Thursday, March 2, 2017

Debugging a custom SPI protocol? Easy with SPI Storm!



Many serial protocols used for chip-to-chip communications are very similar to the 'Serial Peripheral Interface' (SPI). SPI is characterized by poor topology and bad system scaling - hence the need for another protocol. Byte Paradigm's SPI Storm can create a custom protocol tailored to your exact needs.  SPI Storm is able to read / write with user-defined serial protocols. Each protocol can be defined as a sequence of 'segments'.

This paper shows how to use SPI Storm custom protocol engine to define and use a serial protocol that is different from SPI: http://www.saelig.com/supplier/byteparadigm/Using-SPIStorm-with-custom-protocol-MIPI-RFFE.pdf

SPI Storm 100MHz Serial Protocol Host Adapter

 SPI StormTM is an advanced Serial Protocol Host Adapter from Belgian company Byte Paradigm - controlled from a PC through a USB interface.  SPI Storm  can access  ASICs, SoCs, FPGAs and other digital embedded systems that use serial protocols at speeds of up to 100 MHz at the I/O lines. Various serial protocols can be chosen from a standard library that includes: SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), variants of SPI on 3 wires, and for the first time, dual-SPI and quad-SPI protocols. SPI Storm StudioTM software, provided free with SPI Storm, allows user-specific definition of custom protocols, including those requiring bi-directional signal lines.
In addition, SPI Storm features an 8-bit general-purpose output port that can be synchronized with the serial port, to extend the number of available signals for even more complex interfaces. With 32 MB memory, 100 MHz operation and 3 specialized ports (a flexible serial port, 8-bit GPO and an 8-bit input trigger port), SPI Storm targets ASIC, SoC, FPGA and embedded system testing and debugging, when there is a need to access and interact in real time with interfaces that use standard and user-defined serial protocols.

Powered either from the USB bus or from an external power supply, SPI Storm is a versatile 3- and 4-wire SPI exerciser/analyzer which uses a USB 2.0 high speed interface. This permits very fast signal analysis for debug, programming and testing of chips and electronic boards that use SPI for chip-to-chip communications.  SPI Storm can act as both a PC-controlled master (exerciser) and as a SPI protocol sniffer (analyzer).

“SPI Storm is the direct result of discussions with – and requests from - our customers,” says Frederic Leens, Sales & Marketing Manager at Byte Paradigm (Belgium). “They defined this product from the start - they wanted more protocols, more flexibility in defining protocols, higher speeds, and simplified ease of use.

More details here:  http://www.saelig.com/product/SPI002.htm

 

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