nrf52-flash-controller`
Flash controller	on-chip	Properties defining the interface for the Nordic QSPI peripheral1	`nordic,nrf-qspi`
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	NRF5 GPIOTE1	`nordic,nrf-gpiote`
	on-chip	NRF5 GPIO2	`nordic,nrf-gpio`
	on-board	WisBlock I/O Slot Connector1	`wisblock-io-slot`
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWI (TWI master)1	`nordic,nrf-twi`
I2C	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TWIM (TWI master with EasyDMA)1	`nordic,nrf-twim`
I2S	on-chip	Nordic I2S (Inter-IC sound interface)1	`nordic,nrf-i2s`
IEEE 802.15.4	on-chip	Nordic nRF IEEE 802.15.4 node1	`nordic,nrf-ieee802154`
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv7-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	`arm,v7m-nvic`
LoRa	on-chip	Semtech SX1262 LoRa Modem1	`semtech,sx1262`
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic FICR (Factory Information Configuration Registers)1	`nordic,nrf-ficr`
Miscellaneous	on-chip	Nordic nRF family PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interconnect)1	`nordic,nrf-ppi`
MTD	on-chip	Flash node1	`soc-nv-flash`
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RADIO peripheral1	`nordic,nrf-radio`
Networking	on-chip	Nordic nRF family NFCT (Near Field Communication Tag)1	`nordic,nrf-nfct`
Pin control	on-chip	Nordic nRF family Pin Controller1	`nordic,nrf-pinctrl`
Power management	on-chip	Nordic nRF power control node1	`nordic,nrf-power`
PWM	on-chip	nRF PWM3 1	`nordic,nrf-pwm`
	on-chip	nRFx S/W PWM1	`nordic,nrf-sw-pwm`
	on-board	WisBlock PWM Channel Map1	`wisblock-pwm`
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF5X regulator (fixed stage of the core supply)1	`nordic,nrf5x-regulator`
Regulator	on-chip	Nordic nRF52X regulator (high voltage stage of the main supply)1	`nordic,nrf52x-regulator-hv`
Retained memory	on-chip	Nordic GPREGRET (General Purpose Register Retention) device2	`nordic,nrf-gpregret`
RNG	on-chip	Nordic nRF family RNG (Random Number Generator)1	`nordic,nrf-rng`
RTC	on-chip	Nordic nRF RTC (Real-Time Counter)3	`nordic,nrf-rtc`
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF family TEMP node1	`nordic,nrf-temp`
Sensors	on-chip	Nordic nRF quadrature decoder (QDEC) node1	`nordic,nrf-qdec`
Serial controller	on-chip	Nordic nRF family UARTE (UART with EasyDMA)2	`nordic,nrf-uarte`
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPIM (SPI controller with EasyDMA)3	`nordic,nrf-spim`
SPI	on-chip	Nordic nRF family SPI (SPI controller)1	`nordic,nrf-spi`
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	`mmio-sram`
Timer	on-chip	ARMv7-M System Tick1	`arm,armv7m-systick`
USB	on-chip	Nordic nRF52 USB device controller1	`nordic,nrf-usbd`
Watchdog	on-chip	Nordic nRF family WDT (Watchdog Timer)1	`nordic,nrf-wdt`

Connections and IOs

The RAK4631 features a 40-pin header with various I/O interfaces for the WisBlock ecosystem. The pinout is as follows:

Used	Name	Pin	Pin	Name	Used
NC	VBAT	1	2	VBAT	NC
GND	GND	3	4	GND	GND
3V3	3V3	5	6	3V3	3V3
USB_P	USB_P	7	8	USB_N	USB_N
NC	VBUS	9	10	SW1	P1.01
P0.20 / UART0_TX	TXD0	11	12	RXD0	P0.19 / UART0_RX
RESET	RESET	13	14	LED1	P1.03
P1.04	LED2	15	16	LED3	P0.02
3V3	VDD	17	18	VDD	3V3
P0.13 / I2C0_SDA	I2C1_SDA	19	20	I2C1_SCL	P0.14 / I2C0_SCL
P0.05 / ADC_VBAT	AIN0	21	22	AIN1	P0.31 / ADC
BOOT	BOOT0	23	24	IO7	P0.28
P0.26 / SPI2_CS	SPI_CS	25	26	SPI_CLK	P0.03 / SPI2_SCK
P0.29 / SPI2_MISO	SPI_MISO	27	28	SPI_MOSI	P0.30 / SPI2_MOSI
P0.17	IO1	29	30	IO2	P1.02
P0.21	IO3	31	32	IO4	P0.04
P0.16 / UART1_TX	TXD1	33	34	RXD1	P0.15 / UART1_RX
P0.24 / I2C1_SDA	I2C2_SDA	35	36	I2C2_SCL	P0.25 / I2C1_SCL
P0.09	IO5	37	38	IO6	P0.10
GND	GND	39	40	GND	GND

Connecting to a Baseboard

RAK4631 is a WisBlock Core Module and must be mounted on a WisBlock base board (for example the rakwireless_rak19007 shield) through the 40-pin WisBlock I/O connector to expose the IO. See the WisBlock overview [1] for physical mounting instructions.

Programming and debugging

The rak4631 board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.

	flash	debug	rtt	debugserver	attach	reset
jlink	✅	✅ (default)	✅	✅	✅	✅
nrfjprog	✅
nrfutil	✅ (default)
openocd	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
pyocd	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Building & Flashing

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b rak4631/nrf52840 --shield rakwireless_rak19007 samples/hello_world
west flash

You should see Hello World! rak4631/nrf52840 on the base board’s USB console.

Debugging

You can debug an application in the usual way. Here is an example for the Hello World application.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b rak4631/nrf52840 --shield rakwireless_rak19007 samples/hello_world
west debug