sparkfun QuickLogic Thing Plus Technical document

QuickLogic Thing Plus (EOS S3) Hookup Guide


Introduction
Note: Content for this user guide was originally written by QuickLogic.
This guide provides users with functional descriptions, configuration options for the QuickLogic Thing Plus EOS
S3. It also serves as a “Getting Started” and “How To” guide.
SparkFun QuickLogic Thing Plus - EOS S3

DEV-17273
Product Showcase: SparkFun QuickLogic Thing PlusProduct Showcase: SparkFun QuickLogic Thing Plus

Required Materials
To follow along with this tutorial, you will need the following materials. You may not need everything though
depending on what you have. Add it to your cart, read through the guide, and adjust the cart as necessary.
You Will Also Need
You will also need a computer with a terminal program or any UART console application. For the scope of this
tutorial, we will use PuTTY.
Computer with Windows 10 OS or Linux OS
Serial Terminal
Note: Windows 7, Windows 8 and Virtual Ubuntu machines are not supported.
Suggested Reading
If you aren't familiar with the Qwiic system, we recommend reading here for an overview .
SparkFun QuickLogic Thing Plus - EOS S3

DEV-17273
Reversible USB A to Reversible Micro-B Cable -
0.8m

CAB-15428

Qwiic Connect System
If you aren’t familiar with the following concepts, we also recommend checking out a few of these tutorials before
continuing.
Hardware Overview
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)
SPI is commonly used to connect microcontrollers to
peripherals such as sensors, shift registers, and SD
cards.
Logic Levels
Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and
logic levels.
Accelerometer Basics
A quick introduction to accelerometers, how they work,
and why they're used.
I2C
An introduction to I2C, one of the main embedded
communications protocols in use today.
Serial Terminal Basics
This tutorial will show you how to communicate with
your serial devices using a variety of terminal emulator
applications.

The QuickLogic Thing Plus EOS S3 is a small form factor system ideal for enabling the next generation of low-
power Machine Learning (ML) capable Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Unlike other development boards which
are based on proprietary hardware and software tools, the QuickLogic Things Plus is based on 100% open source
hardware, compatible with the Feather form factor, and is built around 100% open source software (including the
Symbiflow FPGA Tools).
The QuickLogic is powered by QuickLogic’s EOS™ S3, the first eFPGA-enabled Arm Cortex©-M4F MCU to be
fully supported with Zephyr RTOS and FreeRTOS.
Other functionality includes:
QuickLogic EOS S3 MCU Platform
ST micro LIS2DH12TR accelerometer
Vesper VM3011 Adaptive ZeroPower Listening™ Digital Piezoelectric MEMS PDM Microphone
SparkFun’s Qwiic connector to enable easy connection to large number of Qwiic modules
16Mbit of on-board flash memory
User button and RGB LED
Powered from USB or a single Li-Po battery
Integrated battery charger
USB data signals tied to programmable logic
IO signals routed into general purpose pinheads
Compatible with standard 0.1" breadboards
Benefits
QuickLogic Thing Plus EOS S3 is small, Feather compatible, inexpensive, and is 100% supported by open
source tools.
With a Cortex M4F MCU and integrated eFPGA, the EOS S3 lets you innovate with 100% open source
hardware and software.
Applications
Tiny ML applications (such as with SensiML’s AI Software Platform and Google’s TensorFlow Lite)
General purpose MCU applications
Board Layout
Below is a quick overview of the board layout and components.
QuickLogic EOS S3 MCU Platform
ST micro LIS2DH12TR accelerometer
SparkFun’s Qwiic connector
Vesper’s VM3011 MEMS PDM microphone
16Mbit of on-board flash memory
User button and RGB LED
Hardware Reset button
Powered from USB or a single Li-Po battery
Integrated battery charger
USB data signals tied to programmable logic
IO signals break-routed into general purpose pinheads

