AN4678

Application note
Full duplex SPI emulation for STM32F4 microcontrollers

Introduction
The STMCube™ initiative was originated by STMicroelectronics to ease developers life by
reducing development efforts, time and cost. STM32Cube covers the STM32 portfolio.
STM32Cube Version 1.x includes:
• The STM32CubeMX, a graphical software configuration tool that allows to generate C
initialization code using graphical wizards.
• A comprehensive embedded software platform, delivered per series (namely,
STM32CubeF4 for STM32F4 series)
– The STM32Cube HAL, an STM32 abstraction layer embedded software, ensuring
maximized portability across STM32 portfolio
– A consistent set of middleware components such as RTOS, USB, TCP/IP and
graphics
– All embedded software utilities coming with a full set of examples.
This Application Note describes how to implement a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)
emulator for the microcontrollers of the STM32F4 series.
An SPI interface is commonly emulated in software where a dedicated hardware peripheral
is not available. It is also needed in applications that require more SPIs than those offered
by STM32F4 microcontrollers. Using this software the user can compensate the limited
number of SPI peripherals, without the need to switch to higher level MCUs with sufficient
number of SPIs when the application doesn’t require additional performance and
functionality.
This SPI is full-duplex, supports 8, 16 data length bits and clock speed up to 6 MHz with
CPU operating at 168 MHz. It also offers a high flexibility since any I/O pin can be
configured as Master-Out/Slave-In (MOSI) and Master-In/Slave-Out (MISO). In addition,
this SPI emulation uses the DMA to minimize the software overhead and CPU load, which
may significantly impact the system ability to execute other tasks and to meet real-time
schedules.
This application note provides a basic example of communication between a hardware and
a software SPI as well as a summary of CPU load and firmware footprint.
A firmware package (X-CUBE-SPI-EMUL) is delivered with this document and contains the
source code of the SPI emulator with all the drivers needed to run the example.

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Contents AN4678

Contents

1 SPI emulator description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.1 Main features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 SPI emulator block diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 SPI emulator functional description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.1 General description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.2 Clock phase and clock polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.3 Data frame format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.4 Configuring the SPI in master mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.5 Configuring the SPI in slave mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Software description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Implementation structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Package organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Format data procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.2 Transmission routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.3 Peripheral settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4 Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.1 Format data procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.2 Transmission routine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.3 Peripheral settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.5 SPI emulator API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.5.1 HAL_SPI_Emul_Init function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.5.2 HAL_SPI_Emul_InitTypeDef structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5.3 HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5.4 HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5.5 HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5.6 Callback functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1 Hardware requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 Software settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Running the example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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3.4 Frame waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4 SPI emulator CPU load and footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.1 CPU load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2 SPI emulator memory footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

6 Revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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List of tables AN4678

List of tables

Table 1. SPI emulator peripherals requirements and configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Table 2. CPOL and CPHA configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 3. SPI Emulation functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 4. HAL_SPI_Emul_Init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table 5. HAL_SPI_Emul_Init . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 6. HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 7. HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Table 8. HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Table 9. HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Table 10. Examples of configurations of SPI Emulator full duplex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Table 11. Clock cycles needed for frame processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Table 12. SPI emulator memory footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Table 13. Document revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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AN4678 List of figures

List of figures

Figure 1. SPI emulator block diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Figure 2. Data clock timing diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 3. SPI emulator application level view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 4. STM32CubeExpansion V1.0.0 package organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 5. STM32CubeExpansion V1.0.0 package organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 6. Transmission routine state machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 7. Formatting and receiving data using CPU and DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 8. Reception routine state machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 9. SPI emulator and SPI hardware connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 10. Example MDK-ARM™ workspaces (SPI Master emul / Slave HW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 11. Example MDK-ARM™ workspaces (SPI Slave emul / Master HW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 12. SPI emulator CPU load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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SPI emulator description AN4678

1 SPI emulator description

This section describes the implementation of an SPI emulation by defining the system level
requirements.

