How to compact the DWM1001-Dev board? Help please!

Wireless Connectivity Ultra-Wideband
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1

Hi everyone,

I’ve been designing an application that uses the DWM1001-Dev board, and it seems to work out of the box just fine (as a tag). I have also de-soldered the solder bridges J6, J14, J15, J16, J17 and J18 to increase the battery life.

As it seems to work out of the box, the only thing I need to do is to make it smaller. Has anyone designed a PCB to make this more compact? There are probably sections on the board that I don’t need that could be left out.

I’m by no means an expert on this but if there is already a way to go about this then please let me know as I’m sure this must have been done before. I’m really going to need help on this.

Many thanks.

Sunny

2

Hi @Sunny,

For your design you just need few things.

  • The DWM1001C module, you can find the foootprint and the datasheet on the decawave website
  • A power supply with 3V3 to power the module
  • Maybe a connector, to connect the UART or some GPIO
  • A SWD connector, we will need this to program the DWM1001C module
3

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply.

I will be powering the module with a LIPO battery. I will need the LIPO battery charging circuit. I don’t think I need any of the GPIO or UART. I can use the module as a tag out of the box. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I guess I will need to update the firmware to the latest on the DWM1001C module?

Is there a design that is already available for what I’m trying to do? I want to try and get this productionised. I will also need a PCB design.

Many thanks.

Sunny

4

Hi @Sunny,

Yes, you will need to update the DWM1001C with the last firmware (PANS R2). If I am correct the DWM1001C are ship blank. The firmware is available on decawave website. And you will need the SWD port to flash the DWM1001C.

I don’t know if there is a design available for what you are trying to do. You can easily draw the electronic schematic (I don’t know your level in electronic design), and after that you can give your schematic to a person/company who can create the PCB board.

David.

5

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I thought I would have to flash the DWM1001C and so would need to make provision for that.

I don’t really have any experience of electronic design, so not sure about doing an electronic schematic. I have used a black box approach, and developed software around that, and now looking to redesign the electronics as it’s taking up a lot of space in the enclosure.

I do understand basic electronics, so if I did try to learn to do the electronic schematic, is there any advice you could give?

Or perhaps someone could design the electronic schematic for me if I paid them? How long would it take for someone who has experience to do?

Thanks for your help. This is all very useful for me.

Sunny

6

Hi @Sunny,

I think it’s not a huge amount of time to do this. I don’t know where you are, but you can find someone or a little R&D company that can do this.

I think it’s just 2 days of work for the electronic schematic and maybe 3 or 4 days for the PCB routing.

Your welcome.

7

Hi David,

That’s great. I will look into this. Thanks again.

Sunny

8

@Sunny did you manage to get a simple tag as you posted? I’m interested on that design.
Regards

Ramiro