ASM OSRAM TCS3530 EVM User manual

Published by ams-OSRAM AG
Tobelbader Strasse 30, 8141 Premstaetten, Austria
Phone [phone]
ams-osram.com
© All rights reserved
TCS3530 EVM
User Guide
True color ambient light sensor with flicker detection

TCS3530 EVM
Table of contents
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Table of contents
1Introduction.................................................................... 3
1.1 Kit content......................................................................................... 3
2Getting started................................................................ 4
3Hardware description...................................................... 4
4Software description....................................................... 5
4.1 Connect software to hardware......................................................... 6
4.2 System menus................................................................................... 7
4.3 System level controls ........................................................................ 9
4.4 Auto polling....................................................................................... 9
4.5 Device ID information ..................................................................... 10
4.6 Log status and control information................................................. 10
4.7 “Configuration” tab......................................................................... 11
4.8 “ALS” tab ......................................................................................... 15
4.9 Flicker tab........................................................................................ 16
5Resources...................................................................... 18
6Revision information..................................................... 19
7Legal information.......................................................... 20

TCS3530 EVM
Introduction
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1 Introduction
The TCS3530 evaluation kit comes with everything needed to evaluate the TCS3530. The
device features true color XYZ ambient light detection, as well as flicker detection up to 7 kHz,
which makes it able to detect flicker from modern LED lighting systems.
1.1 Kit content
Figure 1: Evaluation kit contents
No.
Item
Description
1
TCS3530 EVM Daughter Card
PCB with TCS3530 EVM sensor installed
2
EVM Controller Board
Used to communicate USB to I²C
3
USB Cable (A to Micro-B)
Connects EVM controller to PC
4
Flash Drive
Includes application installer and documents
4

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1.1.1 Ordering information
Ordering code
Description
TCS3530 Eval Kit
Eval Kit for TCS3530
2 Getting started
The software should be installed prior to connecting any hardware to the computer. Follow the
instructions found in the Quick Start Guide (QSG). This loads the required driver for the USB
interface and the device’s graphical user interface (GUI).
The balance of this document identifies and describes the controls available on the GUI. In
combination with the TCS3530 datasheet, the QSG and application notes available on the
ams OSRAM website, ams-osram.com, there should be enough information to allow
evaluation of the TCS3530 device.
3 Hardware description
The hardware consists of the EVM Controller, the TCS3530 EVM daughter card, and a USB
interface cable. The EVM controller board provides power and I²C communication to the
daughter card through a seven-pin connector. When the EVM controller is connected to the PC
through USB, a green LED on the board lights to indicate the system is getting power. The
LED will remain lit until a software application opens the controller. The light will then be
switched off so that it will not interfere with any light measurements.
For schematics, layout and BOM information please see the documents included with the
install located in the TCS3530 EVM folder (All Programs -> ams-OSRAM -> TCS3530 EVM ->
Documents).

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Figure 2: Evaluation kit hardware
4 Software description
The main window (Figure 3) contains the system menus, system level controls, device
information and logging status. The configuration tab contains controls to set up both ALS and
Flicker detection parameters. The ALS tab displays Color data and has a plot area where raw
ALS data can be plotted. The Flicker tab displays information about the Flicker Detection
function and has a plot area where raw Flicker data and calculated FFT data can be displayed.

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Figure 3: GUI main window
4.1 Connect software to hardware
On startup, the software automatically connects to the hardware. On successful initialization,
the software displays a main window, containing controls pertinent to the connected device. If
the software detects an error, an error window appears. If “Device not found or is unsupported”
appears, verify the correct daughterboard is properly connected to the EVM controller board. If
“Cannot connect to EVM board” appears, verify the USB cable is connected. When the EVM
controller is connected to the PC through USB, a green LED on the board lights to indicate the
system is getting power. The LED will remain lit until an application opens the controller. The
light will then be switched off so that it will not interfere with any light measurements.
If the EVM board disconnects from the USB bus while the program is running, it displays an
error message and then terminates. Reconnect the EVM board and restart the program.

