Category Archives: CPU’s

SMAC with Processor Expert

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Freescale offers a free wireless SMAC stack  for their ZigBee and IEEE802.15.4 transceivers as found in the MC1321x (SRB and NCB) wireless kits, or as used on the MC13201 daughter card. The ‘S’ in SMAC stands for ‘Simple’. But it is not that simple to use that stack. So that’s why I’m using it transformed into a Processor Expert components. I have received recently requests and questions about it, and finally it is available on this site. If you are wondering for what it can be used, then read this post.

Created Tower Radio Card with MC13201 daughter board, SD card and Realtime Clock

Created Tower Radio Card with MC13201 daughter board, SD card and Realtime Clock

The stack is using the Freescale SMAC stack as base, and consists of four components: MC13192, SSEC, SPHY and SMAC. This post provides hopefully an entry point how to use them.

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Changing the CPU with Processor Expert

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I have an example project with Processor Expert and CodeWarrior. The problem I have is that I want to use it for another CPU derivative. So how can I migrate the project?

There are three different approaches:

  1. Change Wizard: In MCU10.2 there is the menu Project > Change Device/Connection. While this sounds promising, it only works for the very simple projects. And it does not change the project in-place: it simply creates a copy of the project and applies some (many times wrong) settings. So I do not recommend to use that option.
  2. New Project Wizard: For me in most cases this is the best way: this creates a new project for the new device, with everything set up correctly. In a second step I copy my source files and compiler settings (if I have changed them). The Processor Expert component I can transfer with using drag&drop.
  3. Changing the CPU: With Processor Expert, I can change the CPU. For this I add a new CPU to the project and change other settings (debugger, build tools settings) as needed.

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Sports Timing System in a Lunch Box

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The 2012 London Olympics are over. And I had my own special sports event last weekend. Although not part of the Olympics, it is part of the Switzerland Central Mountain Race Championship. This is a series of mountain running challenges. And no, I did not run the race. I love the mountains, and I love hiking in the mountains, but this is definitely for the greatest athletes. Instead to run the race, I have chosen to implement and run the timing system :-).

Athletes approaching the finish line

Athletes approaching the finish line

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Tutorial: Timer (LED) with Processor Expert for Kinetis

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In the ‘Pre-LDD age’, setting up a periodic timer event with Processor was really easy. With the concept of LED’s (see “There is a Time and Date for both Worlds”) things are a bit different. But once things are clear, it is not that hard. So here I’m doing a very exciting thing: blinking an LED using a timer! 😎

So I’m going to have an LED blinking every second. I’m using the TWR-K60N512 with an ARM Cortex-M4 and the Eclipse based CodeWarrior for MCU10.2. But it is easy to adopt it to any other Kinetis board.

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Eclipse Debugging with Strings – Part 2

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Maybe a better title for this post would be “Eclipse Debugging with Strings Attached’? Digging a bit more into the domain of string debugging, things are not always the way I wish they are.

I’m using here CodeWarrior for MCU10.2, which is based on Eclipse 3.6. Let’s use the following piece of code with the ARM Cortex-M4 Kinetis K60 core and the Freescale ARM compiler:

char buf[] = "abcd";
char *p = &buf[0];

unsigned char ubuf[]="ABCD";
unsigned char *up = &ubuf[0];

signed char sbuf[]="1234";
signed char *sp = &sbuf[0];

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Please Check Your License

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The good thing with many vendors is: they offer development tools free of charge. And the limitations are typically reasonable for many projects. The Eclipse based CodeWarrior for MCU10 is not an exception: it comes in a free (‘Special’) Edition which allows up to 128 KByte of code to download for my ARM/Kinetis projects.

But, when I tried to debug an Example I have downloaded from the web, I get this dialog:

“Download size limit has been exceeded. Please check your license.”

Download Size Limit Has Been Exceeded

Download Size Limit Has Been Exceeded

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A Shell for the Freedom KL25Z Board

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I’m a big fan of physical UART/RS-232 ports on boards. So I was somewhat disappointed not to see a serial 9pin connector on the Freedom KL25Z board. But it is perfectly understood that for this price costs are critical, and a serial header or connector is pushing the budget for that board very likely out of the water. Still, I want serial connectivity for my applications.

Freedom Board with RGB LED

Freedom Board with RGB LED

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Virtual COM/USB CDC for OSBDM/OSJTAG

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Many new notebooks do not have a serial port any more: everything is USB. This can lead to problems (see USB or not: CDC with Processor Expert) as many embedded targets  use normal RS-232. In my classes I’m using the Tower boards: some Tower boards have an on-board 2 pin RS-232 header, e.g. the Tower TWR-MCF52259. Others like the TWR-K60N512 use the added TWR-SER board. The Tower boards have as well a USB capable S08JM60 which is used for debugging (OSBDM/OSJTAG), so why not using the OSBDM microcontroller as Serial-to-USB gateway?

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Standalone Flash Programmer

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In Scripting, the Debugger Shell and Debugger Shell: Test Automation I was exploring how to use the Debugger Shell for automation. For my lectures at the university I need to program multiple boards with the same application. I don’t want (and need) a debugger for this: all what I need is a ‘Standalone Flash Programmer’: the ability to flash one or multiple boards without debugging.

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FatFs with Kinetis

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An SD (Secure Digital) Card interface is kind of standard for many applications today: it provides a lot of memory at a reasonable cost. Still, I need a software stack for it, up to the level of a file system. So far I was really happy with using FatFs: an open source FAT file system provided by Elm-Chan. I’m using the FatFs Processor Expert component already in multiple designs. What was missing: a port to the Freescale Kinetis ARM Cortex-M4 family of processors.

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