Beginner
10 min

Experience the ease of dual LED matrix display control with MAX7219 and TM4C1299KCZAD

Double the impact: Unleash the red matrix magic!

Matrix R Click with Fusion for Tiva v8

Published Sep 04, 2023

Click board™

Matrix R Click

Dev Board

Fusion for Tiva v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

TM4C1299KCZAD

Our solution is tailor-made to control two onboard red 5x7 matrices, offering seamless integration and the power to create customized visuals, messages, and notifications for your projects

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Matrix R Click is based on two MAX7219, serially interfaced, 8-digit LED display drivers from Analog Devices. The MAX7219 over 10MHz serial interface can address each LED of the two onboard red 5x7 matrices individually or all simultaneously. It has digital and analog brightness control, blanked display on Power-Up sequence, low-power shutdown with data retained, and more features. It also includes a BCD code-B decoder, multiplex scan circuitry, segment and digit drivers, and an 8x8 static RAM that stores each data. Users can get four-character displays if they double up on a

board with two adjacent mikroBUS™ sockets, such as Fusion, Clicker 2, or Flip&Click. The Matrix R Click uses an SPI serial interface to communicate to the host microcontroller, with speeds of up to 10MHz. Each MAX7219's chip select pin is connected to the appropriate pin on the mikroBUS™ socket. The MAX7219 that controls the left display is connected to the pin labeled CSL, while the right is connected to the pin labeled CSR. Serial data is loaded into the shift register while the corresponding chip select pin is in a low logic state. The peak segment current is set to

around 40mA with an external resistor. The display's brightness can be controlled by the internal PWM by the software. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 5V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

Matrix R Click top side image
Matrix R Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

Fusion for TIVA v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports a wide range of microcontrollers, such as different 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M based MCUs from Texas Instruments, regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer over a WiFi network. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, Fusion for TIVA v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access

anywhere and under any circumstances at any time. Each part of the Fusion for TIVA v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. An advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module offers many valuable programming/debugging options, including support for JTAG, SWD, and SWO Trace (Single Wire Output)), and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment. Besides, it also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB HOST/DEVICE, CAN (on the MCU card, if supported), and Ethernet is also included. In addition, it also has the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, a standardized socket for the MCU card (SiBRAIN standard), and two display options for the TFT board line of products and character-based LCD. Fusion for TIVA v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

Fusion for Tiva v8 horizontal image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Type

8th Generation

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M4

MCU Memory (KB)

512

Silicon Vendor

Texas Instruments

Pin count

212

RAM (Bytes)

262144

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Right Display SPI Chip Select
PE3
AN
NC
NC
RST
Left Display SPI Chip Select
PE7
CS
SPI Clock
PA2
SCK
SPI Data OUT
PA5
MISO
SPI Data IN
PA4
MOSI
NC
NC
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
NC
NC
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

Matrix R Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Fusion for PIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Fusion for Tiva v8 as your development board.

Fusion for PIC v8 front image hardware assembly
Buck 22 Click front image hardware assembly
SiBRAIN for PIC32MZ1024EFK144 front image hardware assembly
v8 SiBRAIN MB 1 - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly
NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Necto image step 7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Necto PreFlash Image hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output via UART Mode

1. Once the code example is loaded, pressing the "FLASH" button initiates the build process, and programs it on the created setup.

2. After the programming is completed, click on the Tools icon in the upper-right panel, and select the UART Terminal.

3. After opening the UART Terminal tab, first check the baud rate setting in the Options menu (default is 115200). If this parameter is correct, activate the terminal by clicking the "CONNECT" button.

4. Now terminal status changes from Disconnected to Connected in green, and the data is displayed in the Received data field.

UART_Application_Output

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Matrix R Click driver.

Key functions:

  • matrixr_display_characters - This function displays the specified characters on the L/R segments of the click

  • matrixr_set_csn_high - This function sets the CSN pin output to high

  • matrixr_set_csn_low - This function sets the CSN pin output to low.

Open Source

Code example

This example can be found in NECTO Studio. Feel free to download the code, or you can copy the code below.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief MatrixR Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example showcases how to prepare the logger and click modules for use and 
 * how to display ASCII characters on both of the LED segments of the click.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * This function initializes and configures the logger and click modules. After the initialization of the logger module, 
 * communication, mikrobus and pin setup, some of the registers are configured in order for the click module to work properly.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * This function displays two strings on each of the LED segments, showing one character every second. 
 * It should display " Mikroelektronika" on the left one and "Mikroelektronika " on the right.
 *
 * @note
 * The click has two chips, each controlling one of the LED segments, on and requires you to write data to both at the same time. 
 * Writing to one specific chip will not work. If you wish to display characters on a single segment, you have to send ' ' characters to the other segment.
 *
 * @author Jelena Milosavljevic
 *
 */

// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "matrixr.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static matrixr_t matrixr;
static log_t logger;

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( ) {
   
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    matrixr_cfg_t cfg;

    /** 
     * Logger initialization.
     * Default baud rate: 115200
     * Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
     * @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX 
     * are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will 
     * need to define them manually for log to work. 
     * See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
     */
    LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Application Init ----" );

    //  Click initialization.

    matrixr_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    MATRIXR_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    matrixr_init( &matrixr, &cfg );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
    matrixr_default_cfg( &matrixr );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
}

void application_task ( ) {
   
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, ' ', 'M' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'M', 'i' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'i', 'k' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'k', 'r' );
    Delay_ms( 1000);
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'r', 'o' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'o', 'E' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'E', 'l' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'l', 'e' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'e', 'k' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'k', 't' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 't', 'r' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'r', 'o' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'o', 'n' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'n', 'i' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'i', 'k' );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'k', 'a' );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
    matrixr_display_characters( &matrixr, 'a', ' ' );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
}

void main ( ) {
    
    application_init( );

    for ( ; ; )
    {
        application_task( );
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

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