AD - Peripheral Starter Board

A versatile peripheral development board designed for microcontroller projects, providing commonly used input/output components for rapid prototyping and learning.

Status: Design in Progress Version: v1 Date: 2026-02-10 EDA Tool: KiCad 9.0

Overview

The Peripheral Starter Board is an expansion board that provides a variety of peripheral components commonly used in embedded systems development. It is designed to interface with microcontroller development boards, offering ready-to-use circuits for sensors, actuators, and user interface components.

Features

Input Peripherals

• 4x Push Button Switches - Tactile switches for user input
• Potentiometer - Analog input for variable resistance/voltage readings
• LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) - Light sensing for ambient light detection

Output Peripherals

• 4x LEDs - Standard indicator LEDs with current limiting resistors (330 ohm)
• WS2812B RGB LED - Addressable RGB LED for colorful visual feedback
• Piezo Buzzer - Audio output with transistor driver (BC547)

Display Interface

• OLED SSD1306 Connector - I2C interface for 128x64 OLED display module

Timekeeping

• RTC Circuit Connector - Interface for Real-Time Clock modules

Power Management

• 5V Input - Main power input from controller board
• 3.3V Regulated Output - AMS1117-3.3 linear voltage regulator
• Power Jumper Shunt - Selectable power source from controller

Schematic Sections

Section	Description
LED Circuit	4 LEDs with 330 ohm current limiting resistors
Switches Circuit	4 push buttons with pull-up/pull-down configuration
Potentiometer Circuit	Analog voltage divider circuit
LDR Circuit	Light sensor with voltage divider
RGB (WS2812B) Circuit	Addressable LED with decoupling capacitor
Buzzer Circuit	Piezo buzzer with BC547 transistor driver
OLED SSD1306 Circuit	I2C connector for OLED display
RTC Circuit	Connector for RTC module interface
3.3V Power Supply	AMS1117-3.3 with input/output capacitors

Bill of Materials (Key Components)

Reference	Component	Value/Part
U1	Voltage Regulator	AMS1117-3.3
Q1	NPN Transistor	BC547
D1-D4	LED	Standard LED
D5	RGB LED	WS2812B
R1-R4	Resistor	330 ohm
R12, R16	Resistor	4.7k ohm
R14	Resistor	10k ohm
C1-C8	Capacitor	100nF / 0.1uF
J1-J11	Connectors	Pin Headers (2-6 pins)
-	Buzzer	Piezo Buzzer
-	LDR	LDR07
-	Potentiometer	10k (typical)
-	Switches	4x Tactile Push Buttons
-	Slide Switch	SPDT Slide Switch

Connectors

• J4 - 6-pin Controller Interface
• J5, J7 - 2-pin Power/Signal Connectors
• J10, J11 - 5-pin I2C/SPI Connectors (OLED, RTC)
• J3, J1 - 4-pin Peripheral Connectors
• J2 - 3-pin Buzzer/RGB Connector

Getting Started

1. Power Supply: Connect 5V power through the main connector or use the power jumper to receive power from the controller board
2. Controller Interface: Connect to your microcontroller via the pin headers
3. Test Components: Use the provided test points to verify functionality

Design Files

• peripheral_Starter.kicad_sch - Schematic file
• peripheral_Starter.kicad_pcb - PCB layout file
• peripheral_Starter.kicad_pro - KiCad project file
• Peripheral_Starter_v1.pdf - Schematic PDF export

Requirements

• KiCad 9.0 or later to open and edit design files

Project Structure

peripheral_Starter/
├── peripheral_Starter.kicad_pro    # Project file
├── peripheral_Starter.kicad_sch    # Schematic
├── peripheral_Starter.kicad_pcb    # PCB layout
├── peripheral_Starter.kicad_prl    # Local project settings
├── fp-info-cache                   # Footprint cache
├── Peripheral_Starter_v1.pdf       # Schematic export
└── peripheral_Starter-backups/     # Design backups

License

This project is open source hardware.

Author

Analog Data Website: https://analogdata.io