New PICtail Plus Daughter Boards for Explorer 16 Development Board - Microchip

Microchip announced some new application-specific PICtail Plus daughter boards for the company’s Explorer 16 Development Board platform. Microchip’s PICtail Plus daughter cards can be used to adapt the board for specific applications, reducing prototype development time while providing additional reference design insight for the final design. PICtail Plus daughter boards are available now with price from $20 to $135.

Microchip offers free download and evaluation of software library repository to support the targeted applications. These include compression and audio-processing libraries, communication and file-management stacks and firmware drivers, graphics libraries and  motor-control libraries.

Within the free MPLAB IDE, high-level resources are added in a microcontroller-friendly way to allow the utilization of processor features with minimal effort. These features include Microchip’s Visual Device Initializer, which can generate initialization code in a few clicks, and application-specific interfaces for motor-control and PID parameter tuning.

Explorer 16 Development Board

Part number DM240001, price $129.99
Microchip’s Explorer 16 Development Board supports Microchip’s 16-bit PIC24 microcontrollers and dsPIC33 Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs), and the 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers. Coupled with the MPLAB ICD 2 In Circuit Debugger or MPLAB REAL ICE, real-time emulation and debug facilities speed evaluation and prototyping of application circuitry. The Explorer 16 100-pin features two interchangeable Plug-In Modules (PIMs), one each for the PIC24FJ128GA010 and the dsPIC33FJ256GP710 DSC. The Explorer 16 44-pin features a Plug-In Module (PIM) for the PIC24FJ64GA004

Microchip’s Explorer 16 Development Board

Key features of Explorer 16 Development Board:

• Includes PIC24FJ128GA010 and the dsPIC33FJ256GP710 DSC Digital Signal Controller PIMs (100-pin version) or the PIC24FJ64GA004 PIM (44-pin version).
• Interfaces to MPLAB ICD 2, MPLAB REAL ICE, USB, and RS-232
• Alpha-numeric 16 x 2 LCD display
• Includes Microchip’s TC1047A high accuracy, analog output temperature sensor
• Expansion connector to access full devices pin-out and bread board prototyping area
• PICTailTM Plus connector for expansion boards
• Full documentation CD includes user’s guide, schematics and PWB layout

USB PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164131, price $60.00
The USB PICtail Plus Daughter Board is a USB demonstration board for evaluating Microchip’s 16- and 32-bit USB microcontrollers using the Explorer 16 Development Board.

Microchip’s USB PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of USB PICtail Plus Daughter Board:

• Example circuits for USB device, embedded host and On-The-Go (OTG)
• Both horizontal and vertical PICtail Plus Daughter Board connection interfaces

Motor Control Interface PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164128, price $125.00
Microchip’s Motor Control PICtail Plus Daughter Board interfaces with Explorer 16 Development Board (DM240001) and the HV/LV Power Module (DM300021 and DM300022). Motor Control PICtail Plus Daughter Board has a variety of test points that will make debugging of your application easier. It also has hardware support for sensor and sensor-less applications such as Hall sensors, optical encoder, back EMF and current sensing. This uses dsPIC33F device family for the MC development as opposed to the DM300020 that targets dsPIC30F for the MC application development. This board comes with a Motor Control 100-pin Plug In Module to be used on the Explorer 16 Development Board.

Microchip’s Motor Control PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of Motor Control PICtail Plus Daughter Board:

• Connector to Explorer 16
• Connector to HV/LV Power Module
• Motion sensor inputs: Hall Sensors or Optical Encoder
• Test points for motor currents, PWM and voltages

Ethernet PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164123, price $39.99
Microchip’s Ethernet PICtail Plus Daughter Board provides a cost-effective method of evaluating and developing Ethernet control applications. The Ethernet PICtail Plus Daughter Board is designed for flexibility and can be plugged into Microchip’s Explorer 16 (DM240001) development boards. The development board is populated with Microchip’s 28-Pin ENC28J60 Ethernet controller which interfaces to the RJ-45 female connector. When used in conjunction with the Microchip TCP/IP stack (free download below) the Ethernet PICtail Plus daughter board allows a developer to connect any Microchip 16-bit product to the Ethernet.

Microchip’s Ethernet PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of Ethernet PICtail Plus Daughter Board:

• IEEE 802.3 Compliant
• 10BASE-T Ethernet
• RJ-45 Female Ethernet Connector
• Plug in compatible with the Explorer 16 Development Board (DM240001)

Graphics PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164127, price $135.00
Microchip’s Graphics PICtail Plus Daughter Board demonstrates Microchip’s graphic LCD display solution, including Microchip’s Graphics Library for 16- and 32-bit processors. The Graphics PICtail Plus contains a color QVGA display with Resistive Touch-Screen capability.