IO Expansion Connectors EOS S3 MCU IO Map to QuickLogic Thing Plus
Below is the graphical datasheet of the QuickLogic Thing Plus EOS S3 to reference the pins followed by a table
listing the EOS S3 pins. Due to the size of the board and components, the silkscreen is printed on the back of the
board. You can flip over the board reference the pin name and its respective function as well.
Click image for a closer view.
EOS S3 MCU IO QuickLogic Thing Plus Function Additional Function Expansion
IO_0 I2C0 SCL J9.11
IO_1 I2C0 SDA J9.12
IO_2 IO J6.7
IO_3 Accelerometer LIS2DH12TR Interrupt J9.10
IO_4 IO J8.8
IO_5 IO J8.9

IO_6 User Button Input J8.10
IO_7 IO J8.11
IO_8 IO J8.12
IO_10 IO J8.13
IO_11 IO J8.6
IO_12 IO J8.7
IO_13 IO J6.8
IO_14 Serial Wire Debug CLK J6.4
IO_15 Serial Wire Debug DATA J6.2
IO_16 IO SPI Peripheral CLK J9.8
IO_17 IO SPI Peripheral CIPO (input) J9.7
IO_18 Blue LED N/A
IO_19 IO SPI Peripheral COPI J9.6
IO_20 IO SPI Peripheral CSn J9.5
IO_21 Green LED N/A
IO_22 Red LED N/A
IO_23 IO I2S Peripheral WCLK (Frame) J8.3
IO_24 IO I2S Peripheral DATA (dout) J8.4
IO_25 IO J6.9
IO_27 IO SPI Controller CS2 J9.2
IO_28 PDM Data; to isolate, remove R28 J8.1
IO_29 PDM CKO J8.2
IO_30 IO J6.10
IO_31 IO I2S Peripheral CLK (input) J8.5
IO_32 IO J9.3
IO_33 IO J9.4

IO_34 SPI Controller CLK J6.6
IO_36 SPI Controller CIPO J6.4
IO_38 SPI Controller COPI (flash) J6.5
IO_40 IO N/A
IO_43 IO Interrupt Output to Host J9.9
IO_44 IO UART TX J6.2
IO_45 IO UART RX J6.3
Connector J9
J2 EOS S3 MCU IO BGA Pin# Function
1 VBAT
2 3.3V Circuit Enable
3 VBUS
4 IO_27 HS IO; SPI Controller CSn2
5 IO_20 G8 SPI Peripheral SSn input; EOS S3 boot-strap
6 IO_19 H8 SPi Peripheral COPI input; EOS S3 boot-strap
7 IO_17 D7 SPI Peripheral CIPO output
8 IO_16 E7 SPI Peripheral CLK input

9 IO_43 D1 EOS S3 Interrupt Output
10 IO_3 A2 Accel Interrupt input
11 IO_0 B1 I2C0 SCL
12 IO_1 C1 I2C0 SDA
Connector J6
J6 EOS S3 MCU IO BGA Pin# Function
1 Ground
2 IO_44 E1 S3 UART TX
3 IO_45 G1 S3 UART RX
4 IO_36 H3 SPI Controller CIPO input
5 IO_38 E2 SPI Controller COPI output
6 IO_34 F3 SPI Controller CLK output
7 IO_2 A1 IO
8 IO_13 D6 IO
9 IO_25 F7 IO
10 IO_30 F4 IO
11 ADC1 C7 ADC1 input

12 No Connect
13 Ground
14 No Connect
15 +3.3V
16 SYS_RSTn F8 EOS S3 HW reset input
Connector J8
J8 EOS S3 MCU IO BGA Pin# Function
1 IO_28 G5 PDM microphone Data
2 IO_29 F5 PDM microphone CLK
3 IO_23 H6 I2S Peripheral WCLK Input
4 IO_24 G6 I2S Peripheral DATA output
5 IO_31 G4 I2S Peripheral CLK input
6 IO_11 C5 IO
7 IO_12 B5 IO
8 IO_4 B2 IO
9 IO_5 C3 IO
10 IO_6 B3 User button input

