NXP Semiconductors UM11579 User manual

UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

Rev. 1 — 25 February 2021 User manual

Document information

Information Content

Keywords PCA9957HN, SPI, Arduino port, EVK, LED, LED driver

Abstract The PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board is a daughter card equipped with

Arduino ports, designated for easy test and design of the PCA9957HN IC, 24-

channel SPI serial bus 32 mA/5.5 V constant current LED driver. The board

is fully compliant with IMXRT1050-EVKB, LPCXpresso55S69 (LPC55S69-

EVK) and i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVK (8MMINILPD4-EVK) (8MMINID4-EVK),

including GUI software control. The board can be attached to any device

equipped with Arduino ports.

NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

1 Revision History

Rev Date Description

v.1 02/25/2021 Initial version

Table 1. Revision history

NXP provides the enclosed product(s) under the following conditions:

This evaluation kit is intended for use of ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT OR EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY. It is provided as a

sample IC pre-soldered to a printed circuit board to make it easier to access inputs, outputs, and supply terminals. This evaluation board

may be used with any development system or other source of I/O signals by simply connecting it to the host MCU or computer board via

off-the-shelf cables. This evaluation board is not a Reference Design and is not intended to represent a final design recommendation for

any particular application. Final device in an application will be heavily dependent on proper printed circuit board layout and heat sinking

design as well as attention to supply filtering, transient suppression, and I/O signal quality.

The goods provided may not be complete in terms of required design, marketing, and or manufacturing related protective considerations,

including product safety measures typically found in the end product incorporating the goods. Due to the open construction of the product,

it is the user's responsibility to take any and all appropriate precautions with regard to electrostatic discharge. In order to minimize risks

associated with the customers applications, adequate design and operating safeguards must be provided by the customer to minimize

inherent or procedural hazards. For any safety concerns, contact NXP sales and technical support services.

Should this evaluation kit not meet the specifications indicated in the kit, it may be returned within 30 days from the date of delivery and will

be replaced by a new kit.

NXP reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products herein. NXP makes no warranty, representation or

guarantee regarding the suitability of its products for any particular purpose, nor does NXP assume any liability arising out of the

application or use of any product or circuit, and specifically disclaims any and all liability, including without limitation consequential or

incidental damages. “Typical” parameters can and do vary in different applications and actual performance may vary over time. All

operating parameters, including “Typical”, must be validated for each customer application by customer’s technical experts.

NXP does not convey any license under its patent rights nor the rights of others. NXP products are not designed, intended, or authorized

for use as components in systems intended for surgical implant into the body, or other applications intended to support or sustain life, or for

any other application in which the failure of the NXP product could create a situation where personal injury or death may occur.

Should the Buyer purchase or use NXP products for any such unintended or unauthorized application, the Buyer shall indemnify and hold

NXP and its officers, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, and distributors harmless against all claims, costs, damages, and expenses, and

reasonable attorney fees arising out of, directly or indirectly, any claim of personal injury or death associated with such unintended or

unauthorized use, even if such claim alleges NXP was negligent regarding the design or manufacture of the part.

Important Notice

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NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

2 Introduction

This document describes the PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board. The evaluation board

is built around the PCA9957HN, a 24-channel SPI serial bus 32 mA, 5.5 V constant

current LED driver produced by NXP Semiconductors. The evaluation board serves

as a daughter card that can be connected through an Arduino port to various Arduino

compatible (including original Arduino Uno R3) EVK/mother boards for the purpose of

testing and measuring the characteristics of the PCA9957HN Device Under Test (DUT).

The PCA9957HN host device communicates through the Arduino port with the LED

driver via the high-speed SPI bus (up to 10 MHz clock frequency). The board is equipped

with a pair of Fuji connectors that supports a SPI daisy chain scalable architecture.

Thus, users can create a stack of similar boards that share the same SPI bus. The Fuji

connectors are of the board-to-board type, allowing the user to attach the boards in a

vertical stack instead of connecting link cables between the boards. Three additional

digital lines in the SPI bus allow the mother board to control the DUT through the Arduino

port or the Fuji connectors.

Power is delivered from the mother board (EVK) through the Arduino port. The power

rails are shared with the Fuji connectors, so the DUT can be powered either from the

Arduino connectors or the Fuji connectors.

