1.2.5 PIC32MZ Embedded Connectivity With FPU (EF) Starter Kit: Building and Running the UART 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/uart_fail_safe_bootloader/.

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

Setting Up PIC32MZ Embedded Connectivity With FPU (EF) Starter Kit

  • Connect a mini USB cable to the UART-USB port J11
  • For programming, connect a mini USB cable to the USB Debug port J3

Setting Up the Host Script

Running the Application

  1. Open the test application project test_app/firmware/pic32mz_ef_sk.X in the IDE.

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

  3. Open the bootloader project bootloader/firmware/pic32mz_ef_sk.X in the IDE.

  4. Build and program the application using the IDE.

  5. Run the btl_host.py from command prompt to program the test application binary to opposite panel.

     python <harmony3_path>/bootloader/tools/btl_host.py -v -s -i <COM PORT> -d pic32mz -a 0x9D100000 -f <harmony3_path>/bootloader_apps_uart/apps/uart_fail_safe_bootloader/test_app/firmware/pic32mz_ef_sk.X/dist/pic32mz_ef_sk/production/pic32mz_ef_sk.X.production.bin

  6. Following figure shows output of successfully programming the test application.

    • Swapping Bank And Rebooting and Reboot Done messages in below output signifies that bootloading is successful

  7. If above step is successful then the LED3 should start blinking.

  8. Open the Terminal application (e.g., Tera Term) on the computer.

  9. Configure the serial port settings as follows:

    • Baud: 115200
    • Data: 8 Bits
    • Parity: None
    • Stop: 1 Bit
    • Flow Control: None

  10. Reset or Power cycle the device.

  11. LED3 should start blinking and the user should see below output on the console.

    • The Program Flash Bank can be BANK 1 or BANK 2 based on from where the program is running

  12. Press and hold the Switch SW1 to trigger Bootloader from test application to program firmware in other bank and the user should see below output.

  13. Repeat Steps 5-11 once.

    • This step is to verify that bootloader is running after triggering bootloader from test application in Step 12
    • To program the new firmware in opposite bank
    • The user should see other Bank in console displayed compared to first run