sparkfun MPR121 Technical document
MPR121 Hookup Guide
CONTRIBUTORS: TONI_K
MPR121 Overview
If you are interested in adding the ‘magic’ of touch to control your
electronics project, a capacitive touch sensor might be the way to go. This
hookup guide will show you how to use the MPR121QR2 sensor.
The MPR121QR2 is a capacitive touch sensor controller that makes it very
easy to integrate capacitive touch sensing into your project. It
communicates via I C, and works by measuring the capacitance of twelve
electrode points. When an object comes close to the electrode connector,
the measured capacitance changes. This signals the MPR121 that
something has touched a ‘button’. The IC is also capable of driving LEDs or
basic GPIO functionality on electrode pins 4 through 11, giving you a lot of
freedom for setting up your project. The sensor works from 1.6V to 3.3V.
The sensor isn’t very current-hungry, drawing only around 29 µA when
sampling every 16 milliseconds.
Materials
To work through this tutorial, you are going to need one of the three
versions of the MPR121 sensor:
• MPR121 Capacitive Touch Sensor Breakout Board
• Touch Shield
• MPR121 Capacitive Touch Keypad
You will also want a soldering iron, some hookup wires and a
microcontroller capable of I C communication. For our examples, we will be
using an Arduino Uno. You will also need some kind of material to act as a
capacitive sensing surface (also known as an electrode, which is not to be
confused with the character Electrode). Generally, aluminum foil works well.
However, you could also use coins, conductive paint, or copper tape.
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Suggested Readin
g
The MPR121 is very easy to get started using, especially with the example
code. However, if you haven’t worked with Arduino previously or aren’t
familiar with I C communication, you should check out the tutorials below.
• What is an Arduino
• I C Communication
• How to Use a Breadboard
• How to Solder
Capacitive Touch Sensor Breakout
Board
The breakout board is the most versatile option of the three MPR121
products. You can wire it up to any kind of electrode you want, and, as it is
a simple breakout board, does not have a particular microcontroller footprint
it favors.
The breakout board has 4 pins that need to be connected to your
microcontroller at a minimum to get communication going: the power lines
and the I C lines. However, for our example, we are going to be also
connecting the IRQ pin to more easily detect a change on one of the
electrodes.
Connections
MPR121 Breakout →Arduino Uno
•3.3V→3.3V
•SCL→A5
•SDA→A4
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•GND→GND
•IRQ→D2
You will also want to connect the Electrode/LED pins to your electrode
material you selected previously. You will want to make sure you have a
good, solid connection between your material and your board, so make
sure you thoroughly solder your connections.
Check out the Fritzing diagram below for how your connections should look.
The yellow squares represent whatever material you decide to use for your
electrodes.
Communicating with the Breakout
Board
To communicate with your breakout board, you will need the Arduino
sketch available as a zip file here. Alternatively, you can also find the most
up-to-date firmware for working with the breakout board available on
GitHub. Let’s take a look and see exactly what the code is doing.
#include"mpr121.h"
#include<Wire.h>
int irqpin=2;//Digital2
boolean touchStates[12];//tokeeptrackoftheprevioust
ouchstates
In this first section of the code, the MPR121 library and the Wire library are
initialized. The Wire library makes I C communication easy to use on the
Arduino. The sketch also defines digital pin 2 as the IRQ pin connection,
and creates 12 instances of the boolean variable touchStates.
For the second section of the code, we define the irqpin as an INPUT,
telling the Arduino to monitor the digital signal coming in over that pin.
Serial communication is also started at 9600 bps, s well as the Wire and
mpr121 libraries.
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void setup(){
pinMode(irqpin,INPUT);
digitalWrite(irqpin,HIGH);//enablepullupresistor
Serial.begin(9600);
Wire.begin();
mpr121_setup();
}
The main loop of the code is incredibly simple, as it only calls a single
function.
void loop(){
readTouchInputs();
}
The function is actually described in the next section of the code. The
Arduino requests the electrode states from the sensor in the first section,
and the least significant bits and most significant bits are defined for the
sensor.
