I am new to UWB technology and have started working with your DWM3001C module for an RTLS application. I would like to understand the development flexibility and firmware capabilities of this module. Please help clarify the points below:
Does the DWM3001C module have a built-in CPU/MCU on which users can develop and run their own application on top of your provided stack?
Is it feasible to load custom firmware onto this module?
If yes, what level of user control is available over the firmware?
What tools and development resources are required to start development?
SDKs, IDEs, compilers
Debug/programming tools
Reference documentation or example projects
For RTLS use cases:
Can the same DWM3001C module be configured and used as both Tag firmware and Anchor firmware ?
Is this role purely firmware-based?
Does the module support complete user control for developing custom applications?
In the future, we plan to interface additional sensors with this module. Please confirm whether this is supported and any limitations we should be aware of.
Kindly share the relevant documentation, application notes, and recommended steps to get started with development.
Regards,
FKumar
Here are some brief answers but 90% of this could be answered by reading the documents on the DWM3001C web page.
From the DWM3001C datasheet: The DWM3001C is a module that includes the DW3110 UWB transceiver, Nordic nRF52833 MCU with BLE, ST LIS2DH12 accelerometer and peripheral components.
Pins 2 and 3 are the single wire debug interface to the Nordic part which allows you to develop your own firmware for the part.
You can write whatever firmware you want.
DWM3001C - Qorvo is the obvious starting point. There is a link there to the software API used for the decawave drivers.
Yes, this is purely a firmware feature.
See the pinout of the module, if you can connect the sensor to the avalible pins then you can use it.
One thing to note - the modules FCC / reglatory approval is dependent on the firmware. As soon as you change any firmware you are required to re-certify the end product in order to legally sell it. This is expensive.
You may also want to look at the DWM3000. This is a module of only the DW3000 chip and an antenna with no processor. Using this gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of the processor used but may require more work porting the device drivers to the correct hardware.
The part in the DWM3001 has a reasonable amount of processing power but depending on exactly what you want to do a faster or lower power part or one with different IO options may be of benefit.