Ocean Optics Flame-S, User Manual

Page: 116 / 130

8: Firmware and Advanced Communications
106 225-00000-000-11-201604
Flame –T Serial Port Interface Communications and Control
Information
The Flame is a microcontroller-based Miniature Fiber Optic, which can communicate via the
Universal Serial Bus or RS-232. This document contains the necessary command information for
controlling the Flame via the RS-232 interface.
Hardware Description
The Flame utilizes a Cypress FX2 microcontroller, which has a high speed 8051, combined with
an USB ASIC. Program code and data coefficients are stored in external E
2
PROM, which are
loaded at boot-up via the I
2
C bus.
Spectral Memory Storage
The Flame can store a single spectrum in the spectral data section. While spectra are being
accumulated, it is being co-added to the existing spectra in memory.
Instruction Set
Command Syntax
The list of the commands is shown in the following table along with the microcode version
number they were introduced with. All commands consist of an ASCII character passed over the
serial port, followed by some data. The length of the data depends on the command. The
format for the data is either ASCII or binary (default). The ASCII mode is set with the “a”
command and the binary mode with the “b” command. To insure accurate communications, all
commands respond with an ACK (ASCII 6) for an acceptable command or a NAK (ASCII 21) for
an unacceptable command (i.e. data value specified out of range).
In the ASCII data value mode, the Flame “echoes” the command back out the RS-232 port. In
binary mode all data, except where noted, passes as 16-bit unsigned integers (WORDs) with
the MSB followed by the LSB. By issuing the “v command” (Version number query), the data
mode can be determined by viewing the response (ASCII or binary).
In a typical data acquisition session, the user sends commands to implement the desired
spectral acquisition parameters (integration time, etc.). Then the user sends commands to
acquire spectra (S command) with the previously set parameters. If necessary, the baud rate
can be changed at the beginning of this sequence to speed up the data transmission process.
Command Summary
Letter Description Version
A Adds scans 1.00.0
B Set Pixel Boxcar 1.00.0
C
D