"With the continuous enrichment of ATMEL xplained Pro platform product line, I believe most engineers are not unfamiliar with it. Xplained Pro is an MCU evaluation platform of ATMEL. It is composed of a series of microcontrollers, on-board edbg debugging modules and expansion boards. Combined with ATMEL Studio development environment, it can preliminarily evaluate the performance of ATMEL microcontroller.
However, among the many atme xplained Pro platform development boards previously evaluated by aiban.com, we found such a problem. Due to the similar peripheral interface resources (microcontroller + edbg module) and the same general expansion module of xplained Pro platform board, many engineers do not have high recognition of xplained Pro platform development board Some characteristic functions of microcontroller can not be significantly reflected. However, this situation has been completely overturned on the atsam4e-xpro development board recently obtained by Aiban. Based on a "different" microcontroller, it not only enriches the content of the xplained Pro platform product line, but also allows engineers to directly carry out secondary development of the characteristic functions of the development board without the help of external circuit expansion. Want to know what's going on? The following will give you an answer.
Atsam4e-xpro evaluation board
First, let's take a look at the packaging box of the atsam4e-xpro evaluation board. Although it is still the "old face" of the robot pattern and remains unchanged from the original style, the packaging box is obviously large, square and square, and looks very "meaningful".
Atsam4e-xpro evaluation board
As expected, the characteristics of atsam4e-xpro evaluation board are obvious. Compared with the xplained Pro board previously evaluated by aiban.com, the whole PCB area is significantly larger, about 115.30mm * 100.00mm. The board is a 6-layer board. It comes from a foundry in Malaysia, and the quality is as good as ever.
The atsam4e-xpro evaluation board is an ATMEL atsam4e16e (atsam4e16e Data Book) microcontroller based on cortex-m4. The board contains many characteristic functions of the microcontroller, such as Ethernet circuit, can circuit, etc., which are not available in the ATMEL xplained Pro platform evaluated by Aiban.
Front of atsam4e-xpro evaluation board
Back of atsam4e-xpro evaluation board
Hardware block diagram of atsam4e-xpro evaluation board
Atsam4e-xpro onboard resources:
Sam4e16e microcontroller
2 GB (8-bit) NAND flash, two 512KB (8-bit) SRAM
One 10 / 100 Mbps IEEE802.3 Ethernet (ksz8081)
One CAN2.0 interface (tle7250)
Three xplained Pro expansion heads and one xplained Pro LCD expansion connector
Edbg debugging module (microusb interface: power supply, serial port, DGI, SWD)
One mechanical reset button, one user mechanical button (wake-up, boot program, etc.)
A yellow user led, a yellow status LED, and a green power LED
Microusb target interface: device mode
The peripheral interface of atsam4e-xpro evaluation board is not much different from the previous board of xplained Pro platform. You can even find the shadow of which function on which board. The atsam4e-xpro evaluation board provides three different power supply interfaces: microusb target, microusb debug and 4Pin pin holder. Microusb also has USB device function. In addition to power supply, download and debugging functions, the microusb debug interface can also realize data gateway interface (DGI), UART and Twi functions.
Of course, in addition to the inherent characteristics of the above xplained Pro platform, the atsam4e-xpro evaluation board has more innovative changes. The board carries 2GB NAND flash and 1MB SRAM, and leads to the EBI interface, which can realize the programming of external memory. The most important feature is the onboard Ethernet circuit and can circuit, which can enable engineers to realize the functions of 100M Ethernet and CAN2.0 without DIY, which greatly facilitates engineers to directly carry out secondary development of atsam4e-xpro board.
Atsam4e16e microcontroller
However, in the final analysis, the realization of all functions of atsam4e-xpro board is inseparable from ATMEL's core microcontroller device atsam4e16e.
Atsam4e16e is a high-performance cortex-m4 microcontroller with integrated floating-point arithmetic unit (FPU). The maximum dominant frequency can reach 120mhz. It is encapsulated in lfbga 144 and the size is only 10mm * 10mm, as shown in the figure below
Microcontroller atsam4e16e
Principle block diagram of atsam4e16e system
Atsam4e16e microcontroller features:
Arm cortex-m4 processor, 2KB cache, 120mhz main frequency, with FPU unit, internal integration of 1MB flash and 128KB SRAM
Ethernet MAC (10 / 100 Mbps), can controller * 2
High speed multimedia interface (SDIO / SD card / MMC), NAND controller, USB2.0 FS device
16 bit ADC * 2, 12 bit DAC * 1, an analog comparator
USART * 2, UART * 2, twi * 2, three 3-channel timing / counters, AES, RTC, PWM, SPI, etc. the maximum support is 117 I / OS
The circuit in the central area of the atsam4e-xpro board is the smallest system composed of the atsam4e16e microcontroller. Due to the lfbga packaging technology, the chip looks smaller. Compared with the same product packaged with LQFP, the area is reduced by nearly 3 / 4. In terms of function and performance, the atsam4e16e is no worse, with 120mhz main frequency, FPU unit, 1MB on-chip flash and 128KB on-chip SRAM, Among ATMEL's products in the same series, it belongs to the highest performance specification.
