The AFBR-S50 Reference Board by MikroElektronika is a fully featured hardware reference design that can be used to kick-start the integration of the AFBR-S50 sensors into the users application. The AFBR-S50 Reference Board can be directly integrated into the application or used as a hardware reference design to evaluate a custom design.

Official Link: https://www.mikroe.com/bdc-afbr-s50-tof-sensor-board

Fig. 6.1: The Reference Design by MikroElektronika.

Highlight features of the AFBR-S50 Reference Board are

2 CAN connectors (GH Connector with 1.25mm pitch),
UART connector (GH Connector with 1.25mm pitch),
USB port for native USB connection or bootloader access (micro USB port),
SWD Debug Probe connector (10-pin header with 1.27 mm pitch),
External Power Supply (J6: VEXT) (2-pin header with 1.27 mm pitch)

The AFBR-S50 Reference Board is based on the Renesas R7FA4M2AD3CFL (100 MHz ARM® Cortex®-M33 ) chip.

Note: The AFBR-S50 Reference Board is quite new and thus the corresponding documentation and code projects are still under construction and will be periodically updated. Please feel free to contribute and submit an issue or pull-request on the AFBR-S50 GitHub repository or reach out to the Broadcom TOF Support Team at support.TOF@broadcom.com.

Getting Started

Get started on using the board by flashing the desired firmware to the board via the Bootloader feature. Refer to the corresponding application documentation on how to use it here: Demo Applications

Overview

Powering the Board

The following ways can be used to power the board:

Connect the USB connector See also: USB Connector
Apply 5V at the VEXT pin header (J6). The jumper PWR SEL must be set to VEXT.
Apply 5V via a CAN connector. The jumper PWR SEL (J4) must be set to CAN. See CAN-Bus Connector section for pin configuration.
Apply 5V via the UART connector. See Serial (UART) Connector section for pin configuration.

USB Connector

The AFBR-s50 Reference Board features a Micro-USB port (CN1) that is connected to the Renesas RA4M2 USB pins. Thus, it can be used to make the board an USB device as well as utilizing the built-in bootloader to flash new firmware into the MCU.

Bootloader

The built-in bootloader is accessible via the micro-USB connector (CN1). In order to boot in bootloader mode, a jumper must be set to connect pins 7 and 9 of the J5 header (i.e. the SWD interface).

Install Renesas Flash Programmer
Disconnect the current power supply of the board.
Connect pins 7 and 9 in J5 with a jumper.

Fig. 6.2: Connect pins 7 and 9 of J5 with a jumper to enable the bootloader.
Connect the board via USB (CN1) to the PC.
Open Renesas Flash Programmer
1. Open new Project: File >> New Project....
2. Fill out the tabs:
  - Microcontroller: RA
  - Project Name: create your project name
  - Project Folder: your project folder path
  - Communication Tool: COM Port >> Tool Details...: your COM Port number
    
    Fig. 6.3: Setup a new project in Renesas Flash Bootloader.
3. Click Connect.
4. Browse and select the binary file (*.srec, *.bin, *.hex, etc.) and Click Start.
If flashing was successful, operation completed is displaying at the console.

Fig. 6.4: Bootloader flashed device successfully.
Disconnect the USB cable and don't forget to remove the jumper in order to reboot the board in normal operation mode.

Note: The binary files are also available at https://github.com/Broadcom/AFBR-S50-API/releases/latest.

CAN-Bus Connector

The board features two CAN-Bus connectors (J1 and J2). These are 4 pin connectors where CANH is on pin 2 and CANL is on pin 3. The connector can also be used to power the AFBR-S50 Reference Board by applying 5V to pin 1. Pin 4 functions as GND pin. Note that the PWR SEL jumper (J4) must be set to CAN.

J1 / J2	USB-CAN
1: 5V_CAN	N/C
2: CANH	CANH
3: CANL	CANL
4: GND	GND

To connect the AFBR-S50 Reference Board via CAN interface to the PC, an appropriate CAN-to-USB adapter is required (e.g. the USB to CAN Analyzer Adapter by SeeedStudio).

Serial (UART) Connector

The board features a UART connection via the J3 connector. It is a 6 pin connector where TX is on pin 3 and RX is on pin 2. The connector can also be used to power the AFBR-S50 Reference Board by applying 5V to pin 1. Pin 6 functions as GND pin.

Also see the Powering the Board section for alternative ways on powering the board.

To connect the AFBR-S50 Reference Board via UART interface to the PC, an appropriate Serial-to-USB adapter is required (e.g. the FT232H Breakout Board by Adafruit).

AFBR-S50 Reference Board	Serial-to-USB FTDI Adapter
J3-1: 5V	5V (optional)
J3-2: RXD	TX (e.g. D0 @ FT232H)
J3-3: TXD	RX (e.g. D1 @ FT232H)
J3-4: n/c	-
J3-5: n/c	-
J3-6: GND	GND