SAMA7D65-Curiosity – Features

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/10/03 15:36

Introduction

This topic describes the features of the SAMA7D65-Curiosity Development Board (P/N: EA89C15A) with links to additional information. 

Features Summary

The major features of the SAMA7D65-Curiosity are: 

  • SAMA7D65 MPU 
  • Mass Storage 
  • Communications 
  • Debugging 
  • User Interface 
  • Expansion 
  • Power Options 
  • Jumper Summary 

References

Photo of SAMA5D29-Curiosity Development Board

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SAMA7D65 MPU

The SAMA7D65 is a high-performance Arm® Cortex®-A7 CPU embedded microprocessor (MPU) running up to 1 GHz. 

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Processor

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Mass Storage

There are three mass storage options available on the development board: 64 Mb Serial Quad I/O™ (SQI™) Flash with EUI-48 and EUI-64 (U9), NAND Flash Memory (U8), and Secure Digital Multimedia Card (SDMMC) (J10).

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Mass Storage

64 Mb Serial Quad I/O™ (SQI™) Flash with EUI-48 and EUI-64 (U9)

U9 is a 64 Mb Serial Quad I/O™ (SQI™) Flash with EUI-48 and EUI-64 memory (Microchip SST26VF064BEUI). It is connected to the Quad SPI Interface 0 (QSPI0) peripheral of the SAMA7D65. 

NAND Flash Memory (U8)

U8 is a 4-Gbit SLC NAND Flash memory Macronix MX30LF4G28AD-XKI.

Secure Digital Multimedia Card (SDMMC) (J10)

J10 is a Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMediaCard (MMC) memory card slot. It is connected to the Secure Digital MultiMediaCard port 1 (SDMMC1) peripheral of the SAMA7D65. 

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Mass Storage

J10 can accommodate SD format radio modules. See the SAMA7D65-Curiosity User’s Guide for more information. 

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Communications

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity provides wired communications via Ethernet, USB, CAN, and wireless communications from M2 wireless interface.

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Communications

Ethernet (J15)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity contains a 10/100/1000 Reduced Gigabit Media-Independent Ethernet (RGMII) and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) SODIMM interface available on connector J15. Microchip provides a wide range of compatible Ethernet daughter boards that can be used for testing and evaluation. See the SAMA7D65-Curiosity User’s Guide for more information. 

USB (J3, J23 and J24)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity features three USB communication ports named USB-A (J3), USB-B (J23) and USB-C (J24). 

The USB-A port (J3) acts only as a USB device interface and is accessed via USB Type-C connector J3. 

The USB-A port (J3) can be used as a source of power for the development board. In most cases, this port is limited to 500 mA. See Power Options below. 

The USB-A port (J3) is used as the default serial port used to communicate with the SAM-BA® Monitor resident in the MPU. 

The USB-B port (J23) and USB-C port (J24) acts as a host and is accessed via USB Type-A connectors J23 and J24. 

Controller Area Network (CAN) Flexible Data-Rate (FD)

The SAMA7D65 MPU contains three dedicated CAN-FD interfaces, each equipped with an MCP2542FD CAN transceiver.

Each CAN port features a 3-pin terminal block named CAN1 (J29), CAN2 (J30) and CAN3 (J31). Wires can be plugged in the terminal blocks without the use of a screwdriver.

Wireless M.2 interface (J11)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity board embeds an M.2 connector to interconnect with Wireless add-on cards. Only wireless cards cards compatible with the PCIe M.2 Key E slot (J11) are supported. 

M.2 (formerly known as NGFF) is a small form factor card and connector that supports applications such as Wi-Fi®, WLAN, USB, PCI Express® (PCIe®) and SATA, as defined in the PCI-SIG® M.2 Specification.

The M.2 slot also features a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) interface with hardware flow control for the Bluetooth® component
of the add-on card.

The main interface integrated in the M.2 slot is SDMMC2, for the Wi-Fi component of the add-on
card. An optional SPI interface is also multiplexed with the SDMMC2 pins and is available by
changing the JP5 jumper position on the J12 header.

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Debugging

There is one method of debugging the SAMA7D65-Curiosity via JTAG (J38) using MPLAB® PIC™kit 5. In addition, a dedicated serial port for debugging and Console Serial Communications (J35). 

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Debugging

JTAG (J38)

A JTAG interface to the SAMA7D65-Curiosity is provided by 20-pin connector J38. This facilitates software development and debugging by connecting an external JTAG debugger such as MPLAB PICkit 5

The JTAG interface signals voltage levels are 3.3V. 

Serial Debug Port (J35)

The Serial Debug Port (J35) is a dedicated TTL-level serial port connection between the SAMA7D65 and J35. A level shifter (U19) allows either 3.3 or 5.0 VDC levels. To interface between J35 and the host computer, you will need a USB-to-Serial (3.3 or 5.0 VDC) TTL level adapter with a 6-pin single-in-line 0.1” pitch connector.  

