NOTE: This project is cancelled, no interest from Maxim in cooperation on its development. Feel free to use as a base for your own research. I have switched to NuttX RTOS :-)
This project is an experimental Open-Source platform independent port of ZEPHYR RTOS [zephyr] to MAX78000's [max78k] MAX78000FTHR AI Development Kit [max78kfthr] that consists of ARM Cortex-M4F (100MHz) and RISC-V (60MHz) co-processor with Hardware Neural Networks capability as part of the Elektor Magazine [elektor] and Maxim AI Design Contest. Porting Zephyr, my favourite RTOS, opens up whole world of possibilities for this kind of AI MCUs and Boards. Development is done on FreeBSD Unix [freebsd] therefore full Open-Source compatibility is verified, no vendor specific parts shall be used (i.e. Windows-only Maxim's Micros SDK).
This project for Elektor Magazine and Maxim AI Contest is licensed under MIT License. However Zephyr RTOS project and its components are subject to Apache 2.0 License to get accepted into the Upstream.
The MAX78000 is a new generation of AI microcontrollers built to enable the execution of neural networks at ultra-low power and live at the edge of the IoT. This product combines the most energy-efficient AI processing with Maxim Integrated's proven ultra-low power microcontrollers. The hardware-based CNN accelerator enables battery-powered applications to execute AI inferences while spending only microjoules of energy. The MAX78000 features an Atarm® Cortex®-M4 with FPU microcontroller for efficient system control with an ultra-low power deep neural network accelerator. A RISC-V core is also integrated and can execute application and control codes as well as drive the CNN accelerator. Please take a look at local project documents and product page [max78k] and its application notes site [max_appnote7417].
-
MAX78000 Microcontroller
- Dual Core: Arm Cortex-M4 Processor with FPU, 100MHz, RISC-V Coprocessor, 60MHz
- 512KB Flash Memory
- 128KB SRAM
- 16KB Cache
- Convolutional Neural Network Accelerator
- 12-Bit Parallel Camera Interface
- MAX20303 Wearable PMIC with Fuel Gauge
- Charge from USB
- On-Board DAPLink Debug and Programming
- Interface for Arm Cortex-M4 processor with FPU
- Breadboard Compatible Headers
- Micro USB Connector
- Micro SD Card Connector
-
Integrated Peripherals
- RGB Indicator LED
- User Pushbutton
- CMOS VGA Image Sensor
- Low-Power Stereo Audio CODEC
- Digital Microphone
- SWD Debugger
- Virtual UART Console
- 10-Pin Cortex Debug Header for RISC-V Coprocessor
- Find ready to use working example projects to have a reference point for next steps.
- https://github.com/MaximIntegratedAI
- https://github.com/MaximIntegratedAI/MAX78000_SDK
MAX78000_SDK/Examples/MAX78000/Hello_World/compiled with success. This will be my reference point project to play with pyOCD and GDB.- Added MAX78000_SDK as git submodule to this project.
- Find a way to use pyOCD to flash the MCU/Board.
- MAX78000FTHR seems to have onboard DAPLink probe [daplink] with ARM Cortex-M4F Target attached.
- pyOCD upstream (using
0.30.4.dev38+dirty) does not recognise Board ID - debug and flash on genericcortex_mdoes not work out of the box. - CMSIS Pack Manager does not contain MAX78000 MCU.
- Create Zephyr External Application code (using west [west] workspace on this repo).
- Initial skeleton created.
- Create Zephyr SOC configuration for MAX78000 using DTS.
- Create Zephyr HAL rotuines for MAX78K family.
- This may take several months to accomplish!
- See how much of the MAX78000SDK can me re-used here.
- Create Zephyr Board configuration for MAX78000FTHR DevKit using DTS.
- Create Zephyr Blinky example.
- Build, Flash, Verify Zephyr Blinky on MAX78000FTHR DevKit.
In order to work with Zephyr you need some Python utilities (i.e. west that manages Zephyr projects). It is recommended to use local Python Virtual Environment that you can easily modify without even touching your OS components. Then, from within that Python Venv, you need to fetch and update Zephyr SDK. This project is a standalone Zephyr Workspace that will fetch all components into its own location.
Special zvenvdsk.sh script was created to make your life easier, it will install itself in local home location and add itself to PATH so you can call is easily later on. In order to setup Python Venv call:
./zvenvsdk.sh init
In order to fetch and update Zephyr SDK jump into the Python Venv and call west to update stuff:
./zvenvsdk.sh venv
west update
exit
From now on you can just call zvenvsdk.sh from the top project directory - script is now in your PATH, it will first launch Python Venv, then Zephyr environment setup scrips. Note that you may want to modify the script content to match some routines and locations. For instance you can adjust the flash parameter execution to match your needs, as well as uart parameter for easy serial terminal call.
In perfect world, when above setup was completed, as well when all other Zephyr + Maxim components are ready, you should be able to build the firmware with:
zvenvsdk.sh
cd app-max78000fthr-blinky
west build
west flash
MAX78000FTHR has onboard DAPLink debug probe [daplink] attached to ARM Cortex-M4F MCU.
pyOCD connects to DAPLink CMSIS-DAP:
(venv37zephyr) pyocd list
# Probe Unique ID
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 ARM DAPLink CMSIS-DAP 04440001f7cdc1c400000000000000000000000097969906
In theory pyOCD can Debug Target as generic ARM Cortex-M MCU. However Board ID is unknown that means Debug and Flashing may be unreliable:
(venv37zephyr) pyocd gdb
0000730:WARNING:mbed_board:Board ID 0444 is not recognized, using generic cortex_m target.
