General-Purpose Microcontroller Circuit Board Project

By Tony Costantino

Abstract: The goal of this project is create a general-purpose microcontroller board with multiple I/O and
the ability to upload code and transmit/receive data via a USB link. The board should of course be small
so that it can be place in a chassis with other circuit boards and take up as little space as possible. The
board should also be highly reconfigurable, not only for the microcontroller but for the USB interface as
well. This is where my design will differ from most of the commercially available microcontroller boards.

Design Process: For the microcontroller we choose the Propeller P8X32A by Parallax with 8 independent
cores controlled by a central hub. This device was chosen for its ability to perform several different tasks
in simultaneously without interruption.

Figure 1: Schematic of microcontroller board. The microcontroller is the large square symbol on the left and the FT2232H is
the large rectangular symbol on the right.

For the USB interface I chose the FT2232H from FTDI. This chip has 2 channels which can be
configured as UART, FIFO, JTAG, SPI, I2C, bit-bang, and USB flash card read/write. The board is
designed in such a way that the user can configure the FT2232H to do any of these things by simply
placing a few jumper wires. This high degree of reconfigurability enables the user to expand the
functioning of the board and adapt to new design challenges as they arise.
 Figure 1 shows the schematic of the microcontroller board drawn in Capture CIS (OrCAD). The
microcontroller chip and FT2232H can be seen as the largest symbols on the left side and right side of the
figure respectively. Notice that nearly all of the pins on both chips are connected to headers which will let
us change functionality of the board using jumper wires.

The PCB design was done in Allegro (OrCAD) and uploaded to oshpark.com for fabrication.
Care was taken in the layout to keep the traces short, ovoid overlap of signal lines, and minimize the area.
The final board measures about 2”x3” (roughly the size of a credit card). Images of the PCB are generated
automatically upon uploading designs to oshpark.com. These are shown below in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Microcontroller PCB layout top (left side) and bottom (right side).

Testing Results: After the boards were received by mail, they were then populated and tested (see Table
1 for the complete list of components). Figure 3 shows the completed circuit boards. Notice the jumper
wires in blue and red used to configure the communication scheme between the microcontroller and the
FT2232H. Here we used the UART configuration for both reprogramming the microcontroller and to
send/receive data via USB link.

Testing shows that the microcontroller and FT2232H function as expected. The microcontroller
can be reprogrammed from a computer connected to the board’s USB port. Only one mistake was found
with the design. The so called “brown-out enable” (pin 6 on the microcontroller) should have been
connected to either power or ground but was left floating. This was easily remedied by creating an
intentional solder bridge to the neighboring pin (pin 5 ground). This can be seen upon close examination
of Figure 3.
 Figure 3: Completed circuit board. Notice the jumper wires in blue and red to configure the communication scheme between
the microcontroller and the FT2232H as UART.

The microcontroller board is currently being using in 2 different projects. One, for controlling 2
ADCs used to log data from temperature sensors. The another for taking in cell simulation data from a
computer and sending it to a DAC for the purpose of imitating optical action potentials (OAPs).
Table 1: List of components by schematic reference designation.

