Psoc ud3 a noobs journey

[oneKone]

After looking @laci thread about his drsstc using a psoc Dev board and @Netzpfuscher ud3 project I thought I'd finally have a go at the project. I'm still very green when it comes to microcontrollers, my only experience is modifying some simple Arduino sketches...


My understanding atm is that I load the ud3_qfn into the psoc creator program, build and flash the psoc cy8ckit-059, I'm not sure if it's as simple as that? *I should add that I'm still waiting for my dev board in the mail*

For the circuit/hardware side of things I'm planning to use @profdc9 schematic as a reference to make my own board, it will more than likely be a mix of tht/SMT.

By the end of the project I'm hoping to gain a greater understanding as this really does seem like the future for drsstc.

Cheers
 

[acobaugh]

To be honest, if you're comfortable with SMT, the existing ud3 QFP board design may be the easiest path for you, rather than designing your own board. If you build your own board, you'll want to match the pinout for either the QFN or QFP project, or else you'll be modifying the project every time we release changes. My plan is to cut binary firmware files and get them published somewhere (I'm working on a documentation site for the UD3). I'm not super familiar with the dev board stuff, so maybe you've already thought this through.

You'll need a programmer, which the cy8ckit-059 board has as a breakaway, which is nice. If you don't go with a dev board, the cy8ckit-043 also has a psoc5 programmer which you can use standalone.

How are you planning on handling fiber signalling? The fibernet board is a nice add-on, and has some added features like a micro sd card, and the firmware for the fibernet gives you a CLI that you can use to re-program the UD3 from. Makes switching between firmware versions and doing development work a breeze.

[oneKone]

Cheers for the reply.

The only reason I was going to make my own board was because I was unaware there's a public available board/schematic, maybe I'm not looking hard enough.
My intention was to use the same pinout as labelled in the psoc creator, at least in the early stages it would give me a greater understanding as to how a ud3 board works (I'm more of a hands on learner).

As for fiber signalling, honestly I haven't got upto that yet. When I get upto that stage I think I'd look.i to the ifd-95 or something along those lines.

[Netzpfuscher]

You need a fiber link which is capable of 460800 baud.

To the dev board version. You need to double check the pinout against psoc creator. I bet something has shifted to the profdc version. I don't take care of the pins, some are auto placed during synthesis. For me the dev board version is only for debugging com and OS.

And you need to stick to the schematic of the real thing. Don't let pins unconnected, they can trigger a sysfault.

https://github.com/Netzpfuscher/UD3_PCB
For Altium, but I think we can give you a pdf schematic and production files.

[acobaugh]

Attached are gerber/drill files, the project BOM, schematic, and a quick digikey cart (xlsx). Note that due to c19 craziness and all the associated supply-chain issues, a lot of parts on that list (which I put together Feb 2021) are currently out-of-stock, so you may need to substitute or shop around.

I think that zip file has everything you need to get PCBs made up. If not, let us know and we'll get you what you're missing.

There are a couple of component numbers missing on the silkscreen, and some where the orientation isn't obvious, but they're easy enough to figure out from the board layout and schematic. Let us know if you have trouble.

Oh, and the clock crystal in the BOM and my shopping cart are wrong. ABM8G-24.000MHZ-18-D2Y-T is the right part number, though technically you don't need it.

Project Outputs for UD3B (1) (1).zip
UD3B-schematic.pdf
cart-and-bom.zip

[Hydron]

I've been looking at the UD3 stuff again in the last few days (independently of this thread) and it looks like the QFN version is throwing errors when building - is it possibly out of date compared to the main TQFP target?

[acobaugh]

Quite possible. Can you share the error here, or create an issue in the gh project?

[oneKone]

@Netzpfuscher @acobaugh thankyou both for the clarification and help, my saying thankyou for the files and the support so far is a massive understatement.

I'll order the boards later this afternoon, in the mean time I'll look over Netzpfuscher "next gen drsstc" thread about what fiber links have been used.

If I'm honest I've been a big fan of tht for a very long time, but simply the appeal of this project is more than enough for me to switch to SMT.

