Beginner
10 min

Provide detailed information about power consumption and energy usage with INA700A and PIC32MZ2048EFM100

High-performance power monitor based on EZShunt™ technology

VCP Monitor 5 Click with Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Published Nov 18, 2024

Click board™

VCP Monitor 5 Click

Dev. board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Monitor current, voltage, and temperature with high precision for accurate energy management

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

VCP Monitor 5 Click is based on the INA700A, a 16-bit digital power monitor from Texas Instruments built with advanced EZShunt™ technology. The INA700A integrates a precision shunt resistor and a high-resolution delta-sigma ADC designed specifically for accurate current sensing applications. This IC can handle full-scale current measurements of up to ±15.728A and operates within a broad common-mode voltage range from -0.3V to +40V, making it adaptable for various power monitoring needs. It is ideal for high-precision power monitoring applications, including industrial battery packs, smart network interface cards (NICs), and hardware accelerator cards, among other high-performance systems where accurate current and energy monitoring are essential. This power monitor accurately measures

and reports current, bus voltage, internal temperature, power, energy, and charge accumulation. Thanks to the integrated ±0.5% oscillator, it performs real-time calculations seamlessly in the background. The embedded temperature sensor provides an accuracy of ±3°C across the junction temperature range, ensuring reliable thermal monitoring under varying operating conditions. The device allows customization through selectable ADC conversion times ranging from 50µs to 4.12ms and sample averaging options from 1x to 1024x, significantly reducing measurement noise and improving the detection window for overcurrent events. VCP Monitor 5 Click uses a standard 2-wire I2C communication protocol to enable the host MCU to control the INA700A. The I2C interface supports clock frequencies up to

400kHz, with the I2C address selectable via the ADDR SEL jumpers. The alert interrupt ALR pin can be used to report multiple diagnostics whenever the monitored output value crosses the associated out-of-range threshold or to indicate that the ADC conversion is complete. Detected abnormalities such as current under/over-limit, bus voltage under/over-limit, or power over-limit, besides the ALR pin, can also be visually displayed by a red ALERT LED. 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 5 Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF development board is a fully integrated 32-bit development platform featuring the high-performance PIC32MZ EF Series (PIC32MZ2048EFM) that has a 2MB Flash, 512KB RAM, integrated FPU, Crypto accelerator, and excellent connectivity options. It includes an integrated programmer and debugger, requiring no additional hardware. Users can expand

functionality through MIKROE mikroBUS™ Click™ adapter boards, add Ethernet connectivity with the Microchip PHY daughter board, add WiFi connectivity capability using the Microchip expansions boards, and add audio input and output capability with Microchip audio daughter boards. These boards are fully integrated into PIC32’s powerful software framework, MPLAB Harmony,

which provides a flexible and modular interface to application development a rich set of inter-operable software stacks (TCP-IP, USB), and easy-to-use features. The Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF development board offers expansion capabilities making it an excellent choice for a rapid prototyping board in Connectivity, IOT, and general-purpose applications.

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF double side 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
ID COMM
RPD4
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
Alarm Interrupt
RF13
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
I2C Clock
RPA14
SCL
I2C Data
RPA15
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

VCP Monitor 5 Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF as your development board.

Curiosity PIC32MZ EF front image hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
GNSS2 Click complete accessories setup image hardware assembly
Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF MB 1 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
Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF 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 5 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • vcpmonitor5_get_bus_voltage - This function reads the BUS voltage output measurement in volts [V] by using I2C serial interface.

  • vcpmonitor5_get_current - This function reads the current measurement result in milliamperes [mA] by using the I2C serial interface.

  • vcpmonitor5_get_power - This function reads the power measurement result in Watts [W] by using the I2C serial interface.

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 VCP Monitor 5 Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This library contains API for the VCP Monitor 5 Click driver 
 * for measurements of the voltage, current, power, energy, charge, and die temperature.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * The initialization of the I2C module and log UART.
 * After driver initialization, the app sets the default configuration.
 *
 * ## Application Task
 * The demo application reads and displays the results of the input bus voltage, 
 * current, power, energy, charge accumulation measurements, and die temperature.
 * Results are being sent to the UART Terminal, where you can track their changes.
 *
 * @author Nenad Filipovic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "vcpmonitor5.h"

static vcpmonitor5_t vcpmonitor5;
static log_t logger;

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    vcpmonitor5_cfg_t vcpmonitor5_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.
    vcpmonitor5_cfg_setup( &vcpmonitor5_cfg );
    VCPMONITOR5_MAP_MIKROBUS( vcpmonitor5_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( I2C_MASTER_ERROR == vcpmonitor5_init( &vcpmonitor5, &vcpmonitor5_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    if ( VCPMONITOR5_ERROR == vcpmonitor5_default_cfg ( &vcpmonitor5 ) )
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Default configuration." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    float app_buf = 0;
    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_bus_voltage( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Voltage: %.2f [V]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }

    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_current( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Current: %.2f [mA]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }

    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_power( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Power: %.2f [W]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }

    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_energy( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Energy: %.2f [kJ]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }

    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_charge( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Charge: %.2f [C]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }

    if ( VCPMONITOR5_OK == vcpmonitor5_get_temperature( &vcpmonitor5, &app_buf ) )
    {
        log_printf( &logger, " Temperature: %.2f [degC]\r\n", app_buf );
        Delay_ms( 50 );
    }
    log_printf( &logger, " ----------------------------\r\n" );
    Delay_ms( 2000 );
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

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

Additional Support

Resources

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