Atmel SAM4N Xplained Pro User Manual
SMART ARM-based Microcontrollers
SAM4N Xplained Pro
USER GUIDE
Preface
The Atmel® SAM4N Xplained Pro evaluation kit is a hardware platform to
evaluate the ATSAM4N16C microcontroller.
Supported by the Atmel Studio integrated development platform, the kit
provides easy access to the features of the Atmel ATSAM4N16C and
explains how to integrate the device in a custom design.
The Xplained Pro MCU series evaluation kits include an on-board
Embedded Debugger, and no external tools are necessary to program or
debug the ATSAM4N16C.
The Xplained Pro extension kits offers additional peripherals to extend the
features of the board and ease the development of custom designs.
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Table of Contents
Preface............................................................................................................................ 1
1. Introduction................................................................................................................3
1.1. Features....................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2. Kit Overview................................................................................................................................. 3
2. Getting Started...........................................................................................................5
2.1. Xplained Pro Quick Start.............................................................................................................. 5
2.2. Design Documentation and Relevant Links................................................................................. 5
3. Xplained Pro.............................................................................................................. 7
3.1. Embedded Debugger................................................................................................................... 7
3.2. Hardware Identification System....................................................................................................8
3.3. Power Sources............................................................................................................................. 8
3.4. Xplained Pro Headers and Connectors........................................................................................9
3.4.1. Xplained Pro Standard Extension Header..................................................................... 9
3.4.2. Xplained Pro Power Header........................................................................................ 10
4. Hardware User Guide.............................................................................................. 11
4.1. Connectors................................................................................................................................. 11
4.1.1. Xplained Pro Standard Extension Headers..................................................................11
4.1.2. Other Headers............................................................................................................. 13
4.1.3. Current Measurement Header..................................................................................... 14
4.2. Peripherals................................................................................................................................. 14
4.2.1. Crystals........................................................................................................................14
4.2.2. Mechanical Buttons..................................................................................................... 15
4.2.3. LED..............................................................................................................................15
4.2.4. Analog Reference........................................................................................................ 15
4.3. Embedded Debugger Implementation........................................................................................15
4.3.1. Serial Wire Debug........................................................................................................16
4.3.2. Virtual COM Port..........................................................................................................16
4.3.3. Atmel Data Gateway Interface.....................................................................................16
5. Appendix..................................................................................................................18
5.1. Getting Started with IAR.............................................................................................................18
6. Hardware Revision History and Known Issues........................................................21
6.1. Identifying Product ID and Revision........................................................................................... 21
6.2. Revision 2...................................................................................................................................21
7. Document Revision History..................................................................................... 22
8. Evaluation Board/Kit Important Notice.....................................................................23
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1. Introduction
1.1. Features
• Atmel ATSAM4N16C microcontroller
• Embedded debugger (EDBG)
– USB interface
– Programming and debugging (target) through Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
– Virtual COM-port interface to target via UART
– Atmel Data Gateway Interface (DGI) to target via synchronous USART or TWI
– Four GPIOs connected to target for code instrumentation
• Digital I/O
– Two mechanical buttons (user and reset button)
– One user LED
– Three extension headers
– Three spare signal headers
• Two possible power sources
– External power
– Embedded debugger USB
• 12MHz crystal
• 32kHz crystal
1.2. Kit Overview
The Atmel SAM4N Xplained Pro evaluation kit is a hardware platform to evaluate the Atmel
ATSAM4N16C.
The kit offers a set of features that enables the ATSAM4N16C user to get started using the
ATSAM4N16C peripherals right away and to get an understanding of how to integrate the device in their
own design.
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Figure 1-1. SAM4N Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit Overview
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2. Getting Started
2.1. Xplained Pro Quick Start
Steps to start exploring the Atmel Xplained Pro platform:
1. Download Atmel Studio.
2. Launch Atmel Studio.
3. Connect a USB cable (Standard-A to Micro-B or Micro-AB) between the PC and the DEBUG USB
port on the kit.
When the Xplained Pro MCU kit is connected to your computer for the first time, the operating system will
perform a driver software installation. The driver file supports both 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft
Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows Server 2012.
Once the Xplained Pro MCU board is powered the green power LED will be lit and Atmel Studio will auto
detect which Xplained Pro MCU- and extension board(s) are connected. Atmel Studio will present
relevant information like datasheets and kit documentation. The kit landing page in Atmel Studio also has
the option to launch Atmel Software Framework (ASF) example applications for the kit. The SAM4N
device is programmed and debugged by the on-board Embedded Debugger and therefore no external
programmer or debugger tool is needed.
2.2. Design Documentation and Relevant Links
The following list contains links to the most relevant documents and software for the SAM4N Xplained
Pro.
• Xplained products - Atmel Xplained evaluation kits are a series of easy-to-use evaluation kits for
Atmel microcontrollers and other Atmel products. For low pin-count devices the Xplained Nano
series provides a minimalistic solution with access to all I/O pins of the target microcontroller.
Xplained Mini kits are for medium pin-count devices and adds Arduino Uno compatible header
footprint and a prototyping area. Xplained Pro kits are for medium to high pin-count devices, they
features advanced debugging and standardized extensions for peripheral functions. All these kits
have on board programmers/debuggers which creates a set of low-cost boards for evaluation and
demonstration of features and capabilities of different Atmel products.
• Atmel Studio - Free Atmel IDE for development of C/C++ and assembler code for Atmel
microcontrollers.
