Getting started with bootloader on mbed OS

This example shows how to create a bootloader.

To read more about the bootloader, please visit bootloader tutorial.

Required hardware

• A supported board - u-blox EVK-ODIN-W2, Nucleo F429ZI or K64F.
• CI test shield.
• SD card.

Import the example application

From the command-line, import the example:

mbed import mbed-os-example-bootloader
cd mbed-os-example-bootloader

Set up application to be a bootloader

All supported boards mentioned above are set up to build as a bootloader image. To add support for a new board, you must specify the size of the bootloader.

To do this, set the target (replace <TARGET_NAME> with your target name) value restrict_size to the maximum bootloader size in mbed_app.json:

    "target_overrides": {
        ...
        "<TARGET_NAME>": {
            "target.restrict_size": "0x20000"
        },
        ...

Note - restrict_size pads the build image to the requested size.

Now compile

Invoke mbed compile, and specify the name of your platform and your favorite toolchain (GCC_ARM, ARM, IAR). For example, for the ARM Compiler 5:

mbed compile -m <TARGET_NAME> -t ARM

Your PC may take a few minutes to compile your code. At the end, you see the following result:

Merging Regions:
  Filling region application with .\BUILD\<TARGET_NAME>\ARM\mbed-os-example-bootloader_application.bin
  Padding region application with 0x11420 bytes
Space used after regions merged: 0x20000
+-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+
| Module                      | .text | .data |  .bss |
+-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+
| Misc                        | 18481 |    24 |  1268 |
| drivers                     |  2132 |     8 |   184 |
| features/FEATURE_LWIP       |    46 |     0 | 12560 |
| features/filesystem         | 12756 |    12 |   540 |
| hal                         |   414 |     8 |     0 |
| hal/TARGET_FLASH_CMSIS_ALGO |   520 |    28 |     0 |
| platform                    |  2759 |    32 |   380 |
| rtos                        |   144 |     8 |     0 |
| rtos/rtx                    |  6954 |   100 |  8396 |
| targets/TARGET_STM          | 15560 |   568 |   736 |
| Subtotals                   | 59766 |   788 | 24064 |
+-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+
Allocated Heap: unknown
Allocated Stack: unknown
Total Static RAM memory (data + bss): 24852 bytes
Total RAM memory (data + bss + heap + stack): 24852 bytes
Total Flash memory (text + data + misc): 60554 bytes

Image: .\BUILD\<TARGET_NAME>\ARM\mbed-os-example-bootloader.bin

It creates two binary files. The original uncombined image is in the output directory, _application.bin, and the bootloader image is .bin.

When the build succeeds, you have created a bootloader for your target. This example defines the application file to be located at /sd/mbed-os-example-blinky_application.bin in the application config file mbed_app.json. This is the application binary bootloader flashes and then jumps to.

Set up application to use bootloader

Program bootloader and application

The next step is to build an application you can combine with your bootloader to create a loadable image.

1. Update your board to use the newly created bootloader image. To do this, set the target (replace <TARGET_NAME> with your target name) value bootloader_img to the file path of the bootloader image.

    "target_overrides": {
        ...
        "<TARGET_NAME>": {
            "target.bootloader_img": "bootloader/<TARGET_NAME>.bin"
        },
        ...

2. Invoke mbed compile, and specify the name of your platform and the toolchain you are using (GCC_ARM, ARM, IAR). For example, for the ARM Compiler 5:

   mbed compile -m <TARGET_NAME> -t ARM
   

3. Connect your mbed device to the computer over USB.

4. Copy the binary file (<program name.bin>) to the mbed device.

5. Press the reset button to start the program.

Program application using SD card

1. Connect the SD card to your computer.
2. Copy the application binary (<program name>_application.bin, we defined it earlier as mbed-os-example-blinky_application.bin) to the root of the SD card.
3. Remove the SD card from your PC, and plug it into the mbed board.
4. Press the reset button to start the firmware update.

If a terminal is open, the following prints:

Firmware update found
Starting application

Troubleshooting

1. Make sure mbed-cli is working correctly and its version is >1.0.0.

   mbed --version
   

If not, you can update it:

```
pip install mbed-cli --upgrade
```

2. If using Keil MDK, make sure you have a license installed. MDK-Lite has a 32 KB restriction on code size.