Intermediate
30 min

Attain accurate and real-time absolute angular positioning with MA302 and PIC18F87J11

From 0 to 60.000 RPM: Accurate angle measurement simplified

Angle 5 Click with UNI Clicker

Published Sep 27, 2023

Click board™

Angle 5 Click

Dev Board

UNI Clicker

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18F87J11

Detect the absolute rotor position of brushless motors with ease, allowing for seamless control and optimization of motor performance

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Angle 5 Click is based on the MA302, a 12-bit digital contactless angle sensor with ABZ and UVW incremental outputs from Monolithic Power Systems. This Click board™ can detect the absolute rotor position of a Brushless motor in real-time, even without a target magnet, by measuring the fringe field of the rotor. The sensor must be positioned at the correct place (in this case, below the rotor) to get the maximum value of the rotor magnetic field without being disturbed by other fields. The rotor magnetic field is then measured, and an adequate position was determined from that information. It uses the SPI serial interface for digital angle readout and configuration alongside a programmable magnetic field strength detection function for diagnostic checks. The magnetic field is detected with integrated Hall devices located in the center of the package. The angle is measured using the Spinaxis™ method, based on phase detection,

and generates a sinusoidal signal with a phase that represents the angle of the magnetic field. The angle is then obtained by a time-to-digital converter, which measures the time between the zero-crossing of the sinusoidal signal and the edge of a constant waveform. The time-to-digital represents an output from the front end to the digital conditioning block. This output delivers a digital number proportional to the angle of the magnetic field at the rate of 1MHz in a straightforward and open-loop manner. The Angle 5 Click communicates with MCU using the standard SPI serial interface for angle reading and register programming, which supports SPI Mode 0 and 3 and operates at clock rates up to 25 MHz. It also has the magnetic flags used for indication when the magnetic field at the sensor position is out of range, defined by the lower and upper magnetic field thresholds, routed on the PWM and INT pin of the mikroBUS™ socket labeled as MGH

and MGL. This Click board™ possesses an incremental encoder and block commutation function that uses three output pins each: ABZ and UVW. The ABZ output emulates a 10-bit incremental encoder (such as an optical encoder) providing logic pulses in quadrature, while the UVW output emulates the three Hall switches usually used for the block commutation of a three-phase electric motor. The ABZ and UVW pins of the MA302 are routed on two standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inches) pitch 1x3 header mounted on the Angle 5 Click so an external application can easily access it. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V 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.

Angle 5 Click top side image
Angle 5 Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

UNI Clicker is a compact development board designed as a complete solution that brings the flexibility of add-on Click boards™ to your favorite microcontroller, making it a perfect starter kit for implementing your ideas. It supports a wide range of microcontrollers, such as different ARM, PIC32, dsPIC, PIC, and AVR from various vendors like Microchip, ST, NXP, and TI (regardless of their number of pins), four mikroBUS™ sockets for Click board™ connectivity, a USB connector, LED indicators, buttons, a debugger/programmer connector, and two 26-pin headers for interfacing with external electronics. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, it allows you to build

gadgets with unique functionalities and features quickly. Each part of the UNI Clicker development kit contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition to the possibility of choosing the UNI Clicker programming method, using a third-party programmer or CODEGRIP/mikroProg connected to onboard JTAG/SWD header, the UNI Clicker board also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development kit. It provides two ways of board-powering; through the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector, where onboard voltage regulators provide the appropriate voltage levels to each component on the board, or using a Li-Po/Li

Ion battery via an onboard battery connector. All communication methods that mikroBUS™ itself supports are on this board (plus USB HOST/DEVICE), including the well-established mikroBUS™ socket, a standardized socket for the MCU card (SiBRAIN standard), and several user-configurable buttons and LED indicators. UNI Clicker is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem, allowing you to create a new application in minutes. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

UNI clicker double image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Type

8th Generation

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

128

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

80

RAM (Bytes)

3904

You complete me!

Accessories

2207V-2500kV BLDC Motor is an outrunner brushless DC motor with a kV rating of 2500 and an M5 shaft diameter. It is an excellent solution for fulfilling many functions initially performed by brushed DC motors or in RC drones, racing cars, and much more.

Angle 5 Click accessories image

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
SPI Chip Select
PJ0
CS
SPI Clock
PD6
SCK
SPI Data OUT
PD5
MISO
SPI Data IN
PD4
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
Magnetic Field Strength Detection (HIGH)
PE0
PWM
Magnetic Field Strength Detection (LOW)
PB0
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Schematic

Angle 5 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

UNI Clicker front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the UNI Clicker as your development board.

UNI Clicker front image hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly
SiBRAIN for STM32F745VG front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly
UNI Clicker Access 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 image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Necto image step 7 hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Debug Image Necto Step hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

After loading the code example, pressing the "DEBUG" button builds and programs it on the selected setup.

Application Output Step 1

After programming is completed, a header with buttons for various actions available in the IDE appears. By clicking the green "PLAY "button, we start reading the results achieved with Click board™.

Application Output Step 3

Upon completion of programming, the Application Output tab is automatically opened, where the achieved result can be read. In case of an inability to perform the Debug function, check if a proper connection between the MCU used by the setup and the CODEGRIP programmer has been established. A detailed explanation of the CODEGRIP-board connection can be found in the CODEGRIP User Manual. Please find it in the RESOURCES section.

Application Output Step 4

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Angle 5 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • angle5_read_raw_angle - Use this function to read raw angle data

  • angle5_read_angle_deg - Use this function to read angle data

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 
 * \brief Angle5 Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * Angle 5 click is a magnetic rotational sensor. 
 * It communicates with the target microcontroller over SPI interface.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initializes the driver.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Reads the angle position of the magnet and displays the results on the USB UART.
 * 
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "angle5.h"

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

static angle5_t angle5;
static log_t logger;

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

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    angle5_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.

    angle5_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    ANGLE5_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    angle5_init( &angle5, &cfg );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    float new_angle = 0;
    
    new_angle = angle5_read_angle_deg( &angle5 );
    log_printf( &logger, "Angle: %.2f\r\n", new_angle );

    Delay_ms( 100 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

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


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

Additional Support

Resources