Ref. Des. P/N Description Cost

U1 FT2232HL IC USB HS DUAL UART/FIFO 64-LQFP $6.71
U2 93LC56BT-I/OT IC EEPROM 2KBIT 2MHZ SOT23-6 $0.27
U3 SPX3819M5-L-3-3 IC REG LDO 3.3V 0.5A SOT23-5 $0.78
U4 BA50BC0FP-E2 IC REG LDO 5V 1A TO252-3 $0.90
U5 AP7361-33D-13 IC REG LDO 3.3V 1A TO252 $0.70
U6 24LC256T-I/SN IC EEPROM 256KBIT 400KHZ 8SOIC $0.91
U7 P8X32A-Q44 IC PROPELLER 8 32BIT COGS 44LQFP $7.99
C1 C0603C103J5RACTU CAP CER 10000PF 50V 5% X7R 0603 $0.04
C2 F931A106KAA CAP TANT 10UF 10V 10% 1206 $0.31
C3 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C4 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C5 CL10C200JB8NNNC CAP CER 20PF 50V 5% NP0 0603 $0.03
C6 CL10C200JB8NNNC CAP CER 20PF 50V 5% NP0 0603 $0.03
C7 F931A106KAA CAP TANT 10UF 10V 10% 1206 $0.31
C8 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C9 C0603C103J5RACTU CAP CER 10000PF 50V 5% X7R 0603 $0.04
C10 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C11 F931A106KAA CAP TANT 10UF 10V 10% 1206 $0.31
C12 F931A106KAA CAP TANT 10UF 10V 10% 1206 $0.31
C13 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C14 F931A106KAA CAP TANT 10UF 10V 10% 1206 $0.31
C15 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C16 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C17 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C18 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C19 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C20 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C21 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C22 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C23 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C24 GRM188R71C104KA01D CAP CER 0.1UF 16V 10% X7R 0603 $0.01
C25 UWX1HR47MCL2GB CAP ALUM 0.47UF 50V 20% SMD $0.25
C26 EKMG6R3ELL102MHB5D CAP ALUM 1000UF 6.3V 20% RADIAL $0.49
C27 EKMG6R3ELL102MHB5D CAP ALUM 1000UF 6.3V 20% RADIAL $0.49
C28 C0603C103J5RACTU CAP CER 10000PF 50V 5% X7R 0603 $0.04
CN1 690-005-299-043 CONN MINI USB RCPT RA TYPE B SMD $0.41
CN2 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $0.40
 Ref. Des. P/N Description Cost
CN3 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $0.40
CR1 PGB1010603 TVS DIODE 24VWM 150VC 0603 $0.67
CR2 PGB1010603 TVS DIODE 24VWM 150VC 0603 $0.67
D1 QBLP653-IB LED 1208 DOME BLUE 470NM SMD $0.50
D2 QBLP653-R LED 1208 DOME RED 625NM WTR CLR $0.43
D3 SSL-LX3044GT LED GREEN CLEAR 3MM ROUND T/H $0.40
FB1 HZ0805E601R-10 FERRITE 500MA 600 OHM 0805 SMD $0.10
FB2 HZ0805E601R-10 FERRITE 500MA 600 OHM 0805 SMD $0.10
FB3 HZ0805E601R-10 FERRITE 500MA 600 OHM 0805 SMD $0.10
J1 PJ102A CONN JACK POWER 2.1MM PCB $1.00
J2-J8 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $0.22
J9 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $0.06
J10 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $0.03
J11-J14 PREC036SAAN-RC Header Pins* $1.12
Q1 MMBT3904,215 TRANS NPN 40V 0.2A SOT23 $0.10
R1 MCT06030C1502FP500 RES SMD 15K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.08
R2 MCT06030C1002FP500 RES SMD 10K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R3 MCR03ERTJ000 RES SMD 0.0 OHM JUMPER 1/10W $0.01
R4 MCT06030C1202FP500 RES SMD 12K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R7 MCT06030C1002FP500 RES SMD 10K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R8 MCT06030C2001FP500 RES SMD 2K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.08
R9 RMCF0603FT47R0 RES SMD 47 OHM 1% 1/10W 0603 $0.03
R10 RC1206FR-0710KL RES SMD 10K OHM 1% 1/4W 1206 $0.10
R11 MCT06030C1000FP500 RES SMD 100 OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R12 CRCW060310R0FKEA RES SMD 10 OHM 1% 1/10W 0603 $0.09
R13 MCT06030C3302FP500 RES SMD 33K OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R14 MCT06030C1500FP500 RES SMD 150 OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
R15 MCT06030C1500FP500 RES SMD 150 OHM 1% 1/8W 0603 $0.07
SW1 1825910-6 SWITCH TACTILE SPST-NO 0.05A 24V $0.10
Y1 ECS-120-20-33-CKM-TR CRYSTAL 12MHZ 20PF SMD $1.69
Y2 ABLS-5.000MHZ-B4-T CRYSTAL 5MHZ 18PF SMD $0.35

PCB $10.08

Total: $41.16

*The header pins used here are the breakaway type. They were purchased in groups of 36 for $0.56 each,
for a cost of $0.02 per pin.