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4.2 System menus
At the top of the window there are pull-down menus labeled “File”, “Log”, and “Help”. The File
menu provides basic application-level control. The Log menu controls the logging function,
and the Help menu provides version and copyright information for the application.
4.2.1 File menu
The File menu contains the following functions:
Figure 4: File menu
The Reread Registers function forces the program to re-read all of the control registers from
the device and display them on the screen. This does not read the output data, because the
program reads those registers continually while it is running.
Click on the Exit command to close the main window and terminate the application. Any
unsaved log data is cleared from memory. The application can also be closed by clicking the
red “X” in the upper right hand corner.
4.2.2 Log menu
The Log menu controls the logging function and saves the log data to a file. Log data
accumulates in memory until discarded or written to a data file.
Figure 5: Log menu

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Click Start Logging to start the logging function. Each time the program polls the output
information from the device, it creates a new log entry showing the raw data values, the values
of various control registers, and the values entered by the user into the text fields near the
bottom right corner of the window.
Click Stop Logging to stop the logging function. Once logging stops, the user may store the
data in a file, or continue collecting additional data by clicking Start Logging again.
The Log a Single Entry command causes logging to start, collect one single entry, and
immediately stop again. This function is not available when logging is already running.
Click Clear Log to discard any previously collected data. If there is data in memory, which has
not been saved to disk, this function displays a prompt asking to verify it is OK to discard the
data. If the log is active when this function executes, the log continues running after the
existing data is discarded.
Click Save Log to save the collected log data to a csv file. This stops the logging function, if it
is active, and displays a file dialog box to specify where to store the logged data. The Log
Status and Control Information section below describes the default file name, but you may
change the file name if desired.
4.2.3 Help menu
The Help menu contains a single function: About.
Figure 6: Help menu
The About function displays a dialog box (Figure 7) showing the version and copyright
information for the application and library. Click the OK button to close this window and
continue.

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Figure 7: About window
4.3 System level controls
Immediately below the top menu bar is the Power On checkbox. This controls the PON
function of the TCS3530. When this box is checked, the oscillator is on and the device is
running measurements according the settings in the Configuration tab. At this time, the
Configuration tab is disabled to prevent changing settings while the measurement is ongoing.
When this box is unchecked, the device does not collect data. The Configuration tab is then
enabled and you can change the controls to setup the parameters for next running.
4.4 Auto polling
The application automatically reads the TCS3530 raw ALS and Flicker. The Poll Interval at
the upper right corner of the form, displays the actual time between screen updates. The time
is controlled by the settings of the ALS and Flicker functions and will be affected by the speed
and workload of the PC that is running the GUI program.

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4.5 Device ID information
The lower left corner of the window displays the unique ID of the EVM Controller board,
identifies the device being used and displays the ID and serial number of the TCS3530 device.
Figure 8: Device ID information
4.6 Log status and control information
The lower right corner of the window contains status information and controls for the logging
function:
Figure 9: Logging status
This section contains text boxes that are stored in the log file data and used to build the file
name for the log file. If the data in these fields are changed, the new values are stored with any
new data logged. The default file name is based on the value in the right-hand textbox, at the
time the log file is written. If nothing is entered in the boxes they default to a period (“.”)
Sample default file name:
TCS3530_1-2-3_Log_HH_MM_SS.csv
From Application
From User Input
The Count value displayed is a count of the number of samples currently in the log buffer.
The Elapsed Time value is the total time that has elapsed between the first log sample and
the current sample.
The pulldown control in the lower right corner is used to control the maximum size of the log
file. When the number of samples of log data reaches the specified value, the GUI will
automatically stop logging and perform a Save Log command, which will display the Save File

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dialog box. The stored log data is cleared and can be started again by selecting the Start
Logging function.
4.7 “Configuration” tab
The main portion of the screen contains a tab labeled Configuration. The controls on this tab
are disabled while data collection is running. To enable this tab, stop data collection by
unchecking the Power On checkbox.
Figure 10: Configuration tab
4.7.1 Configuration controls
The Configuration Tab contains controls that affect the operation of the ALS and Flicker
functions.
The SAMPLE_TIME control adjusts the time for every ALS or Flicker sample. Each sample is
(SAMPLE_TIME + 1) × 1.38889 µs. The resulting time and frequency are displayed
immediately to the right of this control.

