Intermediate
30 min

Immediately seize and safeguard essential data in the event of a power disruption with CY15B116QSN and PIC18LF26K40

Unlock the future of memory

Excelon-Ultra Click with EasyPIC v8

Published Nov 01, 2023

Click board™

Excelon-Ultra Click

Dev Board

EasyPIC v8

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18LF26K40

Boost the efficiency and speed of your design with FRAM memory technology

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Excelon-Ultra Click is based on the CY15B116QSN, a high-performance 16-Mbit nonvolatile memory employing an advanced Infineon ferroelectric process. The memory array is logically organized as 2,097,152 × 8 bits and is accessed using an industry-standard serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus. The CY15B116QSN combines a 16-Mbit F-RAM with the high-speed Quad SPI SDR and DDR interfaces, enhancing FRAM technology's nonvolatile write capability. The key differences between the CY15B116QSN and a serial flash are the FRAM's superior write performance, high endurance, and lower power consumption. The CY15B116QSN is ideal for nonvolatile memory applications requiring frequent or rapid writes. Examples range from data collection, where the number of write cycles may be critical, to demanding industrial controls, where the long

write time of serial Flash can cause data loss. Excelon-Ultra Click communicates with MCU using an industry-standard SPI interface supporting the two most common modes, SPI Mode 0 and 3, with a maximum frequency 108MHz. Data is written to the memory array immediately after each byte is successfully transferred to the device. The following bus cycle can commence without the need for data polling. It supports 1e14 read/write cycles, or 100 million times more write cycles than EEPROM. In addition, the CY15B116QSN offers substantial write endurance compared to other nonvolatile memories. Furthermore, this Click board™ provides additional hardware-controlled functions. The configurable Write Protection function routed on the PWM pin of the mikroBUS™ socket protects all registers (including status and

configuration) from write operations when the SRWD bit (SR1[7]) is set to '1'. The WP pin must be held high to inhibit all the write operations to registers. When this pin is high, all memory and register writes are prohibited, and the address counter is not incremented. Also, it has a Reset feature routed to the RST pin on the mikroBUS™ socket, which, with a low logic level, puts the CY15B116QSN into a Reset state and, with a high level, operates the module normally. 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.

Excelon-Ultra Click top side image
Excelon-Ultra Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

EasyPIC v8 is a development board specially designed for the needs of rapid development of embedded applications. It supports many high pin count 8-bit PIC microcontrollers from Microchip, regardless of their number of pins, and a broad set of unique functions, such as the first-ever embedded debugger/programmer. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others, in one place. Thanks to innovative manufacturing technology, EasyPIC v8 provides a fluid and immersive working experience, allowing access anywhere and under any

circumstances at any time. Each part of the EasyPIC v8 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. In addition to the advanced integrated CODEGRIP programmer/debugger module, which offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment, the board also includes a clean and regulated power supply module for the development board. It can use a wide range of external power sources, including a battery, an external 12V power supply, and a power source via the USB Type-C (USB-C) connector.

Communication options such as USB-UART, USB DEVICE, and CAN are also included, including the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, two display options (graphical and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets. These sockets cover a wide range of 8-bit PIC MCUs, from the smallest PIC MCU devices with only eight up to forty pins. EasyPIC v8 is an integral part of the Mikroe ecosystem for rapid development. Natively supported by Mikroe software tools, it covers many aspects of prototyping and development thanks to a considerable number of different Click boards™ (over a thousand boards), the number of which is growing every day.

EasyPIC v8 horizontal image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

64

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

28

RAM (Bytes)

3728

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
QSPI I03 / Reset
RA0
RST
SPI Chip Select
RA5
CS
SPI Clock
RC3
SCK
QSPI IO1 / SPI Data OUT
RC4
MISO
QSPI IO0 / SPI Data IN
RC5
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
QSPI IO2 / Write Protection
RC1
PWM
NC
NC
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
2

Take a closer look

Schematic

Excelon-Ultra Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyPIC v8 as your development board.

EasyPIC v8 front image hardware assembly
Rotary B 2 Click front image hardware assembly
MCU DIP 28 hardware assembly
EasyPIC v8 28pin-DIP - upright/background hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
NECTO Compiler Selection Step Image hardware assembly
NECTO Output Selection Step Image hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Necto DIP image step 7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Necto PreFlash Image hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output via UART Mode

1. Once the code example is loaded, pressing the "FLASH" button initiates the build process, and programs it on the created setup.

