15.1.5 Programmer Settings and Operations

FlashPro Express supports programming Microchip® FPGAs by connecting multiple programmers to your computer. Additionally, you can program Microchip FPGAs over a network without requiring the programmer hardware to be physically connected to your local computer. When a programmer is connected to a remote machine, you can reserve and use it from your local machine as if it were attached locally.

All of the operations described later in this topic — Programmer Settings, Ping Programmers, Performing a Self-Test, Scanning and Checking a Chain, Enabling and Disabling Programmers, Renaming a Programmer, Removing a Programmer, Selecting and Running an Action — apply to remote programmers in the same way they apply to locally connected programmers.

You can open the Programmer Settings dialog box for any programmer, whether connected locally or to a remote Host. To view the Programmer Settings dialog box, in the FlashPro Express window, expand Configure Hardware, double click Configure Programmer or right click Configure Programmer and choose Programmer Settings. When you change settings for a remote programmer, FlashPro Express forwards the change to the remote Host before the next operation runs.

For the JTAG interface, you can set specific voltage and force TCK frequency values for your programmer in this dialog box. For the SPI Target interface, you can force SCK frequency values for your programmer. SPI Target mode is supported by FlashPro5 for SmartFusion 2 and IGLOO 2 devices, and by FlashPro6 for SmartFusion 2, IGLOO 2, and PolarFire devices. SPI Target mode is not supported for RTG4 devices. JTAG is the default interface.

The Programmer Settings dialog box includes options for FlashPro6/5/4/3/3X. Limitations of the TCK frequency for the selected programmer are:

• FlashPro6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 MHz
• FlashPro5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30 MHz
• FlashPro4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 MHz
• FlashPro3/3X: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 MHz TCK frequency limits by target device (refer to the target device data sheet)

During execution, the frequency set by the FREQUENCY statement in the PDB/STAPL file overrides the TCK frequency settings you select in the Programmer Settings dialog box, unless you also select the Force TCK Frequency check box.

Limitation of the SCK frequency for the selected programmer are: 1.00, 2.00, 2.50, 3.33, 4.00, 5.00, 6.67, 8.00, 10.00, 13.33, and 20.00 MHz

Use Ping to confirm that FlashPro Express can still communicate with a programmer before you run a Self-Test, Scan and Check Chain, or a programming action. Ping queries only the programmer hardware, the FlashPro5/4/3/3X unit itself and does not access the target device on the JTAG chain and does not modify anything.

Right-click a programmer, whether connected locally or to a remote machine and choose Ping. Ping behaves the same way for both: for a remote programmer, FlashPro Express forwards the request to the remote Host and displays the result in the log. A successful ping means the programmer is powered, connected, and responsive; a failure points to a USB, driver, power, or (for a remote programmer) network or Host issue rather than a problem with the job file or the chain.

Use Self Test to verify that the programmer hardware itself is operating correctly before you rely on it for a real programming run. Self-test exercises the programmer against the small self-test board that ships with it: the programmer drives its JTAG signals and voltage rails into that known-good reference target and reads back a canned sequence, then reports pass or fail in the log. Self-test does not touch the user's target board and does not modify the design.

Run a self-test when you see intermittent programming errors, unexplained chain errors across multiple boards, after a firmware update, or as a periodic check before a long programming run — a pass result rules out the programmer as the source of the issue.

Before performing a self-test, connect the programmer to the self-test board that came with your programmer. For a remote programmer, attach the self-test board to the remote Host, where the programmer is physically connected. Then right-click the programmer you want to self-test, whether local or remote and choose Self Test. The result is displayed in the log; for a remote programmer, FlashPro Express forwards the request to the remote Host and displays the result returned by that Host.

Use Scan and Check Chain to confirm that the JTAG chain on the target board matches the chain configured in the loaded job project before you run a programming action. The programmer walks the JTAG chain, reads the IDCODE of every device in turn, and returns the list of devices found and their order. FlashPro Express then compares what it found against the expected chain (device types, count, and order) and reports pass if they match or fail with specifics (for example, wrong IDCODE, missing device, extra device, wrong order, or an open or short on TDI or TDO) if they do not. The operation is read-only; it does not erase, program, or modify the target device. Run it to verify that the board is wired and powered correctly, to confirm the right job project is loaded for the board in front of you, and to diagnose chain errors before they waste programming time.

The scan chain operation scans and analyzes the JTAG chain connected to the programmers you selected, whether local or remote and checks that the scanned chain matches the chain configured in FlashPro Express. For a remote programmer, the JTAG chain being scanned is the one physically attached to the remote Host; the scan runs on that Host and the result is reported back to your client.

