In our second ipXperience with Klaus from Semify, Eamon learns about SmartWave, an FPGA-based SPI/I2C host adapter that makes for easy interfacing of components during the evaluation and testing process. It even improves interfacing between devices.
SmartWave also allows you to directly connect components to your PC for characterisation using Semify’s accompanying software, and Semify aims to add other commonly used interfaces – like UART – in later updates to this 86 x 67 x 32-mm module.
As Klaus shows us, SmartWave features 2x Pmod-style connectors for 16x assignable pins that can be configured using the SmartWave web interface. This allows you to adjust the I/O voltage from 1.8 to 5 V and choose what type of interface you want on each pin, with the module supporting up to 2x SPI drivers and 2x I2C drivers. Alternatively, you can use these connectors as GPIO pins, including power and ground, all of which are well protected against ESD, overcurrent, overvoltage, etc.
A typical setup would consist of the pins of a component – in this example a seven-segment display – connected to SmartWave, and SmartWave connected to a PC via USB. There is even a screen on the module itself to show the user’s pin assignments, making for much easier connections to this flexible module when the device is on the testing bench and away from your PC monitor. A button is also present for fast testing of a user-defined operation without having to go back to the computer.
While SmartWave is mostly used for component testing and interfacing, it can also be used for continuous integration in embedded designs: Klaus gives the example use case of a temperature sensor module. By using SmartWave, you can simulate the register interface and readout behaviour of a potential component to see how your design reacts before doing real-world testing – This was actually a customer-requested function!
Eamon and Klaus also discuss the web interface for SmartWave, which requires zero coding to fully utilise this platform, as well as the various statuses that can be displayed on SmartWave’s inbuilt display. Semify is looking to release a Python API to provide additional functionality for automating tasks, something that is very useful when testing self-developed sensors.
Learn more about SmartWave by following the link to the board page below, and fill out a form if you’re interested in putting this innovative module to use in your work.
Keep designing!
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