Getting Started With the 8-Bit MDFU Client for PIC16F18446 Using MPLAB® X

This example demonstrates how to utilize the MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) generated code to set up various basic Microchip Device Firmware Update (MDFU) bootloader solutions for the PIC16F18446 Curiosity Nano Evaluation board.

The MDFU is a firmware update system that employs a device-independent host application to update application firmware. The application image loaded into the host adheres to a custom file format, incorporating device and application-specific parameters necessary for the update. This repository offers a foundational setup to configure and customize the MCC Melody 8-Bit MDFU Client library on the PIC16F18446 Curiosity Nano Evaluation board with instructions for executing the examples.

This example demonstrates:

How to configure the 8-Bit MDFU Client Library in MCC Melody for different verification schemes
How to create a simple Blinky LED application
How to use the pyfwimagebuilder command line interface to convert the application hex file into an application image
How to use the pymdfu command line interface to update the application firmware

Software Used

Hardware Used

PIC16F18446 Curiosity Nano (DM164144)

Setup

The following project setup steps will demonstrate the basic configuration of the 8-Bit MDFU Client with Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter (UART) communication. The configuration bits, clock, Non-Volatile Memory (NVM), and General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) settings will be consistent across all examples in this repository and any deviations from this setup due to the chosen communication protocol will be described individually later in this section.

Bootloader Client Setup

Configuration Bits

External Oscillator Selection bits: Oscillator not enabled
Reset Oscillator Selection bits: HFINTOSC (1 MHz)

Clock Control

Clock Source: HFINTOSC
HF Internal Clock: 4_MHz

For CRC16 and CRC32 the Clock is set to 32 MHz

Clock Divider: 1

NVM

Generate Flash APIs: Enabled
Generate Device ID APIs: Enabled

8-Bit MDFU Client

This section will guide you through the setup process for UART communication. For more details on configuring and operating other communication protocols, refer to the pages listed below.

SPI Communication

8-Bit MDFU Client with UART Communication

Communication Protocol: UART
Application Start Address: Different for each project based on the verification selected
Device ID: 0x30D4 (automatically added)
I/O Pin Indicator: Enabled
I/O Pin Entry: Enabled
Memory Verification: Assigned based on the example project naming convention

Tip: This example is for Checksum verification.

UART

Custom Name: SERCOM
Requested Baudrate: 9600
Calculated Baudrate: 9615
Baud Rate Error (%): 0.16
Parity: None
Data Size: 8
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control Mode: None
Redirect Printf to UART: Disabled
Interrupt Driven: Disabled

EUSART PLIB

Actual Baud Rate: 9615.385
Baud Rate Error (%): 0.16
Receive Enable: Enabled
Clock/Transmit Polarity: Non-Inverted
Serial Port Enable: Enabled
Transmit Enable: Enabled

UART Pins

EUSART TX: RB4
EUSART RX: RB6

8-Bit MDFU Client I/O

Upon enabling both I/O Options from the 8-Bit MDFU Client module, the INDICATE and ENTRY pin rows will be automatically loaded in the Pin Grid View tab.

Configure these pins as follows:

BOOT INDICATE: RA2
BOOT ENTRY: RC2

BOOT INDICATE: Start High
BOOT ENTRY: Weak Pull-up

8-Bit MDFU Client Project Properties

Tip: These values can be copied from the "Linker Options" section of 8-Bit MDFU Client MCC UI.

ROM Ranges: This option is configured based on the start address of the application
For example, if the application starts at 0xD00 then this value will reflect as 00-7FF,800-CFF

Application Setup

This section is consistent for any example created in this repository.

