Creating an IAP firmware update

Omer,

please take a look at this forum post, I believe it can be applied to your device with obvious modifications.

http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/tms320c2000_32-bit_real-time_mcus/f/171/t/75840.aspx

Regarding the RAM sizes, please make sure you look at the correct data sheet for your part number, whatever is mentioned in the data sheet should be the right value.

hope it helps.

Best Regards

Santosh

Hi Santosh,

The link you posted refers to a solution that uses a Serial boot loader.  I am trying to create an in-programmable flash feature.  I don't want to have to use a jumper to physically configure the controller to boot from serial.  Also regarding the memory, can you please tell me if using  0x3F8000 is a viable option.

Thanks,

Omer

Omer,

page 26 of device datasheet (http://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/tms320f2808) shows the memory map for 2808 device and it shows that 0x3f8000 is a valid RAM memory.

Yes, the post tells how to use serial boot loader to get the new (upgradable) application data to device. Which peripheral you plan on using?

Best Regards

Santosh

SCI-A

On Page 8 of the same user manual that you have linked, it says F2808 has 18K of SARAM, but the memory map as well as the brochure indicate 36k.  This is why I am confused.

Omer,

in the data sheet the size is mentioned in terms of 16 bit words...18KX16, does the brochure mention in terms of bytes?

Best Regards

Santosh

Yes it does, so 36KB is correct.  Thanks for confirming that for me. 

I am still not sure that the method I first posted is entirely correct, but meanwhile I tried to do some testing and ran into a little bit of trouble.

I tried writing to the RAM buffer starting at 0x3F8000 to see if it would pose any problems.

I added the following to the memory map:
RAM2 : origin = 0x3F8000, length = 0x004000   /* on-chip RAM */ 

In my program I added the following routine which seemed to work until I started using higher values for the loop counter.  After writing a bit over 100 words the debugger would halt in an illegal ISR routine.     The strange thing is that for some reason I now see random data in the memory range after 3F8000 when I remember last time I checked it was all 0xFFFF.  I don't see any reason why the compiler should be using that RAM according to the memory map.  Even the map file says its not being used.

P_Pointer = (Uint16 *)0x3F8000;

for(i=0;i<200;i++)
{
*P_Pointer = 0xABCD;
++P_Pointer;
}

Thanks,

Omer

Omer,

its very inlikely that RAM is corrupted on the device. Can you use debugger memory window and see if you can fill the memory with a pattern before you run your code?

from the code snippet you gave, I cannot tell if there is anything wrong with the code, did you step through the code to check if it is getting executed as expected or getting optimized in any wierd way. Also see if you can disable watchdog before you run the loop.

Best Regards

Santosh

I don't think the Ram is corrupted.  The memory is being filled but I believe I am stepping on some program memory, but I'm not sure how.  I will work on it more.

Either way, I still haven't received an answer about the IAP procedure.  It's very surprising there is no existing source code or application note for an in-application programming flash.  I would imagine a lot of people would like to upgrade their firmware through the serial port without physically moving a jumper?

Another question I have is instead of writing directly to the RAM with a pointer, can I allocate a fixed array in this memory region (L0-L1)?  Right now when I declare an array, it goes into the M0-M1 Ram, but I can't declare a large array because of the limited memory in that space.  I would like to use the L0-L1 RAM at 0x3F8000 instead so I can declare an array and not have to use a pointer.

Thanks,

Omer

The problem with the memory is that it's dual mapped.  I didn't know 0x3F8000 is the same memory  as 0x008000.  It should definitely say that on the datasheet memory map.

ok so the following will give me the proper allocation of the buffer to LO-L1-H0 memory:

#pragma DATA_SECTION(bufferName, "memorySectionName");

So any help on the IAP?

Omer,

I don't see a reason why IAP proceedure you put together wont work. There are third party solutions (SDFlash or C2000Prog) which does flash upgrade using serial port for C2000.

Did you see this app note :- http://www.ti.com/lit/an/spraaq2/spraaq2.pdf, what are your thoughts on this?

We don't have an example that demonstrates IAP proceedure you ask, but TI releases ROM sources that users can look at and understand how ROM loaders get the application to RAM. Users can re-use the ROM loaders or call back to ROM loaders to build thier own IAP.

Hope that helps

Best Regards
Santosh

Those links or utilities use  the SCI-A Flash boot-loading option of the Boot ROM, so you need to configure IO jumpers.  This would be quite a pain to flash hundreds or thousands of controllers.  It would be nice to hear from someone who has accomplished this.

Omer

Got it to work, thanks.

Did you get to work without setting the GPIO pins?

Yes

Could you share what you did?

I need to do something similar. I'm thinking of calling the ROM SCI boot routine (the one that gets called after the GPIO pin configuration has been determined) but I'm not sure of any gotchas I got to be aware of.

Thanks in advance.