"The vigorous development of the electronic industry has brought an unprecedented great leap forward in life and production. However, while enjoying the joy of development, people have to face the embarrassment of the current situation - in the circle with the mobile electronic equipment industry as the core, performance development, function expansion and power consumption are restricting each other, greatly reducing the upgrading of product quality leap. Especially in recent years, battery technology has been hovering. While chasing performance and function, people gradually shift their focus to how to improve performance and reduce and optimize the power consumption of electronic products.
At present, the embedded chip based on ARM processor, which can adapt to the current common Linux kernel system, is usually the first choice of businesses. In the past few years, focusing on the consideration of low-power design, semiconductor manufacturers around the world usually adopt the core based on arm926 and arm1176, It can not only ensure low power consumption, but also do the development of operating system. However, in the face of the increasingly serious contradiction between performance and power consumption, these early processors of arm company were somewhat weak, and the power consumption of cortex-a8 and A9 was relatively large (compared with the power consumption of arm926 and arm1176 cores). Just last year, ATMEL, an internationally famous semiconductor manufacturer, introduced a sama5d3 series MPU based on arm cortex-a5 core, It not only increases performance but also reduces power consumption, but also has strong ease of use and security. It is very suitable for the current popular application fields such as human-computer interaction, M2M, smart grid and so on. At the same time, just last year, mill technology correspondingly launched the development board myd-sama5d31 based on ATMEL sama5d3 series MPU for M2M field (for details, please refer to the early evaluation articles of aiban.com). Now, aiban.com has got another masterpiece based on this sama5d3 series MPU - ATMEL sama5d3 xplained, an embedded open source hardware board promoted by ATMEL, e-league and yingbeite (a subsidiary of e-league).
Sama5d3 xplained development board
ATMEL sama5d3 xplained development board
At the beginning, I was shocked by the compact and exquisite appearance of sama5d3 xplained. Unlike myd-sama5d21 development board with spectacular volume of mill technology, sama5d3 xplained is only 125mm * 75mm in size, which is smaller than Samsung note3 series mobile phones on the market. However, the narrow space limits the wiring of PCB, so sama5d3 xplained has 10 layers of boards, which sounds like, As a development board, the number of layers is really a little hold. At present, the popular smart phones based on MediaTek's real 8-core mtk6592 scheme (Huawei and Hongmi note series mobile phones) generally use 8-layer or 10-layer boards. Therefore, we can roughly imagine the rich extensible functions of sama5d3 xplained.
For the board itself, there are very few accessories for the sama5d3 xplained development board. There is only one micro USB cable, which is used as a 5V power line, serial port and download cable. It is known from the document that the board card can supply power through the USB host interface of the computer. At least one problem can be explained, that is, the power consumption is relatively low. However, the sama5d3 xplained development board also reserves a DC adapter socket without patch. Is it a compatible design considering that the expansion module can be powered through the adapter if the input current is not enough. There are several other non SMD places on the board, such as the TF card seat next to the power adapter seat and several non SMD devices behind the board (mentioned later), which reserve space for the expansion of the board itself. OK, let's first understand the on-board resources of the sama5d3 xplained development board.
Front of sama5d3 xplained development board
Back of sama5d3 xplained development board
Hardware block diagram of sama5d3 xplained development board
Onboard resources
Sama5d36 cortex-a5 MPU, up to 536mhz
256MB DDR2、256MB NAND Flash； Serial flash and 1-wire EEPROM (blank)
LCD connector, dual network port (100m network port + gigabit network port); One SD card holder and one micro SD card interface (blank)
3 USB ports (host * 2, device * 1), extended IO port, compatible with Arduino R3 shield
One standard JTAG interface, one serial port debug interface and three mechanical keys (user, wake-up and reset)
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Sama5d3 xplained does not define many ready-made on-board peripheral functions due to its limited PCB size, which is very different from myd-sama5d31 previously evaluated. However, it has disadvantages and advantages. Fortunately, its IO port is led out through the pin hole, and users can DIY creativity according to their own needs. What's more valuable is that its IO port pin hole seat can be compatible with Arduino R3 shield, Users can customize the modules they need, which coincides with the idea of Intel Galileo. However, the remarkable thing about the sama5d3 xplained development board is that it can also supply power to the board through Arduino shield, which Intel Galileo can't do. From this point, we can also see that the power consumption of sama5d3 xplained board is really low. At the same time, due to this reason, the board itself can be started through a variety of power supply modes, which is very convenient.
It is worth mentioning here that this micro USB interface not only has the function of power supply, but also can be used as a USB to serial port and the function of updating and downloading the board system, which makes it very convenient for us to develop the board with only one micro USB cable. These functions will also be further explained in the link of power on and start.
In addition to the characteristics of rich custom expansion functions and low power consumption, the design of sama5d3 xplained board also has very humanized functions, such as the 1-wire EEPROM that can be expanded on the back of the board and the compatible design of serial flash. These functions will feel very intimate when needed.
However, there are also functions that are difficult to understand. For example, four interfaces (core, DDR, NAND flash and IO ports) that can test the power consumption of different functional modules of the board are designed on the board, as shown in the figure below
Sama5d3 xplained development board "power consumption monitoring port"
At first glance, this is very user-friendly, but these interfaces are directly connected internally. How can people test the current? According to ATMEL's consistent style, these places should be handled with a two pin row needle base, and then shorted with a jump cap, so that users can monitor the power consumption of various parts of the circuit. In short, this is a place that the author can't understand and disagree with.
