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  3. AR# 37561: Xilinx Evaluation Kits - How do I interface with the UCD9240 controller on my board?

AR# 37561

Xilinx Evaluation Kits - How do I interface with the UCD9240 controller on my board?

Description

Xilinx Evaluation Kits (such as the ML605 or KC705) leverage the UCD9240 PMBus controller.

How do I interface with and read measurements from the UCD9240 controller?

Solution

There are two approaches which can be followed:

  • Texas instruments (TI) provide the Fusion Digital Power Designer software package (http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/fusion_digital_power_designer.html) which includes several tools that are capable of communicating with the UCD92xx series of controllers from a Windows-based host computer.
    It requires the use of a USB Interface Adapter EVM (http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/usb-to-gpio.html) to connect between the PMBus (I2C) interface of the UCD92xx controller and the USB port on the host computer. 
    The software is designed to interface with the UCD9240 controllers through this device only. 
    6 and 7 Series Evaluation Kits are shipped with a TI flyer which contains information that allows you to purchase this EVM at a discount. 
    These Evaluation Kits are built with an on-board connector which is wired for the TI EVM interface and provides access to the PMBus and UCD9240 for monitoring purposes.
     
    These on-board connectors are listed below:
    ML605      J3
    SP605      J1
    AC701      J2
    KC705      J39
    VC707      J5
    VC709      J5
    ZC702      J59
    ZC706      J4
          
  • Another more complicated method to access the PMBus (I2C) interface is available on the ML605 and SP605. 
    The FPGA on these boards is directly connected to the UCD9240s PMBus (I2C) interface through level shifters. 
    This provides the means to self monitor the power rails over the PMBus (I2C) interface, but requires custom code creation on yout part in order for the Xilinx FPGA to read and write properly formatted PMBus and UCD9240 commands. 
    TI recommends that you reference their UCD92xx PMBus Command Reference Manual (http://focus.ti.com/lit/ug/sluu337/sluu337.pdf) along with the industry standard PMBus Specification (http://pmbus.org/specs.html) for UCD9240 command codes, data formatting, and PMBus protocol. 

In extreme scenarios, the TI Fusion Digital Power Manufacturing Tool and TI EVM can also be used to reset the power controller to their factory settings using the appropriate XML files.

For more information on this, please see (Xilinx Answer 56811) .

Caution: Xilinx does not recommend changing any of the parameters on the power rails from the factory settings as the board components could be inadvertently damaged. 

Xilinx recommends that the TI PMBus interface be used for monitoring purposes only.

Linked Answer Records

Master Answer Records

Answer Number Answer Title Version Found Version Resolved
61849 6 Series and 7 Series Xilinx Evaluation Kits - Known Issues and Release Notes Master Answer Record for the Texas Instruments Power Solution N/A N/A

Associated Answer Records

Answer Number Answer Title Version Found Version Resolved
50079 Kintex-7 FPGA KC705 Evaluation Kit - Board Debug Checklist N/A N/A
51233 Virtex-7 FPGA VC707 Evaluation Kit - Board Debug Checklist N/A N/A
54139 Artix-7 FPGA AC701 Evaluation Kit - Board Debug Checklist N/A N/A
AR# 37561
Date 05/18/2018
Status Active
Type General Article
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