Tag Archives: software project

Eclipse Command Line Code Generation with Processor Expert

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Eclipse based IDE’s have typically one limitation: the IDE has not much scripting capabilities. Yes, I can use things like JUnit for testing, but if it comes to build and debug C/C++ applications, then support gets really rare. An exception to this is CodeWarrior for MCU which features a command line version of the IDE which can be used for test automation as I used it in one of my tutorials. What I missed so far is to have a command line interface for Processor Expert to generate code. This is now possible with CodeWarrior for MCU10.5 :-).

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Tutorial: Using the FRDM-KL25Z as Low Power Board

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The FRDM-KL25Z is a great board: inexpensive (around US$15), small form factor, has easily accessible pins, and has a low power (capable, at least) microcontroller, and comes with an embedded debugging interface. So why not using this board right away ‘as is’ for a low power battery operated device? Great idea, you think? Yes, I thought too. Only to find out that the board needs 20 mA out of the box.

The good news is: It is possible on a week-end to get this 150 times better down to 132 μA, with an RTOS running all the time :-). I invite you to join a journey with board modifications, jumpers, schematics and many multi-meter pictures ;-)….

132 micro amps

132 micro amps!

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How to Avoid Slow Processor Expert Projects

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The Eclipse IDE is in my view the best IDE in the world :-). But it is not the fastest one: All the functionality and comfort has a price, and such a Java and highly flexible IDE requires its resources. The Eclipse community is continuously addressing that concern, and for example the Eclipse Juno 4.2 IDE in CodeWarrior for MCU10.5 shows this nicely: things are much smoother compared to the Eclipse Indigo 3.7 in MCU10.4. But if you feel that you do not want to use Processor Expert because it is too slow, then I have a trick how to improve performance by a factor of 10 :-).

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Link Order: Using Multiple Definitions with ARM GNU Linker and Eclipse

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Sometimes I have ‘multiple definitions’ in my projects: this means that I have functions defined in one source files, and I need to ‘overwrite’ one or more with a version in another source file.  For example I have a source file with utility functions (Utility.c), and I want to overwrite some of these functions with a different implementation in a different file (MyUtility.c). How can I do this?

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Optimized BitIO_LDD Programming with Processor Expert

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In my tutorial “Bits and Pins with Kinetis” I showed how to use the BitIO_LDD approach for Bit I/O access. I do not like this LDD (logical device driver) approach for several reasons:

  1. It requires an extra ‘device handle’ passed to the functions, even if such a device handle is not needed or desired.
  2. The code efficiency/size is negatively impacted by this.

Luckily, there is a way to hack around this 🙂

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Zumo Robot Chassis PCB arrived!

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Excellent news: I received this week the 40 INTRO Zumo Robot Base/Chassis PCBs, ready to bring the Zumo Robot project based on the FRDM-KL25Z board from Freescale to the next level:

Intro Zumo PCB TopSide

Intro Zumo PCB TopSide

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Mini Sumo Robot with Proximity Sensors

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The new semester is approaching fast! And I’m under pressure to get everything lined up and ready. This time, I want the students of the INTRO (Infotronic) course at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts to have some fun with building and programming Mini-Sumo Robots 🙂

Opponent View

No chance to escape!

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Mini Sumo Robot Competition running with FRDM-KL25Z

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Rigi Schwinget (Roman Koch) (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turnerundsennenschwinger.jpg)

Rigi Schwinget (Picture: Roman Koch)

Every three years, there is the “Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest” in Switzerland. A really big thing for us here. If you are not familiar with what this is, then have a read about the long tradition of  Schwingen in Switzerland.

Wondering what “Schwingen” or wrestling has to do with a technology blog? It is about having fun with robots!

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Optimized FreeRTOS: Stack Check and SysTick for ARM Cortex Cores

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The ARM Cortex specification includes the ‘SysTick’ (System Tick Timer): a dedicated system timer which is intended to be used as time base for an RTOS. While technically it would be possible to use any periodic interrupt timer, I’m using as well the SysTick for my FreeRTOS ARM ports. And because Processor Expert includes a nice timer interface, I’m using the TimerUnit_LDD:

TimerUnit LDD for SysTick

TimerUnit LDD for SysTick

While this is great for flexibility, it has its price in efficiency. That TimerUnit_LDD adds overhead. So I want to get rid of the TimerUnit_LDD and use a more efficient way.

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USB for the Freescale ARM Kinetis KL46Z and K21D50M

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As I was so pleased with the FRDM-KL46Z board, that I have ordered the Tower version of it, the TWR-KL46Z48M:

FRDM-KL46Z with TWR-KL46Z48M

FRDM-KL46Z with TWR-KL46Z48M

What I missed so far was USB support for the KL46Z. So time to have a quick look at board(s) and to add USB support for it.

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