1.2.1 SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit: 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.

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
  • 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 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 (e.g., 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 the user 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
  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 the user should see below 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:
  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
    • 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.
    • The user should see other Bank in console displayed compared to first run

Additional Steps (Optional)

Generating Hex Image Pattern for an Application to Be Bootloaded

  1. To bootload any application other than host_app_nvm/firmware/src/test_app_images/image_pattern_hex_sam_e54_xpro.h, refer to the 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
  4. Once done, repeat the applicable steps mentioned in Running the Application.

Generating Hex Image Pattern for Combined Bootloader and Application Binary

  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
    • 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
  4. Regenerate the project.
  5. Specifying 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
  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 utility 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
  10. 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
  11. Once done, repeat the applicable steps mentioned in Running the Application.