DAC161S055EVM: DAC161S055EVM - software not compiling/functioning

Richard,

I must admit that I'm not 100% familiar with this platform as this is something of an inherited device for the current Precision DAC Product Line, but we'll see what we can figure out together.

Did you attempt to use the board with the GUI etc.? If yes, how far along in that process did you get? What were the hang-ups? Perhaps we can debug that a bit.

For your alternative path, you mention that you've "switched micro to get any form of life out of the board..." - what platform have you switched to? Is this another MPS430 BoosterPack? A stand-alone controller platform? What issues have you had with that approach?

What sort of exercises do you need from the DAC for evaluation purposes? Are you requesting some alternate GUI or just some simple .C code or Energia code which communicates with the device? Construction an alternate GUI is certainly a large undertaking but some of the other avenues may be simpler.

Hello Kevin,

Thanks for the very prompt reply.

I'm just trying to use the board to evaluate the noise/DR of the DAC. All I need at this point is to be able to configure and send values to it to be able to measure its performance. My main processor is a C2000 (x035), the code is model based to dropping C code into it isn't a snap unfortunately.

I happen to have two MSP430 boards, plus an MSP432 board but actually driving the evaluation board has been unusually awkward. The GUI requires a particular board which I don't have, why can't it be universal? When looking at the eval board for example the /CS for the DAC has an MSB43x GPIO connection - but if one substitutes a C2000 board the /CS is connected to an analogue only input! Why not make it compatible?

Anyway, all I want to do is drive a slow ramp into the DAC and measure its response. If you have an Simulink model or even C code which bit-bangs or uses MSP43X or C2000 compatible code I would be grateful. It looks a great chip and fits perfectly in my application, it is just getting awkward now to be able to test it. I have never used Energia before but could probably learn quite quickly if you have a sketch to look at. It's a bit of a shame that the GUI isn't universal. I don't unfortunately have the time required to understand the nuances of the MSP line of micros and get the example code to work.

Would welcome any help you could offer.

Many thanks,

Rich

Hi Richard,

My understanding is that the LaunchPad connectors are universal regardless of which type of processor one is using for the motherboard, but I could be wrong. Is the C2000 board you're using part of the LaunchPad ecosystem or a stand-alone EVM board? That could be the root cause behind the incompatibility, but I generally am not part of the LaunchPad community so I could be wrong on these points.

Are your MPS430 boards also LaunchPads or are they EVMs? Can you provide a specific part number to identify the boards you have?

Probably the easiest way to get this realized is to just use the built-in MSP430 SPI peripherals (I think it's dubbed "SSI" or something similar...) along with a GPIO. The reasoning behind this is that most of the MSP430 products are 16-bit controllers with 16-bit peripherals, so we can't directly send a 24-bit SPI frame as the DAC requires. We could instead just use some simple MPS430 SPI sample code to send 3x 8-bit SPI frames and use the GPIO for the CS signal. Seems like this in a simple loop structure could get you the ramp you're interested in.

Hello Kevin,

I've switched to a LAUNCHXL-F28069 (used it before) and I'm model based.

I have tried MSP430G2 - doesn't compile.

Pin 2 of J1 should be the CS pin for the DAC. As I said in my first mail this is connected to an analogue input line to the micro and CANNOT be an output - the booster pack (DAC161S055EVM) is therefore not directly compatible. I'm using another GPIO pin and driving it manually by using stateflow. But... as I'm trying to learn how this device works I don't see an output change.

How do I get the MSP430G2 board to drive the EVM. Can it be done? Is there a sketch that Energia can use?

I'm open to any ideas at this point.

Cheers,

Rich

Hello Uttam,

Yes I have seen the SPI examples which I came across while trawling through the MSP430 entries.

I have always been able to send SPI data (I'm using a C2000 kit). The problem has been that i) learning how to use a new microcontroller line just for this isn't my preferred direction, and ii) the C2000 launchpads aren't fully compatible with the DAC161S055 (and probably other) devices. Which is a pity as it's a very good chip and perfect for my needs.

I am able to code much more rapidly with Stateflow than starting from scratch with a new micro line. It only took an hour or so for me to actually observe an output sawtooth with a simple increment/output loop plus a bit of code. Of course I use CCS7 as my compiler but in a command line capacity via Simulink.

It's totally our of your control of course but perhaps the compatibility of the Launchpads and Boosterpacks could be addressed in the future? It would help many people I suspect.

Thanks to you and Kevin for taking the time to look into this and help, it is much appreciated.

Rich