Click Analyzer
PID: MIKROE‐2956
Weight: 28 g
Click Analyzer is a smart and powerful tool for analyzing pin states and
voltage levels on the mikroBUS™. It is a versatile and powerful smart
analyzing tool, which consists of two 8-bit PIC microcontrollers (MCUs), from
Microchip. By utilizing some of the capabilities of the PIC18F26K42 MCU,
such as the DMA, CLC, SMT, and NCO to name few, it is possible to achieve
measurement and monitoring of the voltage states on all the pins of the
stackable mikroBUS™ slot. The stackable slot allows installation of any Click
board™ on a top of the Click Analyzer, allowing easy and simple data traffic
analysis. Click Analyzer offers several data transfer protocols, suitable both
for various M2M applications, as well as for the human-machine interface
(HMI) applications.
To use Click Analyzer, it is enough to connect it with the USB cable to the
host PC. It will register itself as the serial adapter on a specific COM port,
offering the analysis data in several output formats. This allows Click
Analyzer to perfectly fit in any development scenario, offering the full insight
into the mikroBUS™ inner workings to users, with no additional equipment
required. Additional four LEDs can be used to quickly indicate logic states on
any of the 14 pins of the mikroBUS™. With its powerful and simple to use
functions, compact size, and a support for several popular input and output
protocols, Click Analyzer represents an irreplaceable tool for both the
development and troubleshooting.
How does it work?
As already mentioned, Click Analyzer consists of two MCUs, labeled as
PIC18F26K42 and PIC16F1454, both from Microchip. These 8-bit MCUs both
have their specific features which allow fast, reliable and accurate readings
of the mikroBUS™ pin states, offering the output data in several formats.
PIC18F26K42 offers several powerful peripheral modules best suited for the
analysis and fast data transfer, such as the Direct Memory Access (DMA),
Configurable Logic Cells (CLC), Signal Measurement Timers (SMT),
Numerically Controlled Oscillators, and more. The second MCU labeled as
PIC16F1454 is best suited for the data communication via the USB, so it is
used to format and output the analysis data.
When connected via the USB port with the micro USB cable, the device will
register itself as the serial adapter on a specific COM port, assigned by the
operating system of the host computer. The data will be transferred between
the Click Analyzer and the host computer by using this port. Click Analyzer
has a message format autodetection feature and is able to set itself to a
specific mode, depending on the incoming message format.
Click Analyzer supports several communication protocols, each used to
define the input and output data format:
1. Web mode, a default mode which offers JSON formatted data on the output
2. Terminal mode, a minimalistic GUI for a direct human interface for ANSI terminals
3. Binary mode, best suited for the M2M communication with highest data throughput
In addition, depending on the specified serial communication parameters,
the device can operate in three operating modes:
1. Baud Rate ≤ 4800 - starts the XBOOT bootloader
2. 4800 < Baud Rate ≤ 115200 - resets the Click Analyzer and send the welcome message
3. 115200 < Baud Rate - connects the device in the current state
The simplest form of a communication is the Terminal mode. This mode
allows to use a standard modem terminal application (such as PuTTY),
formatting the message responses according to the ANSI/XTERM protocol.
The terminal application should be able to provide the support for the CP437
character set, in order to display the Click Analyzer output and command
responses without any glitches. This mode offers a basic functionality for
building HMI (Human-Machine Interface) based applications. However, this
mode is not recommended to be used for the Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
applications, as there are other, more complex and robust communication
modes, such as the Web mode and Binary mode, which offer responses
encapsulated in the CRC protected response structure, a properly JSON
formatted responses, or a combination of the two (JSON messages,
encapsulated in a CRC protected response structure). This allows building
reliable and fast M2M applications or powerful JSON based web applications
with a customized interface.
Click Analyzer has one stackable mikroBUS™ slot, so it is able to have any
Click board™ equipped while being installed in the mikroBUS™ slot of a
development system at the same time. This allows so-called "data sniffing"
or capturing the data as it is being transferred between the equipped Click
board™ and the development system. In this scenario, the Click Analyzer
acts as the "middle man", exposing the communication to the user via the
serial COM port of the host computer.
By sending a specific command, the analyzer is able to display the logic
states on each mikroBUS™ pin, acting as the Logic Scope. The Logic Scope
(LS) function performs sampling of the logic states on all pins with the
configurable sampling frequency, which can go up to 4 MHz. It is also
possible to specify the number of samples before the analysis is sent out.
The Logic Scope function allows to monitor states of the pins, while the Click
board™ is exchanging data with the development system, or to simply
analyze if the development system sets the expected states on its
mikroBUS™ pins, regardless if the Click board™ is connected to it or not.
This simplifies troubleshooting and debugging a lot, offering a unique
opportunity to monitor and analyze the functionality in a real-life usage
scenario.
Another important function of the Click Analyzer is the Digital Voltage Meter
(DVM). This allows an accurate voltage level monitoring for up to 5V. This
can be used to monitor voltage levels on the pins or to log the pin voltage
values during a specific time interval. The voltage can be monitored on each
of the 14 mikroBUS™ pins, including the +5V and +3.3V power rails.