11 IO_7 A3 IO
12 IO_8 C4 IO
13 IO_10 A4 IO
14 IO_35 F2 IO
15 +3.3V
16 Ground
17 +3.3V
18 Ground
Development Connector
EOS S3 MCU SWD Connector
Below is the SWD connector used to program the board. Taken from the graphical datasheet are the pin labels on
the right for reference.
J7 EOS S3 MCU IO Function
1 +3.3V
2 IO_15 SWD_IO
3 Ground
4 IO_14 SWD_CLK
5 Ground

6 No Connect
7 No Connect
8 No Connect
9 Ground
10 SYS_RSTn Hardware Reset
Boot-strap IO_19 & IO_20
There are two pair of IO pins that are reserved for flashing the EOS S3 with a programmer. When booting a
program from flash, you'll need to keep these pins open.
Install both shunts to use SWD Debugger for development
Remove both shunts for boot-from-flash
Note: QuickLogic Thing Plus board flash device must contain valid boot image for successful boot from flash.
Power

There are two ways to provide power to the QuickLogic Thing Plus: USB connector (J5) or Battery connector (J4).
When both ports are connected at the same time, the USB power activates the battery charging circuit that provide
charging current to the battery.
When using a rechargeable battery, the minimum input voltage will determine the maximum currents that the
system needs to support. This is important when connecting additional peripherals to the QuickLogic Thing Plus
that also requires connection to +3.3V for supplies.
The MCP73831 LiPo charger is set to ~212.76mA for the default charge rate. Before you plug a battery into the
charger, you should be aware of your battery's capacity and the charge current supplied by the charger. To be
safe, you should keep the charge current at or below 1C of your battery. That means you should connect a LiPo
battery that has a capacity of ~212.75mAh or higher to charge safely. For more information on the charge LED's
status, check out the LiPo USB Charger breakout board for the MCP73831.
RGB LED
Speaking of LEDs, the board includes a build in RGB LED. As listed earlier in the tutorial, the leds can be
controlled using pin 22 (red),p in 21 (green), and pin 18 (blue). Note that the pins are not routed to the edge of the
board.

User and Reset Buttons
The board includes a user button and hardware reset button. These are also connected to the edge of the board
as well. The reset pin is also connected to the SWD pin when connecting to a programmer.
Connecting Additional Peripherals to the QuickLogic Thing Plus
QuickLogic Thing Plus supports direct connection to FeatherWing module (providing that the FeatherWing module
has Stack Headers installed) via expansion connector J2 and J3. Refer to AdaFruit's web site for additional
information on available FeatherWing modules.
Sensor with I C Port
QuickLogic Thing Plus board supports connecting to sensor module with I C peripheral interface via expansion
connectors J2. You can also access the pins along the J9 header.
QuickLogic Thing Plus I C supports I C Standard mode (100KHz) and Fast mode (400KHz). There is one I C bus
available; additional I C IP can be implemented in EOS S3 FPGA.
2
2
2 2 2
2

