SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P Hookup Guide

2024-02-27 | By SparkFun Electronics

License: See Original Project Wireless

Courtesy of SparkFun

Guide by EL DUDERINO

Introduction

The SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P is the first easily accessible board of its kind that ‎combines Matter® and SparkFun's Qwiic ecosystem for agile development and prototyping of ‎Matter-based IoT devices. The board features the MGM240P wireless module from Silicon Labs®. ‎The MGM240P provides secure connectivity for both 802.15.4 (Matter, Zigbee®, and OpenThread®) ‎and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3 protocols and is built to integrate seamlessly into the Matter IoT ‎protocol using the Simplicity Studio IDE from Silicon Labs.‎

SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P

You may be curious as to what exactly Matter is. In a nutshell, Matter allows for consistent operation ‎between smart home devices and IoT platforms without an Internet connection, even from different ‎providers. This allows communication between major IoT ecosystems to create a single wireless ‎protocol that is easy, reliable, and secure to use.‎

This guide covers the hardware present on this Thing Plus development board, basic assembly, ‎and a quick intro to using the Thing Plus Matter in Silicon Labs' Simplicity Studio development ‎environment.‎

Required Materials

All you need to follow along with this tutorial is the SparkFun Thing Plus MGM240P as well as a ‎USB-C cable to connect it to your computer for programming. You may also want a single-cell LiPo ‎battery to power the board in your application.‎

Optional Accessories

Depending on your application's needs, you may want some additional accessories along with the ‎Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P and USB-C cable.‎

LiPo Battery

The Thing Plus Matter includes a 2-pin JST connector to connect a single-cell lithium-ion battery for ‎power in mobile applications. Below are a few options we recommend:‎

Headers

Headers allow you connect external parts to your board with just a set of jumper wires for ‎prototyping circuits with a breadboard. The list below outlines a few options we recommend. If you ‎don't find what you need, check out our Headers Category. If you need soldering tools, head over ‎to our Soldering Category:‎

Solder Jumper Modification

The Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P has several solder jumpers users can modify to change ‎behavior on the board. Modifying the jumpers requires a knife and soldering equipment. The list ‎below covers some recommended options but in case you do not find what you need there, head ‎over to our Soldering Category:‎

Suggested Reading

Before getting started with this Hookup Guide, you may want to read through the tutorials below if ‎you are not familiar with the concepts covered in them or want a refresher:‎

How to Solder: Through-Hole Soldering: This tutorial covers everything you need to know ‎about through-hole soldering.‎
Serial Communication: Asynchronous serial communication concepts: packets, signal levels, ‎baud rates, UARTs and more!‎
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI): SPI is commonly used to connect microcontrollers to ‎peripherals such as sensors, shift registers, and SD cards.‎
Logic Levels: Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and logic levels.‎
I2C: An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded communications protocols in use today.‎
Analog vs. Digital: This tutorial covers the concept of analog and digital signals, as they relate to ‎electronics.‎
Bluetooth Basics: An overview of the Bluetooth wireless technology.‎
How to Work with Jumper Pads and PCB Traces: Handling PCB jumper pads and traces is an ‎essential skill. Learn how to cut a PCB trace, add a solder jumper between pads to reroute ‎connections, and repair a trace with the green wire method if a trace is damaged.‎

Hardware Overview

In this section we'll take a closer look at the MGM240P as well as other hardware present on the ‎Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P.‎

MGM240P

The MGM240P wireless module provides a secure solution for both 802.15.4 (Matter, Zigbee, and ‎OpenThread) and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3 protocols, and is designed to integrate seamlessly into ‎the Matter IoT convention. Matter aims to simplify and consolidate major Smart Home IoT ‎ecosystems into a single, secure, and easy to use protocol.‎

