by RobotSoC
EagleSoC are rich functionality, compact sized development boards, that provide mixed-signal support utilizing Cypress PSoC 5LP MCU.
The EagleSoC Development Board was originally designed to help us with research projects in Cal State LA. In order to maintain a reduced size while preserving the functionality of the original Cypress Development Board, we came up with a compromise solution – the EagleSoC Development Board. This board offers four individual voltage banks, supports high-current with overcurrent protection. The layout is organized to support mixed-signal applications. An FTDI chip is added for USB to UART connectivity, which provides communication between the board and the PC. The board can use either 3.3V or 5V LCD display module and it also offers backlight control.
EagleSoC Development Board provides full functionality as the original Cypress Development Board (CY8C5868AXI-LP035). It has a reduced PCB size of 75 mm x 135 mm. This board allows mixed-signal designs, where analog and digital pins are separated into their respective sections. It supports 3-different voltages for all of its voltage banks: 3.3V, Adjustable Voltage, and 5V and can handle up to 3A current. The board has separate pins for digital and analog ground, with each analog pin having its own analog ground. This improves the accuracy due to separate return-ground paths.
Technical Details for EagleSoC Development Board
In addition to the EagleSoC boards, we developed an expandable library to make life easier for the firmware programmers. PSoC users are already aware that Cypress Semiconductor Corporation provides an easy and useful software tool – PSoC Creator. PSoC Creator is an Integrated Design Environment (IDE) that allows concurrent hardware and application firmware design of PSoC 3, PSoC 4 and PSoC 5 systems. PSoC Creator incorporates over 100 on-chip components. The developers can easily drag-and-drop necessary components into a design area, where they can connect and configure those components to suit a broad array of application requirements. PSoC Creator generates API libraries for each component. Users can directly access these components and easily perform reconfiguration during the run-time. However, developers still need to implement the interface protocols between the PSoC components and the sensors/devices that are used in their systems (e.g. gyroscope sensor, temperature sensor, etc.) Usually, beginner developers spend a lot of time reading datasheets and manuals to implement these protocols for their projects. EZ-PSoC Library is one of the solutions for all SoC developers. It establishes the bridge between the user application and PSoC components. It provides easy-to-code prebuilt device functions based on existing integration between the PSoC Hardware Interface, Sensor Driver, and Application Layer. The library has limited amount of supported sensors in its current version, but it is freely available for PSoC and EagleSoC users. You can find more information on the EZ-PSoC Website (http://www.ezpsoc.com).
We have already manufactured, tested, and successfully used all three boards in our research and academic activities. The major challenge in the EagleSoC project is to manufacture these boards in limited quantities, since the prices for board components will make them rather expensive. To make these boards affordable for hobbyists and students, a price break is needed for bulk component purchase. We need to order components for a least several hundred boards for a reasonable price break.
This is a multi-stage process, which involves coordination and shipping between our supporters (you guys), us, electronic suppliers, and the manufacturing firm. We want to be careful with our promises to you and therefore we pushed our reward dates probably a little further than desired – three months after the campaign is completed. This will allow us to immediately order the right amount of components and ship them directly to the manufacturer. After manufacturing process will be completed, the boards will be tested at that facility and then shipped back to us. We will also run our own tests to ensure that everyone will receive a quality board. If the boards will arrive to us from the manufacturer earlier than expected, we will ship your rewards immediately after completing the test procedure. Potential delays is the risk that we want to avoid. We will be periodically updating you on the overall progress.