Microchip’s Graphics PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of  Microchip’s Graphics PICtail Plus Daughter Board

• 2.8” QVGA (320×240) LCD module with resistive touch screen
• 65K color support
• Supports portrait and landscape orientations
• Stand-alone graphics controller, Solomon Systech SSD1906, supporting 4/8-bit STN, 4/8-bit CSTN, 18-bit HR-TFT and 9/12/18-bit TFT interfaces via connector
• 4 Megabit (512Kx8) flash memory for graphic data storage
• Sound buzzer
• Horizontal PICtail Plus Daughter Board connection interface

PICtail Daughter Board for SD and MMC Cards

Part number AC164122, price $37.99
Microchip’s PICtail Daughter Board for SD and MMC cards  is a universal board that interfaces the Secure Digital (SD) and Multi-Media Card (MMC) to the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus of the microcontroller. This PICtail board is designed to operate with a multitude of demonstration boards, including all those having PICtail signals, those with PICtail Plus signals (utilizing the card-edge connectors like the Explorer 16), and those with non-standard PICtail signals.

Prototype PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164126, price $20.00
Microchip’s Prototype PICtail Plus Daughter Board is an expansion breadboard card for the Explorer 16 Evaluation Board using PIC24 MCU or dsPIC33 DSC. This board is an 8×8 cm board with a card-edge connector to plug directly into the PICtail Plus expansion socket. The breadboard area provides access to all of the processor pins and a general purpose prototyping area. AC164126 kit contains three blank Prototype PICtail Plus Daughter Boards.

Speech Playback PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164125, price $45.00
Microchip’s Speech Playback PICtail Plus Daughter Board is for evaluation and development of speech recording and playback applications using Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). The daughter board is designed to interface with both the PICtail interface used on many PIC16 and PIC18 evaluation boards and the PICtail Plus card edge connector used on PIC24 and dsPIC evaluation boards. Reference AN643 for information on implementing an ADPCM solution. The Speech Playback PICtail Plus Daughter Board implements a fourth-order Low Pass Filter, speaker amplifier, speaker and 1 Mbit SPI serial EEPROM for playback-only applications. Speech playback is accomplished by using the integrated PWM module on the Explorer 16 processor, and is filtered into a voice waveform using the Low Pass Filter.

Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164129, price $80.00
Microchip’s Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board is used with the Explorer 16 Development Board and the 16 bit 28 pin Starter Board to facilitate rapid implementation, development and testing of full duplex speech and audio applications with dsPIC DSC and PIC24H. The Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board features microphone or line inputs, plus line output and speaker output, for audio applications. The audio input signals are routed to the Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) peripheral on the Explorer 16 processor. Output signals can be generated by the Explorer 16 processor using the Output Compare/PWM module as a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) digital waveform; or, some dsPIC33 DSCs are equipped with a 16-bit Digital-to-Analog Conversion (DAC) module, which can generate a pair of differential signals.

PWM-generated signals are converted to analog signals by a low-pass filter on the Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board. DAC-generated signals are converted to a single-ended analog signal by a differential amplifier on the Audio PICtail Plus. The output signals from the Audio PICtail Plus are then appropriately amplified for the selected output type (line or speaker).

Microchip’s Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of Audio PICtail Plus Daughter Board

• Audio Playback using PWM signal from dsPIC/PIC24H Output Compare module
• 4th order Low pass filter for Audio PWM signal demodulation
• 16/24 bit Audio Codec
• 4 Mega bit Serial Flash
• 110mW Headphone Amplifier
• Microphone and Line input with adjustable gain
• Line output with adjustable gain
• Works with Explorer 16 Development Board and 16-bit 28 pin Starter Board

IrDA PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164124, price $25.00
Microchip’s IrDA PICtail Plus Daughter Board is designed to operate in conjunction with Microchips Explorer 16 or other development boards with a PICtail Plus connector and AN1071 IrDA Standard Stack for Microchip 16-Bit Microcontrollers to create an IrDA-enabled development and evaluation platform. The IrDA Stack is written to operate with the IrDA-enabled UARTs on the PIC24F, PIC24H, and dsPIC33 16-bit controllers and digital signal controllers.

 IrDA PICtail Plus Daughter Board features a TFDU100 infrared optical sensor module from Vishay Semiconductor. The PIC24 and dsPIC33 UART modules implement the 3/16 encoder and decoder necessary to interface directly with the TFDU100.

PICDEM Z 2.4 GHz Daughter Card

Part number AC163027-4
Microchip’s PICDEM Z 2.4 GHz daughter card includes the Microchip MRF24J40 transceiver, a PCB antenna and a connector to the PICDEM Z Motherboard.

ECAN/LIN PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Part number AC164130, price $45.00
Microchip’s ECAN/LIN PICtail Plus Daughter Board is used with the Explorer 16 Development Board to facilitate rapid implementation and evaluation of applications that use Controller Area Network (CAN) and Local Interconnect Network (LIN) interfaces and are implemented on dsPIC33F Digital Signal Controllers and PIC24H 16-bit microcontrollers.

Microchip’s ECAN/LIN PICtail Plus Daughter Board

Key features of ECAN/LIN PICtail Plus Daughter Board:

• Connector to Explorer 16 Development Board
• Two CAN communication channels interfacing to ECAN module
• Two LIN communication channels interfacing to UART module
• MPLAB CD and User’s Guide

More information about PICtail Plus Daughter Boards and Explorer 16 Development Board can be found at Microchip website.