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The objective of this tutorial is to use the Logic Analyzer instrument provided by the ADALM2000 (M2K) board and the Scopy software toolset to visualize I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) transactions between two devices.
The ADT7420 PMOD Temperature Demo project will be used as an example. The project uses the EVAL-ADT7420-PMDZ connected to the EVAL-ADICUP360 microcontroller board. The PMOD includes the ADT7420 high accuracy digital temperature sensor.
The Demo application includes a function that reads and displays the temperature data from the ADT7420 and one that reads and displays the ID register data for ADT7420.
I2C is a serial protocol for two-wire interface to connect low-speed peripheral integrated circuits like EEPROMs, A/D and D/A converters and other similar peripherals in embedded systems to processors and microcontrollers in short-distance (intra-board communication).
With I2C, you can connect multiple slaves to a single master and you can have multiple masters controlling single, or multiple slaves. This is really useful, for example, when you want to have more than one microcontroller writing data to a single memory card.
Figure 1. I2C master-slave configuration
Transmission lines:
Being a serial communication protocol, the data is transferred bit by bit along a single wire (the SDA line).
I2C is synchronous, therefore the output of bits is synchronized to the sampling of bits by a clock signal shared between the master and the slave. The clock signal is always controlled by the master.
The data is transferred in messages composed of multiple frames. Each message has an address frame that contains the binary address of the slave, and one or more data frames. The message also includes start and stop conditions, read/write bits, and ACK/NACK bits between each data frame as presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2. I2C message content
Message components:
Figure 3. shows the hardware connection between M2K board and EVAL-ADICUP360 + EVAL-ADT7420-PMDZ.
Figure 3. I2C Debug Hardware Setup
The I2C pins are available for monitoring at port PWMH of the EVAL-ADICUP360.
EVAL-ADICUP360 I2C pin configuration: Port PWMH:
Port POWER:
M2K I2C pin configuration:
Connect the M2K pins to the EVAL-ADICUP360 as follows:
Open the Logic Analyzer instrument, select DIO0-DIO1 lines and press the “Group with selected” button.
Figure 3. I2C Group Channels
Select the channel group formed and apply the I2C decoder. While the group is selected, open settings menu by pressing the button on the top right side of the user interface. A settings panel will appear for the I2C decoder, allowing the signal-channel configuration and parameters setup.
Figure 4. Group Settings