0000731:WARNING:board:Generic 'cortex_m' target type is selected by default; is this intentional? You will be able to debug most devices, but not program flash. To set the target type use the '--target' argument or 'target_override' option. Use 'pyocd list --targets' to see available targets types.
0000731:INFO:board:Target type is cortex_m
0000792:WARNING:pyusb_backend:USB Kernel Driver Detach Failed ([None] b'Unknown error'). Attached driver may interfere with pyOCD operations.
0000852:INFO:dap:DP IDR = 0x2ba01477 (v1 rev2)
0000873:INFO:ap:AHB-AP#0 IDR = 0x24770011 (AHB-AP var1 rev2)
0000903:INFO:rom_table:AHB-AP#0 Class 0x1 ROM table #0 @ 0xe00ff000 (designer=14b part=127)
0000913:INFO:rom_table:[0]<e000e000:SCS-M4 class=14 designer=43b part=00c>
0000920:INFO:rom_table:[1]<e0001000:DWT class=14 designer=43b part=002>
0000927:INFO:rom_table:[2]<e0002000:FPB class=14 designer=43b part=003>
0000931:INFO:cortex_m:CPU core #0 is Cortex-M4 r0p1
0000944:INFO:cortex_m:FPU present: FPv4-SP-D16-M
0000952:INFO:dwt:4 hardware watchpoints
0000957:INFO:fpb:6 hardware breakpoints, 4 literal comparators
0000977:INFO:server:Semihost server started on port 4444 (core 0)
0001159:INFO:gdbserver:GDB server started on port 3333 (core 0)
0005422:INFO:gdbserver:Client connected to port 3333!
On the GDB side no debug or even halt possible:
(venv37zephyr) arm-none-eabi-gdb
GNU gdb (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain) 10.1.90.20201028-git
(...)
For help, type "help".
Type "apropos word" to search for commands related to "word".
(gdb) target remote localhost:3333
Remote debugging using localhost:3333
warning: No executable has been specified and target does not support
determining executable automatically. Try using the "file" command.
0x10000526 in ?? ()
(gdb) monitor reset halt
Ignoring packet error, continuing...
Ignoring packet error, continuing...
Ignoring packet error, continuing...
pyOCD upstream does not seem to have support for MAX78000 yet even with CMSIS Pack Manager [cpm], no flashing possible:
(venv37zephyr) pyocd pack update
(...)
(venv37zephyr) pyocd pack find max
Part Vendor Pack Version Installed
----------------------------------------------------------------
MAX32620 Maxim MAX32620 1.0.2 False
MAX32621 Maxim MAX32620 1.0.2 False
MAX32625 Maxim MAX32625 1.1.0-a False
MAX32626 Maxim MAX32625 1.1.0-a False
MAX32630 Maxim MAX32630 0.2.7-b False
MAX32631 Maxim MAX32630 0.2.7-b False
MAX32650 Maxim MAX32650 1.1.0-a False
MAX32651 Maxim MAX32650 1.1.0-a False
MAX32652 Maxim MAX32650 1.1.0-a False
MAX32660 Maxim MAX32660 1.2.0 False
MAX32665 Maxim MAX32665 0.6.2 False
MAX32666 Maxim MAX32665 0.6.2 False
MAX71616 Keil ZEUS_DFP 1.0.0 False
MAX71617 Keil ZEUS_DFP 1.0.0 False
MAX71636 Keil ZEUS_DFP 1.0.0 False
MAX71637 Keil ZEUS_DFP 1.0.0 False
S32K142MAxxxLHx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K142MAxxxLLx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K144MAxxxLHx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K144MAxxxLLx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K144MAxxxMHx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K146MAxxxLHx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K146MAxxxLLx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K146MAxxxLQx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
S32K146MAxxxMHx Keil S32_SDK_DFP 1.3.0 False
(venv37zephyr) pyocd flash build/max78000.elf
0000719:WARNING:mbed_board:Board ID 0444 is not recognized, using generic cortex_m target.
0000720:WARNING:board:Generic 'cortex_m' target type is selected by default; is this intentional? You will be able to debug most devices, but not program flash. To set the target type use the '--target' argument or 'target_override' option. Use 'pyocd list --targets' to see available targets types.
0000778:WARNING:pyusb_backend:USB Kernel Driver Detach Failed ([None] b'Unknown error'). Attached driver may interfere with pyOCD operations.
0000957:WARNING:file_programmer:Failed to add data chunk: no memory region defined for address 0x10000000
0000957:WARNING:file_programmer:Failed to add data chunk: no memory region defined for address 0x100088c8
0000957:WARNING:file_programmer:Failed to add data chunk: no memory region defined for address 0x1000928c
0000958:INFO:loader:Erased 0 bytes (0 sectors), programmed 0 bytes (0 pages), skipped 0 bytes (0 pages) at 0.00 kB/s
- [zephyr] https://zephyrproject.org
- [max78k] https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/microcontrollers/MAX78000.html
- [max78kfthr] https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/microcontrollers/MAX78000FTHR.html
- [elektor] https://www.elektormagazine.com/news/maxim-integrated
- [freebsd] https://www.freebsd.org/
- [pyocd] https://github.com/pyocd/pyOCD
- [west] https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/guides/west/index.html
- [daplink] https://github.com/ARMmbed/DAPLink
- [cpm] https://github.com/pyocd/cmsis-pack-manager
- [max_appnote7417] https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/app-notes/7/7417.html
- https://github.com/MaximIntegratedAI
- https://github.com/MaximIntegratedAI/MAX78000_SDK
(C) 2021 CeDeROM Tomasz CEDRO, https://www.tomek.cedro.info.