This page gives an overview of using the AD7124 Firmware Example with SDP-K1 EVAL board and AD7124 EVAL board. The firmware example comprises 3 layers of software (from top to bottom): Console Application Layer, Device No-OS Layer and Platform Drivers (Mbed-OS) layer.

The application layer uses the ADI Console Libraries to create console based User Interactive (UI). The middle layer of No-OS device library have device specific APIs to interface with AD7124 device. These APIs allows direct access to device register map in order to read/write device registers. The bottom layer of Platform Drivers is responsible for Low Level Interface. The platform drivers uses mbed-os libraries to access low level peripheral (like GPIOs, SPI, I2C, etc).

The Mbed Platform simplifies the overall software development process by providing the low level driver support. This reduces the hardware dependency as any Mbed enabled board can be used with same firmware with little modifications (precisely changing a pin mapping).

The AD7124-EVAL board is connected to SDP-K1 through default 120-pin SDP Connector. The AD7124-EVAL board has external connector to connect up-to 8 analog inputs. The board needs to be powered-up through 9-12V external DC supply. The SDP-K1 is connected to PC through USB cable. The firmware can be loaded into SDP-K1 board through this USB interface from PC. The SDP-K1 acts as a Serial Device and firmware loaded into it interacts with any serial terminal (like Teraterm, Putty, Coolterm, etc) by configuring terminal for proper serial settings (COM Port, Baud Rate, etc).

• AD7124 No-OS Software
• AD7124-8 Product Page
• AD7124-4 Product Page
• AD7124-8 Evaluation Board
• AD7124-4 Evaluation Board

A 7V to 9V DC supply (barrel jack, center pin positive) is required to power the EVAL-AD7124-8SDZ evaluation board. SDP-K1 is powered through USB connection to PC. SDP-K1 acts as a Serial device when connected to PC, which creates a COM Port to connect to Serial Terminals like Teraterm, Putty, etc. The COM port assigned to a device can be seen through the device manager for windows based OS.

The screw terminal connections to J6 and J11 can be used to connect appropriate analog input signals to provide test stimulus to the AD7124.

The AD7124 device can be software configured to interface with external devices (e.g. sensors). The AD7124 Firmware example provides such 2 configurations (selected through console UI) as described below:

Configuration A:

AIN0/AIN1 are used for channel 0, simple voltage measurement

Configuration B:

AIN2/AIN3 go to the A2 thermocouple connector on the evaluation board, and are captured on channel 0. This uses an internal reference and has a bias voltage enabled on AIN2. A suitable thermocouple should be connected to A2 for this measurement. AIN4/AIN5 are an RTD1000 measurement on channel 1. Excitation is provided from AIN1 for this. This requires an external RTD and reference resistor connected as show in the figure below.

Temperature sensing application using AD7124: https://www.analog.com/media/en/reference-design-documentation/reference-designs/CN0383.pdf

The software execution sequence for the AD7124 Firmware Example is shown below. This is a blocking application as it waits for user input over serial interface (UART). The input is scanned and processed through 'adi console libraries'. The menu functionality is executed from ad7124_conole_app.c file. The application layer talks with No-OS layer for device registers and data access. The No-OS layer interfaces with Platform Drivers layer for accessing low level peripherals. As name suggests, this layer is platform dependent. AD7124 firmware uses Mbed libraries within Platform Drivers layer.

If you have some familiarity with the Mbed platform, the following is a basic list of steps required to start running the code, see below for more detail:

• Connect the AD7124 EVAL-board to the SDP-K1 controller board.
• Connect the SDP-K1 controller board to your computer over USB.
• Go to the link of the code provided above in the 'Downloads' section and import code into Mbed online compiler.
• Ensure SDP-K1 controller board is selected (top right of online-compiler page).
• Compile the code.
• After a successful compile a binary will be downloaded to your computer - store this on your drive.
• Drag and drop this binary to the USB drive hosted by your controller board.
• Start up a serial terminal emulator (e.g. Tera Term)
  • Find the com-port your controller board is connected on and select it.
  • Set the baud-rate for 115200
  • Reset the controller board and connect.
• Use the menu provided over the terminal window to access the evaluation board.

The AD7124 firmware example is configured to have following serial settings:

• Baud rate: 115200
• Data bits: 8-bits
• Parity: None
• Stop bits: 1

Configure your serial terminal ( Tera Term) for below settings:

The AD7124 Main menu looks like below (with Tera Term):

The firmware is designed to be intuitive to use, and requires little explanation, simply enter a number corresponding to the required command and follow the on-screen prompts.

The console menu application provides the following main features:

1. Enable/Disable individual ADC channel (0-15).
2. Connect analog input pins to individual channel.
3. Configure the device setup (0-7) and assign to individual channel (0-15).
4. Display device and channel setup.
5. Perform internal device calibration.
6. Read die temperature (using internal temperature sensor).
7. Read/Write device registers.