This page gives an overview of the electronic components that make up Tangara's hardware.
The ESP32 is the main microcontroller that runs the system. It speaks to most of the supporting ICs over an I2C bus, but has other dedicated peripherals (SPI, I2S, UART) for higher speed communication where neccesary.
The ATSAMD21 is a secondary microcontroller (we often refer to it as a 'coprocessor') that serves as a kind of supervisor or interface to the ESP32; it supports firmware updates by acting as a USB->UART bridge, and controls charging and powering the rest of the system up and down.
I2C Bus
The I2C bus is used for low-speed communication between the ESP32 and a number of supporting ICs. By convention, the ESP32 is the controller, however theortically it should be possible to use the bus in multi-controller mode, with the ESP32 and ATSAMD21 sharing the controller role.
The non-controller devices attached to the bus are as follows:
| Address | Interrupt | Device | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x20 | GPIO34 | PCA8575 | GPIO expansion |
| 0x45 | GPIO35 | ATSAMD21 | Power management |
| 0x1C | GPIO25 | AT42QT2120 | Touchwheel |
| 0x1A | WM8523 | 3.5mm Audio | |
| 0x5A | DRV2605LDGS | Haptic feedback |
See the 'Audio' section for further details on the WM8523.
PCA8575
The PCA8575 is a GPIO expansion IC that supports interrupts when its inputs change.
Its pins are configured as follows:
| Pin | Mode | Function |
|---|---|---|
| A0 | Output | SD mux switch |
| A1 | Output | SD mux enable |
| A2 | Input | Top button |
| A3 | Input | Bottom button |
| A4 | Input | Lock switch |
| A5 | Unused | |
| A6 | Unused | |
| A7 | Output | SD card power |
| B0 | Input | Headphone detect |
| B1 | Output | Analog power enable |
| B2 | Input | SD card detect |
| B3 | Unused | |
| B4 | Output | Amplifier unmute |
| B5 | Unused | |
| B6 | Unused | |
| B7 | Unused |
Note: prerelease Tangaras (revisions earlier than R8) use B3 as an amplifier mute signal, and A5 as an active-low display reset signal.
ATSAMD21
The ATSAMD21 is a co-processor that handles system power management (turning off power, and monitoring the battery charge status), and USB connectivity. Its I2C interface contains read-only registers for getting the battery charge status, as well as command registers for shutting the system down, or enabling various different USB modes.
See the SAMD21 page for further documentation.
AT42QT2120
The AT42QT2120 is a capacative touch controller located on the faceplate. It drives the capacative touchwheel.
Keys 0, 1, and 3, are connected to be the electrodes in a capacative wheel.
Key 3 is used for the capacative button at the centre of the wheel.
Key 4 is a guard channel that surrounds the wheel.
DRV2605LDGS
The DRV2605LDGS is a haptic feedback motor driver with a large library of precreated effects. It is located on the faceplate, alongside the small ERM motor that it drives.
SPI Bus
The SPI bus is used for high-speed communication between the ESP32, and the display and SD card.
On the ESP32 side, we use the dedicated pins for the VSPI peripheral:
| Pin name | Signal |
|---|---|
| GPIO23 | PICO |
| GPIO19 | POCI |
| GPIO18 | SCLK |
| GPIO22 | Display CS |
| GPIO21 | SD Card CS |
Display
The display uses an ST7735 controller. This controller requires an additional data / register ('DR') pin for communication, and relies on PWM for controlling brightness. For better performance, these pins are connected directly to the ESP32.
| Pin name | Signal |
|---|---|
| GPIO32 | Backlight |
| GPIO33 | DR |
Audio
For 3.5mm audio output, the ESP32 communicates with the DAC, a WM8523, over a standard 4-pin I2S connection. The pinout on the ESP32 side is:
| Pin name | Signal |
|---|---|
| GPIO0 | MCLK |
| GPIO26 | BCLK |
| GPIO27 | WS / LRCK |
| GPIO5 | DATA |
The WM8523 is also connected to the I2C bus. This connection is used for power management, volume control, and configuring the exact I2S standard used.
The WM8523's audio output goes through a low-pass filter (-3dB @ 105kHz), and then to the amplifier; an INA1620. The amplifier as-implemented has a fixed gain of 2, and can be muted via a pin on the GPIO expander (see the 'I2C Bus' section).
SD Card
The SD card is accessible to both the ESP32 and the SAMD21, in SPI mode only.
In general, the ESP32 will have exclusive access to the SD card on the same SPI bus that used for the display. However, this access is gated behind an SPI multiplexer that allows the SD card to be disconnected from the ESP32's SPI bus, and instead connected to the SAMD21. At time of writing, the SAMD21's firmware does not support making use of this connection, however the intention is that this will allow a future firmware update to add support for fast data transfer to the device via USB Mass Storage.
Debugging interfaces
For most people, development over a USB-CDC/serial connection sh ould be sufficient. If you need more advanced debugging, or if you are attempting to recover from a bad flash, then you may need to make use of the dedicated programming ports. There two such footprints on Tangara's mainboard
ATSAMD21 SWD
On the rear side of the mainboard (the side that faces the faceplate; the ESP32 module and SD card slot are on this side), on the bottom left, is a row of 5 pads labelled 'SAMD SWD'. This is a 'Serial Wire Debug' port for the ATSAMD21.
We recommend a spring-loaded progo pin probe clip for connecting to these pads, e.g. Adafruit 5434.
This debug interface is compatible with the Black Magic Probe, which we higly recommend.
ESP32 JTAG
On the front side of the motherboard (containing the bulk of the small components), near the centre, there are two rows of rectangle pads labelled 'ESP32 JTAG'. This is a JTAG port, arranged in a standard ARM Cortex pinout.
For short-term debugging, it is easiest to simply solder individual wires to these pads, and then connect those wires to your debugger. If you wish to solder a header more permanently to these pads, the part number is Samtec FTSH-105-01-F-DV-K
The ESP32's LX6 cores are unfortunately not compatible with the Black Magic Probe at this time. See Espressif's documentation for instructions on how to use their version of OpenOCD.
If you require a USB <-> JTAG adapter, then we highly recommend SecuringHardware's Tigard.