User Manual

ManualsBrandsDigilent ManualsHardwareMinicon

™

www. d igilent inc.com

Revision: February 9, 2009

Note: This document applies to REV C of the board.

215 E Main Suite D | Pullman, WA 99163

(509) 334 6306 Voice and Fax

Doc: 502-091 page 1 of 8

Overview

The Minicon board is a useful tool for

embedded control and robotics projects for

both students and hobbyists.

The Minicon’s versatile design and

programmable embedded microcontroller

allows you to control different external

devices and program the board for multiple

uses. The board has many I/O connectors,

power supply options, and supports a

number of programming tools including

ATMEL AVR

STUDIO 4, and WinAVR.

The Minicon has a number of connections

for peripheral devices. Digilent peripheral

modules (Pmods™) include H-bridges,

analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog

converters, a speaker, switches, buttons,

LEDs, RS232 converters, screw terminals,

BNC connectors, servo motors, and more.

Features include:

• ATmega168 microcontroller

• five 6-pin connectors for Digilent

Pmod peripheral module boards

• four LEDs

• four mode select jumpers

• ESD protection for all I/O pins

• an on-board voltage regulator

• multiple, flexible power supply

jumper options

• in-system programming support for

the Digilent parallel JTAG cable or

the Digilent USB JTAG/SPI cable.

Figure 1

Minicon Board

ATMega168

TQ32

Three 6-pin PMOD

connectors

16K Flash

(Internal)

Reset

button

4 LEDs

512 EEPROM

(Internal)

Internal

Oscillator

UART, SPI,

&TWI ports

3.3V

regulator

JB JC

SPI/

ISP

TWI

RS232

TWI

Chain

Various power

connectors

4 4 4 4 4

1k SRAM

(Internal)

Minicon

Figure 2

Block Diagram

Summary of content (8 pages)

PAGE 1
Minicon™ Reference Manual ® ww w. d ig i l en t inc .c om Revision: February 9, 2009 Note: This document applies to REV C of the board. 215 E Main Suite D | Pullman, WA 99163 (509) 334 6306 Voice and Fax Overview The Minicon board is a useful tool for embedded control and robotics projects for both students and hobbyists. The Minicon’s versatile design and programmable embedded microcontroller allows you to control different external devices and program the board for multiple uses.
PAGE 2
Minicon Reference Manual Features of the ATmega168 include: • • • • • • • • • • master/slave serial peripheral interface (SPI) programmable serial USART interface Atmel two wire serial interface (TWI) eight channel, 10-bit ADC two 8-bit timer/counters one 16-bit timer/counter 16KB program flash 512 byte EEPROM 1KB internal SRAM analog comparator. For more information on the ATmega168 microcontroller, refer to the data sheet available at www.atmel.com.
PAGE 3
Minicon Reference Manual 6-pin Pmod Headers The Minicon has five 6-pin header connectors for connecting to generalpurpose, off-board digital I/O, or to specific ATmega168 features like analog-to-digital converters or pulse width modulators. Each 6-pin connector provides four signals, power, and ground. These connectors are specifically designed to work with the Digilent Pmod line of peripheral boards, but can be used to connect to any off-board I/O devices.
PAGE 4
Minicon Reference Manual regulated to within the safe limits for the Minicon board itself and any connected peripheral boards. The components on the Minicon will work with any regulated voltage between 2.7V and 5.5V. This allows direct connection of either two-cell alkaline, or three-cell alkaline, NiCd, or NiMh, or four-cell NiCd or NiMh battery packs. Warning: If the shorting block on JP9 is in the VCC position, connection of a power source with a voltage greater than 5.5V will damage the board.
PAGE 5
Minicon Reference Manual Digilent, Inc. www.digilentinc.com documentation for these applications for more information on board programming. programmable using the Digilent programming cable. Connector J1 is used both for in-system programming and for user access to the SPI controller. The jumper block JP10 is used to select between the two functions. The shorting block is placed in the RST position for in-system programming, and in the SS position for user access to the SPI port.
PAGE 6
Minicon Reference Manual Digilent, Inc. www.digilentinc.com On-Board User I/O The Minicon provides four on-board LEDs for user output, and four jumper blocks for user input. The LEDs are connected to I/O Port D, bits 4-7 (PD4-PD7). These pins are shared with the four I/O signals of Pmod connector JA. An LED is turned on by writing the pin to logic 1 and turned off by writing the pin to logic 0. In addition to the four LEDs, there are four jumper blocks, JP5-JP8, for user input.
PAGE 7
Digilent, Inc. Minicon Reference Manual www.digilentinc.com Table 1: 6-pin PMOD headers and SPI connection Pin Description: All Pmod connector pins can be used for general purpose I/Os. The following descriptions are for use with specific Digilent Pmod modules: JA General purpose I/Os and on board LEDs Minicon Pmod header pins to ATmega168 ports/bit Pin 1 2 3 JB H-bridge connection This connector is for use with an H-bridge module. Pins 1 and 2 are the direction and enable signals for the H-bridge.
PAGE 8
Minicon Reference Manual Digilent, Inc. www.digilentinc.com Table 2: Jumper Block Settings Jumper Function JP1-4 6-pin Pmod headers Any of the five 6-pin Pmod headers can use either regulated or unregulated power. To use regulated power place the jumper block over the center pin and the pin marked VCC. To use unregulated power, place the jumper block over the center pin and the pin marked VU. SPI connector J1 and RS232 connector J2 share jumper block JP1.