• Atmel sample store - Atmel sample store where you can order samples of devices.
• EDBG User Guide - User guide containing more information about the on-board Embedded
Debugger.
• IAR Embedded Workbench® for ARM® - This is a commercial C/C++ compiler that is available for
ARM®. There is a 30 day evaluation version as well as a code size limited kick-start version
available from their website. The code size limit is 16KB for devices with M0, M0+, and M1 cores
and 32KB for devices with other cores.
• Atmel Data Visualizer - Atmel Data Visualizer is a program used for processing and visualizing
data. Data Visualizer can receive data from various sources such as the Embedded Debugger Data
Gateway Interface found on Xplained Pro boards and COM ports.
• Hardware Users Guide in PDF format - PDF version of this User Guide.
• Design Documentation - Package containing CAD source, schematics, BOM, assembly drawings,
3D plots, layer plots etc.
®
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• SAM4N Xplained Pro on the Atmel website - Atmel website link.
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3. Xplained Pro
Xplained Pro is an evaluation platform that provides the full Atmel microcontroller experience. The
platform consists of a series of Microcontroller (MCU) boards and extension boards, which are integrated
with Atmel Studio, have Atmel Software Framework (ASF) drivers and demo code, support data
streaming, and more. Xplained Pro MCU boards support a wide range of Xplained Pro extension boards,
which are connected through a set of standardized headers and connectors. Each extension board has
an identification (ID) chip to uniquely identify which boards are connected to an Xplained Pro MCU board.
This information is used to present relevant user guides, application notes, datasheets, and example
code through Atmel Studio.
3.1. Embedded Debugger
The SAM4N Xplained Pro contains the Atmel Embedded Debugger (EDBG) for on-board debugging. The
EDBG is a composite USB device of three interfaces; a debugger, Virtual COM Port, and a Data Gateway
Interface (DGI).
Together with Atmel Studio, the EDBG debugger interface can program and debug the ATSAM4N16C.
On SAM4N Xplained Pro, the SWD interface is connected between the EDBG and the ATSAM4N16C.
The Virtual COM Port is connected to a UART on the ATSAM4N16C and provides an easy way to
communicate with the target application through terminal software. It offers variable baud rate, parity, and
stop bit settings. Note that the settings on the ATSAM4N16C must match the settings given in the
terminal software.
Info: The virtual COM port in the EDBG requires the terminal software to set the data terminal
ready (DTR) signal to enable the UART pins connected to the ATSAM4N16C. If the DTR signal
is not enabled the UART pins on the EDBG is kept in high-z (tristate) rendering the COM port
unusable. The DTR signal is set automatically by some terminal software, but it may have to be
manually enabled in your terminal.
The DGI consists of several physical interfaces for communication with the host computer.
Communication over the interfaces is bidirectional. It can be used to send events and values from the
ATSAM4N16C or as a generic printf-style data channel. Traffic over the interfaces can be timestamped on
the EDBG for more accurate tracing of events. Note that timestamping imposes an overhead that reduces
maximal throughput. Atmel Data Visualizer is used to send and receive data through DGI.
The EDBG controls two LEDs on SAM4N Xplained Pro; a power LED and a status LED. The table below
shows how the LEDs are controlled in different operation modes.
Table 3-1. EDBG LED Control
Operation mode Power LED Status LED
Normal operation Power LED is lit when power is
applied to the board.
Bootloader mode (idle) The power LED and the status LED blinks simultaneously.
Activity indicator, LED flashes
when any communication
happens to the EDBG.
Bootloader mode (firmware
upgrade)
The power LED and the status LED blinks in an alternating pattern.
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For further documentation on the EDBG, see the EDBG User Guide.
3.2. Hardware Identification System
All Xplained Pro compatible extension boards have an Atmel ATSHA204 CryptoAuthentication™ chip
mounted. This chip contains information that identifies the extension with its name and some extra data.
When an Xplained Pro extension is connected to an Xplained Pro MCU board the information is read and
sent to Atmel Studio. The Atmel Kits extension, installed with Atmel Studio, will give relevant information,
code examples, and links to relevant documents. The table below shows the data fields stored in the ID
chip with example content.
Table 3-2. Xplained Pro ID Chip Content
Data field Data type Example content
Manufacturer ASCII string Atmel'\0'
Product Name ASCII string Segment LCD1 Xplained Pro'\0'
Product Revision ASCII string 02'\0'
Product Serial Number ASCII string 1774020200000010’\0’
Minimum Voltage [mV] uint16_t 3000
Maximum Voltage [mV] uint16_t 3600
Maximum Current [mA] uint16_t 30
3.3. Power Sources
The SAM4N Xplained Pro kit can be powered by several power sources as listed in the table below.
Table 3-3. Power Sources for SAM4N Xplained Pro
Power input Voltage requirements Current requirements Connector marking
External power 5V ±2% (±100mV) for
Embedded debugger
USB
USB host operation.
4.3V to 5.5V if USB host
operation is not
required.
4.4V to 5.25V (according
to USB spec.)
Recommended
minimum is 1A to be
able to provide enough
current for connected
USB devices and the
board itself.
Recommended
maximum is 2A due to
the input protection
maximum current
specification.
500mA (according to
USB spec.)
PWR
DEBUG USB
The kit will automatically detect which power sources are available and choose which one to use
according to the following priority:
1. External power.
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