Getting started with the xCORE Microphone Array

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hkhauke
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Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:13 pm

Getting started with the xCORE Microphone Array

Post by hkhauke »

Hi,
I have tried to get the xCore MIC ARRAY board running as a USB audio device. Here is what I did:

1) Install the windows driver from here: https://www.xmos.com/developer/support/ ... er-support
2) Installation of xTime Composer.
3) Downloaded the software library.
4) Compiled project app_usb_aud_mic_array
5) Flashed the executable to the device
6) Verified that code runs by using button A to toggle the outside LEDs

My expectation was that now, when plugging in the USB cable, a device would pop up in Windows 10.
This does not happen. In Linux, I plugged in the cable but there was no entry popping up in dmesg.

Is my expectation wrong? Do I need to start another project to have USB running?

Thank you for any hint to solve this issue.

Best regards

Hauke


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mon2
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Post by mon2 »

Hi. Do not have this kit but have you tested other USB cables with this kit?

Be sure to use a cable that is fully loaded and not just a charge cable. A fully loaded cable will have all 4 wires present in the wiring. Otherwise, you are only passing the +Vbus and Ground to the target kit which will make it appear that all is well. Without the D+ / D- lines, there will be no USB activity.

Also try to keep the USB cable short and sweet where possible. For example, 6" to 3 ft is a suggested cable length due to the USB High Speed traffic from these audio kits (480 Mbps).

Please post your update.
hkhauke
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Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:13 pm

Post by hkhauke »

Dear mon2,

thank you for your response. I have tested various cables. Then, due to my outstanding disappointment, I ordered the mic array from miniDSP. The same cable works perfectly with the miniDSP mic array.
I could stick with the miniDSP array but would prefer to have the xCORE array working..

It could be that my xcore array is an old revision. There is a number "UK_-1727-0555" on the pcb. I remember that there was an email which arrived after the purchase of the xCORE mic array but I can not
find it anymore. Can not imagine that xCORE sells devices which have a bug that prevents users from using it..

Best regards

Hauke
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mon2
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Post by mon2 »

Hi. Suggest for you to open a support ticket (go to xmos.com for this) to ask for the details on the received kit and also to understand if there are any related erratas to this received kit.

Then post here and move on to your development. Suspecting that if there are any issues, they will be minor - at least hoping. If major, push for a return for a swap out to a properly working unit.

Do post your feedback here for future readers!!
hkhauke
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Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:13 pm

Post by hkhauke »

Hi,

I have lost this issue a little bit on my horizon since the miniDSP hardware works rather well. I had raised a ticket on this issue in April.
For all of you who might read this issue and deal with the same problem: until today no response from XMOS. The ticket has been assigned
to someone but that was it.

Very disappointing...

Best regards
Hauke
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mon2
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Post by mon2 »

Hello. Please review this thread and post your results:

https://www.xcore.com/viewtopic.php?t=6195

Update: Adding that the following steps should be followed for your kit:
xmos_drivers.png
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xmos_drivers.png
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that is, the wrong firmware is being applied onto your hardware so leading to the missing USB function. Be sure to also install the driver as noted from the same link you posted earlier.

FYI - what we usually do for USB related issues is to first start with very basic firmware uploads starting with the XMOS USB CDC firmware which creates a USB mouse that moves repeatedly in a square motion till you halt the code. Does that work for you? We did this for another OEM client to validate their PCB design which ran fine - they had a firmware issue as well that was due to missing I2C based hardware (DACs / ADCs) and the XMOS cpu was consuming too much time attempting to connect to missing hardware (something like 2000 retries for each call) and the USB IP was being blocked, causing the USB IP to break. Originally thought to be improper PCB design with lack of impedance control, etc. That is what the XMOS FAE stated to this client and the developer was repeatedly designing fresh PCBs. However, the PCB layout was just fine.

Links:

Download "sw_usb_audio-[sw]_6.15.2rc1.zip" from the below link
http://www.xmos.com/support/software/uac2

And replace module_xud with the below one
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... EVPNGFqLVE

Then generate "app_usb_aud_mic_array_2i8o2.xe" firmware file with the above combination using xtimecomposer

Now you must be able to find XMOS USB 2.0 audio device on your windows PC.

Note: Makesure you have installed windows driver from the below link (TUSBAudio control panel)
http://www.xmos.com/support/usb-audio-driver-support
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Thomas
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Post by Thomas »

There's a known issue with the sw_usb_audio (6.15.2rc1) SW on the xCORE Array Kit.
The solution is provided by this Design Advisory:
https://www.xmos.com/download/Design-ad ... d(1.0).pdf
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