Pin state change can be visualized by utilizing one of the four differently
colored LEDs. Each LED can be assigned to any of the 14 available
mikroBUS™ pins. A LED will be pulsed on the rising or falling edge of the
pin, indicating the state change. It won't be lit if the state of the pin is
constant (unchanged). This can be used to visually inspect the state changes
on the pins, and thanks to the different coloring of the LEDs, the state
change can be noticed instantaneously, without counting up the LEDs or
checking out the silk labels.
A note should be made that the Click Analyzer does not require any specific
firmware. It works in an out-of-the-box manner. As soon as it is connected
via the USB cable, it will become available for the monitoring purposes. Its
responses, however, can be implemented in any type of end-user
application. For the evaluation purposes, the XTERM protocol, the simplest of
the output protocols is used to demonstrate the functionality of the device
in a freeware terminal application such as the PuTTY.
How to use a terminal application for
quick evaluation of the Click Analyzer
As already mentioned, the simplest way to use the Click Analyzer is by using
a terminal application, since it offers simple HMI (human-machine interface).
The output of the Click Analyzer will contain data strings using the CP437
character set, so the first step is to configure the terminal application
properly. For this purpose, a small freeware application called PuTTY can be
used. PuTTY is a free SSH and telnet client for Windows operating system.
1.
2.
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Download PuTTY application from their official web page: https://www.putty.org/
Install the application
Insert the Click Analyzer into the mikroBUS™ socket and plug in the USB cable
Check the COM port it was assigned to
Run the PuTTY application
When the Click Analyzer is connected over the USB, the LED labeled as the
LED UART will indicate the connection. The PuTTY will open the configuration
window by default. It is accessed by clicking the Session option in the
options tree on the left side of the configuration window. Use Serial as the
"Connection Type", and in the "Serial Line" field, the COM port of the Click
Analyzer should be entered. The assigned COM port can be discovered by
using the Device Manager (Windows). Once this is done, navigate to
"Translation" in the left-side options tree. Select the CP437 as the "Remote
Character Set". When this is done, click the OPEN button on the bottom, and
if everything is configured properly, a session window should pop-up
containing the terminal header, as shown in the image below.
Click Analyzer session window
Now, the terminal is ready to accept some basic commands. You can
experiment by using commands such as the DVM (Digital Voltmeter
function), LS FREQ=100K (Logic Scope function, set at 100 kHz), LED
YELLOW=5 (Yellow LED assigned to a pin number 5). The header offers
some basic info, including the LED assignment. You can also use the mouse
to click the Acqu: label in the header, which will allow continuous
measurements to be made. Else only a single measurement will be
performed after entering a command. It is worth mentioning some simple
terminal command strings. For example, typing COMMANDS will return a
response with a list of all the available XTERM commands. Typing GET
_INFO returns a response with the available
parameters available for the specified command (e.g. GET DVM_INFO). All
the required documentation, including a detailed manual covering all the
existing protocols, can be found in the download links, below.
A session window showing DVM command terminal response
Specifications
Type
Shield
Applications
It can be used as a replacement for bulky analyzing equipment
when working with applications that have mikroBUS™ socket
incorporated into their design. It can provide accurate and simple
voltage and logic measurements, providing feedback over the USB
port, offering different formatting protocols
On-board
modules
PIC16F1454, an 8-bit MCU; PIC18F26K42, an 8-bit MCU, both
from Microchip
Key Features
High speed accurate measurements right from the mikroBUS™
slot, compact size replacement for the bulky analyzing equipment,
output message formatting by using various HMI and M2M
protocols, pass-through mikroBUS™ socket for Click board™
communication "sniffing", diagnostic, and more
Interface
GPIO,USB
Input
Voltage
3.3V,5V
Click board
size
L (57.15 x 25.4 mm)
Pinout diagram
This table shows how the pinout on Click Analyzer corresponds to the pinout
on the mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).
Notes
Pin
Pin
Notes
mikroBUS™ PIN 1
I/O
AN
1
AN
PWM
16
PWM
mikroBUS™ PIN
14 I/O
mikroBUS™ PIN 2
I/O
RST
2
RST
INT
15
INT
mikroBUS™ PIN
13 I/O
mikroBUS™ PIN 3
I/O
CS
3
CS
RX
14
TX
mikroBUS™ PIN
12 I/O
mikroBUS™ PIN 4
I/O
SCK
4
SCK
TX
13
RX
mikroBUS™ PIN
11 I/O
mikroBUS™ PIN 5
I/O
SDO
5
MISO
SCL
12
SCL
mikroBUS™ PIN
10 I/O
mikroBUS™ PIN 6
I/O
SDI
6
MOSI
SDA
11
SDA
mikroBUS™ PIN 9
I/O
mikroBUS™
PIN 7 I/O
3.3V
7
3.3V
5V
10
5V
mikroBUS™ PIN 8
I/O
Ground
GND
8
GND
GND
9
GND
Ground
Onboard settings and indicators
Label
Name
Default
PWR
-
Power LED indicator
LEDEXT
-
Programming LED indicator
LEDUART
LEDUART
-
Connection LED indicator
YELLOW
YELLOW
-
Assignable LED, Yellow
ORANGE
ORANGE
-
Assignable LED, Orange
PWR
LEDEXT
GREEN
RED
GREEN
RED
Description
Assignable LED, Green
-
Assignable LED, Red
https://www.mikroe.com/click‐analyzer?search_query=MIKROE‐2956&results=1 9‐19‐18