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The MGM240P is built around Silicon Labs' EFR32MG24 wireless system-on-chip (SoC) that ‎includes a 32-bit ARM Cortex M33 core processor and integrated 2.4 GHz radio, 1536 kB Flash ‎memory, and 256 kB of RAM. The Thing Plus runs the MGM240P at 3.3V by default when powered ‎by USB or a battery. The module has a dedicated processor core for security to allow for use with ‎Silicon Labs' Secure Vault IoT security feature suite along with a host of software-configurable ‎options using the Simplicity Studio IDE. This Thing Plus specifically uses the MGM240PB32VNA ‎variant of the module which uses a built-in antenna with a max transmit power of +20 dBm. For a ‎complete overview of the MGM240P refer to the datasheet.‎

J-Link Debugger

The board uses the EFM32GG12B410F1024GL120-A microcontroller as a J-Link programmer and ‎debugging IC. The Mini Simplicity Connector on the board allows users to connect an external ‎debugger if they wish. The board pulls the debugger WAKE pin to V_USB through the LP jumper ‎by default to have it operate in standard mode. Users can open this jumper to force the debugger ‎into Low Power mode.‎

The debugger allows some seriously low-level debugging tools when used with Simplicity Studio's ‎debugging tool. You can perform all sorts of standard debugging actions such as debugger output, ‎placing code breaks, and can even get as granular as looking at the assembly code.‎

Power

The Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P offers several ways to power the board. The primary power ‎options are the USB-C connector (also used for programming/serial communication) and 2-pin JST ‎connector for a single-sell LiPo battery. The board includes the necessary components to charge ‎and monitor the charge level of a connected battery.‎

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The board also has PTH pins connected to the 3.3V, V_USB, and V_BATT nets.‎

USB-C

The USB-C connector on the board provides power, battery charging voltage, and a serial ‎connection for programming and interfacing. The board also includes a USB shield jumper that ‎controls whether or not the USB shield pin on an attached cable connects to the board's ground ‎plane.‎

The 5V from V_USB connects to the 3.3V regulator as well as the VIN on the LiPo battery charger ‎so the MCP73831 is powered with voltage present from USB so long as the CHG solder jumper is ‎set to either current setting. Opening the jumper disables the MCP73831.‎

LiPo Connector and Charge Circuit

The board includes a 2-pin JST connector to plug a single-cell LiPo battery in for battery powered ‎applications. The input voltage is regulated by a 3.3V voltage regulator. The board also features a ‎MCP73831 Single-Cell LiPo Charge IC to recharge a connected battery when plugged in over USB-‎C as well as a MAX17048 Single-Cell fuel gauge to monitor battery charge level.‎

By default, the charge current is set to 500mA. A three-way jumper labeled CHG allows users to ‎switch between 500mA charge current to 100mA as well as disabling the charge IC when not ‎needed. More on this and all other solder jumpers in the Solder Jumpers section below.‎

Pinout

The MGM240P has 26 General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins that are all individually ‎configurable through software to act as I/O pins, peripherals (SPI, I²C, etc.) or other advanced ‎configurations such as open drain. This allows remapping of any GPIO to any supported ‎functionality.‎

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The Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P breaks out 23 of these pins to PTHs on either side of the board. ‎The board settings configures them to deliver the following functionality:‎

Serial - TX/RX
I²C - SDA/SCL
SPI - POCI/PICO/SCK
Analog - A0-A5*‎
GPIO - 0-6*
Freebie - Feather-compatible Freebie pin tied to PC07
Reset
Enable

Note: Despite their labels, all GPIO pins (A0-A5 and GPIO0-GPIO6) function as either GPIO or ‎analog.

‎Peripheral Accessories

The Thing Plus MGM240P includes several peripheral accessories that allow users quick access to ‎several features. Let's take a brief look at them.‎

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Mini Simplicity Connector

The Mini Simplicity Connector allows users a quick and direct option to connect an external ‎debugger to the board.‎

Note: An external Mini Simplicity debugger plugged into the board connects to the serial (TX/RX) ‎pins of the on-board debugger IC meaning only one debugger is available at a time (either external ‎or on-board.)