MPU ATSAMA5D36
Of course, the board's careful design in function and power consumption also reflects its confidence in the core controller. According to ATMEL's official introduction, sama5d3 series MPU can provide processing capacity of up to 536mhz (850dmips) with power consumption of less than 150MW. Let's focus on the high-performance and low-power MPU sama5d36 on the board.
Atsama5d36 microcontroller
Atsama5d36 microcontroller system block diagram (click to enlarge)
The sama5d3 xplained development board is equipped with the highest specification product sama5d36 in ATMEL sama5d3 series (see the table below for the differences between various series). Based on arm cortex-a5 core, the maximum main frequency is 536mhz, 12mm * 12mm, and 324ball BGA package. It integrates common functions such as Dual Ethernet MAC, LCD controller, dual can and USB controller, and reserves many IO ports for DIY, which is quite flexible.
Sama5d3 series MPU
After reading the brief function introduction of sam5d3, you may wonder that it is similar to the MPU function of ATMEL sam9g \ 9x series based on arm926. It's right to have this feeling. I believe all friends who have seen the evaluation of mill technology's myd-sama5d31 development board know that we defined it as the upgraded version of ATMEL sam9g / 9x series. Of course, the improvement is not only the performance, but also the power consumption.
It's not nonsense to say so. As we all know, sam9g / 9x series is based on arm926 core, which is a classic core product of arm company in the early stage. Its performance and scalability are somewhat stale for the current industrial control or popular Internet of things, but it feels a little "clean and old"; Sama5d3 series MPU is based on the latest cortex-a5 core of arm, which has lower energy consumption than arm926 and higher performance than arm1117 (see the figure below)
Comparison of performance and energy efficiency between cortex-a5 and arm classic processors
If this is not convincing enough, simply compare the sama5d3 series with the sam9x series MPU, and you will find that the sama5d3 series supports a higher 32-bit DDR bit width, adds a MAC controller supporting gigabit network port, supports LCD controller and ISI, and supports LCD display resolution up to 720p, The sam9x series can only support 16 bit wide DDR (except for industrial control and other fields with slow upgrading, or some low-end routers may still be used, which are basically eliminated edge products). There is only 100M Ethernet port Mac, which does not support LCD controller and other seemingly backward functions in the whole series. What's more reassuring for users is that, While improving performance and reducing power consumption, sama5d36 not only maintains compatibility with arm classic processor applications, but also is 100% compatible with higher-performance cortex-a8, A9, A15 and other series in terms of instructions and functions.
Similarly, sama5d3 based on cortex-a5 processor is also commendable in terms of security, such as TrustZone, more secure encryption engine and secure hash algorithm, which are well known. In addition, ATMEL's extensive ecosystem, whether in terms of function, performance, energy efficiency, cost and security, sama5d3 gives you a reason to have to upgrade.
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Sama5d3 xplained other hardware parts
The function expansion of sama5d3 xplained development board must involve other hardware circuits in addition to its own core MPU. We might as well have a look at it together.
Gigabit, 100M Ethernet PHY
Sama5d3 xplained adopts a mixed design of a Gigabit Ethernet port and a 100M Ethernet port, which is mainly determined by the MAC integrated in sama5d36 MPU. The phy of peripheral circuit Ethernet is ksz9031rn (Gigabit) and ksz8081rnb (100m) of Micrel company, which support rgmii and RMII interfaces respectively, This works on the same principle as the Ethernet PHY we generally see.
Another important hardware unit on the sama5d3 board is the power management unit on the back (see the power management unit in the figure below). It is equipped with act8865 PMU of active semi company, which can be regarded as a PMU tailored for ATMEL sam9 and sama5 series. It is internally integrated with 3-way step-down DC / DC (maximum output current up to 1300ma) and 4-way LDO (maximum output current 320mA), It can provide 1.8V, 1.2V and 3.3V power supply. For details, please refer to act8865 PMU in the figure below.
Power management unit
ACT8865 PMU
In addition to the hardware circuit parts worth mentioning in these parts, the rest of the functions of the sama5d3 board card are basically covered by the sama5d36 MPU. There are no hardware modules worth mentioning on the board card. Let's power on and start the board card.
ATMEL sama5d3 xplained development board powered on
As mentioned above, the ATMEL sama5d3 xplained development board can be powered in three ways, but when I really use it, I realize what is called "ideal is plump and reality is skinny". In fact, the circuits powered by DC and Arduino shield are all in the empty state, In other words, if you want to use these power supply methods, you need welding resistance in addition to welding interface, which is a little unkind.
At present, subject to the limited conditions in the author's hand, the power can only be honestly supplied through the micro USB port. When the board is connected to the computer through the USB data cable for the first time, there will be a prompt for installing the driver. Don't worry, the installation can be completed automatically. After the installation is completed, the serial port can be found in the computer equipment management, as shown in the figure below.
Because there is no LCD module and no other display output interface, you can only view it through the serial port terminal tool after the system is started. Take the serial port tool putty as an example, open putty and set the serial port number, baud rate, etc. at this time, because the system has been loaded, you can't see any information. You can display the information by entering the root command
View the system through the serial port tool putty
Through the commands under the Linux system, we can see the system version. It is a yocto system based on the 3.10.0 kernel. The 3.10.0 Linux kernel system is a long-term supported version, which can be used safely. In addition, we can also see the series models and architecture of the board microcontroller, as shown in the figure below
SAMA5D Xp
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