1.2 Kit Overview

The Atmel PROTO1 Xplained Pro board is a generic prototyping extension board for the Xplained Pro platform. It connects to any standard extension header on any Xplained Pro MCU board and thus is offers an easy way to do prototyping with the Xplained Pro platform. It can be used to prototype small designs that can be connected to the Xplained Pro MCU series of kits. The prototype area consist of 200 free square pads with 100mil (2.54mm) spacing that can be used to protoype both through-hole components as well as SMD components like resistors, capacitors, and inductors. The protoyping area is marked with letters and numbers on both sides of the board so it is easy to identify each pad with a coordinate to make precise connections. Power in the form of GND and VCC_TARGET (is distributed horizontally along the lower side of the prototype for easy connection across the board. The prototyping area offers also space to fit a solderless breadboard on top. A popular size of these boards is 45mm x 35mm and provides 170 solderless points.

The top section of the board is a break-away section that can be used to connect external power to the Xplained Pro MCU bord with a screw terminal block. It also distributes GND, VCC_TARGET, and VCC_USB (+5V) from the Xplained Pro MCU board that can easily be connected to the prototyping area.

The lower section of the board has a right angled header on the left side that connects to Xplained Pro MCU boards, a prototyping area in the middle and another connector on the right side that provides easy access to the extension header signals. The vertical header on the right hand side can be used to connect the extension signals to the prototyping area or to connect extension modules of the Xplained platform e.g. sensor boards, or the RZ600 radio kit. More information on how to connect Xplained extensions is available in the hardware users guide section of this guide.

The Atmel PROTO1 Xplained Pro supports the Xplained Pro hardware identification system.

Figure 1-1. PROTO1 Xplained Pro Extension Board, Top View
Figure 1-2. PROTO1 Xplained Pro Extension Board, Bottom View