1.1 Main features

The main features of the SPI emulator are:
• Simplex/ full-duplex, synchronous, serial communication
• Master and slave operations
• SPI clock up to 12 MHz in simplex mode with CPU operating at 168 MHz
• SPI clock up to 6 MHz in full-duplex mode with CPU operating at 168 MHz
• Programmable data word length: 8 and 16 bits
• Programmable clock polarity and phase
• Programmable data order with MSB-first or LSB-first shifting
• Flexible GPIO usage: all GPIOs can be configured as SPI MOSI/MISO
• Status flags/interrupt
– Transmit Complete (TxC)
– Receive Complete (RxC)

1.2 SPI emulator block diagram

Figure 1 gives an overview of the interaction between the hardware peripherals and the
software modules that make up the SPI emulator.

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AN4678 SPI emulator description

Figure 1. SPI emulator block diagram

The SPI emulator implementation is based on GPIO, timer and DMA peripherals.
• Three lines are used to connect the SPI emulator to external devices. Data are
transmitted to the BSRR and IDR registers in Tx and Rx mode respectively.
• Data transfers are performed by DMA2 with two dedicate channels:
– Channel6 Stream1 for data transfers in Tx mode
– Channel6 Stream2 for data transfers in Rx mode
• Timer overflow and IO capture compare events are used to control timing of SPI
emulator input sampling and output handling of the Rx and Tx signals. TIM1 generates
the clock signal in master mode, and sends requests to DMA to transfer data at the
required speed for both master and slave mode.
SPI emulator peripherals requirements and configurations are described in Table 1.

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Table 1. SPI emulator peripherals requirements and configurations

Master Slave
Mode
Tx Rx Tx Rx

Channel Channel1 Channel2 Channel1 Channel2

TIM1
Configuration PWM Mode (Capture Compare)
Channel6 Channel6 Channel6 Channel6
Channel
Stream1 Stream2 Stream1 Stream2
Peripheral

DMA2
Memory to Peripheral Memory to Peripheral
Configuration
peripheral to memory peripheral to memory
MOSI Any I/O configured as output Any I/O configured as input
GPIO MISO Any I/O configured as input Any I/O configured as output
SCK PA8 or PA9 configured in AF

Note: The peripherals required for full duplex communication are the combination of peripherals
used in Tx mode and Rx mode.
Note: Other Timers with the same features as TIM1 can be used.

1.3 SPI emulator functional description

1.3.1 General description

Data transmission and reception is provided contemporary on two separate data
unidirectional lines (MOSI, MISO) synchronized by common clock signal line provided by
master. No addressing or acknowledgment control is implemented. Then, the SPI emulator
is connected to external devices through 3 pins:
• MISO: Master In / Slave Out data. This pin can be configured through any I/O pin and
can be used to transmit data in slave mode and receive data in master mode.
• MOSI: Master Out / Slave In data. This pin can be configured through any I/O pin and
can be used to transmit data in master mode and receive data in slave mode.
• SCK: Serial Clock output for SPI master and input for SPI slave. This pin is configured
as alternate function for timer channel 1 or channel 2.

1.3.2 Clock phase and clock polarity

Concerning SCK clock signal, the user has to respect fixed clock phase and polarity
between communicating nodes. Four possible timing relationships may be chosen by
software, using CPOL (clock polarity) and CPHA (clock phase) parameters.
The CPOL parameter controls the steady state value of the clock when no data is being
transferred. This parameter affects both master and slave modes. If CPOL is low, the SCK
pin has a low-level idle state. If CPOL is high, the SCK pin has a high-level idle state.
If the CPHA parameter is configured as 1EDGE, the first edge on the SCK pin (rising edge if
CPOL is low, falling edge if CPOL is high) is the MSBit capture strobe. Data are latched on
the occurrence of the first clock transition.

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If the CPHA parameter is configured as 2EDGE, the second edge on the SCK pin (rising
edge if CPOL is high, falling edge if CPOL is low) is the MSBit capture strobe. Data are
latched on the occurrence of the second clock transition.
The combination of the CPOL and CPHA parameter selects the data capture clock edge
(see Table 2).

Table 2. CPOL and CPHA configurations

CPOL CPHA Action

Data output on the rising edge of SCK.

