DsPIC30F 5011 Development Board

USB-RS232 Bridge

• As USB ports are becoming more and more common, COM ports and Parallel ports may be redundant in the next few years. This section explore the possibilities of programming the target board through a USB port.
• There are two options:

1. Use an external USB/RS232 adaptor, the driver will emulate a virtual COM port, such as Prolific and FDTI. Ingenia has tested its bootloader with some USB-232 manufacturers (silabs, FTDI, etc..). However, the programming failed with our Prolific adapter. Application program may use JavaComm API (javax.comm) and/or RXTX to drive the COM port.
2. Modified the bootloader program on PC to support USB communication. e.g. using jUSB and JSR-80 (javax.usb). External circuits such as PIC18F4550 and MAX232 are required.

   |--User's App.--|-------Device Manager------|-------USB-RS232 Interface------|---dsPIC---|
  Option 1:
    +-------------+  +----------+  +----------+  +---+  +------------+  +-----+  +--------+
    | Application |--| JavaComm |--| Virtual  |==|USB|--|    FDTI    |--|RS232|==| Target |
    |   Program   |  |  RXTX    |  | COM Port |  +---+  | Circuitary |  +-----+  | Board  |
    +-------------+  +----------+  +----------+         +------------+           +--------+
  Option 2:
    +-------------+          +--------+          +---+  +------------+  +-----+  +--------+
    | Application |----------| JSR-80 |==========|USB|--| PIC18F4550 |--|RS232|==| Target |
    |   Program   |          |  jUSB  |          +---+  |   MAX232   |  +-----+  | Board  |
    +-------------+          +--------+                 +------------+           +--------+

• Currently, when RXTX is incorporated with JavaComm API, operating systems supported include Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Solaris and other operating systems. On the other hand, jUSB and JSR-80 only works for linux.

FDTI Chipset

• FT232RL communicates with PC via USB to provide 1 UART channel.
• Datasheet can be downloaded here.
  • Refer to Fig. 11 (Page 19) for Bus Powered Configuration.
  • Refer to Fig. 16 (Page 24) for for UART TTL-level Receive [RXD -> 1], Transmit [TXD -> 4], Transmit Enable [CBUS2/TXDEN -> 3]. Omit Receive Enable [CBUS3/PWREN#] and use [CBUS2/TXDEN -> 2]
  • Refer to Fig. 15 (Page 23) for LED Configuration: [CBUS0/TXLED#] and [CBUS1/RXLED#]
• Virtual COM Port Drivers can be downloaded here.

Programming the Device

Requirements

• Hardware

1. PC with COM port (Windows XP Installed for MPLAB)
2. ICD2 Programmer
3. Target Board
4. 5V Power Supply

• Software

1. MPLAB IDE v7.50 or higher
2. dsPicProgrammer (dsPicProgrammer.jar)
3. RXTX driver

• Files

1. dsPicBootloader (ingenia.hex). Original assembly code by ingenia can be downloaded from here.
2. Application hex file (e.g. app.hex)

Loading Bootloader (Once only)

Table 9.1 Loading Bootloader

Step	Remarks
Install MPLAB IDE	Do NOT connect ICD 2 (via USB) to PC Execute MPLAB vX.XX Install.exe
Install USB Driver	Follow the instruction in (C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\ICD2\Drivers\Ddicd2.htm)
Select Target Chip	Run MPLAB IDE on PC Select: Configure>Select Devices... Choose dsPIC30F5011
Target <-> ICD 2	Use six pin cable. Beware of the pin assignments. Only pin 1 - 5 should be used. Place Jumper on target board (if any). The Jumper connects target Vcc to ICD 2. Do NOT power-up the target.
ICD 2 <-> PC	Plug-in ICD 2 to PC via USB cable Power-up the target. Select: Programmer>Select Programmer>MPLAB ICD 2 If this is the first time the ICD 2 is connected to PC, MPLAB IDE will automatically download the required OS to ICD 2, wait until it has finished If you have not connected and powered up the target, you might see Warnings on invalid device IDs, and/or running self tests. See results of self test if necessary: Programmer>Settings, Status Tab. Refer to ICD2 User's Guide Chapter 7.
Load Bootloader	Select: File>Import... Select ingenia.hex
Start Programming	Select: Programmer>Program
Finishing	Power-down the Taget Select: Programmer>Select Programmer>None Unplug USB cable

Loading Application

Table 9.2 Loading Application File

Step	Remarks
Install RXTX	For Windows User: copy RXTXcomm.jar to \jre\lib\ext (under java) copy rxtxSerial.dll to \jre\bin For Linux User: copy RXTXcomm.jar to /jre/lib/ext (under java) copy librxtxSerial.so to /jre/lib/[machine type] (i386 for instance)
Connect target board	For Windows User: connect to COM1 (or other useable port) For Linux User: connect to ttyS0 (or other useable port)
Open a console window	In Windows, Start>Run, and type cmd.
Start Programming	Change to the directory containing dsPicProgrammer.jar Execute dsPicProgrammer.jar For Windows User: java -jar dsPicProgrammer.jar COMi Y:\foo2\app.hex For Linux User: java -jar dsPicProgrammer.jar /dev/ttySi Y:/foo2/app.hex Power-up target board
Finishing	Power-down target board Disconnect from COM port

Remote Access

• At the moment, local devices (e.g. EEPROM, ADC, DAC, etc.) can only be accessed locally through POSIX functions such as open(), read(), write(), ioctl().
• However, a client may need to access these devices on a remote server. This section reviews the background and gives some ideas on its possible implementation.

Requirements

• A remote file access protocol, to transfer "files" (i.e. device's data) such as:

1. File Transfer Protocol (FTP): Required files are copied from sever to client for manipulation
2. Remote Shell (RSH): Required files are copied from sever to client for manipulation
3. Network File System (NFS): Required files are manipulated on sever

• An API to access files using a selected protocol, such as:

1. lam_rfposix: A POSIX-like remote file service for Local Area Multicomputer
2. API employed by VxWorks: VxWorks is a Unix-like real-time operating system, commonly used for embedded systems.

API Reference for VxWorks

• Reference:
  • VxWorks Official Website
  • OS Libraries API Reference
• Related Libraies
  • netDrv (netDrv.h): an API using FTP or RSH
  • nfsDrv (nfsDrv.h): an API using NFS

To Do List

1. Construct examples codes for using DSP library
2. Construct examples codes for using Build-in library
3. GUI Interface for Benchtop boards