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void readTouchInputs(){
if(!checkInterrupt()){
//readthetouchstatefromtheMPR121
Wire.requestFrom(0x5A,2);
byteLSB= Wire.read();
byteMSB= Wire.read();
uint16_ttouched= ((MSB<< 8)| LSB);//16bitsthatmake
upthetouchstates
for (int i=0;i< 12;i++){//Checkwhatelectrodeswer
epressed
if(touched& (1<<i)){
if(touchStates[i]== 0){
//piniwasjusttouched
Serial.print("pin");
Serial.print(i);
Serial.println("wasjusttouched");
}else if(touchStates[i]== 1){
//piniisstillbeingtouched
}
touchStates[i]=1;
}else{
if(touchStates[i]== 1){
Serial.print("pin");
Serial.print(i);
Serial.println("isnolongerbeingtouched");
//piniisnolongerbeingtouched
}
touchStates[i]=0;
}
}
}
}
The Arduino scans each electrode and prints out a message over serial if
an electrode is triggered as being touched. The Arduino will then print out a
message as soon as the electrode is no longer being touched.
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The last major section of the code defines the threshold values for each
electrode. Each electrode must have a touch threshold and a release
threshold for the Arduino to compare the current state of the electrode.
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void mpr121_setup(void){
set_register(0x5A, ELE_CFG, 0x00);
// Section A Controls filtering when data is > baseline.
set_register(0x5A, MHD_R, 0x01);
set_register(0x5A, NHD_R, 0x01);
set_register(0x5A, NCL_R, 0x00);
set_register(0x5A, FDL_R, 0x00);
// Section B Controls filtering when data is < baseline.
set_register(0x5A, MHD_F, 0x01);
set_register(0x5A, NHD_F, 0x01);
set_register(0x5A, NCL_F, 0xFF);
set_register(0x5A, FDL_F, 0x02);
// Section C Sets touch and release thresholds for each el
ectrode
set_register(0x5A, ELE0_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE0_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE1_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE1_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE2_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE2_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE3_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE3_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE4_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE4_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE5_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE5_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE6_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE6_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE7_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE7_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE8_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE8_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE9_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE9_R, REL_THRESH);
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set_register(0x5A, ELE10_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE10_R, REL_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE11_T, TOU_THRESH);
set_register(0x5A, ELE11_R, REL_THRESH);
// Section D
// Set the Filter Configuration
// Set ESI2
set_register(0x5A, FIL_CFG, 0x04);
// Section E
// Electrode Configuration
// Set ELE_CFG to 0x00 to return to standby mode
set_register(0x5A, ELE_CFG, 0x0C); // Enables all 12 Electr
odes
// Section F
// Enable Auto Config and auto Reconfig
/*set_register(0x5A, ATO_CFG0, 0x0B);
set_register(0x5A, ATO_CFGU, 0xC9); // USL = (Vdd0.7)/vdd*
256 = 0xC9 @3.3V set_register(0x5A, ATO_CFGL, 0x82); // LS
L = 0.65*USL = 0x82 @3.3V
set_register(0x5A, ATO_CFGT, 0xB5);*/ // Target = 0.9*USL
= 0xB5 @3.3V
set_register(0x5A, ELE_CFG, 0x0C);
}
It looks like a lot of code, but it simply repeating the procedure of setting the
threshold values for each electrode pin.
The last two functions in the example sketch simply check the status of the
irqpin to determine if the IC is signaling that an electrode has been
touched. The very last function set_register simply runs the Arduino
through the standard steps in the Wire library to write the registers to the
IC.
