More Good “Analog” Stuff in PSoC Creator 2.1

Tip / Sign in to post questions, reply, level up, and achieve exciting badges. Know more

cross mob
Anonymous
Not applicable

Below is an amazing blog post by Mark Hastings! Just can't resist reposting it here on the forum so that the members can make best out of it.

   

 

   

PSoC Creator 2.1 has just been released and has even more good stuff to help the user design and debug his or her application.  I know that many of you at times wanted more information on just how your signal was routed from a GPIO pin to the DelSig ADC or how an internal signal was connected between a VDAC and Comparator.  Well, wait no more!  Now you can look at any analog route, lock it down and even change it if you have a preference.  Even better, you can do all this graphically.  Here are a couple slides that I created a few months back for an internal training class.  This should be just enough to peak your interest about PSoC Creator 2.1. 

   

The following is an actual screen shot of the Analog Device Viewer/Editor.  If you look close, note that all the resources used, including routes are highlighted.  You can click on the nets on the right or the graphical routes on the left to examine the nets and routes.

   

   

 

   

Example Circuit

   

Below is an example circuit and the analog viewer s representation.  Note how AMux_1 consist of the light blue traces.  It is easy to understand just how the signals are routed and exactly the resources used to create the circuit, no more guess work!

   

   

 

   

Lock down signals and component placements graphically

   

Many of you at times wish you could easily lock down blocks that are used for a specific component implementation.  You may have learned to use the constraints editor but found it a real pain trying to remember the syntax.  I know I did.  Now you can graphically lock down or move blocks right in the analog editor.  I can almost hear the cheers in the background from you seasoned users.

   

   

 

   

Analog Mux and Simulation

   

Ever asked yourself I wonder exactly how my analog mux is implemented?   I know I have.  Now you can go into the tool and connect the analog mux one channel at a time and see the actual signal path.  No more laying awake at night wondering if your signal took AGL[6] or AGL[7] on its way home to the ADC.

   

   

 

   

View analog switch names, registers, and masks.

   

This feature is for the real hard core guys that want to know the actual register and mask to control each analog switch.  Now just by hovering over a switch you can get all that information.  No more digging into that big 1000+ page document to try and figure out how to control that one switch.

   

   

Measure typical route resistance with an Ohm Meter

   

This is another cool tool.  The Ohm Meter tool lets you measure the route resistance between any two endpoints of a signal.  Of course the measurement is not exact, but it gives you a ballpark number of what to expect. ( Please ignore the significant digits of the ohm meter reading in the figure below, it has been rounded off in the current version.)

   

 

   

   

 

   

 

   

Toggle analog switches interactively in the debugger

   

This feature is really powerful.  While in the debugger, you can view the state of almost any switch.  The only ones you can t monitor is the state of any switch that is controlled by hardware, such as the hardware mux.  All other analog switches that are part of a route, or controlled by software can be examined interactively.  So each time you halt the operation in the debugger, you can actually view the current state of the switches.  But wait, there s more!  You can actually toggle the state of each switch as well.  This means you can debug any route you want and interactively see what happens when you open or close a switch.  I often use a spare route and pin to internally probe signals.  Yes you heard me, this allows you to probe internal nodes while the chip is running.  If you don t like this feature, you shouldn t call yourself an engineer!

   

   

Set breakpoints when a switch opens or closes

   

OK one more amazing feature.  Just think of being able to click on an analog switch and set a breakpoint when that switch opens, closes, or just changes states.  Yes not kidding!  I dare you to find another vender s tool and MCU that will let you do that!

   

   

I hope this was just enough information to give you a taste of some of the new features in PSoC Creator 2.1.  So don t delay, go download PSoC Creator 2.1 and play with some of the new analog debug and design features.   If this isn t enough there are even more features to help you get your design to market faster.  You can download the new feature packed PSoC Creator 2.1 here.  So don t delay, go checkout all the good stuff!

0 Likes
1 Reply
Anonymous
Not applicable

 That's very interesting. But didn't have the time to try this in the office, should try that at home 

   

0 Likes