0 0
Input data is latched on the falling edge.
Data output one half-cycle before the first rising edge of SCK and on
0 1 subsequent falling edges.
Input data is latched on the rising edge of SCK.
Data iutput on the falling edge of SCK.
1 0
Input data is latched on the rising edge.
Data output one half-cycle before the first falling edge of SCK and on
1 1 subsequent rising edges.
Input data is latched on the falling edge of SCK.

Figure 2 shows an SPI transfer with the four combinations of the CPHA and CPOL. The
diagram may be interpreted as a master or slave timing diagram where the SCK pin, the
MISO pin, the MOSI pins are directly connected between the master and the slave device.

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Figure 2. Data clock timing diagram

1.3.3 Data frame format

The number of bits to be transacted is fixed between nodes but arbitrarily configurable.
Each data frame is 8 or 16 bits long depending on user configuration and can be formatted
either MSB-first or LSB-first. The selected data frame format is applicable for transmission
and/or reception.

1.3.4 Configuring the SPI in master mode

Transmission process control is based on regular interrupts from the timer overflow events
to DMA. Data for transmission must be firstly formatted by CPU and stored into dedicated
variable (transmit buffer).
In this configuration, master starts the flow, handles clock and data signal.
The transmission sequence includes the following steps:

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Single-frame transmission
1. The timer is configured in PWM mode to generate the clock signal with a frequency
determined by the value of the TIMx_ARR register, and a duty cycle determined by the
value of the TIMx_CCRx register.
2. The CPU formats the frame to be sent to the memory according to the First Bit
configuration.
3. The timer sends a request to the DMA at each period of the clock signal to transfer one
bit from memory to MOSI pin.
Once the frame transmission is complete, the timer stops generating the clock signal and
the TxC flag (SPI transmission complete) is set.

Multiple-frame transmission
Multiple-frame transmission is based on a FIFO buffer with a threshold level of ½, this
means that the buffer is effectively divided into two equal halves so data in one half can be
transferred by DMA while data is being formatted by CPU in the second half. This allows the
CPU to process one memory area while the second memory area is being used by the DMA
transfer. At each end of transaction a half transfer complete or a transfer complete interrupt
is generated by the DMA to ensure that the CPU swaps from one memory target to another.
This operation is repeated until all frames are transmitted. When this is done, the timer
stops generating the clock signal and the TxC flag is set.

Single-frame reception
The reception sequence includes the following steps:
1. The CPU checks if the SPI is ready and the RX buffer is empty.
2. The timer is configured in PWM mode to generate the clock signal with a frequency
determined by the value of the TIMx_ARR register, and a duty cycle determined by the
value of the TIMx_CCRx register.
3. The timer sends a request to the DMA at each period of the clock signal to transfer one
bit from MISO pin to the memory.
4. The CPU formats the received frame.
Once the frame reception is complete, the timer stops generating the clock signal and the
RxC flag (SPI reception complete) is set.

Multiple-frame reception
DMA transmits data to the memory. When the first half of the FIFO buffer is filled, a half
transfer complete interrupt is generated by the DMA so the CPU formats data and stores
them in SRAM. At the same time the DMA continues to fill the second half. When this is
done, a transfer complete interrupt is generated and the CPU formats this data. The DMA
configured in circular mode returns to the initial pointer and keeps going. This operation is
repeated until all frames are received. Once the frame reception is complete, the timer stops
generating the clock signal and the RxC flag is set.

1.3.5 Configuring the SPI in slave mode

In the slave configuration, the serial clock is received on the SCK pin from the master
device.

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The timer is configured in input capture mode, so the transmission process starts when the
clock signal is detected on the timer input channel.

Single-frame transmission
The transmission sequence includes the following steps:
1. The CPU formats the frame to be sent to the memory according to the First Bit
configuration.
2. The timer sends a request to the DMA at each period of the clock signal to transfer one
bit from memory to MISO pin. The requests are programmed to occur at the rising or
falling edge of the input signal, depending on CPHA configuration.
3. Once the frame transmission is complete, the TxC flag (SPI transmission complete) is
set.