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boolean checkInterrupt(void){
return digitalRead(irqpin);
}
void set_register(int address, unsigned char r, unsigned char
v){
Wire.beginTransmission(address);
Wire.write(r);
Wire.write(v);
Wire.endTransmission();
}
Now that you have a basic understanding of the code, let’s start reading the
data. Open up the sketch from the file you downloaded earlier, and upload
it to your Arduino. Once it is uploaded, open the Serial monitor in the
Arduino IDE. You should start seeing the Arduino print out sentences if you
press any electrodes or release any electrodes.
Touch Shield
The Touch Shield is an Arduino R3 compatible shield that enables
capacitive touch capabilities for your project using the MPR121 IC. The
shield itself has 9 touch pads on it (conveniently numbered 1-9 in a 3x3
grid), and has headers for 3 additional electrode connections.
The shield connects directly to the 3.3V pin on the Arduino. There is no on-
board voltage regulation on the VCC line, so keep that in mind if you intend
to use this with a 5V Arduino Pro board. However, there is an onboard logic
level converter to step down 5V levels to the 3.3V for the sensor’s I C lines.
This shield is designed to interface with an Arduino Uno R3. You can use
other microcontrollers as well with the same footprint, such as the Arduino
Mega. You will need access to the I C pins, SDA and SCL. Other than that,
you will need access to the 3.3V and GND pins and to digital pin 2. This
connects to the INT pin on the MPR121 sensor.
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We generally use stackable headers for attaching shields to Arduino
boards, but you can use standard male headers if you prefer. The R3
Stackable Header Kit is the easiest option to use if you are planning on
stackable headers. For detailed instructions on how to assemble your
shield, have a look at our Shield Tutorial.
The shield also has 3 pins labeled ELE9, ELE10, and ELE11. These
correspond to electrodes 9,10, and 11 on the MPR121 chip. You can solder
additional buttons or connections on to these pins at this time if you want
more than the 9 buttons already available on the shield. However, you don’t
have to do this to get the shield to function. It’s up to you!
Check out the Fritzing diagram below to see how your shield should look if
you have added buttons on to your shield on pins ELE9, ELE10, and
ELE11.
Note: The yellow squares represent whatever material you’ve chosen to
use as your electrode.
Once you’ve got your shield all hooked up, let’s start pulling data from the
shield!
Communicating with the Shield
Once you’ve got your shield assembled, it’s time to start talking to it! You
can download the example code here, or find the most up-to-date version in
the GitHub repository.
Open up the Touch_Sensor_Shield_Example.ino file. The other files set the
register definitions for the MPR121 chip, so you shouldn’t need to mess
with these at all.
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// Match key inputs with electrode numbers
#define ONE 8
#define TWO 5
#define THREE 2
#define FOUR 7
#define FIVE 4
#define SIX 1
#define SEVEN 6
#define EIGHT 3
#define NINE 0
//extras (not connected to button)
#define ELE9 9
#define ELE10 10
#define ELE11 11
//interupt pin
int irqPin = 2; // D2
First thing the code shows is the pin definitions. This is laying out the
keypad functionality (ONE, TWO, etc.) and defining which electrode pin
corresponds to each number. As the comment states, electrode pins 9, 10
and 11 are not currently connected to anything, but if you did solder on
additional buttons to those pins on the shield, you can change this.
The interrupt pin is also defined as D2. This can’t be modified without some
hardware hacking on the shield, so keep that in mind if you are interfacing
additional hardware into your set up.
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void setup()
{
//make sure the interrupt pin is an input and pulled hig
h
pinMode(irqPin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(irqPin, HIGH);
//configure serial out
Serial.begin(9600);
// initalize I2C bus. Wiring lib not used.
i2cInit();
// initialize mpr121
mpr121QuickConfig();
// Create and interrupt to trigger when a button
// is hit, the IRQ pin goes low, and the function getNum
ber is run.
attachInterrupt(0,getNumber,LOW);
// prints 'Ready...' when you can start hitting numbers
Serial.println("Ready...");
}
The setup loop starts by setting the interrupt pin as an input and pulling it
high. The serial bus is started at 9600 bps. Next, the code initializes the I C
communication lines without using the Wiring library.