The board contains four RGB LEDs and twelve white LEDs allocated to all twenty-four

outputs of the PCA9957HN DUT. The board also contains jumpers and connectors that

allow users to connect external LEDs to PCA9957HN outputs.

Additionally, a Graphical User Interface (Windows platform) is provided to facilitate the

evaluation of the daughter board. The GUI is used in combination with the following NXP

evaluation boards: IMXRT1050 EVK Board, LPCXpresso55S69 Development Board, and

i.MX 8M Mini LPDDR4 EVK Board.

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NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

3 Finding Kit Resources and Information on the NXP Web Site

NXP Semiconductors provides online resources for this evaluation board and its

supported device(s) at http://www.nxp.com.

The information page for the PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board is at http://

www.nxp.com/PCA9957HN-ARD. The information page provides overview information,

documentation, software and tools, parametrics, ordering information and a Getting

Started tab. The Getting Started tab provides quick-reference information applicable

to using the PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board, including the downloadable assets

referenced in this document.

3.1 Collaborate in the NXP community

The NXP community is for sharing ideas and tips, ask and answer technical questions,

and receive input on just about any embedded design topic.

The NXP community is at http://community.nxp.com.

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NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

4 Getting Ready

Working with the PCA9957HN-ARD requires the kit contents, additional hardware, and a

Windows PC workstation with installed software.

4.1 Kit contents

•Assembled and tested evaluation board in an anti-static bag

•Quick Start Guide

4.2 Assumptions

Familiarity with the SPI bus is helpful but not required.

4.3 Static handling requirements

CAUTION

This device is sensitive to ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD). Therefore care

should be taken during transport and handling. You must use a ground strap

or touch the PC case or other grounded source before unpacking or handling

the hardware.

4.4 Minimum system requirements

•PC with Windows 10 operating system

•One USB port (either 3.0 or 2.0 compatible)

•One of three EVKs boards mentioned in the previous section along with the associated

firmware and GUI software

•USB cable for power and data connection between the PC and the EVK board (not

included in the PCA9957HN-ARD daughter board package)

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PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

5 Getting to Know the Hardware

5.1 PCA9957HN-ARD features

•Combined Arduino port/Fuji connector for data and power

•Multiple board connection in stack architecture

•On-board LEDs for all 24 outputs of the DUT

•On-board jumpers for LED connection, and short tests

•On-board connectors for external LEDs

•Fully compliant with IMXRT1050 EVK board, including GUI (Windows 10)

•Fully compliant with LPCXpresso55S69 dev. board, including GUI (Windows 10)

•Compliant with i.MX Mini LPDDR4 EVK board, including GUI for Windows 10 (see

Note 1)

Note 1: i.MX Mini LPDDR4 EVK Boards require the use of an IMX8MMINI-IARD

interposer board between the EVK and PCA9957HN-ARDUINO daughter board (see

IMX8MMINI-IARD User Manual) here.

5.2 Block diagram

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the PCA9957HN-ARD daughter board. The block

diagram includes Arduino interface (J5, J6, J35, and J36 connectors) and the data

lines connected to the port. The blue lines in the drawing refer to the SPI bus and the

purple lines represents the control bus. The J46 and J47 connectors are Fuji conncetors

(see Section 5.8 "Fuji connectors"). J46 is the Fuji output connector (pin header) and is

located on the top layer of the board. J46 is intended to be mated with a similar Fuji input

connector (J47) on a board mounted directly on top of the first board. In this way, several

boards can be connected in a stack. The first board is powered and communicates

through the Arduino connector; the other attached boards draw power and communicate

through the Fuji connectors.

Figure 1. PCA9957HN-ARD block diagram

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PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

5.3 LED section

The PCA9957HN features twenty-four LED drivers (PWM controlled, current sink

sources). Different LEDs are allocated to each output. The LEDs can be disconnected

from the load with jumpers. Moreover, the RGB LED D16 has jumpers connected

in parallel for short testing. The jumpers J76 to J81 allow the user to redirect the

corresponding output lines of D16 and D17 RGB LEDs from the on-board LEDs to the

RGB LED external connectors (J21 and J26). Using the connectors, the user can easily

attach external LEDs for testing.

