You are here: Home → Documentation → Tutorials → Controller Board Overview → Communications
In This Section
Log in


Forgot your password?
New user?
 
Document Actions

Communications

A description of the different peripherals on the Make Controller Board that have to do with communication.
A tour through the features of the Make Controller Board.
Page 3 of 4.
The SAM7X provides an Ethernet MAC, but an additional chip is required for the PHY (physical) layer - the DM9161A from Davicom. With this chip on the Controller Board, it's possible to simply include a normal Ethernet connector on a daughter board, such as the MAKE Application Board, and wire it up without any further layout issues. This chip is located on the underside of the Controller Board.

controller_ethernet.png

CAN

CAN (Controller Area Network) is a serial networking protocol that is used for board-to-board communication when you create a network of multiple MAKE Controllers. The SAM7X has an onboard CAN controller, and the addition of the CAN transceiver chip means that the Controller Board can be CAN-enabled using only 2 signal lines. A 4-position connector on the Application Board makes it quite easy to wire the MAKE Controller to a CAN network.
controller_can.png

USB

The SAM7X has an onboard USB 2.0 controller, and the MAKE Controller is a full-speed USB device, transferring data at 12 MBits/sec. USB is used for two purposes on the Controller board - one is to permit general input and output. The other provides a mechanism for quickly programming the controller.


JTAG

The SAM7X Controller has JTAG facilities, permitting external hardware to examine the state of the processor, start and stop it, etc. The lines that are required for JTAG are brought out on the Controller's connectors.
Next: Miscellaneous Previous: The Topside