{"id":22871,"date":"2017-11-14T08:20:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T16:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.digilentinc.com\/?p=22871"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:07:41","slug":"using-the-protocol-analyzer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/","title":{"rendered":"Using the Protocol Analyzer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently we updated some wiki materials regarding the use of the Protocol Analyzer<\/a> and the Analog Discovery 2.\u00a0<\/a>This tool allows you to connect to a piece of hardware, power and read or write to it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For example, if I have a SPI light sensor and I’m not receiving data, I can quickly check to see if the hardware is malfunctioning by connecting it and getting data. I can also quickly adjust settings to see if maybe the clock frequency or something else specified is incorrect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can use this with the Analog Discovery 2’s pattern generator to test communication protocols, as well as the Digital Discovery<\/a> and\u00a0Electronics Explorer board.<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are interested in learning how to get started with this tool, the new documentation page<\/a> provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to setup and test out the tool using the Pmod ALS.<\/a> Since the demonstration allows you to obtain light level data, it opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to applications.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Halloween might be over, you can always utilize this feature in many holiday-decoration ideas…such as DIY Christmas light setups! Additionally if you are the type for homemade gifts, having the ability to read light levels (or other types of hardware) can be invaluable when it comes to making that dream gift idea come to life.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An example of a light-themed project <\/a>done a few years ago by a Digilent employee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As always, let us know what you plan to do with the Protocol Analyzer<\/a>!<\/p>\n

0<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div>
Be the 1st to vote.<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out some new documentation on the Digilent wiki!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":22873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[4322,4312,1563],"tags":[111,1736],"ppma_author":[4485],"class_list":["post-22871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessories","category-usb-scopes-analyzers-generators","category-guide","tag-analog-discovery","tag-analog-discovery-2"],"yoast_head":"\nUsing the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out some new documentation on the Digilent wiki!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digilent Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Miranda Hansen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Miranda Hansen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Miranda Hansen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981\"},\"headline\":\"Using the Protocol Analyzer\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":264,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Analog Discovery\",\"Analog Discovery 2\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Digilent Product Accessories: What They Are, How to Use Them\",\"Digilent USB Scopes, Analyzers, Generators: Info & Use Cases\",\"How-To Guides and Technical Workflows \u2013 Digilent Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/\",\"name\":\"Using the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":399,\"caption\":\"An example of a light-themed project done a few years ago by a Digilent employee.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Using the Protocol Analyzer\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digilent Blog\",\"description\":\"Learning for Engineers, Students, and Hobbyists\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981\",\"name\":\"Miranda Hansen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g2a1a599856a2af575007b9e8eb369296\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Miranda Hansen\"},\"description\":\"I enjoy creative writing, engineering, thinking, building, exploring and sharing with people. Huge aficionado of spending time thinking about things that \u201cdon\u2019t matter.\u201d I am very interested in unconstrained creativity. I love cross-discipline ideas and all of their integration into complete original systems. And I like things that do things.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digilent.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mirandamay7\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Using the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Using the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog","og_description":"Check out some new documentation on the Digilent wiki!","og_url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/","og_site_name":"Digilent Blog","article_published_time":"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Miranda Hansen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Miranda Hansen","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/"},"author":{"name":"Miranda Hansen","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981"},"headline":"Using the Protocol Analyzer","datePublished":"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/"},"wordCount":264,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","keywords":["Analog Discovery","Analog Discovery 2"],"articleSection":["Digilent Product Accessories: What They Are, How to Use Them","Digilent USB Scopes, Analyzers, Generators: Info & Use Cases","How-To Guides and Technical Workflows \u2013 Digilent Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/","url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/","name":"Using the Protocol Analyzer - Digilent Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-14T16:20:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T13:07:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","width":600,"height":399,"caption":"An example of a light-themed project done a few years ago by a Digilent employee."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/using-the-protocol-analyzer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Using the Protocol Analyzer"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/","name":"Digilent Blog","description":"Learning for Engineers, Students, and Hobbyists","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d50f56629b18fdd24df55b97ae3981","name":"Miranda Hansen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g2a1a599856a2af575007b9e8eb369296","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Miranda Hansen"},"description":"I enjoy creative writing, engineering, thinking, building, exploring and sharing with people. Huge aficionado of spending time thinking about things that \u201cdon\u2019t matter.\u201d I am very interested in unconstrained creativity. I love cross-discipline ideas and all of their integration into complete original systems. And I like things that do things.","url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/author\/mirandamay7\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":4485,"user_id":36,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mirandamay7","display_name":"Miranda Hansen","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcab037c32924b9f9b3ca4898e179f2764cb7d9a82aa2bd475170c8aaa884e1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Hansen","last_name_2":"","first_name":"Miranda","first_name_2":"","job_title":"","description":"I enjoy creative writing, engineering, thinking, building, exploring and sharing with people.\r\nHuge aficionado of spending time thinking about things that \u201cdon\u2019t matter.\u201d \r\n I am very interested in unconstrained creativity. I love cross-discipline ideas and all of their integration into complete original systems.\r\n\r\nAnd I like things that do things."}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Light-Painting-4-600x399.jpg","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32454,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22871\/revisions\/32454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22871"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digilent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}