How Do I Interface the Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer to SPI Flash Slave and Master Devices?
2019-09-12
Rena Ayeras

Interfacing to hardware for data from SPI devicesImage by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Question from the Customer:

We are starting to use a Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer to capture data that is sent to and received from an SPI serial flash device (25L64 type) by an MCU.

  • We have the pin-out for the SPI flash memory.

  • We also have the 10-pin header pin signal assignment list from the Beagle manual.

  • The target circuit provides its own power: 3.3V

  • We are using the Data Center Software.

We'd like to solder-tack a few wires from the Beagle I2C/SPI analyzer to the SPI memory and capture the bus data. We prefer not to remove the device from the PCB.

Our question - how are the signals mapped from the analyzer to the device? We’ve tried many variations of connecting the Beagle analyzer to the SPI device, but so far, we’ve been “missing” the target.

Response from Technical Support:

Thanks for your questions! How to connect the signals depends on whether the SPI device is set up as a slave or a master, and what the device data sheet specifies for WP and HOLD.

Connecting to a Slave SPI Flash Device

  • Connect SCK to CLK

  • Connect MOSI to DI

  • Connect MISO to DO

  • Connect SS to CS

  • Connect GND to GND

  • WP and HOLD tied to GND or VCC, according to data sheet

Connecting to a Master SPI Flash Device

  • Connect SCK to CLK

  • Connect MOSI to DO

  • Connect MISO to DI

  • Connect SS to CS

  • Connect GND to GND

  • WP and HOLD tied to GND or VCC, according to data sheet

For more details, please refer to the Beagle I2C/SPI/MDIO Protocol Analyzer section of the Beagle Protocol Analyzer User Manual.

Additional Recommendations

Here are some articles about using the Beagle I2C/SPI analyzer that may interest you:

Communicating with Embedded Devices

Should you need to actively communicate with  your setup, such as send commands and program devices, we recommend using the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter. We have a video that shows examples of using both the Beagle analyzer and the Aardvark adapter for prototyping an embedded system.

We hope this answers your questions. Additional resources that you may find helpful include the following:

Looking for more information? You can contact us and request a demo that applies to your application, as well as ask about Total Phase products.

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