AriesDMD Library

Author: Nishil Patel
Platform: RISC-V (Vega Aries V3 – C-DAC)
Project Type: Academic & Experimental
Status: Stable / Actively Maintained

🚀 Overview

AriesDMD is a modular display driver library designed specifically for P10 and HUB75 LED matrix panels on RISC-V based Vega Aries V3 boards. It supports:

• 🟢 Monochrome P10 panels (32×16, 1/4 scan)
• 🌈 RGB HUB75 panels (32×16, 1/8 scan and beyond)

Most existing LED matrix libraries were written for AVR-based Arduino boards like Arduino UNO. Unlike traditional Arduino libraries designed for AVR microcontrollers, AriesDMD is built specifically for the Vega Aries architecture to provide:

• Stable scanning
• Correct pixel mapping
• Flicker-free refresh
• Multi-panel support
• Clean framebuffer rendering

---

🎯 Key Design Goals

• Deterministic and timing-safe scanning
• RISC-V friendly architecture
• Clean pixel mapping independent of wiring
• Modular RGB / Mono architecture
• Large multi-panel scalability
• Future-ready for IoT text streaming

---

🟢 Supported Hardware: Microcontroller Vega Aries V3 (C-DAC)

🖥 Supported Displays

Description	Interface	Pixels	Scan	Code module
Monochrome P10 panels	HUB12	32x16	1/4	AriesDMD.h, AriesDMD.cpp
Indoor RGB	HUB75	32x16	1/8	AriesRGB32x16.h, AriesRGB32x16.cpp
		80x40	1/20	AriesRGB.h, AriesRGB.cpp

Features:

• Multi-panel cascading
• Text rendering
• 8 colour options
• Pixel drawing

---

Pixel Coordinate System

1. Single Panel:

(0,0) -----------------> X
  |
  |
  |
  v
  Y

• Top left corner: (0,0)
• Bottom right corner: (W-1,H-1)

2. Multi Panel: Multiple panels are treated as one continuous display canvas.

• Example: AriesDMD dmd(4,1,...);
• Creates: 128 × 16 display

---

User Guide:

Setting up VEGA Ecosystem on Arduino IDE

Open Arduino IDE / Download and install Arduino IDE 1.8.19

Open File->Preferences, Add below JSON in "Additional Boards Manager URL", Press OK

https://gitlab.com/riscv-vega/vega-arduino/-/raw/main/package_vega_index.json

Open Tools->Boards->Board manager, Search for "vega"

Install "VEGA ARIES Boards" with latest version from the link provided

Select Tools->Board->VEGA Processor: ARIES Boards->ARIES v3

---

Check your ARIES board whether the BOOT SEL pin is shorted using a jumper or not.

Important:

If
BOOT-SEL jumper (J12) is shorted :
a) Select Flash Mode -> Enabled
b) Select Tools -> Programmer -> VEGA FLASHER

Else
a) Select Flash Mode -> Disabled
b) Select Tools -> Programmer -> VEGA XMODEM

Here the BOOT SEL pin is shorted, so we have enabled the flash mode and selected VEGA FLASHER from programmer option.

Connect the ARIES board to PC

Select Tools -> Port -> COM* (ARIES Board)

---

Aries-RGB Panel Connections : (Used in given examples)

1) 32x16 Panel:

HUB75 Pin Aries Pin R1 GPIO3 G1 GPIO4 B1 GPIO5 R2 GPIO6 G2 GPIO7 B2 GPIO8 CLK GPIO9 LAT GPIO10 OE GPIO11 A GPIO12 B GPIO13 C GPIO14

---

2) 80x40 Panel:

HUB75 Pin Aries Pin R0 GPIO3 G0 GPIO4 B0 GPIO5 R1 GPIO6 G1 GPIO7 B1 GPIO8 CLK GPIO14 LAT GPIO15 OE GPIO16 A GPIO10 B GPIO11 C GPIO12 D GPIO13 E GPIO9

---

🎨 RGB Color Table

RGB library supports 8 basic colors using ON/OFF RGB channels.

Format:  AriesDrawString(display,1,0,"HELLO",R,G,B);
Example: AriesDrawString(display,1,0,"HELLO",1,1,0);
                                               ↑
                                  Change color from here

R	G	B	Color
0	0	0	Black
1	0	0	Red
0	1	0	Green
0	0	1	Blue
1	1	0	Yellow
1	0	1	Magenta
0	1	1	Cyan
1	1	1	White

---

Aries-Monochrome P10 Connections:

P10 Panel Aries Pin OE/EN GPIO9 A GPIO6 B GPIO7 CLK SCLK Lat/SCLK GPIO8 Data MOSI

---