Tutorial: How to Use DW3 QM33 SDK to Operate a Battery Operated DK to Take Ranging Measurements for Evaluation

Wireless Connectivity Ultra-Wideband
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Last Updated: March 10, 2025

Prerequisites

  • DW3_QM33_SDK_1.0.2
  • 2x DWM3001CDK or 1x QM33120WDK1
  • 1x USB Power Bank, USB Wall Adapter, or similar power source

Note: Some large capacity power banks turn off their supply after a short period of time when detecting low current draw. If you think you are experiencing this, test with a USB wall adapter to determine if it is a power bank issue.

Background

During UWB evaluation, one may be interested in doing distance measurements or AoA measurements where it is not feasible to keep the responder development kit plugged into the PC. Therefore, in this tutorial, we look to setup an initiator which is connected to a PC where ranging logs can be collected and a responder which is battery operated where it automatically powers up into the correct mode with the correct parameters.

Note: When the responder is battery powered, it will not be possible to collect logs on the responder side.

Workaround Needed

The default CLI application from the SDK has the ability to enter a specific mode/application (e.g., initf, respf, etc.) when booting up using the setapp command. Normally this alone would be sufficient. However, the default application has an issue with the HFCLK initialization when the USB is not enumerated (such as when not connected to the PC). Therefore, when powering the EVB from a USB power bank or USB wall adapter, the USB is not enumerated and therefore the timing needed for UWB ranging is not met.

Note: This issue is only present in the default CLI SDK application intended for evaluation and the HFCLK initialization should not be an issue when developing your own firmware. We plan to include the workaround in a future version of the SDK by default.

Prepare and Build New Firmware

To handle the issue mentioned in the Workaround Needed section above, we need to rebuild the firmware with the workaround. Please ensure that you have followed section 4 of the Developer Manual to setup the build environment.

  1. Comment out #if !defined(USB_ENABLE) and #endif in the DWM3001CDK.c (lines 55 and 61) or nRF52840DK.c file (lines 53 and 59) (depending on the board you are using). After commenting out these lines, your code should look like the following:
// #if !defined(USB_ENABLE)
    /* Workaround for nRF SDK issue. We cannot turn on HFCLK for all the time when we use USB.
     * When USB_ENABLE flag is on, then LFCLK request is being handled in the HAL_usb.c */
    nrf_drv_clock_hfclk_request(NULL);
    while (!nrf_drv_clock_hfclk_is_running())
        ;
// #endif
  1. Rebuild the new CLI firmware as described in section 4 of the Developer Manual.

Attached here are examples of the CLI firmware built for both the DWM3001CDK and QM33120WDK1 following the steps above. Please rename the file from .txt to .hex (as hex files are not able to be uploaded here).
USB_Workaround_DWM3001CDK-DW3_QM33_SDK_CLI-FreeRTOS.txt (1.2 MB)
USB_Workaround_nRF52840DK-DW3_QM33_SDK_CLI-FreeRTOS.txt (1.3 MB)

Running and Using New Firmware

  1. On the initiator board, flash it with the corresponding prebuilt CLI example from the SDK. This is found in SDK\Binaries. On the responder board, flash it with the firmware built (or downloaded) from the previous section.
    1. If using DWM3001CDK, connect a USB cable from PC to J9 (USB port further from antenna) for flashing. Then move the USB cable to J20 (USB port closer to antenna) for communication.
    2. If using QM33120WDK1, connect a USB cable from PC to J2 on the nRF52840DK (USB port on the short side of board) for flashing. Then move the USB cable to J3 on the nRF52840DK (USB port on long side of board) for communication.
  2. After both boards have been flashed, open a serial terminal corresponding to each board. Run the stat command to see the build information.
    1. When building an example from the SDK, the build date and time will reflect the date and time of machine when the build was completed. Therefore, we should be able to confirm that the build date/time is different between the 2 boards. If not, you probably flashed the same firmware on both boards by accident.
  3. To prepare the responder board for PC-less operation, we will use the setapp command followed by the save command. Run setapp respf followed by save. This will setup the responder board as a responder with the default parameters. Both commands should return ok. Further information on these commands is described in section 5.4 of the Developer Manual.
  4. Start the initiator board as an initiator with the default parameters using the initf command.
  5. Test that your responder board is working as expected on boot-up by unplugging and plugging the USB cable while connected to PC. You should see it start up as responder and range immediately to the initiator.
  6. Unplug the responder board. Move the USB cable to the other port on the board (J9 if using DWM3001CDK or J2 on the nRF52840DK). This is the port that should be used for PC-less operation (anytime when the USB port is not enumerated). Plug the board into a power bank or USB power adapter.

Note: When using QM33120WDK1, there may be some reduced performance when doing step 6 because the USB plug will be close to the antenna during ranging. To alleviate this, use the prebuilt examples from the SDK on both boards and use a second PC (a device that can enumerate the USB) to plug into the responder board. Then follow steps 3 - 5 above (ignoring step 6).

Tips

  1. Couple this tutorial with the One to Many Ranging Tutorial to add support for multiple responders.
  2. You can also run the initiator running UCI while the responder is running CLI. Please be sure to match all of the ranging parameters.

Closing

If you have a question regarding the tutorial here or you find that there is an issue with the steps, please reply in this thread. We also welcome any suggestions for other tutorial topics for the DW3 QM33 SDK.

Otherwise, please open a new topic with your question and reference this tutorial if needed in your post.