I2C0 bus: J2 pin 12 (SDA) and J2 pin 11 (SCL); the signals (SCL and SDA) are connected to 4.7KΩ pull-up
resistor. This bus is shared with onboard I Csensor, LIS2DH12TR (b0011000x).
Steps to connect external I C sensors to QuickLogic Thing Plus board:
Ground connection
Power connection (+3.3V supplies); check supply voltage level meeting connecting module requirement
Connect SCL and SDA signals; check IO level (> +3.0V IO only)
Keep connecting wires as short as possible
Configure the I Caddress to avoid LIS2DH12TR assigned address (b0011000x)
Check SCL and SDA rise time (< 1000 ns for Standard mode and < 300 ns for Fast mode)
Note: You may need to use oscilloscope to validate the rise time for SCL and SDA to stay within rise time
specification
Note: Refer to I2C- bus specification for details (UM10204)
LIS2DH12TR Accelerometer
The board includes the LIS2DH12TR triple axis accelerometer. Below is the reference axis of the IC based on the
datasheet. This sensor connected to the I C bus. The address for the accelerometer is set to 0b0011000 (0x18).
The accelerometer INT1 pin is connected to pin 3.
Sensor with SPI Peripheral Port
QuickLogic Thing Plus board supports connecting to sensor module with SPI peripheral interface via expansion
connectors J6 and J9: SPI CONTROLLER CLK (J6 pin 6), SPI CONTROLLER CIPO (J6 pin 4), SPI
CONTROLLER COPI (J6 pin 5) and SPI CONTROLLER CS2 (J9 pin 4).
2
2
2
2

The maximum supported SPI clock frequency is 10MHz.
Steps to connect external SPI sensor to QuickLogic Thing Plus board:
Ground connection
Power connection (+3.3V supplies check supply voltage level meeting connecting module requirement
Connect SPI CONTROLLER signals; check IO level (> +3.0V IO only)
Keep connecting wires as short as possible
Check signal quality using scope
PDM Microphones
Single PDM Microphone
The on-board PDM microphone (Vesper VM3011) is configured as left channel output (driving active data on falling
edge of PDM CLK). Based on the design of the microphone, there is a drill hit through the board that allows an
opening for the sound.
QuickLogic Thing Plus supports external PDM microphone connection via expansion connector J8: PDM CLK (J8
pin 2) and PDM DATA (J8 pin 1).

Steps to connect one external PDM microphone to QuickLogic Thing Plus board:
Ground connection
Power connection (+3.3V supplies check supply voltage level meeting connecting module requirement
Remove R28 (100Ω resistor)
Connect PDM CLK and PDM DATA signals; check IO level (> +3.0V IO only)
Keep connecting wires as short as possible
PDM microphone is configured as right channel microphone; the L/R signal or Channel signal is connected
to VDD
Check signal quality using scope
Double PDM Microphone
To support two external PDM microphones configuration, it is required to disable the connection of the on-board
PDM microphone.
QuickLogic Thing Plus supports external PDM microphone connection via expansion connector J8: PDM CLK (J8
pin 2) and PDM DATA (J8 pin 1).
Steps to connect two external PDM microphones to QuickLogic Thing Plus board:
Ground connection
Power connection (+3.3V supplies check supply voltage level meeting connecting module requirement
Remove R28 (100Ω resistor)
Connect PDM CLK and PDM DATA signals; check IO level (> +3.0V IO only)
Keep connecting wires as short as possible; avoid star connection scheme (see figure below)
Configure one PDM microphone as left channel and one PDM microphone as right channel
Check signal quality using scope
Board Dimensions
The board is 2.75"x2.10". While the board uses the Thing Plus footprint, length of the board is slightly longer than
other Thing Plus designs.

Hardware Assembly
To power and output serial data to terminal window, you will need to insert a USB cable to the board.
Getting Started
Running Pre-Loaded Program from Flash
The purpose of the pre-loaded program is to make it very fast and straightforward for a new user to verify the
board is functioning correctly. While we do production testing on every QuickLogic Thing Plus before we ship,
sometimes things happen during shipping or storage. Running this test takes less than a minute to do, requires no
knowledge of the QuickLogic Thing Plus, and will give you peace of mind the QuickLogic Thing Plus is ready for
you to start innovating freely.
1. Make sure there is no shunt installed at J2 and J3; if there are shunts installed, remove the shunts; save the
shunts for future firmware development
2. Provide power to the QuickLogic Thing Plus using the Type-C USB cable; the power source can be either a
PC or wall adapter. When there is power applied to the board, the LED flashes “white” for a short duration
3. Press the “reset” button
4. The LED flashes blue color for 5 seconds and then turns off
5. Wait for 5 seconds
6. On Windows 10 machine, open Device Manager to check for the assign COM port

