Beginner
10 min

Experience the future of IR serial data exchange with TFDU4101, MCP2120 and PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Send and receive Infrared (IR) serial data

IrDA2 Click with Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Published Jan 23, 2024

Click board™

IrDA2 Click

Dev. board

Curiosity PIC32 MZ EF

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC32MZ2048EFM100

Achieve fast and stable infrared data communication, covering a more than 1m range and speeds up to 115.2 kbit/s

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

IrDA 2 Click is based on the MCP2120, a high-performance fully-static infrared encoder/decoder from Microchip for sending and receiving IR serial data from the infrared transceiver module, the TFDU4101 from Vishay semiconductor. This way, the MCP2120 adds IR capability to any embedded application with serial data. The data from a standard UART is encoded (modulated) and output as electrical pulses to the IR Transceiver. Besides, the IR Transceiver also receives and outputs electrical pulses, which the MCP2120 decodes (demodulates) and transmits by the UART interface. The latest IrDAR physical layer standard performs this modulation and demodulation method for fast infrared data communication, supporting IrDA speeds up to 115.2kbit/s. Integrated within the TFDU4101 transceiver module is a photo pin diode, an infrared emitter (IRED), and a low-power control

IC to provide a total front-end solution in a single package. This Click board™ covers the full IrDA range of more than 1m and can be turned on or off through the EN pin routed to the CS pin of the mikroBUS™ socket; hence, offering a switch operation to turn ON/OFF power delivery to the MCP2120. The MCP2120 will encode and decode serial data at the selected data or baud rate. The selection can be made by positioning SMD jumpers labeled as BR SEL in an appropriate position marked as 1 or 0. Also, the software baud rate selection is selected if all these jumpers are in a high (1) position. For any other inputs, the hardware select mode is active. This setting is latched when the MCP2120 is reset from the RST pin of the mikroBUS™ socket. After an MCP2120 reset, changing the value of the baud pins does not affect the device’s baud rate. Software baud data

rate is intended for use with systems where switching data rates must be performed frequently between the MCP2120 and the embedded host. In software baud mode, the MCP2120 differentiates between data and commands. This feature is controlled via the MOD pin routed to the AN pin of the mikroBUS™ socket. The MOD pin is used to switch between command and data modes, and when the MOD pin is in a low state, the MCP2120 is in command mode; otherwise, the MCP2120 is in data mode. This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the PWR 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.

IrDA2 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

Mode Selection
RPB4
AN
Reset
RA9
RST
Enable
RPD4
CS
NC
NC
SCK
NC
NC
MISO
NC
NC
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
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

IrDA2 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
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 IrDA 2 Click driver.

Key functions:

  • irda2_generic_write - This function writes a desired number of data bytes by using UART serial interface

  • irda2_generic_read - This function reads a desired number of data bytes by using UART serial interface

  • irda2_reset - This function executes a device reset operation

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 IrDA 2 Click Example.
 *
 * # Description
 * This example demonstrates the use of an IrDA 2 Click board by showing
 * the communication between the two Click boards.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initalizes device and makes an initial log.
 * 
 * ## Application Task
 * Depending on the selected application mode, it reads all the received data or 
 * sends the desired text message once per second.
 *
 * @author MikroE Team
 *
 */
#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "irda2.h"

// Comment out the line below in order to switch the application mode to receiver
#define DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER

// Text message to send in the transmitter application mode
#define DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE           "MIKROE - IrDA 2 Click board\r\n\0"

static irda2_t irda2;
static log_t logger;

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    irda2_cfg_t irda2_cfg;
    log_cfg_t logger_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( logger_cfg );
    log_init( &logger, &logger_cfg );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );
    
    //  Click initialization.
    irda2_cfg_setup( &irda2_cfg );
    IRDA2_MAP_MIKROBUS( irda2_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    if ( UART_ERROR == irda2_init( &irda2, &irda2_cfg ) ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
        for ( ; ; );
    }
    irda2_default_cfg( &irda2 );
    irda2_reset( &irda2 );

#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
    log_printf( &logger, " Application Mode: Transmitter\r\n" );
#else
    log_printf( &logger, " Application Mode: Receiver\r\n" );
#endif
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
    irda2_generic_write( &irda2, DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE, strlen( DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE ) );
    log_printf( &logger, "%s", ( char * ) DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 ); 
#else
    uint8_t rx_byte = 0;
    if ( 1 == irda2_generic_read( &irda2, &rx_byte, 1 ) )
    {
       log_printf( &logger, "%c", rx_byte );
    }
#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

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