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Question from the Customer:

I have three Aardvark SPI/I2C Host Adapters that I have been using to control three SPI slave devices. I'm starting a design where I'll need to control more than three SPI devices - what are my options? Can the Promira Serial Platform provide multiple SPI slave select (SS) signals? Also, similar to the Aardvark adapter, is there support for LabVIEW and Matlab?

Response from Technical Support:

Thanks for your questions! The Promira Serial Platform is a robust and advanced serial device that we strongly recommend for your projects. With the SPI Active - Level 1 Application, the Promira platform supports one SS signal. Add the SPI Active - Level 2 Application, and you have three SS signals. Later this year, SPI Active - Level 3 Application will be available with support for up to eight SS signals, in addition to many other new features.

SPI Active - Level 2 Application Note: The SPI Active – Level 1 Application is a pre-requisite for using this application. In general:

• Single and Dual I/O support
• Use up to 12 GPIOs
• Provide up to 200 mA of power to target devices
• Signal voltage levels from 0.9- 3.3V, 3.45V and 5V
• Communicate via Ethernet or Ethernet over USB

In Master mode:

• Up to 3 Slave Selects (configurable, shared with GPIO)
• 1 default response plus 8 unique slave responses of up to 256 bytes/response
• Software configurable Slave Select (SS) polarity
• Speeds up to 40 MHz
• Single slave response of up to 256 bytes

In Slave mode:

• Speeds up to 20 MHz

SPI Active - Level 3 Application

The SPI Active - Level 3 Application is scheduled for release later this year. Here are the additional key features that will be provided:

Note: Both the SPI Active – Level 1 Application and SPI Active – Level 2 Application are pre-requisites for using SPI Active – Level 3 Application. In general:

• Single, Dual, and Quad I/O support
• Use up to 16 GPIOs
• Provide up to 200 mA of power to target devices
• Signal voltage levels from 0.9- 3.3V, 3.45V and 5VCommunicate via Ethernet or Ethernet over USB

In Master mode:

• 8 Slave Select signals (configurable, shared with GPIO)
• 1 default response plus 32 unique slave responses of up to 64 MB total
• Software configurable Slave Select (SS) polarity
• Speeds up to 80 MHz

In Slave mode:

• Speeds up to 20 MHz

Promira LabVIEW drivers are available, as well as example programs that you can use as is or modify for your custom application. For more information and guidelines about using LabVIEW, please refer to our knowledge base articles.

Although we do not provide MATLAB drivers, many customers have them  and we also offer some Knowledge Base articles on the topic such as “How To Use Total Phase Products With MATLAB”. This article provides guidelines about using the API Software to integrate Matlab with the Aardvark adapter. You can modify that information for the Promira platform. For details about Promira API Software, please refer to section 6 of the Promira Serial Platform User Manual.

Additional resources that you may find helpful include the following:

• Promira Serial Platform User Manual
• Promira API Documentation
• How To Use Total Phase Products With MATLAB
• Total Phase Knowledge Base

We hope this answers your question. If you have other questions about our host adapters or other Total Phase products, feel free to email us at sales@totalphase.com, or if you already own one of our devices and have a technical question, please submit a request for technical support.