Note: For Win10 system, the system device manager may not fully configure QuickLogic Thing Plus as COM
port when install for the first time, repeat step (3) to (6).
7. Launch PuTTY application and configure for Serial access and select “Open”.
8. Perform the followings in the PuTTY terminal:
a) Type: “ diag ” to bring up QuickLogic Thing Plus diagnostic menu
b) Type: “ help ” to bring up the menu of commands
c.) Type: “ red ”; the command shows red color for LED
d.) Type: “ red ”; the LED turns off the LED
e.) Try “ green ” and “blue” command

Download Binaries using JLink SWD
QuickLogic Thing Plus supports loading and testing stand-alone eFPGA design or eFPGA + M4 MCU design,
using SWD standard tool such as Segger’s Jlink SWD or OCD. Below are the instructions for system with
Windows 10 OS with Segger Jlink pod.
What you need
Laptop or PC with Windows 10
Segger Jlink pod and PC connecting USB cable
Segger Jlink adapter to 10-pin connector and cable
QuickLogic Thing Plus board and micro USB cable
Download stand-alone FPGA binaries instructions
Disconnect QuickLogic Thing Plus power; if USB-to-Serial cable connected to the board, remove the
connection from PC
Install shunts at QuickLogic Thing Plus J2 and J3
Connect micro USB cable from QuickLogic Thing Plus to PC
Connect 10-pin cable to QuickLogic Thing Plus connector J6; check connector key for correct alignment

Press reset button
Open CMD console
Type: “Jlink.exe -device cortex-m4 -If SWD -speed 4000 -commandFile "Jlink script"
Note: * Jlink.exe: Link commander – include reference to the location of executable * Jlink script: output file
symbiflow for EOS S3 FPGA binaries * Refer to Jlink Commander for more additional information
Download FPGA binaries + M4 MCU binaries instructions
Disconnect QuickLogic Thing Plus power; if USB-to-Serial cable connected to the board, remove the
connection from PC
Install shunts at QuickLogic Thing Plus J2 and J3
Connect micro USB cable from QuickLogic Thing Plus to PC
Connect 10-pin cable to QuickLogic Thing Plus connector J7; check connector key for correct alignment
Press reset button
Open CMD console (#1)
Launch Jlink commander (i.e. type “Jlink.exe”) and follow the on-screen instructions to connect to
QuickLogic Thing Plus M4 target
Execute the followings in Link Commander console
Type: “r” to reset the EOS S3
Type: “loadbin qt_helloworldsw.bin 0x0”
Type: “r”
Open another CMD console (#2)
Type: “Jlink.exe -device cortex-m4 -If SWD -speed 4000 -commandFile "Jlink script"
Note: * Jlink.exe: Link commander – include reference to the location of executable * Jlink script: Symbiflow’s
output for EOS S3 FPGA binaries * Refer to Jlink Commander for more additional information * Return to console
#1; type: “g”; the M4 binaries in M4 SRAM will start to run and the eFPGA is configured
Resources and Going Further
Now that you've successfully got your QuickLogic EOS S3 Thing Plus up and running, it's time to incorporate it into
your own project!
For more information, check out the resources below:
Schematic (PDF)
Cadence Board File (BRD)
Board Dimensions (JPG)
Graphical Datasheet
QuickLogic EOS E3
Datasheet (PDF)
Technical Reference Manual (PDF)
Whitepaper (PDF)
CrowdSupply Tutorial Demos
Datasheets
STMicro LIS2DH12TR (PDF) - triple Axis 12-bit accelerometer
Vesper VM3011 (PDF) - digital PDM Microphone w/ wake-on-sound
GigaDevice GD25Q16CEIGR (PDF) - 16Mbit SPI NOR flash memory
MicroChip MCP73831 (PDF) - single cell LiPo charge IC
Software
Machine Learning