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The ALS group displays controls for ALS data collection.
•The ALS Enable checkbox controls whether ALS data is collected. If this box is checked,
the ALS data is collected. If the box is unchecked ALS is not done.
•The number of samples summed together to create each ALS measurement is controlled
by the ALS_NR_SAMPLES control. The actual number of samples is one more than this
control and is shown immediately to the right of the control. After the ALS samples are
collected and summed, a single result per channel will be written to the device FIFO.
•The ALS Integration Time is calculated using the sample time and number of ALS
samples and is displayed in the upper right corner of this box.
The Flicker group displays controls for the Flicker function.
•The Flicker Enable checkbox controls whether Flicker Detection is performed. If this box
is checked, the Flicker function is performed. If the box is unchecked, Flicker Detection
(FD) is not done.
•Because the amount of Flicker data can be quite large, the TCS3530 uses a data
compression algorithm to reduce the amount of data that must be transferred. The
Compression Width control allows changing the basic data width that is used for this
compression. When the device is running, the Flicker Tab shows the efficiency of the data
compression.
•The Modulator pulldown controls which photodiode is used for the Flicker function.
•FD_NR_SAMPLES controls the number of samples which are collected for Flicker
Detection. Unlike the ALS function, these samples are not added together. Each sample is
written to the device FIFO. The actual number of samples is one more than this control
and is shown immediately to the right of the control.
•The FD Measurement Time is calculated using the sample time and number of FD
samples and is displayed at the bottom of this box.
The group in the lower left corner of the Configuration Tab controls functions relating to the
autozero and oscillator functions.
•CALIB_NTH_ITERATON selects the repeat rate of the autozero and AGC functions. If this
value is set to 0, the step is never performed. If it is set to 255, it is only performed 1 time
after startup. If it is set to any other value, n, the step is performed every nth time
•The checkbox labeled Autozero at nth iteration controls whether the autozero function
and AGC are performed, or just an AGC is performed.

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•The OSC_CALIB pulldown controls when/if the oscillator is synchronized with the VSYNC
signal. The TCS3530 can internally generate a VSYNC signal if the external VSYNC is not
received. This control specifies how often the internal oscillator is synchronized. If this
control is set to “disable”, the oscillator is never synched to the VSYNC signal. If “after
pon” is selected, the oscillator is synchronized only with the first VSYNC after PON is set
to 1. If “always on” is selected, the synchronization occurs for every VSYNC signal.
•The “at VSYNC Frequency” control specifies the rate at which an internal VSYNC should
be generated (if necessary) and the expected frequency of the VSYNC for
synchronization. This control can be set to 60 Hz, 90 Hz, or 120 Hz.
The Gains group controls functions related to the gain of the ALS and Flicker data collection.
•The Common Gain checkbox and pulldown are not actual register fields. They are
provided, by the GUI, to provide an easy way to set all of the gain values at one time. If the
Common Gain checkbox is checked, the individual gain pulldown controls will be disabled
and all of the individual gain values will be set based on the Common Gain pulldown
menu. When the checkbox is unchecked, the Common Gain pulldown menu will be
disabled and all of the individual gain controls will be enabled,
•The ALS Gain group provides controls to individually set the ALS gain for all 8 channels. If
the Common Gain checkbox is checked, these controls will be disabled. While the device
is running, each gain pulldown will reflect the most recent gain for the channel. If the AGC
functions are enabled, these values will change when the gain values are changed by the
hardware. Values for the gain controls includes all powers of 2, ranging from ½ through
4096.
•The Flicker Gain Control sets the gain value for the collection of Flicker Data. It also can
be controlled via the Common Gain controls and will reflect any changes due to AGC.
Values for the gain control includes all powers of 2, ranging from ½ through 4096.
•The Predictive AGC checkbox controls whether the predictive AGC function is used. To
disable AGC, both the Predictive and Saturation AGC checkboxes must be unchecked.
•The Saturation AGC checkbox controls whether the saturation AGC function is used. To
disable AGC, both the Predictive and Saturation AGC checkboxes must be unchecked.
•The Residual checkbox controls whether the residual values from the ADCs will be
collected and added to the raw data values for ALS and Flicker. The residual values
provide a higher accuracy to the ALS and Flicker values that can be useful in low-light
environments. If the residual function is disabled, the corresponding low-order bits of the
ALS and Flicker values will be 0.