To scan a chain, right-click the programmer you want to scan and choose Scan and Check Chain.

Use the check box next to each programmer in the Programmer column to control whether that programmer is included the next time you click RUN on a programming action. A checked (enabled) programmer is included in the run; an unchecked (disabled) programmer is skipped.

The programmer stays in the list either way. Disabling a programmer is therefore different from removing it: disable when you want to temporarily exclude a unit from a batch programming run (for example, to skip a failing programmer while you troubleshoot, or to program only a subset of the connected programmers in the current run) without losing its configuration; remove when you no longer want the programmer in the session at all.

After loading a job project, whether the programmer is attached to your local computer or to a remote machine, you can check the check box next to a programmer in the Programmer column to enable the programmer or uncheck the check box to disable the programmer. These actions are also available in the right-click menu for each programmer in the programmer column.

For any programmer, the check box controls only the enable/disable state; it does not release the reservation. A disabled programmer remains reserved under your name and is unavailable to other users. To release the reservation and make the programmer available to other users, use Reserve/Release in the programmer's configuration menu.

By default, the programmer name is the same as the programmer ID (the serial-number-style identifier burned into the FlashPro unit). The new name is a display label only and is useful when several programmers are connected at once. The rename does not change the programmer's hardware ID, and it is saved with the current job project, so the label is restored the next time you open the same project.

Enter a new programmer name in the Programmer window to rename the programmer. For a remote programmer, the rename is stored in your client application and does not change the programmer name on the remote Host.

Remove a programmer to take it out of the FlashPro Express programmer list for the current session. When you remove a programmer, FlashPro Express drops it from the programmer list and discards its per-project settings, such as its custom name, TCK frequency override, and enable/disable state.

Remove does not power off, disconnect, or otherwise affect the programmer hardware itself; the physical programmer stays connected, and if you click Refresh/Rescan for Programmers afterward the programmer reappears in the list with default settings. Remove is therefore different from disable. Disable keeps the programmer in the list and preserves its settings but skips it on the next run, while remove takes it out of the list entirely and releases the programmer reserved by you. Use remove when you no longer want the programmer in the session — for example, after physically unplugging a unit, or when swapping the set of programmers managed by the current project.

To remove a programmer, right-click the programmer and choose Remove.

Use a programming action to run an operation against the target device on the JTAG chain, the FPGA itself , as opposed to the programmer-level operations described earlier in this topic (Ping, Self Test, and Scan and check chain), which exercise only the programmer hardware. You select the action once from the Programming Action drop-down and then click RUN. FlashPro Express executes that action on every enabled programmer in the list, applies it to each device in the chain whose device die matches the device specified in the project's job file, and writes progress and results to the log for each programmer. The drop-down lists only the actions that are valid for the devices in the loaded job project, so the set of available actions can vary from project to project.

FlashPro Express runs programming actions on the machine where the selected programmer is physically connected: for a local programmer, the action runs on your local machine; for a remote programmer, the action runs on the remote machine, and progress and results are reported back to your client.

FlashPro Express supports the following programming actions:

• DEVICE_INFO: This action queries the device and gets the information about type and family of device, information about design programmed on the device (if any), the number of times the device has been programmed, information about security settings and prints out digests of various components/segments.
  Attention: If the erase operation is interrupted for any reason, the cycle count value is lost. However, the device can still be programmed.
• ENC_DATA_AUTHENTICATION: This is visible when each device in the chain contains encrypted bit stream files. Selecting this action checks each bit stream file for authentication.
• ERASE: Erases the programmable fabric and configuration memory on the device, returning it to a blank state. Run ERASE before reprogramming a device with a new design when the job project does not already chain an erase into the PROGRAM action.
• PROGRAM: This action programs the bitstream file on the device. The resulting programming log contains information about component digests that are generated while programming the bitstream file as well as digests that are read out from device after the bitstream has been programmed. The log also contains the entire bitstream digest that has been precalculated during bitstream file generation.
  Attention: The component digests printed during programming differ in value and count from the digests that are read out from the device.
• READ_IDCODE: Reads the JTAG IDCODE of the device and prints it to the log. READ_IDCODE targets the specific device in the chain covered by the job project; it is a lightweight identity check and is narrower than Scan and check chain, which walks the full JTAG chain and validates it against the configured chain.
• VERIFY: Reads back the device contents and compares them against the bitstream file without reprogramming. Use VERIFY to confirm that a previously programmed device still matches the expected bitstream, for example during an incoming-inspection or periodic audit workflow.

To select a programming action, select an action from the Programming Action drop-down menu in FlashPro Express, as shown in the following figure.