Tag Archives: technology

Enable Secure Communication with TLS and the Mosquitto Broker

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MQTT is a lightweight  and broadly used internet protocol (see “MQTT with lwip and NXP FRDM-K64F Board“). And probably the majority of IoT applications today are using Mosquitto as server (or ‘broker’ in MQTT language). By default, Mosquitto is using a protocol without encryption. In “Introduction to Security and TLS (Transport Layer Security)” I have covered the basics and needs for encryption. This article is about how to enable Mosquitto and clients to use the TLS protocol.

TLS Handshaking with certificates and keys

TLS Handshaking with certificates and keys

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MQTT with lwip and NXP FRDM-K64F Board

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In the area of IoT (Internet of Things), one obvious need is to have a way to send and receive data with an internet protocol. MQTT (or Message Queue Telemetry Transport) is exactly like that: a light-weight Machine-to-Machine communication protocol. With the MQTT protocol a microcontroller (or ‘client’) can send data and/or subscribe to data. For example to the Adafruit.IO:

Adafruit MQTT IO Feed

Adafruit MQTT IO Feed

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MCUXpresso IDE: Installing Processor Expert into Eclipse Neon

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In “MCUXpresso IDE: Importing Kinetis Design Studio Projects” I explained how Kinetis Design Studio projects can be imported and used inside the MCUXpresso IDE. Processor Expert projects can be used, but no new components added, modified or new Processor Expert projects created. To fully use Processor Expert, two plugins need to installed, and this is what this article is about.

Processor Expert in MCUXpresso IDE

Processor Expert in MCUXpresso IDE

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Automatically Refresh Eclipse Projects before Build

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The Eclipse CDT build system automatically scans the files in my project folders and adds them to the list of files to be built. That works great if files are added through Eclipse and its plugins: That way Eclipse is notified and aware, and has the files added. But what if I have added files externally (outside of Eclipse)? how can I make Eclipse aware of it?

File added but not shown

File added but not shown in Eclipse Project View

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MCUXpresso IDE: Importing Kinetis Design Studio Projects

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Many of my currently active projects are using Kinetis Design Studio (KDS) V3.2.0 from NXP (I have published many of my projects on GitHub). Now with the advent of the MCUXpresso IDE (see “MCUXpresso IDE: Unified Eclipse IDE for NXPs ARM Cortex-M Microcontrollers“), I have migrated several projects from KDS to MCUXpresso. This post is about how to easily get KDS projects ported and running in MCUXpresso IDE.

Debugging KDS Project in MCUXpresso IDE

Debugging KDS Project in MCUXpresso IDE

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The Influence of Software and Tools on ARM Cortex-M Microcontroller Vendor Selection

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For me, the available software and tools are the primary key decision factor why I select a particular silicon vendor. Without good software and tools, a microcontroller only ‘sand in plastic case’, even if it is the best microcontroller in the world. I do have several probably excellent microcontroller boards, and they are only getting touched by more durst over the months and years.

Undusted LPC824 Board

Undusted LPC824 Board

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MCUXpresso IDE: Adding the Eclipse Marketplace Client

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One great thing with Eclipse compared to proprietary IDEs are the thousands of available plugins. Yes, not every plugin is probably on the ‘must have’ list (I have listed some in a series starting with “5 Best Eclipse Plugins: #1 (Eclox with Doxygen, Graphviz and Mscgen)“).

The ‘traditional’ approach to install Eclipse plugins is using the menu Help > Install New Software. Using that approach, I have to use or enter an Eclipse update site. An easier way is to use the Eclipse Marketplace plugin which allows me to search and browse for plugins and simplifies installation of it. But as this one does not come installed by default with MCUXpresso. But it is my preferred way to browse and install plugins into Eclipse:

Eclipse Marketplace under Eclipse Neon and MCUXpresso IDE

Eclipse Marketplace under Eclipse Neon and MCUXpresso IDE

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MCUXpresso IDE: S-Record, Intel Hex and Binary Files

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This is another article about the NXP MCUXpresso IDE (see “MCUXPresso IDE: Unified Eclipse IDE for NXPs ARM Cortex-M Microcontrollers“), this time it is about Post-build steps. Post-build steps are custom actions which can be executed after the build (or link phase), and are typically used to generate S-Record, Binary or Intel Hex files (see “S-Record, Intel Hex and Binary Files“).

Post Build Steps Details

Post Build Steps Details

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MCUXpresso IDE: Unified Eclipse IDE for NXPs ARM Cortex-M Microcontrollers

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There are many mergers going on in the industry, and one of the largest one was in 2016 the integration of Freescale Semiconductor with NXP Semiconductors, with both providing Eclipse based IDE’s to their customer base. Consequently, the company merger triggered a merger of the IDE’s, and last week NXP has released the result: the MCUXpresso IDE.

MCUXpresso IDE

MCUXpresso IDE

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Simulating Space on Earth: Irradiation Tests at the Paul Scherrer Institute

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Space is a hostile environment. Sending hardware to space means putting it under irradiation tests: exposing the object to radiation and see what happens :-). For this, under the lead of the ETHZ (Mathematical and Physical Geodesy), we had the opportunity to put the CubETH payload board under a proton beam. The test facility is at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland:

Control Room at PSI

Control Room at PSI

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