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Building and Running the CAN Fail Safe Bootloader applications

Downloading and building the application

To clone or download this application from Github,go to the main page of this repository and then click Clone button to clone this repo or download as zip file. This content can also be download using content manager by following these instructions

Path of the application within the repository is apps/can_fail_safe_bootloader/

To build the application, refer to the following table and open the project using its IDE.

Bootloader Application

Project Name Description
bootloader/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X MPLABX Project for SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit

Test Application

Project Name Description
test_app/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X MPLABX Project for SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit

Setting up SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit

  • SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit is used for both Host Development kit and Target Development kit

    can_bootloader_host_target_connection

  • Connect the CANL on CAN Header of the Host development kit to the CANL on CAN Header of the Target development kit
  • Connect the CANH on CAN Header of the Host development kit to the CANH on CAN Header of the Target development kit
  • Connect a ground wire between the Host development kit and Target development kit
  • Connect the Debug USB port on the Host development kit to the computer using a micro USB cable
  • Connect the Debug USB port on the Target development kit to the computer using a micro USB cable

Running the Application

  1. Open the bootloader project bootloader/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X in the IDE
  2. Build and program the application using the IDE on to the Target development kit
    • LED0 will be turned-on to indicate that bootloader code is running on the target
    • LED0 will also turn on when the bootloader does not find a valid application; i.e. the first word of the application (stack pointer), contains 0xFFFFFFFF

  3. Open the NVM host application project host_app_nvm/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X in the IDE

  4. Build and program the NVM host application using the IDE on to the Host development kit

    • The prebuilt combined bootloader and application HEX header file host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro_bootloader_app_merged.h will be programmed to the Target Development kit

    • This must be programmed once to program both bootloader and application into the inactive flash bank

  5. Open the Terminal application (Ex.:Tera Term) on the computer
  6. Configure the serial port settings for Target Development kit as follows:
    • Baud : 115200
    • Data : 8 Bits
    • Parity : None
    • Stop : 1 Bit
    • Flow Control : None
  7. Press the Switch SW0 on the Host development kit to trigger programming of the binary
  8. Once the programming is complete,

    • LED0 on the Host development kit will be turned on indicating success

    • LED0 on the Target development kit should start blinking and you should see below output on the console

      • The NVM Flash Bank Can be BANK A or BANK B based on from where the test application is running

    output

    output

  9. Press and hold the Switch SW0 on the Target development kit to trigger Bootloader from test application
    • This is to program the application binary in other bank and you should see below output

    output

  10. To program the prebuilt application image host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro.h to the inactive bank of Target Development kit, Open the “user.h” file of the NVM host application project host_app_nvm/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X as shown below:

    btl_can_fail_safe_host_app_nvm_user_ide

  11. In the “user.h” file update the APP_HEX_HEADER_FILE and APP_IMAGE_START_ADDR values as mentioned below

    #define APP_HEX_HEADER_FILE         "test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro.h"

#define APP_IMAGE_START_ADDR        0x82000UL

    btl_can_fail_safe_host_app_nvm_user_config

    • APP_HEX_HEADER_FILE: Relative path to the generated header file containing the application hex image in an array
    • APP_IMAGE_START_ADDR: User application start address
      • It must be set to 0x80000UL when programming the combined bootloader and application binary to the inactive bank
      • It must be set to 0x82000UL when programming the application binary only to the inactive bank

  12. Build and program the NVM host application using the IDE on to the Host development kit

  13. On the Target Development Kit (the board being programmed), press and hold the Switch SW0 and then press Reset button or Power cycle to force trigger bootloader at startup
    • LED0 will be turned-on to indicate that bootloader code is running on the target
  14. Press Reset button on the Host development kit to program the application binary
  15. Repeat Steps 7-8 once
    • You should see other Bank in console displayed compared to first run

Additional Steps (Optional)

Generating Hex Image pattern for an application to be bootloaded

bin_to_c_array

  1. To bootload any application other than host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro.h refer to Application Configurations

  2. Build the application project to generate the binary (Do not program the binary)

  3. Convert the generated binary (.bin file) to a header file containing the image data in a C style array:

    • On a Windows machine, open the command prompt and run the btl_bin_to_c_array utility to generate a header file containing the image data in an array
python <harmony3_path>/bootloader/tools/btl_bin_to_c_array_gen.py -b <binary_file> -o <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_can/apps/can_fail_safe_bootloader/host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro.h -d same5x
  1. Once done repeat the applicable steps mentioned in Running The Application

Generating Hex Image pattern for Commbined Bootloader and Application Binary

can_bootloader_host_nvm_btl_app_merge

  1. Launch MCC for the bootloader project bootloader/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X

  2. Select system component from the project graph and disable fuse settings

  3. Disable Fuse Settings:
    • Fuse settings needs to be disabled for the bootloader which will be boot-loaded as the fuse settings are supposed to be programmed through programming tool
    • Also the fuse settings are not programmable through firmware
    • Enabling the fuse settings also increases the size of the binary when generated through the hex file

    btl_can_fail_safe_config_fuse_setting

  4. Regenrate the project

  5. Specifing post build option to automatically generate the binary file from hex file once the build is complete

     ${MP_CC_DIR}/xc32-objcopy -I ihex -O binary ${DISTDIR}/${PROJECTNAME}.${IMAGE_TYPE}.hex ${DISTDIR}/${PROJECTNAME}.${IMAGE_TYPE}.bin

    btl_can_fail_safe_post_build_script

  6. Build the bootloader project to generate the bootloader binary (Do not program the binary)

  7. Build the sample application test_app (or any other application configured to bootload) using IDE to generate the application binary (Do not program the binary)

  8. On a Windows machine, open the command prompt

  9. Run the btl_app_merge_bin.py utiliy from command prompt to merge the generated Bootloader binary and test application binary. Below output should be displayed on command prompt
python <harmony3_path>/bootloader/tools/btl_app_merge_bin.py -o 0x2000 -b <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_can/apps/can_fail_safe_bootloader/bootloader/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X/dist/sam_e54_xpro/production/sam_e54_xpro.X.production.bin -a <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_can/apps/can_fail_safe_bootloader/test_app/firmware/sam_e54_xpro.X/dist/sam_e54_xpro/production/sam_e54_xpro.X.production.bin

btl_can_fail_safe_app_merger_console

  1. Run btl_bin_to_c_array utility to convert the generated merged binary btl_app_merged.bin to a header file containing the image data in a C style array
    • The merged binary will be created in the directory from where the script was called
python <harmony3_path>/bootloader/tools/btl_bin_to_c_array.py -b <Path_to_merged_binary>/btl_app_merged.bin -o <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_can/apps/can_fail_safe_bootloader/host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro_bootloader_app_merged.h -d same5x
  1. Once done repeat the applicable steps mentioned in Running The Application


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