.. _shields:

Shields
#######

Shields, also known as "add-on" or "daughter boards", attach to a board
to extend its features and services for easier and modularized prototyping.
In Zephyr, the shield feature provides Zephyr-formatted shield
descriptions for easier compatibility with applications.

Shield porting and configuration
********************************

Shield configuration files are available in the board directory
under :file:`/boards/shields`:

.. code-block:: none

   boards/shields/<shield>
   ├── Kconfig.shield
   ├── Kconfig.defconfig
   ├── <shield>.overlay
   └── dts.fixup

These files provides shield configuration as follows:

* **Kconfig.shield**: This file defines the shield's config flag
  (CONFIG_SHIELD_X). Applications use this flag to trigger the shield
  configuration on top of the board configuration, enabling each shield
  component or sensor driver.

* **Kconfig.defconfig**: This file provides conditional configuration of
  specific driver default configurations, offering flexibility for broad
  board support.

* **<shield>.overlay**: This file provides a shield description in device tree
  format that is merged with the board's device tree information before
  compilation.

* **dts.fixup**: This is a fixup file to bind board components definitions with
  application in a generic fashion to enable shield compatibility across boards

Board compatibility
*******************

Hardware shield-to-board compatibility depends on the use of well-known
connectors used on popular boards (such as Arduino and 96boards).  For
software compatibility, boards must also provide a configuration matching
their supported connectors.

This should be done at two different level:

* Pinmux: Connector pins should be correctly configured to match shield pins

* Device tree: A board device tree file should define a node alias for each
  connector interface.  For example, for Arduino I2C:

.. code-block:: none

        #define arduino_i2c i2c1

        aliases {
                arduino,i2c = &i2c1;
        };

Note: With support of dtc v1.4.2, above will be replaced with the recently
introduced overriding node element:

.. code-block:: none

        arduino_i2c:i2c1{};


Shield activation
*****************

Activate support for a shield by enabling the corresponding Kconfig shield
option in the application's prj.conf file.

.. code-block:: none

        #CONFIG_SHIELD_X_NUCLEO_IKS01A2=y