2. After the programming is completed, click on the Tools icon in the upper-right panel, and select the UART Terminal.

3. After opening the UART Terminal tab, first check the baud rate setting in the Options menu (default is 115200). If this parameter is correct, activate the terminal by clicking the "CONNECT" button.

4. Now terminal status changes from Disconnected to Connected in green, and the data is displayed in the Received data field.

UART_Application_Output

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for Excelon-Ultra Click driver.

Key functions:

  • excelonultra_write_data_to_memory - Write data starting from specified memory address

  • excelonultra_read_data_from_memory - Read data starting from specified memory address

  • excelonultra_clear_data_from_memory -Clears data starting from specified memory address

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 main.c
 * @brief ExcelonUltra Click example
 *
 * # Description
 * This example is showcase of device and it's library abillity.
 * In this example is shown device ID, ability to manipulate with memory.
 * After default configuration device IDs are logged. After that application
 * Writes data to memory, reads data from memory, clears data from memory and
 * checks if data is cleard by reading that same memory address.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 *
 * ## Application Init
 * Initializes MCU modules for communication used in this application (UART, SPI).
 * Calls default configuration that resets device, reads IDs, and enables writing to
 * memory and sets all RAM memory to be free for conrol.
 * 
 * ## Application Task
 * Write data to memory, read data from memory. After that clears that memory address,
 * and checks if it's cleared by reading data. On every iteration of the fucntion 
 * writing data is changed between "MikroE" and "Excelon-Ultra Click"
 *
 * @author Luka Filipovic
 *
 */

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "excelonultra.h"

#define MIKROE_DATA "MikroE"
#define CLICK_DATA "Excelon-Ultra Click"

static excelonultra_t excelonultra;
static log_t logger;

void application_init ( void ) 
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;  /**< Logger config object. */
    excelonultra_cfg_t excelonultra_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.
    excelonultra_cfg_setup( &excelonultra_cfg );
    EXCELONULTRA_MAP_MIKROBUS( excelonultra_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    err_t init_flag  = excelonultra_init( &excelonultra, &excelonultra_cfg );
    if ( init_flag == SPI_MASTER_ERROR ) 
    {
        log_error( &logger, " Application Init Error. " );
        log_info( &logger, " Please, run program again... " );

        for ( ; ; );
    }

    excelonultra_default_cfg ( &excelonultra );
    
    log_printf( &logger, " > Manufacturer ID: 0x%.4X\r\n", excelonultra.manufacturer_id );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Product ID: 0x%.4X\r\n", excelonultra.product_id );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Density ID: 0x%.2X\r\n", excelonultra.density_id );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Die Rev: 0x%.2X\r\n", excelonultra.die_rev );
    
    log_printf( &logger, " > Unique ID: 0x%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 7 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 6 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 5 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 4 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 3 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 2 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 1 ] );
    log_printf( &logger, "%.2X\r\n" , excelonultra.unique_id[ 0 ] );
    
    Delay_ms( 1000 );
    log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}

void application_task ( void ) 
{
    static uint32_t memory_address = 0x00000055;
    static uint8_t data_selection = 1;
    static uint8_t write_len;
    char to_write[ 50 ] = { 0 };
    char read_from[ 50 ] = { 0 };
    
    if (data_selection)
    {
        strcpy( to_write, MIKROE_DATA );
        data_selection = !data_selection;
    }
    else
    {
        strcpy( to_write, CLICK_DATA );
        data_selection = !data_selection;
    }
    write_len = strlen( to_write );
    
    log_printf( &logger, " > Writing data to memory: %s\r\n", to_write );
    excelonultra_write_data_to_memory( &excelonultra, memory_address, to_write, write_len );
    
    Delay_ms( 500 );
    
    excelonultra_read_data_from_memory( &excelonultra, memory_address, read_from, write_len );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Read data from memory: %s\r\n", read_from );

    Delay_ms( 500 );

    log_printf( &logger, " > Clearing data from memory\r\n" );
    excelonultra_clear_data_from_memory( &excelonultra, memory_address, write_len );
    
    Delay_ms( 500 );
    
    excelonultra_read_data_from_memory( &excelonultra, memory_address, read_from, write_len );
    log_printf( &logger, " > Read data from memory: %s\r\n", read_from );

    log_printf( &logger, "***********************************\r\n" );
    Delay_ms( 500 );
}

void main ( void ) 
{
    application_init( );

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

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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.