Tutorial: DIY Kinetis SDK Project with Eclipse – Startup

This is the start of a multi-post tutorial about the Freescale Kinetis SDK, released back in April as beta version. The SDK a set of peripheral drivers, and will become the standard software foundation and drivers provided by Freescale for their ARM Cortex based devices. Similar what other vendors already do. While this is a good step, it is the same time very disruptive for my university projects with new Freescale Cortex-M devices. And with everything new (and beta), it needs time to learn. So this post is about creating a Do-It-Yourself Kinetis SDK project from scratch for Eclipse. This part is about the startup code: about everything to get the application started.

FRDM-K64F with SD, nRF24L01+ and HC-06 Bluetooth

FRDM-K64F with SD, nRF24L01+ and HC-06 Bluetooth

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Combining GPS Data Logger with Google Earth

So I have now a portable GPS data logger (see “Tutorial: Freedom Board with Adafruit Ultimate GPS Data Logger Shield“). What to do with it? It would be cool to see the data and tracks in Google Earth? Yes, that’s doable in a few steps…

GPS Logger Waypoint Data with Googl Earth Street View

GPS Logger Waypoint Data with Google Earth Street View: Riding through Schwyz towards the Mythen Mountain peaks

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Configuration Data: Using the Internal FLASH instead of an external EEPROM

Many applications need to store persistent (non-volatile) data at runtime: configuration data, error logs, sensor data, calibration values, etc. The question is: where to store that data? If it is only a few kBytes, an SD card or similar is an overkill. Adding an external EEPROM? Sure, that works, but adds an extra part to the design. Some microcontroller have internal EEPROM. But what if not? Why not using the microprocessor internal flash memory?

Internal FLASH vs. external EEPROM

Internal FLASH vs. external EEPROM

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Tutorial: Freedom Board with Adafruit Ultimate GPS Data Logger Shield

Many times I start with a project and tutorial, only to get interrupted for emergency tasks and assignments. For a long time I wanted to add GPS (Global Positioning System) functionality to one of my projects. While I started a few months ago on this, it took me until this week-end to finish the at least the first part: a SD card data logger with GPS :-): I calculate global positioning and time information, can use it in Google maps and store it on a SD card:

Adafruit GPS Data Logger Shield on a FRDM-KL25Z Board

Adafruit GPS Data Logger Shield on a FRDM-KL25Z Board

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Tutorial: Data Logger with the FRDM-K64F Board

The Freescale FRDM-K64F is a great board for data logger applications: it has a powerful ARM Cortex M4F with 120 MHz, 1 MB Flash and 256 KByte RAM. Best of all: it already has a micro SD card socket on the board :-).

Data Logger with FRDM-K64F

Data Logger with FRDM-K64F

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Joystick Shield with nRF24L01 driving a Zumo Robot

With the Joystick shield I have a convenient way to drive and control a Zumo Robot without a wired connection:

Joystick Shield with Robot

Joystick Shield with Robot

While things started promising, there was a power supply problem at the end to be solved…

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Segger J-Link Firmware for OpenSDAv2

Segger just has released their OpenSDAv2 firmware. The OpenSDAv2 firmware is different from the OpenSDAv1 as it is using a different memory map and bootloader. The OpenSDAv2 e.g. is present on the new FRDM-K64F board. The availability of the Segger firmware is definitely good news for any owner of the FRDM-K64F board: so far only the CMSIS-DAP firmware was available (on top of the mbed bootloader). With this, it was not possible to use the board with CodeWarrior, except with using an external P&E Multilink or Segger J-Link. With that new Segger J-Link OpenSDAv2 firmware, I can now use the FRDM-K64F with any IDE which supports the Segger J-Link :-).

FRDM-K64F with Segger OpenSDAv2 Firmware

FRDM-K64F with Segger OpenSDAv2 Firmware

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