Official KiCon 2019 badge (firmware)
(hardware design is in another repository)
- 8-channel logic analyzer (local display or SUMP protocol over USB)
- Scope (analog data acquisition and display)
- Command interface (I/O interfaces controlled over USB; Python library available)
- USB-UART adapter
Badge will display data acquired from the I/O capture connector (J1) on the LCD.
Configuration options:
- Sampling frequency (500 kHz - 10 MHz)
- Trigger (channel and state: low/high or trigger disabled [free-running mode])
When connected to a PC, badge will be recognized as a serial port device. The serial port device uses SUMP protocol for data exchange.
Convenient way to configure and acquire data from the badge is to use a command line tool sigrok or a GUI PulseView for logic analyzers. To use KiCon badge with PulseView, you have to select 'Openbench Logic Sniffer & SUMP compatibles (ols)', and then badge's serial port in the PulseView device configuration dialog.
IMPORTANT: Sigrok and PulseView will let you choose sampling rates that are not supported by the badge, the real sampling rate is shown on the display.
Sample sigrok commands:
- Detect the logic analyzer type
sigrok-cli --driver=ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 --scan
- Acquire 1024 samples at 1 Msample/s rate
sigrok-cli --driver=ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 --config samplerate=1M --samples 1024
- Acquire 1024 samples at 1 Msample/s rate, start acquisition when 2nd channel is in high state
sigrok-cli --driver=ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 --config samplerate=1M --samples 1024 --triggers 2=1
In Scope mode, badge acquires analog samples from ADC channel(s) available on J2 connector and displays them on LCD. There is no analog front-end, therefore the analyzed signals must stay in range 0-3.3 V.
Configuration options:
- Channels (1, 2 or both)
- Sampling frequency (50 kHz - 1 MHz)
Badge may serve as a common USB-UART TTL adapter. In this mode, serial data will be forwarded between USB port and RX/TX of the J2 connector.
Configuration options:
- Baud rate (9600 - 115200)
Command interface provides a way to control I/O interfaces (J2 connector) over USB. It can be done directly by issuing commands through the serial port, or using a Python library (see Python library section for details).
You will find the Python library documentation here. There is an example script that will give you some hints.
Firmware has been written in C, basing on Microchip Advanced Software Framework library. Badge firmware repository contains a trimmed down version of the original library, since the full version takes a lot of space.
To build the firmware you need a C compiler for ARM processors (e.g. gcc-arm-none-eabi package on Ubuntu). It is enough to run make in the source code directory to obtain the binary files.
The microcontroller comes with an embedded bootloader that allows the user to reflash the firmware using only a micro-USB cable.
Follow these steps to activate the bootloader:
- Connect the badge to a PC.
- Briefly press the ERASE button or short two diagonal pads (see the picture).
- Briefly press the RESET button.
- Verify that the badge is detected as a USB serial adapter (e.g. using
lsusb). It might be named 'at91sam SAMBA bootloader' or similar.
Now the bootloader is active. Running make flash in the source code directory will upload kicon_badge_flash.bin file to the microcontroller. You can also invoke the flashing script manually: ./python/kicon-badge-loader.py <filename.bin> <serial port device>. Normally the device name is /dev/ttyACM0 on Linux and /dev/cu.usbmodem140121 on mac OS, but it may vary depending on the devices connected to your PC.
It is recommended to reconnect the USB cable after flashing, otherwise the USB connectivity will not work.
You may watch the whole process on a video. If you experience problems, check out the Troubleshooting section.
Using a JTAG adapter is a more convenient way of reprogramming the board. This approach requires openocd to be installed. The easy command to reflash the board is: JTAG_IFACE=<jtag adapter type> make flash_ocd.
You can list supported JTAG adapter types with ls /usr/share/openocd/scripts/interface or browse them here. When setting JTAG_IFACE, skip '.cfg' extension of the configuration file (e.g. use JTAG_IFACE=stlink-v2 for ST-LINK V2). It is recommended to reconnect the USB cable after flashing, otherwise the USB connectivity will not work.
Certain JTAG adapters will expect a reference voltage on Vref pin of the JTAG connector, but by the default it is not connected in the badge. Check the Troubleshooting section for more details.
The Makefile provides also two targets to run openocd and gdb for board debugging. For that, you need two consoles, in the first one run JTAG_IFACE=<jtag adapter type> make debug_ocd and in the second one make debug_gdb. Note that you may also need a gdb version that speaks the ARM language (gdb-arm-none-eabi package).
- Badge does not display anything
Most likely it is not programmed. Please follow the steps listed in the Flashing section.
- USB connectivity does not work after reflashing
Please reconnect the USB cable after reflashing.
Error occured: [Errno 13] could not open port /dev/ttyACM0: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/ttyACM0'error when running Python scripts or badge programmer
You do not have sufficient permissions to access the USB serial device. You can fix it with an extra udev rule:
- Save this .rules file to /etc/udev/rules.d
- Run
sudo udevadm control --reload - Reconnect the badge
libusb_open() failed with LIBUSB_ERROR_ACCESSerror message when flashing with OpenOCD
You do not have sufficient permissions to access the JTAG adapter. To fix this:
- Save this .rules file to /etc/udev/rules.d
- Run
sudo udevadm control --reload - Reconnect the JTAG adapter