Intermediate
30 min

Stay ahead in the world of communication technology with MAX485 and PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Transforming data transmission: The magic of RS485 transceivers

RS485 5 Click with Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Published Oct 19, 2023

Click board™

RS485 5 Click

Dev. board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFM100

The core purpose of this solution is to establish a robust, long-distance network, facilitating efficient data exchange

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

RS485 5 Click is based on the MAX485, low-power, slew-rate-limited transceiver for RS-485 and RS-422 communication from Analog Devices, which draw between 120µA and 500µA of supply current when unloaded or fully loaded with disabled drivers. All parts operate from a single 5V supply. Driver is short-circuit current limited and is protected against excessive power dissipation by thermal shutdown circuitry that places the driver outputs into a high-impedance state. The receiver input has a fail-safe feature that guarantees a logic-high output if the input is open circuit. The MAX485 slew rates are not limited, allowing it to transmit up to 2.5Mbps and half-duplex communication. In general, the maximal transfer

speed is determined by the bus length, longer bus lines will result in less transfer speed. The RS485/422 line should be terminated at both ends in its characteristic impedance and stub lengths off the main line should be kept as short as possible to minimize the reflections. The RS-485/RS-422 standard covers line lengths up to 1220 meters (4000 feet). Excessive output current and power dissipation caused by faults or by bus contention are prevented by two mechanisms. A foldback current limit on the output stage provides immediate protection against short circuits over the whole common-mode voltage range. In addition, a thermal shutdown circuit forces the driver outputs into a high-impedance

state if the temperature rises excessively. There are two 2-pole screw terminals on board (+, B, A, -) for connecting RS422/485 bus twisted pair cable, along with the GND and VCC. The terminal inputs labeled as “A” and “B” are used to connect the bus wires. GND and VCC rails can be used to provide the power supply for another node. Note that the VCC terminal is directly routed to the 5V rail of the mikroBUS™. 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.

RS485 5 Click top side image
RS485 5 Click bottom side 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
Receiver Output
RA9
RST
Drive Output
RPD4
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
NC
NC
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
NC
NC
PWM
NC
NC
INT
UART TX
RPD10
TX
UART RX
RPD15
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

RS485 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
Board mapper by product7 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

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for RS485 5 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • rs4855_generic_write - Generic write function.

  • rs4855_set_de_state - Sets DE pin to high or low state.

  • rs4855_set_re_state - Sets RE pin to high or low state.

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 
 * \brief Rs4855 Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This example reads and processes data from RS485 5 Clicks.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initializes the driver and enables the selected mode.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Depending on the selected mode, it reads all the received data or sends the desired message
 * every 2 seconds.
 * 
 * ## Additional Function
 * - rs4855_process ( ) - The general process of collecting the received data.
 * 
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "rs4855.h"
#include "string.h"

#define PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE 500

#define TEXT_TO_SEND "MikroE\r\n"

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

#define DEMO_APP_RECEIVER
// #define DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER

static rs4855_t rs4855;
static log_t logger;

// ------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS

static void rs4855_process ( void )
{
    int32_t rsp_size;
    
    char uart_rx_buffer[ PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE ] = { 0 };
    uint8_t check_buf_cnt;
    
    rsp_size = rs4855_generic_read( &rs4855, uart_rx_buffer, PROCESS_RX_BUFFER_SIZE );

    if ( rsp_size >= strlen( TEXT_TO_SEND ) )
    {  
        log_printf( &logger, "Received data: " );
        
        for ( check_buf_cnt = 0; check_buf_cnt < rsp_size; check_buf_cnt++ )
        {
            log_printf( &logger, "%c", uart_rx_buffer[ check_buf_cnt ] );
        }
    }
    Delay_ms ( 100 );
}

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

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    rs4855_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.

    rs4855_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    RS4855_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    rs4855_init( &rs4855, &cfg );

    Delay_ms ( 100 );

#ifdef DEMO_APP_RECEIVER
    rs4855_set_re_state( &rs4855, RS4855_PIN_STATE_LOW );
    rs4855_set_de_state( &rs4855, RS4855_PIN_STATE_LOW );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Receiver mode ----" );
#endif    
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
    rs4855_set_re_state( &rs4855, RS4855_PIN_STATE_HIGH );
    rs4855_set_de_state( &rs4855, RS4855_PIN_STATE_HIGH );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Transmitter mode ----" );
#endif    
}

void application_task ( void )
{
#ifdef DEMO_APP_RECEIVER
    rs4855_process( );
#endif    
    
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
    rs4855_generic_write( &rs4855, TEXT_TO_SEND, 8 );
    log_info( &logger, "---- Data sent ----" );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
#endif    
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}


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

Additional Support

Resources

Love this project?

'Buy This Kit' button takes you directly to the shopping cart where you can easily add or remove products.