Take care to align Pin 1 (GND) of the header J35 to the USB-to-Serial adapter Pin 1 (look for an arrow on the connector and a black wire). 

A terminal emulation program running on a host computer provides a user interface to interact with the target console. 

For more information, see the SAMA7D65-Curiosity: Console Serial Communications page.

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User Interface

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - User Interface

Red-Green-Blue (RGB) LED (D11)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity features one RGB LED (D11). 

Pushbuttons (SW1-SW4)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity contains three pushbuttons: 

  • WKUP (SW1): When pressed the MPU wakes up from a low-power state.
  • USER (SW2): User push button is the connector to PIO PA17 and is available for the user’s usage. 
  • RESET (SW4): Reset push button, when pressed the system resets. 
  • START (SW3): When pressed it will initiate the PMIC start-up sequence if the buck converters are off. The PMIC will also assert the SAMA7D65 wakeup (WKUP) signal to wake the MPU from a low-power state. 

LVDS Interface (J17)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity contains an 30-pin FPC LVDS display connector. An external LVDS display can be connected to the J17 30-pin FPC connector.

MIPI DSI Display Interface (J16)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity contains a 34-pin FPC MIPI display connector. An external MIPI display can be connected to the J16 34-pin FPC connector.

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Expansion

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Expansion

mikroBUS™ (J25 and J26)

mikroBUS™ socket is a proprietary communication and plugin standard for small interface boards called Click boards™ that extends the capabilities of the development board by offering SPI, UART, TWI, and PWM-based sensors and devices. They are made by MikroElektronika, a producer and retailer of hardware and software tools for developing embedded systems. 

GPIO/Raspberry Pi Connector(J18)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity contains a 40-pin GPIO connector (J18) for use. This connector is compatible with the Raspberry Pi® expansion header. 

Tamper (J33) and System Signals (J34) Connectors (Not populated)

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity board provides two tamper pins for static or dynamic intrusion detection on connector J33 (not populated).  

The PMIC High-Power Mode (HPM) signal, used to enable the PMIC High-Power mode, is present on J34 pin 4. 

Unused I/O signals from the SAMA7D65 are routed to connectors J33 and J34 (not populated). 

Signal NameDescription
JTAGSEL (J33)JTAG boundary scan mode enable 
SHDN (J33)Enable/disable external power supply circuit 
AUDIOCLK (J33)Dedicated audio clock signal
MCP16502_HPM (J34)PMIC High Power mode enable
NRST_OUT (J34)Peripheral reset output
NRST (J34)Processor reset input
SEL_VLDO1 (J34)Selects the output voltage of LDO1 of the MCP16502 PMIC

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Power Options

There are two options to power the SAMA7D65-Curiosity: USB-A Port (J3) and DC Jack (J1).

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Power Options

USB-A Port (J3)

The USB-A port (J3) is a USB-C connector and can be used as a power source for the development board. In most cases, this port is limited to 500 mA. 

DC Jack (J1)

The SAMA7D65-Curisosity can be powered by an external 5.0 VDC power supply. The connector (J1) is a 2.1 mm coaxial center-positive. 

DO NOT exceed 6.0 VDC on DC Jack (J1). 

If both J1 and J3 are powered at the same time, automatic switching circuitry prioritizes power from the DC Jack (J1).  

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Jumper Summary

The SAMA7D65-Curiosity jumpers are as follows: 

SAMA5D29-Curiosity - Jumpers

Jumper J4 – VDDBU Current Measurement:

  • Closed: (default) 
  • Open: Removing the jumper will remove power to VDDBU and reset the Boot Sequence
    Controller Configuration register (BSC_CR) to their initial configuration. 

Ensure the SAMA7D65-Curiosity Development Board is powered off before removing jumper J4. 

Jumper J4 must be in place for the proper operation of the MPU.  

Jumper J39 – Serial Quad I/O (SQI) Flash Boot:

  • Closed: Enable boot (default) 
  • Open: Disable boot 

Jumper J36 – NAND Flash Boot:

  • Closed: Enable boot (default) 
  • Open: Disable 

Jumper J32 – CAN1, CAN2 and CAN3 Transceiver:

  • Closed: Enable boot (default) 
  • Open: Disable 

Jumper J2 – Extra 3.3V and 2.5V source select

  • 1-2 Closed: Enable extra power source from VDD_3V3
  • 2-3 Closed: Enable extra power source from 5V_MAIN
  • Open: Disable 

Jumper J6 – PAC1934 TWCK selection on USB

  • 1-2 Closed: Enable TWCK selection on USB (default) 
  • 2-3 Closed: Enable TWCK selection on MPU
  • Open: Disable 

Jumper J7 – PAC1934 TWD selection on USB

  • 1-2 Closed: Enable TWD selection on USB (default) 
  • 2-3 Closed: Enable TWD selection on MPU 
  • Open: Disable 

Jumper J12 – M.2 SDIO/SPI interface selection

  • 1-2 Closed: Enable SDIO (default) 
  • 2-3 Closed: Enable SPI
  • Open: Disable 

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