EEPROM with NRF24LE1

All good and bad incidents are stored in the brain memory of humans. Similarly, the controller uses EEPROM to save data or variables. In this article we will see how to use the NRF24LE1 EEPROM and what are its uses?

Do you know what memory does in electronics? Let's look at an example of a capacitor. It has the ability to retain voltage and is therefore treated as a memory component. There are two types of memories in electronics; Volatile and non-volatile. The volatile is erased if the power supplied to this memory is cut off. This means that the stored data will be erased in the event of a power failure. Non-volatile has the advantage of retaining data even when the power is off. The most common example of volatile memory is the RAM used in our computers. The examples of volatile memory are hard disk, SD cards, EEPROM, etc.

Fig. 1: NRF24LE1 and EEPROM interface prototype

In this article, we will focus on the EEPROM in our NRF module and its use. EEPROM stands for electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. It is a type of Non-Volatile. It can be programmed and erased by providing special programming signals. They are available in small sizes and can be easily interfaced with AVR, Arduino or PIC. Sometimes they are built into microcontrollers. But to expand the memory we have to use the external one.

The NRF24LE1, being an incredible component, has built-in EEPROM memory. It has 1.5 Kb of non-volatile data memory. This memory is useful when we connect sensors and want to retain the readings for future use. To utilize the read and write capabilities of this memory, we will use function in our code.

We will use the nrfsdk (software development kit) provided by Nordic Semiconductor Ltd.

Visit our previous article on NRF24LE1 for more help.

Some functions we will use to read and write EEPROM are:

• lib_eeprom_byte_write – This function takes the address location and a byte data to be written.

• lib_eeprom_bytes_write – This function takes several bytes of data along with the number of bytes and the starting address.

• lib_eeprom_byte_read – This function generates byte data from the given memory address.

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 //Program to


 /* Copyright (c) 2009 Nordic Semiconductor. All rights reserved.
 *
 *The information contained herein is the confidential property of Nordic
 * ASA Semiconductor. Terms and conditions of use are described in detail
 
* in the NORDIC SEMICONDUCTORS STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT.
 *
 * Licensees are granted free and non-transferable use of the information. NO
 * WARRANTY OF ANY KIND is provided. This title should NOT be removed from the
 * the file.
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 *$LastAmendedRevision: 133$
 */

 #include "reg24le1.h" // I/O header file for NRF24LE1
 #include "lib_eeprom.h" // header file containing eeprom read/write functions
 #include "hal_delay.h" // header file containing delay functions


 // Main code
 main void
 {
 P1DIR = 0; // define port1 as output

 P1 = 0; // makes all Port1 pins low

 P1 = lib_eeprom_byte_read(0x00); // load 8-bit data from eeprom at address 0x00
 delay_ms(2000); //2 second delay

 while(1) //infinite loop
 {

 P10 = 0; //make port1 pin0 low
 P11 = 0; //make port1 pin1 low
 lib_eeprom_byte_write(0x00, P1); // write data from register P1 to eeprom
 
delay_ms(2000); //2 second delay
 lib_eeprom_byte_write(0x00, P1); // write data from register P1 to eeprom
 P10 = 1; //make port1 pin0 high
 P11 = 0; //make port1 pin1 low
 lib_eeprom_byte_write(0x00, P1); // write data from register P1 to eeprom
 delay_ms(2000); //2 second delay
 P10 = 0; //make port1 pin0 low
 P11 = 1; //make port1 pin1 high
 lib_eeprom_byte_write(0x00, P1); // write data from register P1 to eeprom
 delay_ms(2000); //2 second delay
 P10 = 1; //make port1 pin0 high
 P11 = 1; //make port1 pin1 high
 lib_eeprom_byte_write(0x00, P1); // write data from register P1 to eeprom
 delay_ms(2000); //2 second delay

 }
 }
 ###