Category Archives: Boards

Posts around specific boards

Creating custom Expansion Board and Header for the MCUXpresso Pins Tool

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The MCUXpresso Pins Tool is part of the NXP configuration suite which makes pin assignments, configuration and muxing easy. What I have somehow missed from one of the latest updates and releases is that it allows me now to add my own custom headers definition. Not only the tool is now aware of the ‘standard’ Arduino headers, but I can add my own headers too. This can be useful for providers of breakout boards or any kind of board which can be added to a MCU board. In my case it is very useful for projects where we design our own (breadboard-friendly) board or a custom board with an expansion board: we can design a board header and use it in other projects.

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Resurrecting ‘bricked’ NXP Kinetis Devices

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Modern MCUs like the NXP Kinetis have security features which prevent reverse engineering, but can ‘brick’ devices too. Depending on the settings, it prevents read-out from the FLASH or reprogramming the device. While some of the protection is (mostly) not by-passable by design, in many case the devices looks like ‘bricked’ but still can be recovered. In this article I’ll get you some ways for a (hopefully) successful recovery.

J-Link EDU Mini recovering a tinyK22 with needle adapter
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Debugging the LPC804 on the MCU-Link Pro with an external Debug Probe

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The NXP MCU-Link Pro debug probe includes a LPC804 as an additional microcontroller on the board, including its debug header.

MCU-Link Pro Debug Probe Board

The question is: how to debug the on-board extra LPC804 microcontroller with an external debug probe?

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GNU Coverage (gcov) with NXP S32 Design Studio IDE

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The open-source GNU tools provide a rich set of tools to help developing software. Some are clearly more for the high-end application development. But many of the tools are applicable for the more restricted embedded software development process as well. One is gcov, or the GNU Coverage Tool. Coverage is essential for the testing phase, as it tells you what part of code have been used and ‘covered’. This article describes how GNU coverage can be added the NXP S32 Design Studio IDE.

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Recovering bricked LPC55Sxx EVK Boards

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While developing applications, it can happen that things go wrong. And in my case I ended up with two LPC55Sxx EVK boards on my desk, which seemed not to be usable any more. The issue: the boards were not accessible with the debug probe, because right after main they muxed the pins in a wrong way :-(.

bricked board with set of debut probes

The standard GDB debug connections (both on-board and off-board) were not able to regain access of the board, because the MCU was running into the fault condition pretty much right out of reset.

Luckily, after a lot of trial-and-error, I have found a way to recover them.

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Silicon Shortage and Semihosting with NXP MCUXpresso SDK on FRDM-KE02Z

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The silicon shortage is still going on. While the NXP Kinetis KE devices might not be my first choice, they still seem to be available, in at least in lower quantities. This has been recognized by others, as I’m getting more and more questions and requests for the KE and KV family. This is why I un-dusted my old FRDM-KE02Z to be used with the latest MCUXpresso SDK and IDE.

FRDM-KE02Z Board

And in case you want to use that board or device with semihosting, I have you covered.

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MCUXpresso IDE 11.5.0

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I’m now in the middle of the university fall semester exam season with writing exams and grading student work, and the same time the new semester courses need to be prepared. With the global silicon and board shortage, this will be again a challenge to equip all the labs with the needed infrastructure. The good thing is that there is no shortage on software and tools side of the infrastructure: NXP released last week their new flagship Eclipse based IDE: the MCUXpresso IDE 11.5.0. Time to check it out for the upcoming lectures and classes….

NXP MCUXpresso IDE Version 11.5.0

Spoiler Alert: It has a new view for FreeRTOS lovers, plus new features for energy/power measurements!

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DIY Split-Flap Display

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Split-flap displays are electromechanical display devices, which were common in airports or railway stations a few years ago.Unfortunately, most of them are gone and replaced by LED displays. Why not create a DIY version of it?

2×10 Split-Flap Display
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LoRaWAN with NXP LPC55S16 and ARM Cortex-M33

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LoRaWAN is getting more an more popular, both for terrestrial and increasingly with low-orbit satellite systems. The ‘Long Range’ in ‘LoRa’ makes it an ideal solution for low-power and low data rate applications. For a university research project we selected the Semtech SX1261/62 transceiver together with the NXP LPC55S16 mikrocontroller. Because the board used for that project is not available for the public (yet), I share here how you can run the LoRaWAN stack with the NXP LPC55S16-EVK.

LoRaWAN with Semtech SX126x and NXP LPC55S16
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