Beginner
10 min

Enhance energy efficiency with MLX75305 and PIC18LF2620 by tailoring illumination to the available natural light

Let there be light data

Ambient Click with EasyPIC v7

Published Nov 01, 2023

Click board™

Ambient Click

Dev Board

EasyPIC v7

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

PIC18LF2620

Unlock the ability to monitor and control environmental conditions effortlessly, making your space more comfortable and energy-efficient

A

A

Hardware Overview

How does it work?

Ambient Click is based on the MLX75305, a light-to-voltage SensorEyeC™ from Melexis Technologies. The MLX75305 is the second member of the SensorEyeC™ series of optical sensors designed for high-volume automotive, industrial, and consumer applications. It includes a photodiode, a trans-impedance amplifier to convert and amplify the photocurrent of the photodiode, and an open drain output buffer stage which gives a voltage value that varies

linearly with incident light, available on the AN pin of the mikroBUS™ socket. An internal configuration like this guarantees stable light responsivity over time and temperature and drastically improves noise behavior compared to discrete photodiode designs. Covering a spectral bandwidth from 500nm up to 1000nm, the MLX75305 maintains ±2% linearity across its whole output voltage range with a typical responsiveness of 70mV/(µW/cm²). Its unique features make it

suitable for measuring ambient light or controlling LED light in LCD backlight dimming applications. 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.

Ambient Click hardware overview image

Features overview

Development board

EasyPIC v7 is the seventh generation of PIC development boards specially designed to develop embedded applications rapidly. It supports a wide range of 8-bit PIC microcontrollers from Microchip and has a broad set of unique functions, such as a powerful onboard mikroProg programmer and In-Circuit debugger over USB-B. The development board is well organized and designed so that the end-user has all the necessary elements in one place, such as switches, buttons, indicators, connectors, and others. With four different connectors for each port, EasyPIC v7 allows you to connect accessory boards, sensors, and custom electronics more efficiently than ever. Each part of

the EasyPIC v7 development board contains the components necessary for the most efficient operation of the same board. An integrated mikroProg, a fast USB 2.0 programmer with mikroICD hardware In-Circuit Debugger, offers many valuable programming/debugging options and seamless integration with the Mikroe software environment. Besides it also includes a clean and regulated power supply block for the development board. It can use various external power sources, including an external 12V power supply, 7-23V AC or 9-32V DC via DC connector/screw terminals, and a power source via the USB Type-B (USB-B) connector. Communication options such as

USB-UART and RS-232 are also included, alongside the well-established mikroBUS™ standard, three display options (7-segment, graphical, and character-based LCD), and several different DIP sockets. These sockets cover a wide range of 8-bit PIC MCUs, from PIC10F, PIC12F, PIC16F, PIC16Enh, PIC18F, PIC18FJ, and PIC18FK families. EasyPIC v7 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 v7 horizontal image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

default

Architecture

PIC

MCU Memory (KB)

64

Silicon Vendor

Microchip

Pin count

28

RAM (Bytes)

3968

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

Analog Output
RA3
AN
NC
NC
RST
NC
NC
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
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
Power Supply
5V
5V
Ground
GND
GND
2

Take a closer look

Schematic

Ambient Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

EasyPIC v7 front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the EasyPIC v7 as your development board.

EasyPIC v7 front image hardware assembly
Rotary B 2 Click front image hardware assembly
MCU DIP 28 hardware assembly
EasyPIC v7 MB 2 - 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
EasyPIC PRO v7a Display Selection Necto Step 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 Ambient Click driver.

Key functions:

  • ambient_read_an_pin_voltage - This function reads results of AD conversion of the AN pin and converts them to proportional voltage level

  • ambient_get_light_intensity - Calculates the light intensity from analog voltage measurement of the Melexis MLX75305 on Ambient Click

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 
 * \brief Ambient Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This application turns light intensity into voltage.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Initialization driver enables GPIO,initializationADC, also write log.
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 *  This is an example which demonstrates the use of Ambient click board.
 *  Ambient click reads ADC value and converts to light intensity [ uW/cm2 ].
 *  Results are being sent to the Usart Terminal where you can track their changes.
 *  All data logs on USB uart change for every 1 sec.
 *
 * \author MikroE Team
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "ambient.h"

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

static ambient_t ambient;
static log_t logger;

uint16_t value_adc;
uint16_t light;

void application_init ( void )
{
    log_cfg_t log_cfg;
    ambient_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.

    ambient_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    AMBIENT_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    ambient_init( &ambient, &cfg );

    log_printf( &logger, "      Initialization ADC      " );
    Delay_ms( 100 );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    ambient_data_t tmp;
    
    //  Task implementation.
    
    tmp = ambient_generic_read ( &ambient );
    light = ambient_calculate_light_intensity( &ambient, tmp, AMBIENT_VCC_3_3, AMBIENT_RES_12_BIT );

    log_printf( &logger, "** ADC value : [DEC]- %d, [HEX]- 0x%x \r\n", tmp, tmp );
    log_printf( &logger, "Light Intensity: %d uW/cm2 \r\n", light );

    Delay_ms( 1000 );
}

void main ( void )
{
    application_init( );

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


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

Additional Support

Resources

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