Nrf24L01-Poor Man's 2

Nrf24L01 2.4 GHz Transceiver

Poor Man's 2.4 GHz Scanner


As the nRF24L01 only has a single bit for indicating RF-reception and the
output was desired to be readable on a simple terminal device, a few tricks
were necessary to create a decent display of the 2.4 GHz band. However, even
the shifting of the carrier of a WLAN spot can clearly be seen in the waterfall
display.

As common FR24L01 libraries do not interface well with SPI-lib of the current
Arduino IDE (22), The necessary interface was written from scratch. Some timing is
pushing the limit of the device(s), as we wanted to scan as fast as possible, but
they are working reliably with my setup.

Basically, the setup is very simple. The nRF24L01p is a SPI-device, and you
have to run cables from the Arduino-specific pins to the nRF24L01p-breakout
board. Specifically, the connections are:

SS : Arduino Pin 10 -> Breakout Board CSN
MOSI : Arduino Pin 11 -> Breakout Board MOSI
MISO : Arduino Pin 12 -> Breakout Board MISO
SCK : Arduino Pin 13 -> Breakout Board SCK

Furthermore, do not forget to connect the CE line which is required to drive
the nRF24L01 to RX and also triggers the RF power reading. It is defined in
the program as Arduino Pin 9:

CE : Arduino Pin 9 -> Breakout Board CE


CODE:

 #include <SPI.h>

// Poor Man's Wireless 2.4GHz Scanner
//
// uses an nRF24L01p connected to an Arduino
// 
// Cables are:
//     SS       -> 10
//     MOSI     -> 11
//     MISO     -> 12
//     SCK      -> 13
// 
// and CE       ->  9
//
// created March 2011 by Rolf Henkel
//

#define CE  9

// Array to hold Channel data
#define CHANNELS  64
int channel[CHANNELS];

// greyscale mapping 
int  line;
char grey[] = " .:-=+*aRW";

// nRF24L01P registers we need
#define _NRF24_CONFIG      0x00
#define _NRF24_EN_AA       0x01
#define _NRF24_RF_CH       0x05
#define _NRF24_RF_SETUP    0x06
#define _NRF24_RPD         0x09

// get the value of a nRF24L01p register
byte getRegister(byte r)
{
  byte c;

  PORTB &=~_BV(2);
  c = SPI.transfer(r&0x1F);
  c = SPI.transfer(0);
  PORTB |= _BV(2);

  return(c);
}

// set the value of a nRF24L01p register
void setRegister(byte r, byte v)
{
  PORTB &=~_BV(2);
  SPI.transfer((r&0x1F)|0x20);
  SPI.transfer(v);
  PORTB |= _BV(2);
}

// power up the nRF24L01p chip
void powerUp(void)
{
  setRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG,getRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG)|0x02);
  delayMicroseconds(130);
}

// switch nRF24L01p off
void powerDown(void)
{
  setRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG,getRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG)&~0x02);
}

// enable RX 
void enable(void)
{
    PORTB |= _BV(1);
}

// disable RX
void disable(void)
{
    PORTB &=~_BV(1);
}

// setup RX-Mode of nRF24L01p
void setRX(void)
{
  setRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG,getRegister(_NRF24_CONFIG)|0x01);
  enable();
  // this is slightly shorter than
  // the recommended delay of 130 usec
  // - but it works for me and speeds things up a little...
  delayMicroseconds(100);
}

// scanning all channels in the 2.4GHz band
void scanChannels(void)
{
  disable();
  for( int j=0 ; j<200  ; j++)
  {
    for( int i=0 ; i<CHANNELS ; i++)
    {
      // select a new channel
      setRegister(_NRF24_RF_CH,(128*i)/CHANNELS);

      // switch on RX
      setRX();

      // wait enough for RX-things to settle
      delayMicroseconds(40);

      // this is actually the point where the RPD-flag
      // is set, when CE goes low
      disable();

      // read out RPD flag; set to 1 if 
      // received power > -64dBm
      if( getRegister(_NRF24_RPD)>0 )   channel[i]++;
    }
  }
}

// outputs channel data as a simple grey map
void outputChannels(void)
{
  int norm = 0;

  // find the maximal count in channel array
  for( int i=0 ; i<CHANNELS ; i++)
    if( channel[i]>norm ) norm = channel[i];

  // now output the data
  Serial.print('|');
  for( int i=0 ; i<CHANNELS ; i++)
  {
    int pos;

    // calculate grey value position
    if( norm!=0 ) pos = (channel[i]*10)/norm;
    else          pos = 0;

    // boost low values
    if( pos==0 && channel[i]>0 ) pos++;

    // clamp large values
    if( pos>9 ) pos = 9;

    // print it out
    Serial.print(grey[pos]);
    channel[i] = 0;
  }

  // indicate overall power
  Serial.print("| ");
  Serial.println(norm);
}

// give a visual reference between WLAN-channels and displayed data
void printChannels(void)
{
  // output approximate positions of WLAN-channels
  Serial.println(">      1 2  3 4  5  6 7 8  9 10 11 12 13  14                     <");
}

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(57600);

  Serial.println("Starting Poor Man's Wireless 2.4GHz Scanner ...");
  Serial.println();

  // Channel Layout
  // 0         1         2         3         4         5         6
  // 0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
  //       1 2  3 4  5  6 7 8  9 10 11 12 13  14                     | 
  //
  Serial.println("Channel Layout");
  printChannels();

  // Setup SPI
  SPI.begin();
  SPI.setDataMode(SPI_MODE0);
  SPI.setClockDivider(SPI_CLOCK_DIV2);
  SPI.setBitOrder(MSBFIRST);

  // Activate Chip Enable
  pinMode(CE,OUTPUT);
  disable();

  // now start receiver
  powerUp();

  // switch off Shockburst
  setRegister(_NRF24_EN_AA,0x0);

  // make sure RF-section is set properly 
  // - just write default value... 
  setRegister(_NRF24_RF_SETUP,0x0F);

  // reset line counter
  line = 0;
}

void loop()
{
  // do the scan
  scanChannels();

  // output the result
  outputChannels();

  // output WLAN-channel reference every 12th line
  if( line++>12 )
  {
    printChannels();
    line = 0;
  }
}