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The Wait Time group, at the bottom center of the tab, controls the time between measurement
cycles.
•The Timing pulldown menu controls whether the wait time is enabled and the time base
used to measure the wait, when enabled. The Timing value is used with the WTIME
control to determine the total wait time between measurements. This value can be set to
“off”, 2.8444 ms, 45.5110ms, 88.8889 µs, 1.4222 ms, or “vsync”. If “off” is selected, no wait
time will be added between measurements. If “vsync” is selected, the device will wait one
VSYNC per WTIME step.
•WTIME specifies the number of the selected Timing steps to wait between measurements.
The actual number of steps is one more than the register value (WTIME = 0 means 1
step). If the Timing control is set to “off”, this control is disabled. The total wait time
specified by the Timing and WTIME controls is displayed immediately to the right of this
control. Note that if Timing is set to “vsync” this displayed time is not accurate. In this case
the wait time is simply WTIME + 1 VSYNC signals.
The AGC Time group, in the lower right corner of the tab, controls the number of AGC
samples.
•The AGC_NR_SAMPLES control specifies the number of samples for every AGC
measurement. The actual number of samples is one more than AGC_NR_SAMPLES and
is displayed immediately to the right of this control.
•The AGC Integration Time is calculated using the sample time and number of AGC
samples and is displayed at the bottom of this box.

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4.8 “ALS” tab
The main portion of the screen contains a tab labeled ALS. It displays ALS measurement data.
Figure 11: ALS tab
4.8.1 Color data
The ALS color data is displayed on the top left side of the tab. The data is displayed using the
CIE XYZ color space and the CIE xy color space. The Lux and CCT are also displayed.
4.8.2 Raw ALS status
At the bottom left of the tab there are four columns for each of the eight data channels.
•The first column lists the channel number and describes the associated frequency band.
The TCS3530 datasheet lists the specific characteristics of each channel.
•The second column shows the raw count value for the channel. This data is not calibrated,
and has not been adjusted based on gain.
•The third column shows the gain value that was used to collect the data for that channel.

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•The fourth column indicates the saturation status for the channel. If the box is green, the
channel was not saturated during the data collection. If any saturation was detected in a
channel during data collection, the box will be red.
The graph on the ALS Tab is a CIE 1932 color space chromaticity diagram. If the Enable Plot
box is checked, a single point, at the calculated (x, y) values will be plotted. This point will
move as the x and y values change.
4.9 Flicker tab
The main portion of the screen contains a tab labeled Flicker. This tab displays a graph of up
to 512 points of the raw Flicker data. As a demonstration, it also calculates an FFT and
displays lists the frequency bins with the highest power. It can also display a representation of
the calculated FFT data.
Figure 12: Flicker tab
4.9.1 Flicker configuration information
At the top left of the screen, Flicker settings from the Configuration Tab are displayed. These
include the total Sampling Time, the Sampling Frequency and the FD_GAIN value that was
used to collect the data.

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4.9.2 Flicker frequencies
Below the configuration information, the Frequencies of the largest 3 bins from the FFT are
displayed. The FFT is always calculated using 512 input points. If FD_NR_SAMPLES is set to
more than 512 samples, only the first 512 will be used. If FD_NR_SAMPLES is less than 512
samples, the data will be padded with zeros to create 512 points, but doing so will cause the
output of the FFT to be inaccurate.
4.9.3 Flicker data plot
Checking the Show FFT checkbox will display the FFT output data. The red labels at the top of
the graph are only present when Show FFT is checked, and indicate the frequency of the FFT
points. The FFT data does not show any Y-Axis values since, by the nature of the FFT
calculations, the scale may be different for every FFT and the relative magnitudes of the data
points is what is pertinent for peak detection.
The black labels at the bottom of the graph are always present and simply represent the
number of points displayed. The Y-Axis scale of the raw data can be controlled using the small
up/down arrows immediately above the left edge of the graph. The range of the axis can be set
to any power of two from 16 through 65536, and is displayed immediately to the right of the
arrows.
4.9.4 Data compression status
At the bottom of the data on the left side of the tab, the program displays information to show
the reduction of FIFO data due to data compression. This information includes the number of
bytes that are actually received from the FIFO, the number of bytes that would be required for
uncompressed data and a ratio of the uncompressed size to the compressed size.
In the example shown in Figure 12, the FD_NR_SAMPLES is set to 512 samples. Since each
sample is 16 bits, this would normally require 1024 bytes. Because of data compression, only
601 bytes were actually placed into the FIFO. This resulted in a 1.7 : 1 compression ratio.

