Data Conversion, Capacitive Sensing and More
In the previous parts of this series, Nishant laid the groundwork for getting up and running with the PSoC. Here he tackles the chip’s more complex features like Data Conversion and CapSense.
By Nishant Mittal
Systems Engineer, Cypress Semiconductor
In the previous two parts of this “Getting started with PSoC” series, I have hopefully provided you with a good base of knowledge about PSoC devices. Here, in this final part it’s time to get more in depth and discuss various data conversion protocols in PSoC and provide some design examples. I’ll also cover interfacing various peripherals with the 
microcontroller. We’ll also get into how to transition from a bare silicon PSoC chip or PSoC development board to using the chip in your project.
Data conversion with PSoC
Data Conversion is an important block in any kind of instrumentation system or Internet of Things implementation. In fact, any application that uses sensors or interfaces to the external environment is an application in which Data Conversion is an integral part of the system. Although digital sensors are available today, the lower costs of analog sensors shouldn’t be overlooked.
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PSoC Creator has a Data Conversion component that enables designers to code efficiently with less effort. The photo above shows the screenshot of the ADC (analog-to-digital conversion) component in PSoC Creator. The photo above also shows the configuration setting for ADC. First off, we need to set the Channel sampling rate (SPS). Second, we need to set the voltage reference which is necessary to do the comparison of analog signals. Here we use VDDA/2 or VDDA which is 5 V. You can select whether you 
want a single-ended ADC or differential ADC by simply clicking the appropriate tab from the component configuration. Clock source needs to be chosen. If the source is chosen to be internal, the PLL from the internals of chip are used—otherwise you’d have to connect an external crystal to the controller using the development kit CY8CKIT-044. Other advanced settings are available for complex programs—but most of those aren’t needed in most intermediate applications.
Read the full article in the September 326 issue of Circuit Cellar
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