Board available with XS1-L2 processor

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Carpentier
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Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:42 pm

Board available with XS1-L2 processor

Post by Carpentier »

Hello,
I have made a board using the dual core version XS1-L2 processor , with a total power of 1Ghz.
The card was a bit challenging because it was my first card with BGA style device (the XS1-L2 is not really a BGA but it is solderered from the underside like are the BGA chips).

My first question was : is it possible to make a dual side board for this device or maybe will it be nescessary to use a 4-layer design to correctly connect all the power and nescessary pins.

Finally, my PCB design was possible using only a simple 2-layer board.

The second question was : is it nescessary to include all the mode and JTAG signals or the card could use JTAG even in "boot from flash" mode. The answer came when i realized my first trials. The JTAG tools better work if the processor is also able to boot from JTAG. So i had to route all the NJRST and mode pins , so the JTAG port is fully fonctionnal.

Another question, i wanted to make a small card with a powerfull processor (L2 or G4). The card should have a convenient communication interface (USB and/or ethernet).
I finally choosed the L2 because the G4 would have required to much power for a USB powered device , and also the G4 certainly cannot be mounted on a 2-layer PCB. I made finally 2 versions of my card . One USB with a USB3300 phy device from SMSC and another Ethernet with LAN 8710 also from SMSC. These chips are convenient because small QFN and also worked perfectly i all conditions. The Ethernet and USB cards are nearly identical but the ethernet is 1cm larger in one dimension because of the size and mounting of the ethernet connector, it as also a little more components.

All of these 2 cards use as much as possible SMT components in the size 0603.

Another characteristic of these cards is that they implement 5V IO on the output connector. This is done with output buffers (HCT ) and 5V tolerant input buffers (LVC). This is because these cards should be convenient for connecting directly on motor drivers and that run with 5V.

I have attached a photo of the USB version of my cards (The ethernet version is currently fabricated).

I can sell the PCB 5USD to anyone intererested by these cards or a partially(PCB with processor) or completely mounted. Card tested to work with XRUN and XFLASH.
Attachments
mini_L2_card_1.JPG
USB card with XS1-L2 processor (back side)
(34.96 KiB) Not downloaded yet
mini_L2_card_1.JPG
USB card with XS1-L2 processor (back side)
(34.96 KiB) Not downloaded yet
mini_L2_card.JPG
USB card with XS1-L2 processor
(63.55 KiB) Not downloaded yet
mini_L2_card.JPG
USB card with XS1-L2 processor
(63.55 KiB) Not downloaded yet


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Andy
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Post by Andy »

Hi Carpentier,

Cool board you've got there. Can you tell us more about the application you're using it for? What ports have you got on the I/O connector?

A company called Synapticon have a dual L2 design with an L2 on both sides of the PCB, so it is possible. See: http://www.synapticon.com/product/somanet-c22/
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Carpentier
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Post by Carpentier »

Hello,
Thank for the link with Synapticon card.
About your question, the card is designed in the idea to use it for stepper motor control, that's why it is ok to have only 12 output signals and 5 input signals. For example 3 motors require only 3x DIR+STEP signals = 6 output. and 3 home switch = 3 input with pull-up.

The L2 chip is connected as follow:
-CORE 0 connected to USB phy by the standard IO signals as explained in the device datasheet
-CORE 1 connected to DB25 output connector as follow port 8C0 to 8C4 = 5 inputs available in the DB25 pin 10 to 13 and 15. port 16A0 to 16A11 =12 output on the DB25 connector pin 1 to 9 and 14,16,17.

So core1 handle the IO and core 0 the USB.

The software is not done at the moment. It will have to generate the pulse and dir signals for the motor upon receiving control commands like "move 0.7 steps in the next 10us" or "move 0.35 steps in the next 5us" equivalently if the time resolution is finer. It will maybe have also a GCODE planer inside and in that case can receive commands like "move from step position (0,0,0) to step position (1600,1600,0)"

Thank again for your link and question . I hope i have answered.
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ahenshaw
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Post by ahenshaw »

Do you have a target price for the fully-populated board?
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Carpentier
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Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:42 pm

Post by Carpentier »

Hello
for xcore members, 59 eur (i must currently pay the VAT on the processor . Soldering it is also not straightforward , have to align the balls by hand for those which have not passed the stencil).
In that case, the card will be fully tested with XRUN and XFLASH and equiped with the 500Mhz C5 version of the processor.
Hope you pleased with my answer.
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ahenshaw
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Post by ahenshaw »

Certainly sounds fair. I'll contact you offline.
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