Intermediate
30 min

Improve reliability through continuous VCP analysis using INA239 and PIC32MZ2048EFH100

Your circuit's guardian: VCP monitoring for peak performance

VCP Monitor 4 Click with Flip&Click PIC32MZ

Published Sep 30, 2023

Click board™

VCP Monitor 4 Click

Dev. board

Flip&Click PIC32MZ

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFH100

Our VCP monitoring solution is designed to provide you with precise and real-time measurements of voltage, current, and power parameters, ensuring the optimal operation of your electronic circuits

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

VCP Monitor 4 Click is based on the INA239, a digital current sense amplifier with a 4-wire serial digital interface from Texas Instruments. It measures shunt and bus voltage and internal temperature while calculating the power necessary for accurate decision-making in precisely controlled systems. The input stage of the INA239 is designed such that the input common-mode voltage can be higher than the device supply voltage. It operates from mikroBUS™ power rails but can measure voltage and current as high as 85V, making it well-suited

for high- and low-side current measurements. Its integrated 16-bit ADC allows for selectable conversion times from 50μs to 4.12ms and sample averaging from 1x to 1024x, which further helps reduce the noise of the measured data. It also features low offset and gain-drift and low input bias current, which reduces the current consumed in both Active and Shutdown operational states. Another benefit of low bias current is that it allows the use of larger current-sense resistors (in this case, onboard R4 shunt 25MΩ resistor), thus providing accurate current measurements in

the micro-amp range. Besides it can also measure the temperature through the integrated temperature sensor. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VCC SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

VCP Monitor 4 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Flip&Click PIC32MZ 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 comes with an onboard 32-bit PIC32MZ microcontroller, the PIC32MZ2048EFH100 from Microchip, four mikroBUS™ sockets for Click board™ connectivity, two USB connectors, LED indicators, buttons, debugger/programmer connectors, and two headers compatible with Arduino-UNO pinout. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology,

it allows you to build gadgets with unique functionalities and features quickly. Each part of the Flip&Click PIC32MZ development kit contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition, there is the possibility of choosing the Flip&Click PIC32MZ programming method, using the chipKIT bootloader (Arduino-style development environment) or our USB HID bootloader using mikroC, mikroBasic, and mikroPascal for PIC32. This kit includes a clean and regulated power supply block through the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector. All communication

methods that mikroBUS™ itself supports are on this board, including the well-established mikroBUS™ socket, user-configurable buttons, and LED indicators. Flip&Click PIC32MZ development kit allows 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.

Flip&Click PIC32MZ double image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC32

MCU Memory (KB)

2048

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

100

RAM (Bytes)

524288

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
SPI Chip Select
RA0
CS
SPI Clock
RG6
SCK
SPI Data OUT
RC4
MISO
SPI Data IN
RB5
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
Alert Interrupt
RD9
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

Click board™ Schematic

VCP Monitor 4 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Flip&Click PIC32MZ front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Flip&Click PIC32MZ as your development board.

Flip&Click PIC32MZ front image hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly
Flip&Click PIC32MZ MB1 Access - 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
Flip&Click PIC32MZ MCU step 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

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for VCP Monitor 4 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • vcpmonitor4_get_vbus - Get BUS voltage

  • vcpmonitor4_get_current - Get Current

  • vcpmonitor4_get_power - Get Shunt voltage.

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * @file main.c
 * @brief VCPMonitor4 Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example application showcases ability of Click board
 * to be configured for different readings and read temperature, 
 * voltage, current and power.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initialization of communication modules (SPI, UART) and 
 * additional alert pin. Reads Manufacturer and Device ID,
 * Configurates device for reading all device measurements.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * In span of 500ms reads and calculates data for IC temperature,
 * Bus voltage in V, Shunt voltage in mV, and current and power for device.
 *
 * @author Luka Filipovic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "vcpmonitor4.h"

static vcpmonitor4_t vcpmonitor4;
static log_t logger;

float current_lsb;

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    vcpmonitor4_cfg_t vcpmonitor4_cfg;  /**< Click config object. */

    /** 
     * 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.
    vcpmonitor4_cfg_setup( &vcpmonitor4_cfg );
    VCPMONITOR4_MAP_MIKROBUS( vcpmonitor4_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    err_t init_flag  = vcpmonitor4_init( &vcpmonitor4, &vcpmonitor4_cfg );
    VCPMONITOR4_SET_DATA_SAMPLE_EDGE
    if ( SPI_MASTER_ERROR == init_flag )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Application Init Error. " );
        log_info( &logger, " Please, run program again... " );

        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    uint32_t temp_data = 0;
    vcpmonitor4_generic_read( &vcpmonitor4, VCPMONITOR4_REG_MANUFACTURER_ID, &temp_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Manufacturer ID: \t0x%.4X\r\n", temp_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_generic_read( &vcpmonitor4, VCPMONITOR4_REG_DEVICE_ID, &temp_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Device ID: \t\t0x%.4X\r\n", temp_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_default_cfg ( &vcpmonitor4 );
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    float read_data;
    vcpmonitor4_get_temperature( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Temperature:\t%.2f \r\n", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_vbus( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Vbus[V]:\t%.2f \r\n", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_vshunt( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Vshunt[mV]:\t%.2f \r\n", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_current( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Current[A]:\t%.2f \r\n", read_data );
    
    vcpmonitor4_get_power( &vcpmonitor4, &read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Power[W]:\t%.2f \r\n", read_data );
    log_printf( &logger, "*************************\r\n" );
    
    Delay_ms( 500 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

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

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

Additional Support

Resources

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