Texas Instruments Serial Programming Adapter MSP430 User manual

MSP430 Workshop
STUDENT GUIDE
MSP430 Workshop
Revision 3.02a
January 2014

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Copyright 2013 Texas Instruments Incorporated
Revision History
July 2013 – Revision 2.22 (based on MSP430G2553 Value-Line Launchpad)
October 2013 – Revision 3.0 (based on MSP430F5529 USB Launchpad)
November 2013 – Revision 3.01
January 2014 – Revision 3.02
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ii MSP430 Workshop - Introduction

Introduction to MSP430
Introduction
Welcome to the MSP430 Workshop. This workshop covers the fundamental skills needed when
designing a system based on the Texas Instruments (TI) MSP430™ microcontroller (MCU). This
workshop utilizes TI’s integrated development environment (IDE) which is named Code
Composer Studio™ (CCS). It will also introduce you to many of the libraries provided by TI for
rapid development of microcontroller projects, such as MSP430ware™.
Whether you are a fan of the MSP430 for its low-power DNA, appreciate its simple RISC-like
approach to processing, or are just trying to keep your system’s cost to a minimum … we hope
you’ll enjoy working through this material as you learn how to use this nifty little MCU.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 1

Administrative Topics
Chapter Topics
Introduction to MSP430..............................................................................................................1-1
Administrative Topics................................................................................................................1-3
Workshop Agenda.....................................................................................................................1-4
TI Products................................................................................................................................1-6
TI’s Entire Portfolio................................................................................................................1-6
Wireless Products.................................................................................................................1-7
TI's Embedded Processors.......................................................................................................1-8
MSP430 Family.......................................................................................................................1-10
MSP430 CPU..........................................................................................................................1-13
MSP430 Memory ....................................................................................................................1-17
Memory Map.......................................................................................................................1-17
RAM ....................................................................................................................................1-18
TLV......................................................................................................................................1-18
FRAM..................................................................................................................................1-19
MSP430 Peripherals...............................................................................................................1-22
GPIO ...................................................................................................................................1-22
Timers .................................................................................................................................1-23
Clocking and Power Management......................................................................................1-24
Analog.................................................................................................................................1-25
Communications (Serial ports, USB, Radio).......................................................................1-26
Hardware Accelerators........................................................................................................1-27
Summary.............................................................................................................................1-28
ULP .........................................................................................................................................1-29
Profile Your Activities..........................................................................................................1-30
Launchpad’s............................................................................................................................1-34
Lab 1 – Out-of-Box User Experience Lab...............................................................................1-35
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Administrative Topics
Administrative Topics
A few important details, if you’re taking the class live. If not, we hope you already know where
your own bathroom is located.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 3

Workshop Agenda
Workshop Agenda
Here’s the outline of chapters in this workshop.
Chapter 1: “Intro” Provides a quick introduction to TI, TI’s Embedded Processors, as well
as the MSP430 Family of devices.
Chapter 2: “CCS” introduces TI’s development ecosystem. This includes:
−Code Composer Studio (CCSv5)
−Target software, such as MSP430ware and TI-RTOS
−TI’s support infrastructure, including the embedded processors wiki and
Engineer-to-Engineer (e2e) forums.
Chapter 3: “GPIO” This is our introduction to programming with MSP430ware; specifically,
the DriverLib (i.e. driver library) part of MSP430ware. We start out by using it
to program GPIO to blink an LED (often called the “embedded systems version
of ‘Hello World’”). The second part of the lab reads a Launchpad pushbutton.
Chapter 4: “Clocks” This chapter starts at reset – in fact, all three resets found on the
MSP430. We then progress to examining the rich and robust clocking options
provided in the MSP430. This is followed by the power management features
found on many of the ‘430 devices. The chapter finishes up by reviewing the
other required system initialization tasks … such as configuring (or turning off)
the watchdog timer peripheral.
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Workshop Agenda
Chapter 5: Interrupts … do you use interrupts? Yep, they’re one of the most fundamental
parts of embedded system designs. This is especially true when your
processor is known as the king of low-power. We examine the sources, how to
enable, and what to do in response to … interrupts.
Chapter 6: Timers are often thought of as the lifeblood of a microcontroller program. We
use them to generate periodic events, as one-shot delays, or just to wake
ourselves up every once in a while to read a sensor value. This chapter
focuses on Timer_A – the primary timer module found in the MSP430.
Chapter 7: USB – Universal Serial Bus is an ideal way to communicate with host
computers. This is especially true as most PC’s have done away with
dedicated serial and parallel ports. We attempt to explain how USB works as
well as how to build an application around it. What you’ll find is that the
MSP430 team has done an excellent job of making USB simple.
Chapter 8: Energia is also known by the name “Arduino”. Energia was the name given to
Arduino as it was ported to the TI MCU’s by the open-source community. Look
up the definition of Energia – and let it ‘propel’ your application right off the
Launchpad.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 5