Clock And Configuration

Set the clock and configuration bits to the same values that were set in the MDFU Client

I/O Pins

GPIO Input: RC2
- Custom Name: BTN
- Weak Pull-up: Enabled
GPIO Output: RA2
- Custom Name: LED

Project Properties

Linker Additional Options

Codeoffset: 0x<APP_START> = 0xD00
Checksum: Dependent on the verification scheme

Check the table below to understand how the Checksum option must be configured in the application projects:

Verification Scheme	Checksum Setting
Reset Vector	N/A
Status Byte	N/A
Checksum	D00-3FFD@3FFE,width=-2,algorithm=2,code=3F
CRC-16	D00-3FFD@3FFE,width=-2,algorithm=5,offset=FFFF,polynomial=1021,code=3F
CRC-32	E00-3FFB@3FFC,width=-4,algorithm=-5,offset=FFFFFFFF,polynomial=04C11DB7,code=3F

Fill Flash Memory

Which area to fill: Provide Range to fill
How to fill it: Constant or incremental value
Constant: 0x3FFF
Increment/Decrement: No Incrementing
Memory address range: 0x<APP_START>:0x<FLASH_END> = 0xD00:0x3FFF

End Application

Open main.c
Add logic inside the while loop to toggle the on-board LED with a 200 ms rate
Add logic under that to reset the device if the BTN is pressed

while(1)
{    
    LED_Toggle();
    DELAY_milliseconds(200U);

    if (BTN_GetValue() == 0U)
    {
        RESET();
    }
}

Include the delay.h header file
At the top of the main file before the main function, copy and paste the following code:

Tip: The address presented below in the __at() is PROGMEM_SIZE - 2 since the hash size used is two bytes. In case of CRC32, the 0xFFFF at the end will be 0xFFFFFFFF, since CRC32 requires four bytes instead of two.

#include <stdint.h>
#ifdef __XC8__
#include <xc.h>
#endif

volatile const uint16_t
#ifdef __XC8__
__at(0x1FFFE)
#endif
applicationFooter __attribute__((used, section("application_footer"))) = 0xFFFF;

Operation

In this section, we will walkthrough how to run the examples in this repository. This example shows how to execute the Checksum verification example and update the device Flash memory with the checksum application image to demonstrate a successful Device Firmware Update (DFU) using UART communication. For additional communication protocol operation information, refer to the pages listed below:

SPI Example Operation

8-Bit MDFU Client Operation

Open the MDFU client project.

Set MDFU client project as Main Project.

Right click, then select Clean and Build.

Program the MDFU client project.

Bootloader Operation After Initial Programming

After the initial programming, the LED must be on.

Application Operation

Open the application project that is configured for your selected verification scheme.

Set the application project as the Main Project.

Build the required Application project.

Right click, then select Clean and Build

Build the Application Image File using pyfwimagebuilder.

To build the application image files, navigate to the Projects tab and right click Important Files>build_free_image.bat for Windows or Important Files>build_free_image.sh for Mac and Linux
Select Run

Example Command:

Below is an example of the command used in the above step.

pyfwimagebuilder build -i "application_hex_file.hex" -c "mdfu_config_file.toml" -o output.img

Tip: The configuration TOML file is generated by the MDFU Client project.*

Use the pymdfu host tool to transfer the application image file to the bootloader.

Tip: You can find the COM port of the MCU using the MPLAB Data Visualizer.*

To run the update with the examples, navigate to the project tab and right click, Important Files>pymdfu_update.bat for Windows or Important Files>pymdfu_update.sh for Mac and Linux. Double click to open the file.
Edit the port number to the CDC port name that is assigned to the Curiosity Nano device
Right click on the script and select Run

Example Command:

Below is an example of the command used in the above step.

pymdfu update --tool serial --image <application_binary>.img --baudrate <baud_rate> --port <port_name>

Application Has Been Updated Successfully

Example Application Features:

Blink the on-board LED at a rate of 200 ms.
Pressing the button on the Curiosity Nano and holding it down will force entry into the bootloader, allowing a new application to be transferred.

Summary

This repository demonstrates how to configure the 8-Bit MDFU Client library in MCC to enable device firmware updates over UART on a PIC16F18446 Curiosity Nano.

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microchip-pic-avr-examples/pic16f18446-cnano-8bit-mdfu-client-mplab-mcc