The MPR121 chip is then configured with the proper sensitivity settings on
the electrodes. The final step in the setup loop creates an interrupt in the
code that will trigger when any of the buttons are hit.
void loop()
{
//You can put additional code here. The interrupt will run i
n the backgound.
}
The loop function is actually empty currently, as the button presses use the
interrupt we created in the setup loop. If you did have additional hardware
you wanted to incorporate into your project, the code for it can live in this
loop.
The last two functions in the example code tell the Arduino to check the
electrode states for a button press and what to print out when a button
press is detected.
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void getNumber()
{
int touchNumber = 0;
uint16_t touchstatus;
char digits;
touchstatus = getTouchStatus();
for (int j=0; j<12; j++) // Check how many electrodes were
pressed
{
if ((touchstatus & (1<<j)))
touchNumber++;
}
if (touchNumber == 1)
{
if (touchstatus & (1<<SEVEN))
{
digits = '7';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<FOUR))
{
digits = '4';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<ONE))
{
digits = '1';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<EIGHT))
{
digits = '8';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<FIVE))
{
digits = '5';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<TWO))
{
digits = '2';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<NINE))
{
digits = '9';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<SIX))
{
digits = '6';
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}
else if (touchstatus & (1<<THREE))
{
digits = '3';
}
Serial.println(digits);
}
//do nothing if more than one button is pressed, or if all a
re released
else if (touchNumber == 0)
;
else
;
}
The function getTouchStatus() actually returns at 16-bit value which gives
the status of each button. The status of 1 indicates that an electrode is
being activated.
language: c
int getTouchStatus()
{
int touch;
touch = mpr121Read(0x01) << 8;
touch |= mpr121Read(0x00);
return touch;
}
Now that you have basic communication up and running with your shield,
you can start integrating this into projects. If you haven’t yet connected
anything to electrodes 9, 10 and 11, consider adding in additional buttons
here. You will also need to update the code. You’ll want to add the following
block of code into the example sketch right before
Serial.println(digits); . You can change the digits values to have the
buttons output different values instead of “A”, “B”, or “C”.
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else if (touchstatus & (1 << ELE9))
{
digits = 'A';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1 << ELE10))
{
digits = 'B';
}
else if (touchstatus & (1 << ELE11))
{
digits = 'C';
}
Capacitive Touch Keypad
The Capacitive Touch Keypad is very similar to the MPR121 breakout
board, but instead of having to attach your own electrodes, this board
comes with a 12-pin keypad built-in.
The keypad has 5 lines that need to be connected to your microcontroller,
including the power lines, the IRQ line and the I C lines.
Connections
MPR121 Keypad →Arduino Uno
•3.3V→3.3V
•SCL→A5
•SDA→A4
•GND→GND
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•IRQ→D2
Check out the Fritzing diagram below to verify your connections.
This diagram shows the bottom side of the keypad, in order to show you the
location of the I C address jumper. In this diagram, the jumper is set to 0,
but if you need to have 2 keypads on the same I C bus, you can change
one of them to be set to 1.
Now that you’ve got your keypad hooked up properly, let’s get
communicating with it!
Communicating with the Keypad
In order to communicate with your keypad, you’ll want to download the
example sketch available here. Alternatively, you can check for the most
up-to-date firmware available in the GitHub repository.
This sketch is designed to allow the keypad to function as a phone keypad.
Check out the pin mapping below to see how the numbered pads will print
over the Serial terminal.
Actual Keypad →Phone Keypad Printout
•3→1
•7→2
•11→3
•2→4
•6→5
•10→6
•1→7
•5→8
•9→9
•0→*
•4→0
•8→#
This is defined in the first section of the code, shown below. The I C
address is also defined, along with setting digital pin 2 to be assigned as
the IRQ pin connection point.