[Hydron]

It's certainly worth getting used to dealing with SMD - you'll be locked out of many parts otherwise, and (at least for larger pitch parts) SMDs can actually be quicker than dealing with THT, even for hand soldering.

The UD3 PCB doesn't use anything particularly challenging - the TQFP is the most likely to cause frustration, but a decent iron, some flux, good solder (make your life easier and go leaded) and some good solder braid should be all you need (mild magnification will help for inspection too).

RE errors - see attachment

[TMaxElectronics]

RE errors - see attachment

Ehm... those are my fault
I added support for driving analog 0-20mA panel meters with an I2C io-expander and apparently forgot to add the Files into the QFN Version
I'll change that and make another PR.

As for the assembly:
I think it will be hard to build one right now, as many parts are out of stock. Last time I checked the PSOC was only available from some obscure supplier (according to octopart at least), not sure if that changed since then. Otherwise the assembly should be easy enough

For the QFP I recommend first soldering opposing corner pads, then make sure everything is lined up, add plenty of flux to the pins and go over them with a little bit of solder on the tip of your iron. Remove any excess with solder wick ans you should be good 
BUT BEWARE: the Psoc package has two dots on it, which are confusing (Both Netzpfuscher and me initially soldered them in the wrong way around ) I'll attach a picture of how it should look.

I'll look over Netzpfuscher "next gen drsstc" thread about what fiber links have been used.

The early coils used normal fiberoptic transmitters and receivers, sending UART and had a box with a Usb-uart converter on the other end. The new ones all use the Fibernet board I built, which uses 100Base-Fx SFP modules to connect to LAN.
But I don't think you'll be able to build one now because the PICs I use on that are definitely not available anywhere.

Heres the correct psoc orientation:

[acobaugh]

Personally, I find SMT much faster, easier, and more enjoyable (though 0603 parts are borderline) than through-hole. Just flux, place, tack, drag, done. No trying to hold parts down and flipping boards over constantly. Even desoldering and rework can be easier. Only time I ever lift a pad is with through-hole parts.

I think I grabbed the last PSOC digikey had in stock last February. Haven't seen it back in stock since.

Maybe time to go back to spark gap coils!

[Hydron]

I've luckily already got a (very old - the version with the USB bug) TQFP board built up, plus a couple of QFN dev-boards to play with. I was planning on rolling my own board for a second controller - looks like I will need to use the devkit rather than just dropping the TQFP down.

As for the shortages, I unfortunately I know too well the difficulty of getting stuff at the moment - they are currently making my day job much more difficult than it should be.

[oneKone]

I got the psoc Dev kit and ud3 boards this past week, I'm hoping to order the components during the week to get this project officially going.



I also tried to program the cy8-kit to familiarise myself with the psoc creator. Unfortunately I ran into two errors. one of which I think I solved correctly, the other I'm still stumped on.
My process was:
• opening the ud3 master/ UD31.cywrk and setting the ud3-qfn as active
• setting the target device to the cy8-kit I have and trying to program it. These are where the two first errors came from

• I clicked the search function on the errors and changed the "bootable" module bootloader location. (common\binary\UARTldr)
• after trying to program again I finally get these warnings with the last two errors. I'm confident it's the methodology I've used in fixing the first two set of errors, I'm just unsure of where to go from here.

[Netzpfuscher]

The bootloader in the qfn project is pointing to the UART_LDR project. Compile it first and then the UD3. Or just change the path to the precompiled binary, like you did.

The second error is fixed since yesterday, just pull a fresh version from the git. The problem is, that we all work with the TQFP Version and we sometimes forget to add new files to the qfn project. The warnings are okay.

[Hydron]

Also it might default to building the "Debug" binary - select "Release" version in the dropdown box before building the UART_LDR.

[oneKone]

Cheers for the reply Netzpfuscher it compiled/programmed perfectly. @hydron I completely forgot about that 🤦‍♂️. I remember finding that setting while trying to figure out the problem, but didn't even think to select it.

Now the next step for me is looking into a form of communication. I found a link on github that allows serial connection over wifi using an esp32. To me this seems like a simpler solution than a fiber link, assuming the connection stays stable during use.