TI Products
TI Products
TI’s Entire Portfolio
It’s very difficult to summarize the entire breadth of TI’s semiconductor products – it’s so far
reaching. But, maybe that’s not to be unexpected from the company who invented the integrated
circuit.
Whether you are looking for embedded processors (the heart of following diagram) or all the
components that sit alongside – such as power management, standard logic, op amps, data
conversion, display drivers, or … so much more – you’ll find them at TI.
Before taking a closer look at embedded processors, we’ll glance at one of the hottest growing
product categories … TI’s extensive portfolio of wireless connectivity.
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TI Products
Wireless Products
Wireless devices let us talk through the air. Look ma, no wires.
What protocol or frequency resonates with you and your end-customers? Whether it’s: near-field
communications (NFC); radio-frequency ID (RFID); the long range, low-power sub 1-GHz;
ZigBee®; 6LoPan; Bluetooth® or Bluetooth Low Energy® (BLE); ANT®; or just good old Wi-Fi –
TI’s got you covered.
Many low-end, low-cost MCU designers have longed for a way to connect wirelessly to the rest of
the world. TI’s wireless devices and modules make this possible. No longer do you need a
gigahertz processor to run the various networking stacks required to talk to the outside world –
the TI SimpleLink line handles this for you … meaning that any processor that can communicate
via a serial port can be networked. Drop a CC3000 module into your design and you’ve enabled it
to join the Internet of Things revolution.
Check out TI’s inexpensive, low-power and innovative wireless lineup!
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 7

TI's Embedded Processors
TI's Embedded Processors
Whether you are looking for the MSP430, which is the lowest power microcontroller (MCU) in the
world today … or the some of the highest performance single-chip microprocessors (MPU) ever
designed (check out Multicore) … or something in between … TI has your needs covered.
To start with, look at the Blue/Red row about ⅓the way down the slide. The columns with Red
signify devices utilizing ARM processor cores. If you didn’t think TI embraces the ARM lineup of
processors, think again. TI is one of the leaders in ARM development, manufacturing and sales.
Jumping to the 3rd column, the Tiva C (Tiva Connected) processors are probably the best all-
around MCU’s in use today. The 32-bit floating point ARM Cortex-M4F core can be connected to
the real-world by a dizzying array of peripherals. They provide a near-perfect balance of
performance, power, and connectivity.
On the other hand, if you’re building safety critical applications, the Hercules family of processors
is what you should key in on. Whether your customers appreciate the safety of dual-core,
lockstep processing or the SIL3 certification, these processors are a unique mix of ARM Cortex-
R4 performance combined with TI’s vast SafeTI®knowledge.
Moving up to what ARM calls their ‘Application’ series of processors, TI set the processing world
on fire (figuratively) when they introduced the Sitara AM335x. That you could get a $5 processor
which runs Linux, Android or other high-level operating systems was jaw-dropping. We probably
didn’t make some PC manufactures happy – we’ve seen many of our customers replace bulky,
power-hungry embedded PC’s with small, low-power BeagleBoard-like replacements. This device
was the inflection point – it’s started a new direction for embedding high-level host systems.
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TI's Embedded Processors
And if you’re looking for the high-end ARM Cortex-A15, we’ve got that too. Take your pick: do
you want one … or up to 4 A15 cores on a single device? And these multi-core devices also pack
the number crunching of TI’s C66x line of DSP cores. When high-end performance processing is
critical to your systems, look no further than TI Multicore.
But as one student asked, “If ARM is so great, why do you make other types of processors?”
While ARM is probably thought of today as the best all-around set of processor cores, there are
areas where it can be improved upon.
Driving to the lowest-power dissipation is one of those areas. In the end, the venerable MSP430
is not to be outdone on the low end. As the MSP430 teams says, Ultra Low-Power (ULP) is “in
our DNA”. You know you’re doing something right when the 10-year shelf-life of the battery ends
up self-dissipating before you run it dry with your MSP430 design. It’s just hard to beat an MCU
designed from the ground up as a low-power CPU. That said, it’s also hard to beat the MSP430’s
simple, inexpensive, high-performance RISC engine.
The C2000 family has set the standard for control applications. Whether it’s digital motor control,
power control or one of the many other control-oriented MCU applications, this CPU really
crunches the data. You might also see a little Red in this column. That’s to indicate that even a
good DSP-based microcontroller can use a little bit of ARM to get a leg-up in the industry. We’ve
coupled an ARM Cortex-M3 along with the C28x core to make a stellar processing duo. Use the
ARM to run your networking and USB stacks – all the while the C28x core is taking care of your
system’s real-time processing needs. Sure, you could buy two chips to implement your systems
(we’ll happily sell you a C28x along with Tiva C), but these devices integrate them both into a
singular device.
Finally, TI is known by many as the center of DSP excellence. While these CPUs often get lost in
all the hoopla surrounding ARM today, when it comes to real-time systems, a good DSP is hard
to beat. Whether you’re implementing a low-power system (look to C5000 DSP’s) or need the
number crunching performance of the C6000, these devices still cannot be bested in the world of
hard real-time, low-latency, highly deterministic applications. As mentioned earlier, the highest
performing C6000 DSP cores have been combined into the awesome performance of Multicore.
You can get up to 8 CPU’s on a single device; make them all C66x DSPs – or match four C66x
CPU’s up with four of ARM’s stunning Cortex-A15’s for a performance knock-out punch.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 9