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#include"mpr121.h"
#include"i2c.h"
#defineMPR121_R0xB5//ADDpinisgrounded
#defineMPR121_W0xB4//Soaddressis0x5A
#definePHONE_DIGITS10//10digitsinaphonenumber
//Matchkeyinputswithelectrodenumbers
#defineSTAR0
#defineSEVEN1
#defineFOUR2
#defineONE3
#defineZERO4
#defineEIGHT5
#defineFIVE6
#defineTWO7
#definePOUND8
#defineNINE9
#defineSIX10
#defineTHREE11
int irqpin=2;//D2
uint16_ttouchstatus;
char phoneNumber[PHONE_DIGITS];
The second section of the code is the basic initialization of the serial
communication port at 9600 bps, as well as setting the IRQ pin as an input
on the Arduino. It also starts the configuraton of the MPR121 IC.
void setup()
{
pinMode(irqpin,INPUT);
digitalWrite(irqpin,HIGH);
Serial.begin(9600);
DDRC|= 0b00010011;
PORTC= 0b00110000;//PullupsonI2CBus
i2cInit();
delay(100);
mpr121QuickConfig();
}
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The main loop in the code simply scans the MPR121 electrodes and looks
for a phone number to be entered on the keypad. This is the function
getPhoneNumber() . The code then prints out the phone number dialed over
the serial monitor.
void loop()
{
getPhoneNumber();
Serial.print("\nDialing...");
for (int i=0;i<PHONE_DIGITS;i++)
Serial.print(phoneNumber[i]);
while(1)
;
}
As you can see in the function loop for getPhoneNumber() , the Arduino
checks the touchstatus register for each electrode and prints out the
assigned value for any electrodes that are registering a touch. It also
includes an error if multiple buttons are pressed simultaneously, printing
over the serial monitor to tell the user to touch only one button.
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void getPhoneNumber()
{
int i=0;
int touchNumber;
Serial.println("PleaseEnteraphonenumber...");
while(i<PHONE_DIGITS)
{
while(checkInterrupt())
;
touchNumber=0;
touchstatus= mpr121Read(0x01)<< 8;
touchstatus|= mpr121Read(0x00);
for (int j=0;j<12;j++)//Checkhowmanyelectrodeswer
epressed
{
if ((touchstatus& (1<<j)))
touchNumber++;
}
if (touchNumber== 1)
{
if (touchstatus& (1<<STAR))
phoneNumber[i]= '*';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<SEVEN))
phoneNumber[i]= '7';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<FOUR))
phoneNumber[i]= '4';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<ONE))
phoneNumber[i]='1';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<ZERO))
phoneNumber[i]= '0';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<EIGHT))
phoneNumber[i]= '8';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<FIVE))
phoneNumber[i]= '5';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<TWO))
phoneNumber[i]= '2';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<POUND))
phoneNumber[i]= '#';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<NINE))
phoneNumber[i]= '9';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<SIX))
phoneNumber[i]= '6';
else if (touchstatus& (1<<THREE))
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phoneNumber[i]='3';
Serial.print(phoneNumber[i]);
i++;
}
else if (touchNumber== 0)
;
else
Serial.println("OnlytouchONEbutton!");
}
}
The next section of the code simply steps through the I C communication to
read data from the MPR121 IC.
bytempr121Read(uint8_taddress)
{
bytedata;
i2cSendStart();
i2cWaitForComplete();
i2cSendByte(MPR121_W);//write0xB4
i2cWaitForComplete();
i2cSendByte(address);//writeregisteraddress
i2cWaitForComplete();
i2cSendStart();
i2cSendByte(MPR121_R);//write0xB5
i2cWaitForComplete();
i2cReceiveByte(TRUE);
i2cWaitForComplete();
data= i2cGetReceivedByte();//GetMSBresult
i2cWaitForComplete();
i2cSendStop();
cbi(TWCR,TWEN);//DisableTWI
sbi(TWCR,TWEN);//EnableTWI
return data;
}
The function mpr121Write() is then defined, which again, steps through
the I C process of writing commands to the MPR121 sensor.
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