The Zilog Educational Platform is designed to offer a comprehensive educational advantage to students who are pursuing a degree in the electronics and computer sciences. It is an electronics development system for learning and teaching at the university level, yet can also serve the needs of students at the high school level. The core of the Zilog Educational Platform is Zilog’s Z16F2810 MCU, a16-bit Flash chip based on Zilog’s ZNEO CPU.

The Platform’s robust educational capabilities allow students to learn about microcontroller architecture, language programming, wireless communication, analog-to-digital conversion, sensing technologies and security encryption methods; students can also experiment with creating industrial lighting and motor control applications. The Platform can also be configured as a data acquisition and remote control system; it ships with a command shell that allows control of the Platform without the need for additional programming.

The Educational Platform’s design layout allows students to use it with intuitive ease, thereby saving time, energy and money. The Platform is complete in all aspects of its functionality, with attention applied to many of the Platform’s details. These detatils include its integrated audio buzzer and a jumper that, when removed, can disable the backlight display from the LCD panel when power savings are important. The Platform’s battery power source allows for mobile capability when considering projects in the field.

Key Features

• Input via a 16-key pad and/or a PC console application
• Output through a 16x2 LCD and/or standard PC monitor
• Dual-format breadboards, both standard and solderless
• Dual main power options: 6V–12V wall outlet or 9V battery for mobile operation
• Three voltages are available to the Platform when it is powered with the included AC power adapter:
  • VMAIN
  • 3.3V
  • 5V with a maximum current of 2.0 amps
• 47 GPIO lines
• Stackable application shield interface
• Preprogrammed command shell
• I/O signal access connector
• Buzzer

The Zilog Educational Platform ships with a wall power adapter unit and a 9V battery.

Note: The Zilog Educational Platform does not include a USB SmartCable, which is required for working with the ZED Application Shields. However, this item is available in the Zilog Educational Platform Kit. The USB SmartCable and downloadable driver files, plus the ZED Test Shield.

In addition to the Zilog documentation listed below, Programming The Zilog ZNEO Microcontroller By Example: Volume 1 - Getting Started, a Kindle book authored by Dan Eisenreich, is a helpful guide to understanding and programming the ZNEO MCU. Find your copy today on amazon.com. You can also download a PDF version at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/295146.

Get your students started developing today! Contact Zilog Customer Service