User manual

Atmel AT02667: XMEGA-E5 Xplained Hardware User’s Guide [APPLICATION NOTE]
42084A−AVR−04/2013
5
2.3 Measuring the Atmel AVR XMEGA power consumption
As part of an evaluation of the Atmel AVR ATxmega32E5, it can be of interest to measure its power consumption.
Because the XMEGA has a separate power plane (VCC_MCU_P3V3) on this board it is possible to measure the
current consumption by measuring the current that is flowing into this plane. The VCC_MCU_P3V3 plane is connected
via a jumper to the main power plane (VCC_P3V3) and by replacing this with an ampere meter it is possible to
determine the current consumption. To locate the power measurement header, please refer to Figure 2-1.
Warning: Do not power the board without having the jumper or an ampere meter mounted since this can cause
latch-up of the Atmel AVR ATxmega32E5 due to current flow into the I/O pins.
2.4 Communication through the USART-to-USB gateway
The ATxmega32E5 USART is connected to a USART on the Atmel AT32UC3B1256. The ATxmega32E5 USART is
communicating at 57600 baud using one start bit, eight data bits, one stop bit, and no parity.
When the AT32UC3B1256 device is enumerated (connected to a PC). The data transmitted from the ATxmega32E5 is
passed to a (virtual) COM port. This means that it is possible to use a terminal program on a PC to receive the
transmitted data. Similarly data transmitted from the PC COM port is passed to the ATxmega32E5 USART through the
gateway.
2.5 Programming the kit
The kit can be programmed using an external programming tool.
How a programmer can be connected to the kit is described in Section 3.1.