EFM32 Pearl Gecko (SLSTK3401A)

Overview

The EFM32 Pearl Gecko Starter Kit SLSTK3401A contains an MCU from the EFM32PG family built on an ARM® Cortex®-M4F processor with excellent low power capabilities.

Hardware

  • Advanced Energy Monitoring provides real-time information about the energy consumption of an application or prototype design.

  • Ultra low power 128x128 pixel Memory-LCD

  • 2 user buttons, 2 LEDs and 2 capacitive buttons

  • Humidity and temperature sensor

  • On-board Segger J-Link USB debugger

For more information about the EFM32PG SoC and SLSTK3401A board:

Supported Features

The slstk3401a board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board
Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2
Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo
Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

Connections and IOs

The EFM32PG1 SoC has five GPIO controllers (PORTA to PORTD and PORTF) and all are enabled for the SLSTK3401A board.

In the following table, the column Name contains pin names. For example, PF4 means pin number 4 on PORTF, as used in the board’s datasheets and manuals.

Name

Function

Usage

PF4

GPIO

LED0

PF5

GPIO

LED1

PF6

GPIO

Push Button PB0

PF7

GPIO

Push Button PB1

PA5

GPIO

Board Controller Enable EFM_BC_EN

PA0

UART_TX

UART TX Console VCOM_TX US0_TX #0

PA1

UART_RX

UART RX Console VCOM_RX US0_RX #0

PD10

UART_TX

EXP12_UART_TX LEU0_TX #18

PD11

UART_RX

EXP14_UART_RX LEU0_RX #18

PC10

I2C_SDA

ENV_I2C_SDA I2C0_SDA #15

PC11

I2C_SCL

ENV_I2C_SCL I2C0_SCL #15

System Clock

The EFM32PG SoC is configured to use the 40 MHz external oscillator on the board.

Serial Port

The EFM32PG SoC has two USARTs and one Low Energy UART (LEUART).

Programming and Debugging

The slstk3401a board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.

flash debug

Note

Before using the kit the first time, you should update the J-Link firmware in Simplicity Studio.

Flashing

The SLSTK3401A includes an J-Link serial and debug adaptor built into the board. The adaptor provides:

  • A USB connection to the host computer, which exposes a mass storage device and a USB serial port.

  • A serial flash device, which implements the USB flash disk file storage.

  • A physical UART connection which is relayed over interface USB serial port.

Flashing an application to SLSTK3401A

The sample application Hello World is used for this example. Build the Zephyr kernel and application:

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b slstk3401a samples/hello_world

Connect the SLSTK3401A to your host computer using the USB port and you should see a USB connection which exposes a mass storage device(SLSTK3401A). Copy the generated zephyr.bin to the SLSTK3401A drive.

Use a USB-to-UART converter such as an FT232/CP2102 to connect to the UART on the expansion header.

Open a serial terminal (minicom, putty, etc.) with the following settings:

  • Speed: 115200

  • Data: 8 bits

  • Parity: None

  • Stop bits: 1

Reset the board and you’ll see the following message on the corresponding serial port terminal session:

Hello World! slstk3401a