ScioSense AS6031-QF DK User manual

Development Kit User Guide
AS6031-QF_DK
AS6031-QF_DK User Guide
Revision: 6
Release Date: 2023-02-10
Document Status: Production

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Content Guide
Content Guide .................................................................................................... 2
1Introduction ................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Ordering Codes .........................................................................................3
2Quick Start Guide .......................................................................................... 4
3Hardware Description ..................................................................................... 5
3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................5
3.2 Communication Interface .............................................................................5
4UFC Evaluation Software.................................................................................. 6
5Schematics, Layers & BOM .............................................................................. 14
6RoHS Compliance & ScioSense Green Statement.................................................... 17
7Copyrights & Disclaimer.................................................................................. 17
8Revision information ..................................................................................... 18

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1Introduction
The AS6031-DK development kit allows customers a quick and intuitive approach to using the AS6031
UFC in ultrasonic flow meter applications.
Figure 1: AS6031-QF_DK Development kit
The kit includes the following elements:
AS6031-QF_DK_RB reference board V2.0
PicoProg Lite with USB-C –USB cable
Figure 2: Functional Blocks
Please download the software for the kit from https://downloads.sciosense.com/as6031 and look
for the latest version of UfcEvaluationSoftware....zip.
1.1 Ordering Codes
Table 1: Pin description
Ordering code
Part Number
Description
AS6031-QF_DK V1.0
221020003
AS6031 Demo kit including PICOPROG and cables
AS6031-QF_DK_RB V2.0
221020002
AS6031 reference board

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2Quick Start Guide
This section describes how to quickly set up the AS6031 development kit, to establish basic operation
and to make first measurements.
Please install the software before connecting the evaluation kit to your computer. The software can
be downloaded here: https://downloads.sciosense.com/as6031
•Unzip the package to the desired directory,
•Connect the PicoProg Lite to the computer and the AS6031 board to the SPI connector on the
PicoProg Lite.
•Connect your spool piece to US_UP and US_DOWN. US_UP fires upstream, means versus flow.
US_DOWN fires downstream, with the flow.
•Open “UFCEvaluationSoftware.exe”
The following screen will appear:
Figure 3: Opening page
•Verify that the right device is selected and interface status is ok.
•Select a project or one of the ready configuration files, press “Load Project” or “Load Config”
and then on the left side press “Write Config”.
•Finally, press “Start Measurement” to begin measuring.

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3Hardware Description
3.1 Introduction
The AS6031-QF_DK_RB board, shown in figure 3, is a front-end for a water or heat meters. The
transducers and temperature sensors can be connected to this board directly. It comes with a 32.768
kHz quartz (X2) and a 8 MHz ceramic oscillator (X1).
Icc
INTN ——
MISO ——
SCK ——
MOSI ——
SSN ——
- ——
VCC_LEVEL ——
GND ——
VCC ——
Transducers:
—— US_DOWN
—— GND
—— GND
—— US_UP
—— GND —— TPI_GND2 —— TPI_GND1 —— TPI_M2_A —— TPI_M2_B —— TPI_M1_A —— TPI_M1_B
TP23 – RECEIVE_SIG
TP2 – US_VREF
TP6 – GPIO5
TP10 – PGA_OUT
J6 – COMP_IN
TP3 – GPIO0
TP4 – GPIO1
TP5 – GPIO2
TP7 – GPIO3
TP8 – GPIO4
External amplifier not
assembled by default
Figure 4: AS6031-QF_DK_RB
3.2 Communication Interface
The PicoProg Lite is a USB-to-SPI converter that connects the AS6031 board to a PC. The PICOPROG
is registered by the operating system initially as “PicoProg LITE V1.0”. The board converts SPI into
USB communication. The USB connector is a USB-C one.
The PicoProg Lite comes with two connectors, one for SPI communication and one for I2C
communication. For the AS6031 please use the SPI connector.
PicoProg Lite reads interrupt-triggered from the AS6031 board.

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4UFC Evaluation Software
The software opens with the dashboard window. It should detect the connected board automatically
and indicate operability by green status information (1).
Figure 5: Dashboard
The next steps could be to start with one of the default configurations, an existing project or an
existing configuration by loading it into the GUI. To write the Data to the Chip you need to click on
“Write Config” and then you can start the measurement (3).
Note: when you change parameters in the GUI this is indicated by a star behind “Write Config” (3).
Do the write to make sure the chip has the current configuration. The star will then disappear.
Projects include the complete settings of the GUI, including the configuration, the firmware and
firmware data, the settings for CPU window and flags.
1
2
3

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Figure 6: Dashboard active
On the left green bar the main measurement results are displayed: chip status, time-of-flight (TOF),
difference up-down (TOF Difference), amplitude and pulse width ratio (4).
The flags for the measure cycle (5) timer should toggle for an active measurement. The results page
will show the detailed ToF results:
Figure 7: Results page
The ToF results table (6) shows the average of the selected zero crossings per measurement in up
and down direction, the difference of up and down (proportional to the flow rate), and the sum of
up and down (proportional to speed of sound). By selecting detailed data (7) an additional table pops
up that shows each individual zero crossing measurement (8).
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5
6
7
8
9
10

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The “no. of Avrg.” (9) define the numbers of samples for a software average in the GUI. The number
on the right, above Std.Dev. define the number of samples used in the mathematics for the
calculation of the standard deviation.
The HS Clock block shows the measured period of the high speed clock and the correction factor in
comparison to the ideal value. There is a select option for application of this correction factor to the
measurement results (10).
The control page shows the main parameters for setting the ultrasonic frontend.
Noise mask window
better describes as
switch from transmit
to receive
Release delay opens
the measurement
channel (suppress
trigger by noise)
Figure 8: Control page

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In this page you set the fire frequency, derived from the high spedd clock.
With the noise mask window you set the time when to switch from sending to receiving.
The release delay sets the end of a window to suppress wrong triggers by noise.
The first hit level defines the voltage level for the comparator to detect the first hit of the receive
burst.
The start hit defines how many waves to wait after first hit level detection before starting collection
of ToF data. This time is typically needed by the transducers to follow the fixed fire frequency and
to oscillate with a stable period.
The number of Tof hits defines how many zero crossings are summarized for a single measurement
in either up or down direction.
Finally, the gain of the PGA is set on this page, too.
Another important page is the Task Timing page:
Figure 9: Task timing page
Here you define the sample rate as a combination of the cycle time and the TOF rate (one ToF every
N cycles, N typically 1).

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Besides the numerical display of the result page the software offers an export of the data into a file
as well as a graphical display (which could be fond in the graphs page).
Figure 10: Graphs page
The parameters to be displayed are selectable.
By means of the CPU window, any RAM cell can
be reported and also graphically displayed.
The export to file is enabled on the main
dashboard. The user can select which values
should imported.
Note that the file is working with place holders
which means that the selection can be
changed any time during data acquisition. So
you may start with ToF data only, and when
you see unexpected behavior then you can add
amplitude e.g..
Figure 11: Export selection