Multiple-frame transmission
Multiple-frame transmission is based on a FIFO buffer with a threshold level of ½, this
means that the buffer is effectively divided into two equal halves so data in one half can be
transferred by the DMA while data is being formatted by the CPU in the second half. This
allows the CPU to process one memory area while the second memory area is being used
by the DMA transfer. At each end of transaction a half transfer complete or a transfer
complete interrupt is generated by the DMA to ensure that the CPU swaps from one
memory target to another. This operation is repeated until all frames are transmitted. When
this is done, the timer stops generating the clock signal and the TxC flag is set.

Single-frame reception
The transmission sequence includes the following steps:
1. The CPU checks if the SPI is ready and the RX buffer is empty.
2. On the rising (or falling) edge of the external trigger, the timer generates a DMA
request. As the GPIO data register address is set to DMA peripheral address, the DMA
controller reads the data from the GPIO port on each DMA request, and stores it into an
SRAM buffer.
3. The CPU formats the received frame.
4. Once the frame reception is complete, the RxC flag (SPI reception complete) is set.

Multiple-frame reception
DMA transmits data to the memory. When the first half of the FIFO buffer is filled, a half
transfer complete interrupt is generated by the DMA so the CPU can format data and store
them in the SRAM. The DMA continues to fill the second half, when it’s done, a transfer
complete interrupt is generated and the CPU formats these data. The DMA configured in
circular mode returns to the initial pointer and keeps going. This operation is repeated until
all frames are received. When this is done, the timer stops generating the clock signal and
the RxC flag is set.

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2 Software description

2.1 Implementation structure

STM32 SPI emulator package is based on STM32 Cube architecture. Figure 3 shows how
the package is structured internally and how it can be implemented in a complete project.

Figure 3. SPI emulator application level view

STM32 SPI emulation package is located in middlewares level and support STM32F4
series. It is based on modular architecture that means other STM32 series can be supported
without any impact on the current implementation.
In Application layer, STM32 SPI emulation package provide a set of examples for the most
common development tools.

2.2 Package organization

The application note is supplied in a zip file. The extraction of the zip file generates one
folder, STM32CubeExpansion_AN4678_STM32F4_V1.0.0, which contains the subfolders
shown in Figure 4.

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Software description AN4678

Figure 4. STM32CubeExpansion V1.0.0 package organization

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2.3 Transmission

2.3.1 Format data procedure

This solution integrates a FIFO structures buffering for transmitter.
The FIFO is used to temporarily store data formatted by CPU before transmitting them to
the destination. Also DMA is configured in circular mode to handle continuous data flows
(the DMA_SxNDTR register is then reloaded automatically with the previously programmed
value). The FIFO structure implemented helps to:
• reduce SRAM access and so give more time for the other peripherals to access the bus
matrix without additional concurrency;
• allow software to do burst transactions which optimize the transfer speed and
bandwidth.

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AN4678 Software description

Data package can be prepared in advance by the CPU and stored into an SRAM buffer. This
FIFO buffer can host 20 frames, and the threshold level is ½, so while DMA channel is
transferring data from the first half, CPU prepares the next block of data to be send in the
second half and vice versa. This is managed by the half transfer complete and transfer
complete interrupts generates by DMA after each transfer of 10 frames.
The principle of formatting and sending a given number of bytes using CPU and DMA in Tx
mode is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. STM32CubeExpansion V1.0.0 package organization

2.3.2 Transmission routine

Figure 6 gives an overview of the SPI emulator transmission routine, in it we have:
• S1: Initialize parameters and configure the SPI emulator
• S2: Format data in the whole FIFO buffer
• S3: Start transmission process by enabling DMA in circular mode
• S4: CPU in mode sleep while DMA is transferring data from the first half of the FIFO
buffer Data_Buffer_Tx
• S5: CPU formats data in the first half of the FIFO buffer Data_Buffer_Tx after DMA half
transfer complete interrupt
• S6: CPU in mode sleep while DMA is transferring data from the second half of the FIFO
buffer Data_Buffer_Tx
• S7: CPU formats data in the second half of FIFO buffer Data_Buffer_Tx after DMA
transfer complete interrupt
• S8: End of transmission
• CNT: TxXferCount is a counter that is incremented after the completion of each DMA
transfer.
• HTC IT: DMA Half Transfer Complete interrupt.
• TC IT: DMA Transfer Complete interrupt.

