In this Blog

Download the Arduino software and power up the Uno and Due. Look at debug, does it exist from the Arduino GUI?

See previous Blog…

http://www.element14.com/community/groups/arduino/blog/2015/11/23/1-aardenergy-kick-off--a-new-project

IDE Download

IDE Down load from Uno board page, version 1.6.6 (I had already installed 1.6.5, so an upgrade). 1.6.5 uninstalled first, 1.6.6 now in place.

However, under Tools>Board…Due is not listed.

Get Started with Uno

Use the IDE, Help>Getting Started.

• Plug USB into socket on Uno
• Power LED is on (and port  LED is blinking)
• In Windows Device manager select Ports and find Arduino Uno (COM3) (note Windows 8.1)
• Right click and update driver from C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\drivers
• Open Blink in IDE File > Examples >01.Basics > Blink
• Select board as Uno
• Select Serial Port (COM3 as determined above)
• Upload, TX, RX LEDs flash happily.
• And LED on pin 13 is flashing, so all good.

That went well but the Due was not listed so let’s try that from the link above.

Get Started with Due

Due board needs a micro B USB cable. Order this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FAAGNLU/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item

The cable has arrived and fits the board programmer port (and it fits the Native USB port). The Due powers up, Green LED is on and the yellow LED blinks.

There are some special factors to keep in mind with the Due, read the guide:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoDue

Follow the guidance on the drivers:

(Note that is says “tested on Windows XP and, but we are using 8.1)

From Device Manager>Ports, Arduino Due Programming Port is COM4. Right Click and Update Driver Software. Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\drivers. Hit Next and drivers are up to date.

Also load the core software to support the Due:

From Tools>Board>Boards Manager

Install the SAM board ARM Cortex-M3

The Due can now be selected from the list of boards.

Test the set up by loading the Blink programme:

• Open Blink in IDE File > Examples >01.Basics > Blink
• Select board as Due
• Select Serial Port (COM4 as determined above)
• Upload, TX, RX LEDs flash happily.
• And yellow LED is flashing, so all good.

Software Debug

I am curious about how to debug the software, is there a Debug Mode or JTAG port? There is nothing on the GUI as far as I can tell at the moment. A Search for Arduino Uno Debug threw up a discussion on element14:

http://www.element14.com/community/thread/17697/l/debugging-atmega328?displayFullThread=true

Looks like print on the serial port is the Arduino “debug” unless you add some other utility. In essence a Uno Sketch needs to be simple to get away with no debug tool. This also might help:

http://www.element14.com/community/groups/arduino/blog/2012/09/30/the-first-practical-arduino-debugger

On the Due there is a Debug connector marked up but is not described in the top level Arduino document. A search throws up comments about the port as JTAG but used with third party tools:

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=134907.0

So as a challenge I’ll attempt to use Arduino GUI and see how far I get with a fairly ambitious project to do real time calculations using Due board!

Other Blogs:

1. AardEnergy – Kick Off - a new project

3. AardEnergy – Current and Voltage Transformers

Next Steps

After a bit more shopping I have a Current Transformer and a Voltage Transformer to evaluate. In the next blog there will be some analysis of the signals from these sensors as well as some measurements to assess performance. That should lead on to a design for the Uno and the Due interface. The plan is to use a metering chip with the Uno and to a use direct analog input to the Due.

These are the sensors:

And, here is the ARDUINO MEGA, REV 3 Farnell 2285197 prototype board, which appears to be compatible with the Due.