‎‎µSD Slot‎

The µSD card slot provides an option to connect a µSD card for extra memory space to the Thing ‎Plus.‎

Qwiic Connector

The Qwiic connector provides a fast connection to the I²C bus to use with SparkFun's ever-‎growing Qwiic ecosystem.‎

LEDs

This board has four LEDs labeled PWR, STAT, CHG, and DBG.‎

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Power (PWR) LED - Indicates power supplied to the board.‎
Status (STAT) LED - Tied to A8 for use as a general status indicator.‎
Charge (CHG) LED - Indicates whether or not the charge circuit is actively charging an ‎attached LiPo battery.‎
Debugger (DBG) LED - Connects to the debugger IC's status output and can provide visual ‎indication for debug behavior.‎

Solder Jumpers

If you have never worked with solder jumpers and PCB traces before or would like a quick ‎refresher, check out our How to Work With Solder Jumpers and PCB Traces tutorial for detailed ‎instructions and tips.‎

The board has nine solder jumpers for user customization. The table below outlines the jumper's ‎label, default state, function, and any notes regarding how to use them.‎

‎ solder_6

table_7

digital multimeter

Board Dimensions

The Thing Plus - MGM240P matches the Thing Plus footprint to work with all Thing Plus-compatible ‎accessories and shields and measures 2.30" x 0.90" (58.42mm x 22.86mm). The two mounting ‎holes on this Thing Plus fit a 4-40 screw.‎

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Hardware Assembly

Now that we're familiar with the hardware on this Thing Plus it's time to assemble the board into a ‎prototyping circuit or simply plug it into our computer with a USB-C cable and get right to ‎programming.‎

Basic Assembly

For those who want to jump right in to using the Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P on its own or just ‎with the wireless capabilities, all you need to do is plug the board into your computer using a USB-C ‎cable.‎

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Soldering Headers

Users who want to assemble a prototyping circuit with the Thing Plus should solder headers of their ‎choice to the board to plug it into a breadboard. We recommend something like this Feather ‎Stackable Header Kit.‎

Software Setup

The MGM240P uses Silicon Labs' Simplicity Studio IDE as a development tool for programming, ‎debugging, customizing, etc. In this section we'll cover the basics of installing the IDE and adding ‎the Thing Plus Matter.‎

Install and Open Simplicity Studio

Simplicity Studio is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Ubuntu operating systems. You can find ‎the installer download for your operating system by clicking the button below:‎

SIMPLICITY STUDIO DOWNLOADS

Silicon Labs requires you to create a (free) account to download Simplicity Studio so make one if ‎you do not have one already. Once the installer finishes downloading, open it and follow the ‎installation instructions.‎

Simplicity Studio Launcher

When you first open Simplicity Studio, you'll be greeted by the Launcher window. The default ‎Launcher window lets users install board files for both connected devices and by searching for a ‎supported product. It also lists any recent projects you've worked on as well as links to user guides ‎and support documentation.‎

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On the left side there are two windows for any debug adapters (top) and all installed products ‎‎(bottom). In the very top right of the screen, you'll see the tabs to switch between the launcher, the ‎Simplicity IDE and the Debug window. We'll be using the IDE tab in the next section once we finish ‎installing the Thing Plus Matter into Simplicity Studio.‎

Adding the Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P

Simplicity Studio makes adding devices extremely easy by just connecting the device to your ‎computer over USB and then selecting "Connected Devices". It automatically checks the device ‎ID to matching supported products and should display either as a J-Link Silicon Labs debugger ‎‎(prior to install) or "SparkFun Thing Plus MGM240P" as the connected device.‎

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With the connected Thing Plus selected, click "Start". This opens the Installation Manager window ‎where you can select either "Auto" or "Advanced" installation. Most users should ‎select "Auto" and then click "Next". You'll be prompted to agree to licensing agreements. Once ‎you have agreed, click "Finish" and it will install all necessary software, drivers, and other ‎packages to use the Thing Plus Matter in Simplicity Studio.‎

install_12

The install process can take a few minutes and once it completes, you'll need to restart the program. ‎After restarting, your Launcher window should update and look similar to the screenshot below:‎

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This window contains several tabs that cover the general overview of the board, examples, ‎documentation and compatible tools. Feel free to explore as much as you'd like but for now, we'll ‎move on to a basic "Blink" example to make sure everything was set up correctly and the Thing Plus ‎Matter is working.‎

