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I2C Communication in PSLab

PSLab supports communication using the I2C protocol and both the Desktop App and the Android App have the framework set-up to use the I2C protocol. I2C protocol is mainly used by sensors which can be connected to PSLab. For supporting I2C communication, PSLab board has a separate block for I2C communication and has pins named 3.3V, GND, SCL and SDA. A brief overview of how I2C communication works and its advantages & limitations compared to SPI communication can be found here.

The PSLab Python and Java communication libraries have a class dedicated for I2C communication with numerous methods defined in them. The methods required for a particular I2C sensor may differ, however, in general most sensors utilise a certain common set of methods. The set of methods that are commonly used are listed below with their functions. For utilising the methods, the I2C bus is first notified using the HEADER byte (it is common to all the methods) and then a byte to uniquely determine the method in use.

The send method is used to send the data over the I2C bus. First the I2C bus is initialised and set to the correct slave address using I2C.start(address) followed by this method. The method takes the data to be sent as the argument.

def send(self, data):
    try:
        self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_HEADER)
        self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_SEND)
        self.H.__sendByte__(data)  # data byte
        return self.H.__get_ack__() >> 4
    except Exception as ex:
        self.raiseException(ex, "Communication Error , Function : " + inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)

 

The read method reads a fixed number of bytes from the I2C slave. One can also use I2C.simpleRead(address,  numbytes) instead to read from the I2C slave. This method takes the length of the data to be read as argument.  It fetches length-1 bytes with acknowledge bits for each.

def read(self, length):
     data = []
     try:
        for a in range(length - 1):
             self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_HEADER)
             self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_READ_MORE)
             data.append(self.H.__getByte__())
             self.H.__get_ack__()
       self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_HEADER)
       self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_READ_END)
       data.append(self.H.__getByte__())
       self.H.__get_ack__()
    except Exception as ex:
       self.raiseException(ex, "Communication Error , Function : " + inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)
   return data

 

The readBulk method reads the data from the I2C slave. This takes the I2C slave device address, the address of the device from which the data is to be read and the length of the data to be read as argument and the returns the bytes read in the form of a list.

def readBulk(self, device_address, register_address, bytes_to_read):
        try:
            self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_HEADER)
            self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_READ_BULK)
            self.H.__sendByte__(device_address)
            self.H.__sendByte__(register_address)
            self.H.__sendByte__(bytes_to_read)
            data = self.H.fd.read(bytes_to_read)
            self.H.__get_ack__()
            try:
                return [ord(a) for a in data]
            except:
                print('Transaction failed')
                return False
        except Exception as ex:
           self.raiseException(ex, "Communication Error , Function : " + inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)

 

The writeBulk method writes the data to the I2C slave. It takes address of the particular I2C slave for which the data is to be written and the data to be written as arguments.

def writeBulk(self, device_address, bytestream):
        try:
            self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_HEADER)
            self.H.__sendByte__(CP.I2C_WRITE_BULK)
            self.H.__sendByte__(device_address)
            self.H.__sendByte__(len(bytestream))
            for a in bytestream:
                self.H.__sendByte__(a)
            self.H.__get_ack__()
        except Exception as ex:
  self.raiseException(ex, "Communication Error , Function : " + inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)

 

The scan method scans the I2C port for connected devices which utilise I2C as a communication mode. It takes frequency as an argument to set the frequency of the communication and is by default set to 100000. An array containing the addresses of the connected devices (which are integers) is returned.

def scan(self, frequency=100000, verbose=False):
        self.config(frequency, verbose)
        addrs = []
        n = 0
        if verbose:
            print('Scanning addresses 0-127...')
            print('Address', '\t', 'Possible Devices')
        for a in range(0, 128):
            x = self.start(a, 0)
            if x & 1 == 0:  # ACK received
                addrs.append(a)
                if verbose: print(hex(a), '\t\t', self.SENSORS.get(a, 'None'))
                n += 1
            self.stop()
       return addrs

 

Additional Sources

  1. Learn more about the principles behind i2c communication https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/i2c
  2. A simple experiment to demonstrate use of i2c communication with Arduino http://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/how-i2c-communication-works-and-how-to-use-it-with-arduino/
  3. Java counterpart of the PSLab I2C library https://github.com/fossasia/pslab-android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/org/fossasia/pslab/communication/peripherals/I2C.java