MSP430 Family
MSP430 Family
As stated, low-power is ‘in our DNA’. That said, it’s not all the MSP430 is known for.
One vector of new products has continued to integrate a wide range of low-power peripherals into
the MSP430 platform. Look for the products in the MSP430 F5xx, F6xx and FR5xxx families.
Also, the CC430 family adds the unique touch of on-chip integrated RF radios.
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MSP430 Family
A second vector of development is driving the cost out of your designs. Look no further than the
'Gxxx Value Line series of devices. The goal is to provide highly integrated, low-power, 16-bit
performance in an inexpensive device – giving you a new choice versus those old 8-bit micros.
And finally, the new MSP430 Wolverine series of devices is once again setting new standards for
low-power processing. Sure, we’re only topping our own products, but who else is better suited to
enable your lowest power processing needs? Utilizing the FRAM memory technology, the FR5xxx
Wolverine devices combine the lowest power dissipation with a rich integration of peripherals.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 11

MSP430 Family
Here’s a quick overview of the device we’ll be using in this workshop. The MSP430F5529 is part
of the F5xx series of devices and is found on the new ‘F5529 USB Launchpad.
This is one of TI’s line-up of MSP430 devices featuring highly integrated set of peripherals. We
will be exploring quite a bit more about this device as we progress through the workshop.
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MSP430 CPU
MSP430 CPU
As stated earlier, the MSP430 is an efficient, simple 16-bit low power CPU. Its orthogonal
architecture and register set make it C-compiler friendly.
The original MSP430 devices were true 16-bit processors. While 16-bits are quite ideal from a
data perspective, it’s limited from an addressing perspective. With 16-bit addresses, you’re limited
to only 64K of memory – and that really isn’t acceptable in many of today’s applications.
As early as the second generation of MSP430 devices, the CPU was expanded to provide full 20-
bits of addressing space – which provides 1M of address reach. The new CPU cores that support
these enhancements were called CPUX (for eXtended addressing). Thankfully, the extended
versions of the CPU maintained backward compatibility with the earlier devices.
In this course, we don’t dwell on these CPU features for two reasons:
•This change was made long enough to go that all the processors engineers choose today
include the enhanced CPU.
•With the prevalence of C coded applications in world of MSP 430, and embedded processing
in general, these variations fall below our radar. The compiler, handily, manages low-level
details such as this.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 13

MSP430 CPU
There are many touches to the MSP430 CPU which make it idea for low-power and
microcontroller applications, such as the ability to manage bytes, as well as 16-bit words.
Note: If you see a ‘gray’ slide like the one above and below were placed into the workbook, but
has been hidden in the slide set, so the instructor may not present it during class.
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MSP430 CPU
A rich set of addressing modes lets the compiler create efficient, small-footprint programs. And,
features like ‘atomic’ addressing are critical for real-world embedded processing.
The little bit of genius that is the Constant Generator minimizes code size and runtime cycle
count. These ideas save you money while helping to reduce power dissipation.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 15