In the same manner, the corresponding line of white LEDs D14 and D15 can be

redirected with J82 and J83 jumpers to white LED external connectors J23 and J25.

5.4 Power distribution

The power supply is provided from the EVK mother board for the first card, and through

the Fuji connectors for all additional cards. There are two power rails: 3.3 V and 5 V.

The main power consumption is from the 5 V power rail. The necessary current for one

daughter board when all LEDs are turned on is 730 mA. Due to current limitations, the

number of boards installed in the stack is limited. The limitation depends on the type of

EVK being used and the current rating of the Arduino/Fuji connectors (approx. 4.5 A).

The current limitation as a function of the EVK is as follows:

•IMXRT1050 EVK:

–EVK powered from USB: limited by the current rating of the USB connector – max. 3

boards;

–EVK powered from power barrel connector (J2): limited by power rating of Arduino /

Fuji connectors – max. 5 boards;

•LPCXpresso55S69 EVK: limited by the current rating of the USB connector – max. 3

boards;

•i.MX LPDDR4 EVK: limited by the current delivered by the EVK power supply – max. 3

boards;

The on-board LED D2 is a 3.3 V rail indicator, and D3 is a 5 V rail indicator.

5.5 Control bus

The SPI bus contains three additional control lines (purple color in Figure 1): OE (Output

Enable), RESET, and I MAX. OE and RESET are routed to the OE and RESET inputs of

the DUT, directly from Arduino port for the first (or base daughter board) and through Fuji

connectors for the additional boards (pin 5, and pin 7).

The I MAX line controls the switch U4. When U4 is open, the resistor R83 is connected

between the REXT input of the PCA9957HN (pin 39) and ground. R83 sets the maximum

current delivered at the outputs of the DUT at 20 mA. When U4 is closed, R79 is

paralleled with R81 and the resulting maximum current increases to 30 mA. For more

details regarding control lines, see the PCA9957 datasheet Table 1 and Table 2.

5.6 SPI bus

The SPI bus has a daisy chain architecture. When a single daughter board (inserted

in the Arduino port) is used, the MISO line (J36, pin 4) goes from the Arduino port to

the DUT SDI input (U2, pin 6). The signal is turned back from SDO (U2, pin 4) through

the switch U5 (closed) to the MISO input of the Arduino port (J36, pin 5). U5 is closed

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because the control input is pulled up (high state) through R89. When a secondary

board is inserted into the Fuji output connector, the U5 control input located on the first

board is pulled down to ground through pin 3 of J46 and J47 of the next board. When

the switch U5 (first board) is open, the signal path of the SPI is: MOSI (Arduino port)

– SDI input (U2, first board) – SDO output (U2, first board) – pin 6 (J46 first board) –

pin 6 (J47 second board) – SDI (U2, second board) – SDO (U2, second board) – U5

(second board which is closed) – pin 8 (J47, second board – pin 8 (J46, first board) –

MISO (Arduino port). The daisy chain loop is then closed through both DUT's on the two

inter-connected daughter boards. The SPI clock and chip select lines are sent directly to

the DUT (U2) on the first card, and through the Fuji connectors to the secondary card.

For SPI characteristics and data format, see the PCA9957 datasheet Table 1 and Table

2, which details the pin map of the Arduino port and the Fuji connectors.

Note 2: For IMXRT1050 EVK, the SPI lines on the EVK board are not linked to the

Arduino connector. Before using the EVK, the user must populate the DNP zero-ohm

resistors R278 to R281 (see the EVK schematic diagram file SPF-30168_A1.pdf,

available at www.nxp.com.

5.7 Arduino port

The connectors J5, J6, J35, and J36 are the mated pin headers of Arduino Uno R3

connectors, having the same electrical function and being placed on the board so that the

daughter board can be directly inserted in the Arduino port. The daughter board circuit

uses only seven signal lines. Table 2 shows the Arduino connector pins and how they are

used in the circuit (see also the SPF-46841.pdf schematic file).

Note 3: A4 / SDA common line for J2 – 5 and J4 – 9. A5 / SCL common line for J2 – 6 and J4 – 10.

