I2C Information Center

I2C is a bi-directional two wire bus that was developed by Philips for use in their televisions in the 1980s. Today, I2C is used in all types of embedded systems.

About Total Phase

Total Phase makes tools for I2C development.

The Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer is a protocol analyzer that allows developers to monitor an I2C bus up to 4 MHz. The Beagle analyzer provides byte and bit level timing down to 20 ns resolution.

The Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter allows a developer to interface a host PC to a downstream embedded system environment and transfer serial messages using the I2C and SPI protocols.

The I2C/SPI Activity Board is a perfect tool for both the expert and novice developer. Novices can use the board to learn the mechanics of I2C and SPI. Experts can use the board as a sanity check to debug their system against known working slave devices.

I2C Information

Articles

• I2C Background
  A brief overview of the I2C bus protocol and how it works.
• I2C Glossary
  I2C terms
• Differences between I2C and SMBus
  Quick summary of the differences between these compatible bus protocols.

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Example Code

Example code of common I2C functions, such as reading and writing to a standard I2C EEPROM are available for download in the Downloads section of this website.

The Examples package contains example code written in C, Python and Visual Basic. These examples make use of the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter and the I2C/SPI Activity Board.

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Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter Resources

• Proper Target Device Power Cycling Procedure
  Have you experienced problems with your Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter when power cycling a target device with the adapter still attached? This article explains what is going on and how to power cycle the target device correctly.
• Low Voltage I2C Interface to the Aardvark Adapter
  A simple example circuit to interface the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter to a 2.5V target device.
• Using the Aardvark adapter with a Microwire device
  Microwire is a subset of the SPI serial protocol. This article explains the differences and how to interface the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter to a Microwire device.
• Writing an MFC application using the Aardvark API
  Are you running to the error message: "fatal error C1010: unexpected end of file while looking for precompiled header directive" when compiling in Visual C++? This article helps explains the error and how you can fix it.
  Updated with information about Visual Studio .NET.

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Official I2C Resources

• Official Philips Semiconductor I2C website
• I2C Specification (Philips)

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Other I2C Resources

• I2C-Bus for Linux (Voxel)
• Introduction to I2C (Embedded.com)
• ABC of Electronics Terms - I2C (Chip Directory)
• I2C Chips (Chip Directory)

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Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter

Version 3.0 of the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter includes all these features:

• I2C Bus Monitoring. Non-intrusively log 100 kHz traffic.

• Rosetta Language Bindings. Integrate the Aardvark API quickly and easily with the various language bindings. The following languages are currently supported: C/C++, Python, Visual Basic.

• Batch Scripting. The Aardvark Control Center Software now supports an XML-based batch scripting language to automate tasks.

• Software configurable I2C pull-up resistors. Enable and disable the Aardvark I2C/SPI Host Adapter's internal pull-up resistors on the I2C lines via the software API.

• Software configurable target power pins. Send power to downstream devices quickly and easily.

• Free GUI Application, the Aardvark Control Center, makes it easy for developers to access the full power of the Aardvark adapter.

• Free, Open Source LabVIEW driver, the Aardvark LabVIEW Driver, is a free and open source driver to use your Aardvark adapter in LabVIEW,

• General Purpose IO, or GPIO, allows the use of the I2C and SPI pins for getting and setting custom signals.

• Expanded I2C features, now supporting 10-bit Slave Addressing, Combined Format transactions, and Repeated Start.

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