SLOA244B May   2017  – March 2019 RF430CL330H , RF430CL331H

 

  1.   Frequently asked questions for RF430CL33xH devices
    1.     Trademarks
    2. 1 General Questions
      1. 1.1 What protocols do the RF430CL33xH devices support?
      2. 1.2 Are the RF430CL33xH devices NFC Forum compliant?
      3. 1.3 What is the NDEF message format?
      4. 1.4 What evaluation hardware should i get to evaluate the RF430CL33xH Devices?
        1. 1.4.1 RF430CL330H evaluation hardware
        2. 1.4.2 RF430CL331H evaluation hardware
      5. 1.5 What TI NFC reader/writer hardware and software is required to communicate with the RF430CL33xH?
      6. 1.6 How do i read data from the RF430CL33xH?
      7. 1.7 How do I format or change data that is stored on the RF430CL33xH?
    3. 2 Differences Between the RF430CL330H and RF430CL331H Devices
      1. 2.1 Size for over-the-air data transmission
      2. 2.2 Required microcontroller management
      3. 2.3 Serial communication options
      4. 2.4 Recommend applications
    4. 3 Hardware and Design Questions
      1. 3.1 Where can I get schematics and layout files for the RF430CL33xH?
      2. 3.2 How do I design and tune an antenna to 13.56 MHz for the RF430CL33xH devices?
      3. 3.3 What reference designs are available for the RF430CL33xH devices?
      4. 3.4 What memory technology do the RF430CL33xH devices use?
    5. 4 Software Questions
      1. 4.1 What software examples are available for the RF430CL33xH devices?
        1. 4.1.1 RF430CL330H firmware examples
        2. 4.1.2 RF430CL331H firmware examples
      2. 4.2 Is there a software example for Wi-Fi® pairing and handover?
      3. 4.3 Is there a software example for RTOS?
    6. 5 Miscellaneous Questions
      1. 5.1 Why does a passively powered RF430CL33xH device not work with Android phones, but it does work with TI NFC reader kits?
    7. 6 References
  2.   Revision History

2.1 Size for over-the-air data transmission

RF430CL330H message size

The RF430CL330H sends data over the air based on what is loaded to the 3KB of SRAM memory of the device. Due to this, the maximum message size that can be sent in one connection is 3KB. To send or receive more, the NFC connection must be reset, and new data must be loaded into or read from the RF430CL330H.

RF430CL331H message size

The RF430CL331H features a pass-through mode that allows for more flexibility in terms of data transfer sizes. Using this feature, the RF430CL331H repurposes the 3KB of SRAM it contains to be a buffer that passes data between the MCU it is connected to and the NFC reader/writer device communicating with it. The buffer makes is possible to send or receive large amounts of data without resetting the NFC connection. Therefore, the only limit of the message size is the amount of available memory on the microcontroller.

For example, if the RF430CL331H is used with a TI MSP430FR5969 MCU, which has 64KB of FRAM available, it is possible to send a 45KB message over the air in a single NFC connection to an NFC device.

NDEF message size limitations

The NFC Forum standards define the largest size of data in a single NDEF file as 65536 bytes. When more than 65536 bytes of data need to be sent, then the NDEF file system should be used to create multiple NDEF records, each of which are smaller than 65536 bytes.

A closed loop system that does not need to be NFC Forum compliant and does not communicate with NFC Forum compliant devices (for example, NFC-enabled smartphones or tablets) can ignore those limitations. The RF430CL331H hardware does not prevent the transmission of more data.