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Figure 6. Transmission routine state machine

2.3.3 Peripheral settings

• GPIO:
– BSRR is used as destination register for DMA transfers.
• DMA2:
– The transfer is performed by words.
– Channel6 and Stream1 are used for transmission.
– DMA half transfer complete and transfer complete interrupts are used at the end of
data package transfers.
• Timer 1:
– Channel1 is configured as capture compare for DMA transmit requests.
– Channel2 is configured in PWM mode for clock generation in master mode.
• SRAM
– An SRAM buffer is used to format data in Tx mode:
– In case of 8 bits data length, Data_Buffer_Tx[8bits x 20frames]
– In case of 16 bits data length, Data_Buffer_Tx[16bits x 20frames]

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2.4 Reception

2.4.1 Format data procedure

This solution integrates a FIFO structures buffering for receiver.
The FIFO is used to temporarily store data transmitted by DMA before formatting them by
CPU. DMA is configured in circular mode to handle continuous data flows (the
DMA_SxNDTR register is then reloaded automatically with the previously programmed
value). The FIFO structure implemented helps to:
• reduce SRAM access and so give more time for the other peripherals to access the bus
matrix without additional concurrency,
• allow software to do burst transactions which optimize the transfer speed and
bandwidth.
Data package transmitted by DMA is stored into a FIFO buffer and can be formatted by
CPU. This FIFO buffer can host 20 frames, and the threshold level is ½, so while DMA
channel is transferring data to the first half, CPU formats the received block of data in the
second half and vice versa. This is managed by the half transfer complete and transfer
complete interrupts generates by DMA after each transfer of 10 frames.
The principle of formatting and receiving a given number of bytes using CPU and DMA in Rx
mode is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Formatting and receiving data using CPU and DMA

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2.4.2 Transmission routine

Figure 8 gives an overview of the SPI emulator reception routine, in it we have:
• S1: Initialize parameters and configure the SPI emulator
• S2: Start reception process by enabling DMA in circular mode
• S3: CPU in mode sleep while DMA is transferring data to the first half of FIFO buffer
Data_Buffer_Rx
• S4: CPU formats data in the first half of FIFO buffer Data_Buffer_Tx after DMA half
transfer complete interrupt
• S5: CPU in mode sleep while DMA is transferring data to the second half of FIFO buffer
Data_Buffer_Rx
• S6: CPU formats data in the second half of Data_Buffer_Tx after DMA transfer
complete interrupt
• S7: End of transmission
• CNT: TxXferCount is a counter that is incremented after the completion of each DMA
transfer.
• HTC IT: DMA Half Transfer Complete interrupt.
• TC IT: DMA Transfer Complete interrupt.

Figure 8. Reception routine state machine

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AN4678 Software description

2.4.3 Peripheral settings

• GPIO:
– IDR is used as source register for DMA transfers.
• DMA2:
– The transfer is performed by words.
– Channel6 and Stream2 are used for reception.
– DMA half transfer complete and transfer complete interrupts are used at the end of
data package transfers.
• Timer 1:
– Timer1 Channel2 is configured as capture compare for DMA transmit requests.
– Timer1 Channel2 is configured in PWM mode for clock generation in master
mode.
• SRAM
– An SRAM buffer is used to format data in Rx mode:
– In case of 8 bits data length , Data_Buffer_Rx[8bits x 20frames]
– In case of 16 bits data length, Data_Buffer_Rx[16bits x 20frames]

2.5 SPI emulator API

This section provides a set of functions ensuring SPI emulation.

Table 3. SPI Emulation functions

Function name Description

Initialize the SPI Emulation according to the specified

HAL_SPI_Emul_Init parameters in the SPI_Emul_InitTypeDef and create the
associated handle.
Transmit an amount of data in no-blocking mode with
HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA
DMA
Receive an amount of data in no-blocking mode with
HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA
DMA
Transmit and Receive an amount of data in no-blocking
HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA
mode with DMA

2.5.1 HAL_SPI_Emul_Init function

Table 4. HAL_SPI_Emul_Init
Function name HAL_SPI_Emul_Init

Prototype HAL_StatusTypeDef HAL_SPI_Emul_Init(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)

Initializes the SPI Emulation according to the specified parameters in the
Behavior
SPI_Emul_InitTypeDef and creates the associated handle.