Silicon Labs Documentation

For comprehensive information on using Simplicity Studio, Silicon Labs has an in-depth user guide ‎for the IDE available here:‎

SIMPLICITY STUDIO USERS GUIDE

If you're itching to integrate your Thing Plus with a Matter-compatible device, Silicon Labs has ‎documentation for Matter development here:‎

SILICON LABS MATTER DOCS

They also have much more documentation covering other applications including Thread, other ‎wireless protocols, and the Gecko SDK used in Simplicity Studio available on their main ‎documentation page here:‎

SILICON LABS DOCUMENTATION

Blink Example

Now that the Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P is installed in Simplicity Studio we can move on to a ‎basic test to make sure everything is working as intended. For this example, we'll be setting up and ‎uploading a Blink test to turn the Status LED on and off.‎

Blink Example

In the Launcher with the SparkFun Thing Plus MGM240P selected for your product, navigate to ‎the "Example Projects & Demos" tab. Now type "Blink" into the "Filter on keywords" search bar ‎and select "Platform - Blink Bare-metal" and click "Create".‎

blink_14

This opens the New Project Wizard window where you can change the project name, filepath, and ‎project file options. For now, leave all of that with the default settings and click "Finish".‎

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Once you've created the new project you can double-click on the containing folder in the "Project ‎Explorer" window to open all the files included with the Blink project which includes any binaries, ‎configs, header, and C files if you prefer. For now, we're just going to build and flash the project to ‎get the Status LED blinking. To do that, right click on the "blink_baremetal" folder and scroll down ‎to "Run As" and select "1 Silicon Labs ARM Program". This builds and flashes the project to ‎your board and once it completes the Blue STAT LED should be blinking on and off every second.‎

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This is obviously one of the most basic projects for the Thing Plus Matter so from here you can ‎explore other example projects and demos for the Thing Plus or start building your own.‎

Troubleshooting

Power Consumption Tips

Power consumption by this board varies depending on how it is configured and powered. Below are ‎our current consumption test results for various power options with the MGM240P operating in Low ‎Power mode:‎

Regulated 3.3V input on 3V3 pin - 15µA
LiPo JST Connector/VBAT pin - 120µA
USB-C/VUSB pin (LP and CHG jumpers cut) - 250µA
USB-C/VUSB pin (only LP jumper cut) - 300µA
USB-C/VUSB pin (neither jumper cut) - 21mA‎

As you can see, for lowest current consumption, powering the board with a regulated 3.3V input ‎directly to the 3.3V pin draws significantly less current as it bypasses the voltage regulator and ‎battery charge/monitoring components. All of these tests were performed with the PWR jumper ‎OPEN to disable the Power LED.‎

Driver Installation

Most operating systems will not recognize the Thing Plus Matter as a USB device by default. To ‎install drivers, download and install the Simplicity Studio IDE and then install the Thing Plus Matter ‎package to the IDE. This process will install all necessary board packages for the Thing Plus ‎including USB drivers. Refer to our Getting Started with Simplicity Studio guide or Silicon ‎Labs' Simplicity Studio documentation for detailed instructions.‎

General Troubleshooting

Not working as expected and need help?

If you need technical assistance and more information on a product that is not working as you ‎expected, we recommend heading on over to the SparkFun Technical Assistance page for some ‎initial troubleshooting.

SPARKFUN TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PAGE‎ ‎

If you don't find what you need there, the SparkFun Forums are a great place to find and ask for ‎help. If this is your first visit, you'll need to create a Forum Account to search product forums and ‎post questions.

CREATE NEW FORUM ACCOUNT LOG INTO SPARKFUN FORUMS

Resources and Going Further

That's all for this guide. For more information about the SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P, ‎check out the following resources:‎

SparkFun Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P Resources

Silicon Labs Resources

Looking to use the Thing Plus Matter - MGM240P with the Matter platform? Check out this tutorial on how to set up the Thing Plus with a Google Nest Hub™:

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