Question from the Customer:
I am planning to use the Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer to capture SPI data for extended periods. The SPI clock rate is 10 MHz. This will be the first time I’ve used a protocol analyzer. To quickly start this project, I would like to start with the easiest method available.
Response from Technical Support:Thanks for your question! The Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer can be used with Data Center Software or Beagle Software API to monitor standard I2C or SPI devices. However, most of our customers use the Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer with Data Center Software. Our feedback here is assuming you will also be setting up the Data Center Software for monitoring your SPI bus.
The Data Center Software streams the capture to the RAM on your computer; the capacity of the data capture is determined by the capacity of RAM. The most common limitation in capture size is related to the available RAM on the analysis PC (computer host). You can use the Data Center Software to set how much RAM to use for capturing data.
Using the Capture Control Window, the Software Capture Buffer progress bar represents the total amount of memory available in the Analysis PC.
This Capture Data Limit can be adjusted using the Capture Settings dialog. By default, the capture limit is set to 50% of available memory. The capture limit has an upper limit of 80% of the available memory. Consider the overall usage of the computer before setting the capture limit; on an extremely busy computer, if the application starts swapping memory, incoming capture data may be lost.
As you will be setting up the Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer for the first time, we suggest going through Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer Quick Start Guide. These getting started guidelines are intended to facilitate the first use of the Beagle I2C/SPI analyzer.
To further maximize the data capture, you can use Beagle Software API to create a custom program to deliver massive streams of data to a hard drive. For more information, please refer to the section API Documentation of the Beagle Protocol Analyzer User Manual.
We hope this answers your question. Additional resources that you may find helpful include the following:
- Beagle Protocol Analyzer User Manual
- Beagle I2C/SPI Protocol Analyzer Quick Start Guide
- Data Center Protocol Analyzer Software User Manual
More questions? More projects? You can contact us and request a demo that applies to your application, as well as ask questions about protocol analyzers and other Total Phase products.