Bricking and Recovering FRDM-KL25Z Boards: Reset, SWD Clock and Low Power

I’m working with a student on building a small autonomous robot platform, based on the FRDM-KL25Z board. We integrated new software modules, compiled and linked, and then downloaded the application to the board. While debugging and stepping through the application startup, I had this:

The Debugger has lost communication on connection

The Debugger has lost communication on connection

Outsch! That’s not good. Even worse, trying to connect again to the board failed :-(. What happened?

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Tutorial: Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield – Part 2: Timed Servo Moves

You have decided: More than 52% voted in Part 1 that the next topic should be Timed Servo Moves. So here we go :-).

This is about how to move the servos over time, instead of moving it to the given position as fast as possible. I’m using a linear approach here: moving the servos linearly over time.

Moving Servo Motors

Moving Servo Motors

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Tutorial: Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield – Part 1: Servos

This post starts a small (or larger?) series of tutorials using the Arduino Motor/Stepper/Servo Shield with the FRDM-KL25Z board. That motor shield is probably one of the most versatile on the market, and features 2 servo and 4 motor connectors for DC or stepper motors. That makes it a great shield for any robotic project :-).

Arduino Motor Stepper Servo Shield with FRDM-KL25Z

Arduino Motor Stepper Servo Shield with FRDM-KL25Z

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Freedom Board with Segger OpenSDA Debug Firmware

Looks like there is some movement on the ‘OpenSDA Front’: After CodeRed has released their RedProbe OpenSDA firmware, now Segger has released an OpenSDA firmware.

With this, I get a low-cost debugging solution similar to the well-known J-Link run control devices. The OpenSDA Segger Firmware is something like a J-Link-lite.

FRDM-KL25Z with Segger OpenSDA Debug Firmware

FRDM-KL25Z with Segger OpenSDA Debug Firmware

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Freedom Track Robot with IEEE802.15.4/SMAC

My other robots based on the FRDM-KL25Z use Bluetooth as connectivity. This one is using a Freescale IEEE802.15.4/ZigBee/SMAC module:

Robot with SRB MC13213 Board

Robot with SRB MC13213 Board as Remote Controller

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Adding/Removing Floating Point Format for S08 Projects

Usually I do *not* use floating point numbers in my projects. For this, I select ‘None’ during the project creation in CodeWarrior for MCU:

No Floating Point Selected

No Floating Point Selected

But what if I need to change my mind later? How to change such a ‘no-floating-point-needed’ project to one with floating point format support?

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Adding USBDM to CodeWarrior for MCU10.4

If you are following my recent posts, then you know I started using USBDM on OpenSDA as an alternative run control solution. Now with the advent of MCU10.4, the question is: how to use USBDM with it, because the USBDM installer obviously only knows the version up to MCU10.3?

USBDM 4.10.4a Installer

USBDM 4.10.4a Installer

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Can MCU10.4 recover a bricked OpenSDA Freedom Board?

Ok, this one might not work for everyone. And maybe I’m seeing a ghost. But a nice and real one, at least for me :-). It seems that with the new CodeWarrior for MCU10.4 installation I was able to recover a bricked OpenSDA FRDM-KL25Z board 😯

Recovered OpenSDA Board

Recovered OpenSDA Board

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Switching Processor Package – Simplified in MCU10.4

I continue to uncover new things in CodeWarrior in MCU10.4 :-). Remember my post “Switching Processor Package in Processor Expert” about the steps needed to switch from one microcontroller package to another? Although that’s not something I need to do on a daily base, this process is simplified in the new version 10.4 🙂

Select Package

Select Package

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USB CDC with the FRDM-K20D50M

Good news for everyone owning the FRDM-K20D50M board: I have extended the FSL_USB_Stack with USB CDC device class support for the K20D50M :-).

USB CDC Test Application with the FRDM-K20D50M

USB CDC Test Application with the FRDM-K20D50M

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