Hardware Description

The SPARK Evaluation Kit hardware platform (EVK1.4 carrier board) is used to run the SDK. This hardware platform includes a STMicroelectronics STM32G473 MCU, which interfaces with a host PC over a USB connection. The MCU is responsible for running the SPARK Wireless Core and managing the data flow required for UWB wireless communications.

The STM32G473 is an Arm Cortex-M4 device capable of running at clock rates up to 170 MHz. It uses a SPI bus to communicate with the SPARK transceiver.

EVK board

Figure 12: SR1020 monopole antenna transceiver module mounted on an EVK1.4 carrier board.

A block diagram of the EVK board is shown below.

EVK board block diagram

Figure 13: EVK1.4 carrier board system diagram.

The EVK1.4 board also hosts a MAX98091 audio codec with analog line-in and headphone jack, an expansion connector for extra GPIOs, and some LEDs and buttons for user interaction.