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5 Resources
For additional information regarding the TCS3530, please refer to the datasheet. For
information regarding the installation of the TCS3530 EVM host application software please
refer to the TCS3530 EVM Quick Start Guide.
Designer’s Notebooks dealing with various aspects of optical measurement and optical
measurement applications are available. All content is available on the ams OSRAM website
ams-osram.com.
Referring documents:
•TCS3530 Datasheet
•TCS3530 EVM Quick Start Guide, QG001020 (QSG)
•TCS3530 EVM User’s Guide (this document)
•TCS3530 EVM Schematic Layout

TCS3530 EVM
Revision information
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6 Revision information
Definitions
Draft / Preliminary:
The draft / preliminary status of a document indicates that the content is still under internal review and subject to change without notice. ams-OSRAM
AG does not give any warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of information included in a draft / preliminary version of a document and shall
have no liability for the consequences of use of such information.
Changes from previous released version to current revision v3-00
Page
Document contents transferred to latest ams OSRAM template
Document security class is updated to “PUBLIC” in the footer
●Page and figure numbers for the previous version may differ from page and figure numbers in the current revision.
●Correction of typographical errors is not explicitly mentioned.

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7 Legal information
Copyright & disclaimer
Copyright ams-OSRAM AG, Tobelbader Strasse 30, 8141 Premstaetten, Austria-Europe. Trademarks Registered. All rights reserved. The material
herein may not be reproduced, adapted, merged, translated, stored, or used without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Demo Kits, Evaluation Kits and Reference Designs are provided to recipient on an “as is” basis for demonstration and evaluation purposes only and
are not considered to be finished end-products intended and fit for general consumer use, commercial applications and applications with special
requirements such as but not limited to medical equipment or automotive applications. Demo Kits, Evaluation Kits and Reference Designs have not
been tested for compliance with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards and directives, unless otherwise specified. Demo Kits, Evaluation
Kits and Reference Designs shall be used by qualified personnel only.
ams-OSRAM AG reserves the right to change functionality and price of Demo Kits, Evaluation Kits and Reference Designs at any time and without
notice.
Any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are
disclaimed. Any claims and demands and any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary or consequential damages arising from the inadequacy
of the provided Demo Kits, Evaluation Kits and Reference Designs or incurred losses of any kind (e.g. loss of use, data or profits or business
interruption however caused) as a consequence of their use are excluded.
ams-OSRAM AG shall not be liable to recipient or any third party for any damages, including but not limited to personal injury, property damage, loss
of profits, loss of use, interruption of business or indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages, of any kind, in connection with or arising out
of the furnishing, performance or use of the technical data herein. No obligation or liability to recipient or any third party shall arise or flow out of ams-
OSRAM AG rendering of technical or other services.
ams OSRAM semiconductor RoHS compliance statement
RoHS compliant: The term RoHS compliant means that ams-OSRAM AG semiconductor products fully comply with current RoHS directives. Our
semiconductor products do not contain any chemicals for all 6 substance categories plus additional 4 substance categories (per amendment EU
2015/863), including the requirement that lead not exceed 0.1% by weight in homogeneous materials.
Important information: The information provided in this statement represents ams-OSRAM AG knowledge and belief as of the date that it is
provided. ams-OSRAM AG bases its knowledge and belief on information provided by third parties, and makes no representation or warranty as to
the accuracy of such information. Efforts are underway to better integrate information from third parties. ams-OSRAM AG has taken and continues to
take reasonable steps to provide representative and accurate information but may not have conducted destructive testing or chemical analysis on
incoming materials and chemicals. ams-OSRAM AG and ams-OSRAM AG suppliers consider certain information to be proprietary, and thus CAS
numbers and other limited information may not be available for release.
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