Ref Des # Arduino label PCA9957HN-ARD function

1 NC Not used

2 IOREF Not used

3 RESET Not used

4 3.3V Power supply

5 5V Not used

6 GND Power supply return

7 GND Power supply return

J6 (Power)

8 Vin Not used

1 A0 Not used

2 A1 Not used

3 A2 Not used

4 A3 Not used

5 A4 / SDA (Note 2) Not used

J35 (analog, digital, I2C)

6 A5 / SCL (Note 2) Not used

1 D0 / RX Not used

2 D1 / TX Not used

J5 (digital, UART, PWM)

3 D2 REXT SELECT (SW_EN)

Table 2. The pin chart of Arduino connectors and their usage

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NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

Note 3: A4 / SDA common line for J2 – 5 and J4 – 9. A5 / SCL common line for J2 – 6 and J4 – 10.

Ref Des # Arduino label PCA9957HN-ARD function

4 D3 / PWM Not used

5 D4 Not used

6 D5 / PWM Not used

7 D6 / PWM Not used

8 D7 Not used

1 D8 RESET (RESET_B_D8)

2 D9 / PWM OUTPUT ENABLE (OE_B_D9)

3 D10 / SS / PWM SPI – SELECT (SPI_C0_D10)

4 D11 / MOSI / PWM SPI – MOSI (SPI_MOSI_D11)

5 D12 / MISO SPI – MISO (SPI_MISO_D12)

6 D13 / SCK SPI – CLOCK (SPI_CLK)

7 GND Power supply return

8 AREF Not used

9 A4 / SDA (Note 2) Not used

J36 (mixed)

10 A5 / SCL (Note 2) Not used

Table 2. The pin chart of Arduino connectors and their usage...continued

5.8 Fuji connectors

Fuji connectors J46 and J47 allow several PCA9957HN-ARD daughter boards to be

configured in a stack architecture. The connector J46 is the Fuji output pin header placed

on top of the layout. Fuji connector J46 is the pin receptacle located on the bottom of the

layout. When two boards are connected, J47 of the secondary board is inserted into Fuji

output connector (J46) of the primary (base) daughter board. Table 3 shows the pin map

of Fuji connectors and the function of the pins.

J46 Fuji output connector (top) J47 Fuji input connector (top)

1 3.3 V rail distribution 1 3.3 V rail distribution

2 5 V rail distribution 2 5 V rail distribution

3 Input control of switch U5 3 Connected to GND. Close the switch U5 of the previous board

4 I MAX (R EXT) control distribution 4 I MAX (R EXT) control distribution

5 RESET distribution 5 RESET distribution

6 SDO (U2) distribution to next board SDI (U2) 6 SDO (U2) from previous board

7 OE distribution 7 OE distribution

8 SDO (U2) from last Board to SPI-MISO 8 SDO (U2) from next board (SDO bridge)

9 SPI – CS distribution 9 SPI – CS distribution

10 SPI – CLOCK distribution 10 SPI – CLOCK distribution

11 GND 11 GND

12 GND 12 GND

Table 3. The pin chart of Fuji connectors and their functions

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NXP Semiconductors UM11579

PCA9957HN-ARD evaluation board

5.9 Not populated components

In the schematic diagram / board layout some components are not soldered on the

board. Crystal X1 is one of the main DNP (Do Not Populate) components. X1 is missing

because the project is designed to accommodate two DUTs from the same LED driver

series (PCA9957, and PCA9959). However, only one of the DUTs—PCA9959—needs

a crystal oscillator to work properly. Since the PCA9957HN does not require an external

oscillator, the X1 crystal and the associated passive components were not soldered on

the board. The capacitors C3 and C4 also are not necessary in the circuit, therefore they

are not populated.

5.10 Board layout and component placement

Figure 2 shows the top silkscreen of the board and Figure 3 shows a PCA9957HN-

ARD daughter card, top side (up) and bottom side (down). The pictures allow users to

quickly find the location of the the board components involved in test and measurement

evaluations. The main elements of the board are called out in the picture. The Arduino

port connectors (J5, J6, J35, J36) are located on the bottom side of the board.

Figure 2. The PCA9957HN-ARD silkscreen (top view)

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