4

6. Functional Overview

This section contains information about the various on-board interfaces and their

functionality and about the various peripherals enabling these interfaces. Wireless

applications are facilitated using the MSP430’s capabilities to interface with the

Chipcon wireless evaluation modules (CCxxxxEMK) from Texas Instruments. The

on-board LEDs and LCD display are used for visual feedback. Audio applications

leveraging the MSP430FG4618’s full analog signal chain can be implemented

using the microphone and the audio output jack. In addition, communication

across components on and off the board has been integrated.

6.1 Interfaces

Some of these interfaces have the option of being inactive when not in use to

conserve power. This is made possible by MSP430 port pin configurations and/or

hardware jumpers on-board. Appendix B gives complete details of these jumper

configurations and their positions.

6.1.1 4-Mux LCD Display

The integrated SoftBaugh SBLCDA4 LCD display supports 4-MUX

operation and interfaces to the LCD driver peripheral of the

MSP430FG4618. More information on the LCD can be obtained from the

manufacturer’s datasheet.

6.1.2 Momentary-On Push Buttons

Two external push buttons, S1 and S2, are connected to the interrupt

capable MSP430FG4618 digital I/O port, P1.

6.1.3 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

The experimenter board has a total of four LEDs, three connected to the

MSP430FG4618 and one connected to the MSP430F2013. The LEDs are

primarily used for display purposes. Two of the LEDs can be disconnected

using jumpers to reduce the overall power consumption of the board.

6.1.4 Buzzer

A buzzer is connected to a digital I/O port of the MSP430FG4618. It is

driven via a port pin of the MSP430. The buzzer can be completely

disconnected by using jumper JP1.

6.1.5 Single-Touch Sensing Interface

A capacitive touch sensing interface in the shape of a “4” is provided on-

board. This touchpad is connected to the digital I/O ports of the

MSP430F2013. A total of 16 individual segments form the touchpad, and

activity is monitored by the MSP430F2013. The resulting data is

communicated to the MSP430FG4618 via the MSP430 inter-

communication connections provided on-board.