MSP430 CPU
A low number of instructions are at the heart of Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC). RISC
lowers complexity, cost and power … while, surprisingly, maintaining performance.
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MSP430 Memory
MSP430 Memory
Memory Map
We present the MSP430F5529 memory map as an example of what you find on most MSP430’s.
It’s certainly what we’ll see as we work though the lab exercises in this workshop.
A couple of important – and beneficial – points about MSP430’s memory map:
•The MSP430 defines a unified memory map. This means that, technically speaking, data
and program code can be located anywhere in the available memory space. (This doesn’t
mean it’s practical to locate global variables in flash memory, but the architecture does not
prevent you from doing so.)
•The MSP430, as stated earlier (see page 1-13), is implemented using 20-bit addressing;
therefore, the MSP430 can directly address the full 1M memory map without resorting to
paging schemes. (If you have ever had to deal with paging, we expect you might be cheering
at this point.)
Flash
Like most MCU’s nowadays, the processor is dominated by non-volatile memory. In this case,
Flash technology provides us with the means to store information into the device – which retains
its contents, even when power is removed. (As we’ll see next, some of the latest MSP430 devices
use FRAM technology rather than Flash.)
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 17

MSP430 Memory
The flash memory is In-System Programmable (ISP), which means we can reprogram the
memory without taking the chip off of our boards or using difficult bed-of-nails methods. In fact,
you can program the flash using:
•An IDE, such as CCS or IAR. These debugging tools utilize the 4-wire JTAG or 2-wire SPI-
biwire emulation connections.
•The MSP430 Boot-Strap Loader supports a variety of connections and options. For example,
you can use the serial (or USB) interfaces to reprogram your devices. These interfaces are
popular on many manufacturing work flows.
•Finally, you can reprogram all – or part – of the flash memory via your own program running
on the device itself. Check out the MSP430ware FLASH driverlib functions.
On the ‘F5529, as with most MSP430 devices, the Flash actually consists of 3 regions.
Main consists of the bulk of flash memory. This is where our programs are written to when using
the default project settings. Main flash consists of one contiguous memory; although, the Interrupt
Vectors are located inside of it at 0xFF80. If your device has more than 64K of flash, then some
will exist above and below the vectors – as shown in the diagram for the ‘F5529 (which has 128K
of flash).
Info Memory can be thought of as user data flash. Again, there are not any limitations on what
you store here, but these four segments are commonly used to hold calibration data or other non-
program items you want to store in non-volatile memory.
Boot Loader (BSL) holds the aforementioned boot loader code. This code, in turn, is used to
load new programs into Main flash. Please be aware that the BSL is handled differently amongst
the various generations of MSP430. In some cases, as with the ‘F5529, it is stored in its own
region of flash memory. On other devices, it may be hard-coded into the device.
RAM
RAM (Static Random Access Memory – SRAM) is found on every MSP430 device. Like flash,
though, the amount of RAM varies from device to device; and the amount of RAM memory is
often directly proportional to the cost of the device.
RAM is where most of the data is stored: everything from global variables, to stacks and heaps. It
is often thought of as the ‘working’ memory on the device. Even so, due to the ‘unified’ nature of
the MSP430 architecture, you can also move program code into RAM and run from this space.
The ‘F5529 has one aspect that is common among MSP430 devices which include the USB
peripheral. These devices have an extra 2KB of RAM; this RAM is dedicated to the USB
peripheral when it is in use, but available to your programs when the USB port is not being used.
Please refer to the USB Developers Package documentation to learn more about how the USB
protocol stack uses this RAM.
TLV
Although not ‘memory’, the Device Descriptors (TVL) does appear within the memory map. This
segment contains a tag-length-value (TLV) data structure that comprises a hierarchical
description (or on older devices, flat file description) of information such as: the device ID, die
revisions, firmware revisions, and other manufacturer and tool related information. Additionally,
these descriptors may contain information about the available peripherals, their subtypes and
addresses. This info may prove useful if building adaptive hardware drivers for operating
systems. (Note that some of the Value Line devices may not contain all of this information; and,
their factory supplied calibration data may reside in Info Memory A.)
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