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Table 4. HAL_SPI_Emul_Init (continued)

Function name HAL_SPI_Emul_Init

*hspi: pointer to SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef structure that contains the

Parameter
configuration information for SPI emulator
Return value HAL status

2.5.2 HAL_SPI_Emul_InitTypeDef structure

Table 5. HAL_SPI_Emul_Init
Field name Description

uint32_t Mode Specifies the SPI operating mode

uint32_t Direction Specifies the SPI Directional mode state
uint32_t DataSize Specifies the SPI data size
uint32_t CLKPolarity Specifies the serial clock steady state
uint32_t CLKPhase Specifies the clock active edge for the bit capture
uint32_t SPI_Clk Specifies the SPI Clock Frequency
uint32_t FirstBit Specifies whether data transfers start from MSB or LSB bit
uint32_t RxPinNumber Specifies the number of Receiver Pin
uint32_t TxPinNumber Specifies the number of Transmitter Pin
uint32_t ClkPinNumber Specifies the number of Clock Pin

2.5.3 HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA function

Table 6. HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA
Function name HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA

HAL_StatusTypeDef HAL_SPI_Emul_Transmit_DMA
Prototype
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi, uint8_t *pData, uint16_t Size)
Behavior Transmit in simplex mode an amount of data in no-blocking mode with DMA
– *hspi: pointer to SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef structure that contains the
configuration information for SPI emulator
Parameter
– *pData: Pointer to data buffer
– Size: Amount of data to be sent
Return value HAL status

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2.5.4 HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA function

Table 7. HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA
Function name HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA

HAL_StatusTypeDef HAL_SPI_Emul_Receive_DMA
Prototype
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi, uint8_t *pData, uint16_t Size)
Behavior Receive in simplex mode an amount of data in no-blocking mode with DMA
– *hspi: pointer to SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef structure that contains the
configuration information for SPI emulator
Parameter
– *pData: Pointer to data buffer
– Size: Amount of data to be sent
Return value HAL status

2.5.5 HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA function

Table 8. HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA
Function name HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA

HAL_StatusTypeDef HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA
Prototype
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi, uint8_t *pData, uint16_t Size)
Transmit and Receive in simplex mode an amount of data in no-blocking mode
Behavior
with DMA
– *hspi: pointer to SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef structure that contains the
configuration information for SPI emulator
Parameter
– *pData: Pointer to data buffer
– Size: Amount of data to be sent
Return value HAL status

2.5.6 Callback functions

Callback functions are also available, as shown in Table 9. They allow the user to implement
his own code in the user file.

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Table 9. HAL_SPI_Emul_TransmitReceive_DMA
Function name Parameters Description

__weak void
This function is called at the end
HAL_SPI_Emul_RxCpltCallback
of the reception process
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)
__weak void
This function is called at the half
HAL_SPI_Emul_RxHalfCpltCallback
of the reception process
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)
__weak void
This function is called at the end
HAL_SPI_Emul_TxCpltCallback hspi: SPI emulator handle
of the transmission process
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)
__weak void
This function is called at half of
HAL_SPI_Emul_TxHalfCpltCallback
the transmission process
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)
__weak void
This function is called when a
HAL_SPI_Emul_ErrorCallback
communication error is detected.
(SPI_Emul_HandleTypeDef *hspi)

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AN4678 Example

3 Example

The example illustrates a data exchange between the SPI emulator and the hardware SPI.

3.1 Hardware requirements

The hardware required to run this example is the following:
• Two Nucleo boards (NUCLEO-F401RE)
• Two Mini-USB cables to power the boards and to connect the Nucleo embedded ST-
LINK for debugging and programming.
The connection between the two Nucleo boards through SPI lines is described in Figure 9.

Figure 9. SPI emulator and SPI hardware connection

3.2 Software settings

In this firmware package two project examples are provided, each one includes two
workspaces:
1. SPI_EMUL_MasterSide and SPI_HW_SlaveSide in the first example called
TwoBoardsCom_MasterEmul_SlaveHW, as shown in Figure 10
2. SPI_EMUL_SlaveSide and SPI_HW_MasterSide in the second example called
TwoBoardsCom_SlaveEmul_MasterHW, as shown in Figure 11.