In terms of function, in addition to the USB2.0 FS device, 10 / 100 m Ethernet, NAND controller and hmci interface already reflected on the board, atsam4e16e also integrates rich simulation parts:
AFE: Two 16 bit ADCs, which can support up to 24 channels
A two channel 12 bit DAC, 1msps
An analog comparator
Rich functions and outstanding performance make atsam4e16e have the characteristics of general microcontroller. Therefore, there are many scenarios that can be applied in our life, such as industrial automation, human-computer interaction, Internet of things equipment, home and building control and energy management. For example, the following figure is a simple human-computer interface interaction application block diagram.
Application of human computer interaction based on atsam4e16e microcontroller
Power on run routine
After getting familiar with the basic situation of the development board, we can further understand the functions of atsam4e-xpro board through power on. From the previous introduction, we know that the biggest change of atsam4e-xpro development board as xplained Pro platform this time is the integration of Ethernet and can circuit on the board. The following also focuses on these two functions.
Of course, preparations are still essential. First, you need to install ATMEL studio, the supporting ide tool for ATMEL. At present, the latest version is 6.2. If you have installed it before, make sure to update the ASF of ATMEL studio to above asf3.15 (Feb 2014) in order to obtain better support for the atsam4e-xpro evaluation board.
ATMEL studio asf3.15 release notes
In addition to the official ATMEL studio, third-party ide tools such as IAR can also be used, but relatively speaking, especially for engineers who contact ATMEL development board for the first time, ATMEL studio is more convenient and has many benefits. Without considering other factors such as installation driver and environment configuration, an ATMEL studio can be completely completed, simple and rough, Strong practicability (of course, the loading speed of the software needs to be improved).
The atsam4e-xpro card has a built-in LED flashing program, which can work when connected to the microusb line (as shown in the figure below). It seems that the factory default program of all ATMEL cards is basically LED flashing.
The atsam4e-xpro board runs the factory built-in program
Regardless of the default factory program, we can customize programming and download other programs through the rich routines provided by ATMEL studio, such as the implementation of Ethernet and can functions.
Open ATMEL studio and connect the microusb debug interface and PC side of the board through the microusb cable. ATMEL studio can automatically identify the information of the board and provide the corresponding routine entry and relevant data, which can guide the engineers who first contact the ATMEL board (so as to ensure that ATMEL studio maintains the latest version)
ATMEL studio connecting atsam4e-xpro board
Ethernet function
It is the first time that a complete Ethernet circuit has appeared on the xplained Pro platform. The author is still looking forward to this function. ATMEL provides two Ethernet routines, one of which is only for the MAC layer, while the other includes the communication function of PHY layer, which can realize the ARP request and ICMP reply function. This is mainly due to the complete Ethernet circuit of atsam4e-xpro board.
Ethernet routine
The IP address and gateway address tested in the routine are 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.250 by default. This can be found in con_ Eth. H is set according to the actual network environment.
Default IP and MAC configuration mode of atsam4e-xpro board
After setting, compile and download, connect the board to the Internet cable, and open the serial port tool to see the relevant printing information.
Atsam4e-xpro running Ethernet routine
Can function
In order to understand the function of can more clearly and intuitively, two atsam4e-xpro boards are used to realize can communication.
First, download both boards to the can routine in ATMEL studio ASF
Then connect the can of the card can interface with two wires_ H and can_ H signal, can_ L and can_ L signals are connected with each other. Since can is a differential circuit, it does not need TX-RX and rx-tx cross connection as serial ports
Open two serial port tools on the PC side to monitor the serial ports of the two boards respectively
After power on, we can see the can communication information printed on the serial port. We can send and receive information by entering "t" and "R", as shown in the following figure
Atsam4e-xpro running can routine
More routines are not demonstrated one by one in this paper. The ATMEL atsam4e-xpro development board still gives us some different surprises. We can realize the functions of Ethernet and can without external circuits of DIY. It is very convenient to study or directly carry out secondary development of the board.
Summary
This paper introduces another development board of ATMEL xplained Pro platform The features and usage of atsam4e-xpro are compared with other series of products on the xplained Pro platform, The characteristics of atsam4e-xpro are very distinctive. The cortex-m4 processor atsam4e16e, which is equipped with lfbga packaging technology for the first time, has floating-point operation unit and integrates advanced analog functions. The board is equipped with complete Ethernet circuit and can circuit, which can realize networking, can communication and other applications without the expansion of external circuits, which greatly facilitates engineers' learning or direct secondary development of the board, At the same time, it also enriches the existing product line of ATMEL xplained Pro platform, which can kill two birds with one stone. At present, the quotation of the board on the official website is $99. Of course, those who are interested can also apply for a trial in the non online ATMEL community.
reference material
Atsam4e-xpro development board data
Atsam4e16e microcontroller data
ATMEL xplained Pro development platform
Original statement: This article is original by Aiban. Reprint is declined“
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