TMS570LS31 HDK Development kit - Connectors

This is unfortunate since most COTS evaluation boards or extension boards that we might want to connect to the HDK have 2.54mm pitch... Why was the HDK developed with a non-standard 2mm pitch? Do you have an adaptation solution for us to be able to connect the HDK with another board having 2.54mm pitch connectors?

Thanks.

Hello Etienne,

I'm not sure I understand your comment about the COTS evaluation or extension boards since there would also need to be pin to pin compatibility as well and, since, the connectors are not designed to a specific standard such as boosterpacks, capes, etc. I don't think there would be any that would match up in a useful way.

Nonetheless, this was a design choice made to align with other internal boards used for driver development, validation, and test bench automation capabilities.

Also worth mentioning if there is a need/desire to have compatibility with other evaluation/development COTS, we have several of our devices available in Launchpad format. i.e., LAUNCHXL2-570LC43, LAUNCHXL2-TMS57012, and LAUNCHXL-TMS57004. We also have our industrial line avaialble as LAUNCHXL2-RM57L, LAUNCHXL2-RM46, and LAUNCHXL-RM42. All of these have boosterpack connectors complient with the boosterpack standards in addition to locations for additional custom headers for access to most, if not all, of the pins. Each of the headers has the standard 0.100' centered pin locations.

Hi,

Thanks for your answer. However, we need EMIF on the expansion connector and I don't see LAUNCHXL2-570LC43 having the EMIF on the expansion connectors. Moreover, I can't find the schematic of that board on the LAUNCHXL2-570LC43 page...

We are also wondering if it will be feasible to pass a 66 MHz EMIF signal across 2 boards using the expansion connector... Do you think this frequency is a problem?

Thanks.

Etienne,

The schematic, board design files (layout and schematic for Eagle), and manufacturing files (gerber and BOM) files for the launchpad can be found on the wiki page located at this link: processors.wiki.ti.com/.../LAUNCHXL2-570LC43

I think there could be challenges with both the pin availability and the fact that all of the pins are not co-located on a single header. As far as I can tell, they are spread among several different header locations including the boosterpack headers and the prototype headers and at least one of the pins alternate functions is tied to the on board PHY which may or may not be a problem. It may be possible to build a custom board that has the added functionality such as the EMIF, CAN transcevers, SD Card reader, etc that the HDK offered but TI isn't planning to offer this option that I am aware of.

Note that the EMIF functions don't show up on the quickstart guide since the boosterpack standards don't support EMIF operation/pins.

Hi,

Suppose we'd use the LaunchPad (since it has the EMIF pins and it uses a more standard expansion connector), is there third party company developing boosterpacks using the EMIF pins? We try to use COTS solution as we can rather than developing our own boosterback. Our objective would be to put an FPGA (or a CPU) on the EMIF of the boosterpack.

Thanks.

Etienne,

Unfortunately, there are no third parties doing boosterpacks with EMIF capability. As I stated earlier, EMIF is not a supported feature of the boosterpack connection standards. Also, not all of the EMIF pins come out on the boosterpack connectors. Some EMIF pins are located on the edge prototype expansion locations where you would need to add headers (there are only holes there now). In the end, it may be easier to build an adapter board to go from the HDK 2mm headers to the standard 2.5mm headers. This would be cheaper and less complex with higher probability of success at the speeds you are talking about. In the end, which ever you feel is the least painful rout would be the way to go.

The EMIF on the LC4357 is available on two sets of pins  (for the most part).

The LC4357 is pinout compatible w. the LS3137 and in that mode a lot of signals from EMIF, EMAC, and other interfaces go to  say 'option A' of the pinmux.

But the 3137 has a ton of NC pins ..   The LC4357 being a much bigger device can have more IO and so it filled out the NC pins of the 3137 package by offering EMIF and MII on a second (Option B) set of pins. 

The HDK boards use the same footprint for all devices LC4357 -> LS1227 so you'll find they use the more heavily muxed choices for EMIF, EMAC, etc.

The LaunchPad for LC4357 is specifically designed for that chip and maximizes the IO capabilities.

So it uses the dedicated (new Option B) location for EMIF and EMAC.

If you look at the schematic you might see a signal that has EMIF on it going to some other location like the proto headers on the edge of the board or to the booster pack.

But the entire EMIF should be available to you from just the 4 MEZZ headers.   You shouldn't need any other headers. 

In other words,  don't let the duplication of pinout options fool you into thinking that you need more than just the 4 MEZZ headers for your expansion board.

There isn't a COTS solution for the MEZZ headers because its not a LaunchPad standard, it's just specific to the LC4357.

We did have an intern last summer do a layout project to mount an SDRAM on these headers (Only the 4 MEZZ headers) so it's feasible.