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Example AN4678

Figure 10. Example MDK-ARM™ workspaces (SPI Master emul / Slave HW)

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Figure 11. Example MDK-ARM™ workspaces (SPI Slave emul / Master HW)

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To make the program work, follow the steps described below:

1. Open your preferred toolchain (EWARM or MDK-ARM™).
2. Rebuild all files and load your image into target memory.
3. Run the example.

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AN4678 Example

3.3 Running the example

To run the example, follow the sequence below:
1. Power on the two boards.
2. Load the code in each board MCU.
3. Press the user button key on board 1. The example then starts running and the SPI
emulator starts transmitting data.
4. The SPI hardware receives the data and sends them back to SPI emulator.
5. The data transmitted by the SPI emulator is compared to received ones: if data do not
match, the green LED (LED2) toggles continuously.
Note: For more details, refer to the readme.txt inside the firmware package.

3.4 Frame waveforms

Table 10 shows examples six different configurations of SPI emulator full duplex ‘A’
(0100 0001) character transfer.

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Table 10. Examples of configurations of SPI Emulator full duplex

Case 1 Case 2
– Clock speed = 3 MHz – Clock speed = 3 MHz
– Data length = 8 bits – Data length = 8 bits
– Data order = LSB first – Data order = LSB first
– CPOL = 0, CPHA = 0 – CPOL = 1, CPHA = 0

Case 3 Case 4
– Clock speed = 3 MHz – Clock speed = 3 MHz
– Data length = 8 bits – Data length = 8 bits
– Data order = LSB first – Data order = LSB first
– CPOL = 0, CPHA = 1 – CPOL = 1, CPHA = 1

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AN4678 SPI emulator CPU load and footprint

4 SPI emulator CPU load and footprint

The SPI emulator uses the CPU for frames processing which includes:
• formatting data
• saving data in internal SRAM
• handling DMA interrupts

4.1 CPU load

As discussed above, during data transfer and reception, CPU is used for frames processing,
this action requires the time defined in Table 9.

Table 11. Clock cycles needed for frame processing

Data size 8 bits 16 bits

Transmission 116 × CPU clock cycles per frame 225 × CPU clock cycles per frame
Mode
Reception 108 × CPU clock cycles per frame 210 × CPU clock cycles per frame

The calculation of CPU load is based on the following formula:

CPUclockcycles
----------------------------------------------- × SPIfreq
SystemClk
CPUload = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- × 100
Datasize

Example:
The software settings used to obtain the results given in Figure 12 are the following:
• System clock: 84 MHz
• Data size: 8 bits
• SPI clock: 1 MHz
The program was compiled with MDK-ARM™ V5.14, optimization level3 (-O3) for speed,
so, applying the above formula
CPU load Tx = ((116 / (84 × 106)) × 106) / 8 × 100 =17.25 %
CPU load Rx = ((108 / (84 × 106)) × 106) /8 ×100 = 16.0%
CPU load full duplex= 17.25 % + 16.0 % = 33.25 %.

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Figure 12. SPI emulator CPU load

4.2 SPI emulator memory footprint

User can easily adapt the example to his own application as only a small amount of code
size is required by the SPI program.
Table 12 gives an estimate of the code size required by the SPI emulator compiled with
MDK-ARM™ V5.14, optimization level3 (-O3) for speed.

Table 12. SPI emulator memory footprint

RAM footprint (bytes)
Flash memory
Mode Direction
footprint (bytes)
8 bits 16 bits

Full duplex 4394 1556 2836

Master Transmission 3750 916 1576
Reception 3544 916 1576
Full duplex 4230 1532 2812
Slave Transmission 3554 892 1548
Reception 3388 892 1548

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AN4678 Conclusion

5 Conclusion

This application note demonstrates the implementation of an effective emulation of Serial

Peripheral interface (SPI), which can increase virtually the number of serial communication
peripherals in STM32 microcontrollers and improve their capability.
User can benefit from this additional feature, provided he respects the limitations and
considers a reasonable performance bandwidth.

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6 Revision history

Table 13. Document revision history

Date Revision Changes

04-Aug-2015 1 Initial release.

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AN4678

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