1.5

New features

Two more of hardware platforms (SoCs) that the SoftRF technology is able to operate with:

• Renesas RA4M1        - ARM Cortex-M4F core @ 48 Mhz
• Espressif ESP32-C6   - two RISC-V cores with 2.4 GHz radio

Renesas RA4M1

• very first Release for upgrade of SoftRF Academy Edition
• base board: Arduino Uno R4 WiFi

• I/O board:   Dragino Lora/GPS
  
  
  
• modes: Normal (default)
• hardware:
  • Renesas RA4M1 MCU
  • GNSS: Quectel L80-R
  • Radio: Semtech SX1276
  • Output:
         default: USB CDC ACM
         optional: Wi-Fi UDP
         optional: Bluetooth LE
  • Sensor(s):
         optional: Bosch BMP(E)280

Espressif ESP32-C6

• very first Release for ESP32-C6 upgrade of Standalone Edition
• base component: Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 module

Major improvements

Common

• more accurate RF Tx packets counter
• UC6580 GNSS ident fix
• SX12xx and CC13x2 radios: align legacy protocol carrier frequency setting with Nordic nRF905 100 kHz (LF) or 200 kHz (HF) resolution. This change has effect for New Zealand and South Korea only.
• build infra for Bosch BME68x sensor(s)

ESP32

• build is possible for Espressif recent ESP32-C2, ESP32-C6 and ESP32-H2 SoCs
• Midi Edition
  • support for Heltec Wireless Tracker V1.1
• Ham Edition
  • monitor of a voice frequency ¹
  • a JSON setting to override 'Classic' APRS carrier frequency in use
  • PTT button function with NFM voice transmit feature on a single (emergency) user-defined 2m/70cm band frequency ¹
  • playback of a pre-recorded weather/traffic/other advisory voice message (WAV file) from micro-SD card into air with BOOT+PTT buttons press ¹
  • a JSON setting to apply R22 ADC workaround to a certain T-TWR V2.0 boards
  • a JSON setting for SA8X8 radio squelch level ¹
  • APRS Tx with SA868 'Open Edition' radio
  • support for LilyGO T-TWR V2.1

¹ - valid for SA868 with NiceRF firmware only

EFR32

• build is possible for a Silicon Labs EFR32 Series 2 target 

Please, read commits history for more information.

Known issues

• same that previous Release 1.4 has ;
• access to Academy WebUI pages may fail when heap memory level is low (< 6 KBytes). Use BLE or UDP with caution - they reduce free memory space considerably ;
• Arduino Uno R4 WiFi device may lose some NMEA/GDL90/D1090 data when Serial is selected as the output port ;
• some residual pixels may stay on the Midi Edition TFT display after Rx/Tx counters wrapping over 999 value.

Binary downloads and flashing instructions

WARNING

1. This upgrade will reset your SoftRF settings down to factory default values. Please, follow these "backup and restore" procedures prior to executing the update
2. ESP32 only: you may try "Web update" method if your current firmware version is rc7-9 or 1.0-1.4, otherwise do:
   • follow First-time firmware installation procedure instructions instead, and
   • make full flash ERASE prior to firmware write operation, and
   • disconnect any of I2C devices from ESP32's GPIO2 pad. See this ticket for details.
3. S76G only: follow these instructions to update your Dongle Edition firmware. It is also recommended to reset your SoftRF Dongle settings back to factory default values by following this procedure.

Prime MkII, MkIII, Badge or Dongle owners! I will reject any claims if you, by any reason, will fail to upgrade or fail to recover after un-successful update!
If you are not sure that you can manage the update successfully - think about to stay on 1.4 or to buy a new board with pre-installed 1.5.

Source code build instructions