Diagnostics and Development Tools for SMBus and l2C

Published:2011/8/9 6:34:00 Author:Amy From:SeekIC

AVIT Research Ltd. has released a low cost l2C Bus Tool for the diagnostic and development of embedded system SMBus and l2C communications. The Tool combines ease of use with comprehensive facilities lo monitor bus activity and powerful functionality for participating on the bus. Messages can be sent and received as either Master or Slave on Standard and Fast Mode Busses. The l2C Bus Tool complements AVIT Research’s existing l2C Bus Monitor and RS232 products.

The l2C Bus Tool provides a simple means of examining and interacting with bus traffic on an l2C or SMBus system using a standard PC — without the need for external power supplies or the installation of driver software. It provides a user interface via the HyperTerminal application (supplied with Windows). This interface allows messages to be composed and sent when acting as a bus master and to receive data from slave devices through the master receive function. The interface also allows the l2C Tool lo be configured to act as an l2C slave device to automatically receive data and respond to requests for data from Master devices on the bus. I2C messages can be colour coded according to the l2C device address and timestamps can show the time of each message with a resolution of 1ms. Filters can be applied so that only messages for devices of interest are shown.

The supplied Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) provides an alternative to the HyperTerminal interface for writing custom software using VB, VBA, C/C++, Delphi or Java. The SDK gives the programmer access to all the functionality of the l2C Bus Tool and using this it is possible to emulate slave devices such as EEPROMs, ADCs and DACs. Example code and applications are included. The Trigger connection allows an oscilloscope to be triggered in reaction to a sequence of bytes on the bus or to act as an input where transitions on the probe are shown as time-stamped events within the l2C data.

The l2C Bus Tool is packaged as a standard size 9-pin D-Type connector suitable for connecting to a PC serial port. It is supplied with approximately 0.6 m of coble with four probe clips for connection to the l2C system. The connections are Ground, l2C Clock, l2C Data and Trigger.

Features:
-Monitors bus traffic on SMBus* or l2C systems at up to 400 kHz (Fast-Mode).
-Master Transmit and Receive including Repealed Start Requests.
-Slave Emulation - Slave Transmit and Receive (Ack of Data bytes).
-Multi-Master Bus Compatible.
-Trigger Line provides an output to an oscilloscope or can be set to an input for timing events.
-Shows acknowledgements (ACKs) and negative acknowledgements (NACKs).
-Connects to standard PC serial port or USB to serial adapter.
-No power supply required.
-Compatible with 5 volt and 3.3 volt Buses.
-Compact; all circuitry is integrated within the D-Type connector.
-Can be used with standard terminal programs supplied with Windows or Linux.
- Supplied with Windows Software Developer Kit that provides l2C functionality to VB, VBA, C/C++, Delphi or Java applications through an OCX. Help and Example Code included.

The l2C Bus Tool including Windows SDK is available directly from AVIT Research at only £ 250.00.

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