RoadTest: MyIoT: Infineon Shield2Go Boards for IoT
Author: snidhi
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Similar other sensors from Sensirion, Adafruit and Arduino
What were the biggest problems encountered?: There was no major issue. The sensors were easy to use. Learning the DAVE software from infineon is not a must as all the sensors can be easily used with Arduino IDE.
Detailed Review:
Thank you to Element14 and Infineon for selecting me for this road-test. I am an electronics engineer with experience in analog design and currently learning to work with IOT devices. In this road-test I plan to investigate the development boards and the Infineon Shield2Go sensors.
All the sensors were delivered in a well packaged box. Each sensor has its seperate packaging. The XMC2Go mini-board, XMC1100 boot-kit, Wemos and Shield2GO Adapter was also sent in this package.
Some issues with fitting the test pins on the development boards
Here I have discussed in detail the schematics and the main functionality of all the Infineon Shield2Go Sensors such as the 3D magnetic sensor TLV493D-A1B6, DPS310 S2GO pressure sensor and the S2GO TLI4970 Current Sense Sensor.
The TLV493D-A1B6 is low power consuming 3D magnetic sensor. The sensor measures three-dimensional, linear and rotation movements using magnetic field detection in x y z direction. It can powered by supply voltage in range = 2.8V…3.5V, and work in Temperature range Tj= -40°C…125°C. It has a miniature 6 pin TSOP package.
Description of the Block diagram
Schematic showing functionality of 3D magnetic sensor. Link to Datasheet
I also tried my hand at simulating the 3D magnetic sensor using the Magnetic Design Tool online from Infineon. The simulation can be done for Angle Measurement (rotational movement of the magnet), Linear Position Measurement (linear movement of the magnet), Joystick (3D movement of the magnet). The simulation tool gives pre-defined or user-customized magnets. In the simulation one can calculate the three magnetic field components at the sensor location.
Snapshots of the magnetic sensor simulation tool for TLV493D-A1B6 3D
S2GO DPS310 is an I2C based Digital Barometric Air Pressure Sensor with high accuracy and low current consumption. It also measures temperature. The pressure sensing is based on capacitive sensing principle. The internal signal processor converts the output from the pressure and temperature sensor elements to 24 bit results.
The schematic of the mini sensor board are as below
More details are in the Datasheet here
TLI4970 is a high-precision current sensor based on Infineon´s proven Hall technology. The device itself has a small footprint when compared to other solutions. It has digital output and does not require external calibration or additional parts such as A/D converters, 0 pAmps or reference voltage. It can do AC & DC measurement range up to ±50A. And is compatible with Arduino development boards.
Block Diagram of the S2GO_CUR-SENSE_TLI4970 Sensor
The XMC1100 Microcontroller can also be simulated and verified for functionality on the website. It uses the TINA cloud to do the simulations. Link: https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/evaluation-boards/kit_xmc11_boot_001/ As below I simulated the XMC1100 micro-controller and its peripherals. They can also be downloaded from the website and results can be stored in image format.
Simulations for the XMC 1100 Boot kit online using the Cloud TINA
Above: Simulating Transient Analysis on the XMC 1100 board
Below: Running Fourier Spectrum Analysis on the P0.6
Complex amplitude results on port P0.6
The XMC1000 family of microcontrollers are based on the ARM Cortex-M0 processor core. The other micro-controllers are XMC1200, XMC 1300 and XMC 1400. The XMC1100 series devices are designed for general purpose applications. The on-chip peripherals of XMC1100 include two Universal Serial Interface Channels (USIC), usable as UART, double-SPI,quad-SPI, IIC, IIS and LIN interfaces;A/D Converters up to 12 channels including a 12-bit analog to digital converter.
The family of XMC controllers from Infineon
How to use the XMC 1100 BootKIT with the Arduino board
The XMC2Go kit is the miniaturized development board in the XMC1100 family. It is very small is size and ideal for tiny applications such as wearables.
Further reading material Testing Dave4.0 and XMC Board
Further reading material Testing IOT based S2GO sensors with Arduino IDE
Further reading Material Controlling the Infineon Shield2Go via Wemos
In the end I had lot of fun working with the Infineon S2Go IOT Sensor kit and Wemos. The XMC1100 microcontroller is well documented and anyone easily start working with them in Arduino IDE. The Infineon S2Go IOT Sensors have their libraries written in GitHub which makes them like plug and play in Arduino. The pcb footprints and schematics of all the Infineon S2Go IOT Sensors are available as well hence making it easy to integrate on your own pcb. The availability of simulation models adds to the easy of use of the sensors and XMC1100 microcontroller. The Infineon S2Go IOT Sensor kit is excellent for beginners who want to start working with minimum effort.
Top Comments
Nice roadtest report. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Gene