spi_master_slave

Communicating as master and slave via SPI

This example code shows how to interface two RP2040 microcontrollers to each other using SPI.

Wiring information

Function	Master (RP2040)	Slave (RP2040)	Master (Pico)	Slave (Pico)
MOSI	DO0	DI0	25	21
SCLK	SCK0	SCK0	24	24
GND	GND	GND	23	23
CS	CS0	CS0	22	22
MISO	DI0	DO0	21	25

Figure 1. Wiring Diagram for SPI Master and Slave.

At least one of the boards should be powered, and will share power to the other.

If the master is not connected properly to a slave, the master will report reading all zeroes.

If the slave is not connected properly to a master, it will initialize but never transmit nor receive, because it’s waiting for clock signal from the master.

Outputs

Both master and slave boards will give output to stdio.

With master and slave properly connected, the master should output something like this:

SPI master example
SPI master says: The following buffer will be written to MOSI endlessly:
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0a 0b 0c 0d 0e 0f
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2a 2b 2c 2d 2e 2f
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3a 3b 3c 3d 3e 3f
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4a 4b 4c 4d 4e 4f
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5a 5b 5c 5d 5e 5f
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 6a 6b 6c 6d 6e 6f
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7a 7b 7c 7d 7e 7f
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 9a 9b 9c 9d 9e 9f
a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 a8 a9 aa ab ac ad ae af
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8 b9 ba bb bc bd be bf
c0 c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8 c9 ca cb cc cd ce cf
d0 d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9 da db dc dd de df
e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8 e9 ea eb ec ed ee ef
f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 fa fb fc fd fe ff
SPI master says: read page 0 from the MISO line:
ff fe fd fc fb fa f9 f8 f7 f6 f5 f4 f3 f2 f1 f0
ef ee ed ec eb ea e9 e8 e7 e6 e5 e4 e3 e2 e1 e0
df de dd dc db da d9 d8 d7 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0
cf ce cd cc cb ca c9 c8 c7 c6 c5 c4 c3 c2 c1 c0
bf be bd bc bb ba b9 b8 b7 b6 b5 b4 b3 b2 b1 b0
af ae ad ac ab aa a9 a8 a7 a6 a5 a4 a3 a2 a1 a0
9f 9e 9d 9c 9b 9a 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90
8f 8e 8d 8c 8b 8a 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 80
7f 7e 7d 7c 7b 7a 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70
6f 6e 6d 6c 6b 6a 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60
5f 5e 5d 5c 5b 5a 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50
4f 4e 4d 4c 4b 4a 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40
3f 3e 3d 3c 3b 3a 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30
2f 2e 2d 2c 2b 2a 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
1f 1e 1d 1c 1b 1a 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
0f 0e 0d 0c 0b 0a 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00

The slave should output something like this:

SPI slave example
SPI slave says: When reading from MOSI, the following buffer will be written to MISO:
ff fe fd fc fb fa f9 f8 f7 f6 f5 f4 f3 f2 f1 f0
ef ee ed ec eb ea e9 e8 e7 e6 e5 e4 e3 e2 e1 e0
df de dd dc db da d9 d8 d7 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 d0
cf ce cd cc cb ca c9 c8 c7 c6 c5 c4 c3 c2 c1 c0
bf be bd bc bb ba b9 b8 b7 b6 b5 b4 b3 b2 b1 b0
af ae ad ac ab aa a9 a8 a7 a6 a5 a4 a3 a2 a1 a0
9f 9e 9d 9c 9b 9a 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90
8f 8e 8d 8c 8b 8a 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 80
7f 7e 7d 7c 7b 7a 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70
6f 6e 6d 6c 6b 6a 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60
5f 5e 5d 5c 5b 5a 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50
4f 4e 4d 4c 4b 4a 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40
3f 3e 3d 3c 3b 3a 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30
2f 2e 2d 2c 2b 2a 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
1f 1e 1d 1c 1b 1a 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
0f 0e 0d 0c 0b 0a 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
SPI slave says: read page 0 from the MOSI line:
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0a 0b 0c 0d 0e 0f
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2a 2b 2c 2d 2e 2f
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3a 3b 3c 3d 3e 3f
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4a 4b 4c 4d 4e 4f
50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5a 5b 5c 5d 5e 5f
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 6a 6b 6c 6d 6e 6f
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7a 7b 7c 7d 7e 7f
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 9a 9b 9c 9d 9e 9f
a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 a8 a9 aa ab ac ad ae af
b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8 b9 ba bb bc bd be bf
c0 c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8 c9 ca cb cc cd ce cf
d0 d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 d8 d9 da db dc dd de df
e0 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8 e9 ea eb ec ed ee ef
f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 fa fb fc fd fe ff

If you look at the communication with a logic analyzer, you should see this:

Figure 2. Data capture as seen in Saleae Logic.

List of Files

CMakeLists.txt

CMake file to incorporate the example in to the examples build tree.

spi_master/spi_master.c

The example code for SPI master.

spi_slave/spi_slave.c

The example code for SPI slave.

Bill of Materials

Table 1. A list of materials required for the example

Item	Quantity	Details
Breadboard	1	generic part
Raspberry Pi Pico	2	https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/
M/M Jumper wires	8	generic part