Introduction

This bootloader does SOC initializations and attempts to boot a multicore application file received over CAN via custom-made protocol (see below). The image file is sent using a python script (See CAN Bootloader Python Script). Once image is received, the SBL parses it. Each core is then initialized, application image is loaded, entry points are set and the core is released from reset. For more on bootflow/bootloaders, please refer Understanding the bootflow and bootloaders

MCAN SBL CAN UNIFLASH Process

This bootloader runs in two steps:

Flashing the SBL CAN at offset 0x0 (Setup the EVM in UART Boot Mode)
Running the python script (See CAN Bootloader Python Script) for sending the application image file. (Setup the EVM in QSPI Boot Mode)

MCAN SBL CAN Flow Overview

Note: RPRC image booting using SBL would be deprecated from SDK 11.00 release onwards. MCELF would be the default boot image format supported by SBL going forward.

SBL CAN MULTICORE ELF

To parse and load an mcelf file via CAN bootloader, use the project examples/drivers/boot/sbl_can_multicore_elf

When an mcelf image is received, the SBL parses it, loads each segment to its respective core. Then the core is released from reset.

The steps to run the example is same irrespective of the image format.

Protocol

A simple custom made protocol is created for communication between the Host Machine and the Board. Messages between a CAN bootloader host and the target use a simple command and acknowledge (ACK) protocol. The host sends a command and within a timeout period the target responds with an ACK.

The CAN Uniflash provides a short list of commands that are used during the flashing operation.

Commands	Description
PING	This command is used to receive an PONG command from the bootloader indicating that communication has been established.
PONG	Returned as response to the initial PING command from the Bootloader
DATA	To send data packets
RUN	To run the application
ACK	Response from the Bootloader on recieveing the CAN Packets
LSTMSG	To indicate the last data packet of the application
LSTMSGCF	Response from the Bootloader on recieveing the last data packet of the application

Please refer the image below:

SBL CAN Communication Protocol between Host Machine and the Board

Settings Used in this Application

In this application, the CAN settings are:

Extended Identifier used
Make Sure to set correct timing parameters. Current parameters is as per SDK-CAN driver.
- BitrateFD : f_clock_mhz=80, nom_brp=1, nom_tseg1=67, nom_tseg2=12, nom_sjw=12, data_brp=1, data_tseg1=13, data_tseg2=2, data_sjw=1
CAN-FD is supported
Refer to MCAN, for MCAN dependencies.

Supported Combinations

Parameter	Value
CPU + OS	r5fss0-0 nortos
Toolchain	ti-arm-clang
Boards	am263x-cc, am263x-lp
Example folder	examples/drivers/boot/sbl_can

NOTE: Tested on Windows, using PCAN-USB Peripheral.

Steps to Run the Example

Since this is a bootloader, the example will be run every time you boot an application using this example. It is run from a QSPI boot media unlike other examples which are usually loaded with CCS. Nevertheless, you can build this example like you do for the others using makefile or build it via CCS by importing as a project.

Example is tested using PCAN-USB module
Hardware Conectivity, First make sure the connections to the PCAN-USB module to PC are proper. Connect the PCAN-USB module to PC from USB and Serial Port to be connected as mentioned in the image below.

MCAN Hardware Connectivity with PCAN USB.

Software Setup, To use SBL CAN using PCAN-USB Peripheral,First Download and Install the PCAN-Driver from https://www.peak-system.com/Drivers.523.0.html?&L=1
- Peak Systems provides PCAN-Basic API for Connecting to CAN and CAN FD Buses. PCAN-Basic consists of the actual device driver and an interface DLL, which provides the API functions. It can be downloaded from here, https://www.peak-system.com/PCAN-Basic.239.0.html?&L=1
- After downloading the PCAN-Basic, please extract it. PCAN-Basic directory contains PCANBasic.py python file, under
  .\pcan-basic\PCAN-Basic API\Include\PCANBasic.py
- Create a folder named pcan at following location in SDK directory:
  ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/pcan
- We've to place this PCANBasic.py python file under this folder in SDK:
  ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/pcan/PCANBasic.py
- PCANBasic.dll library needs to be installed in order to run applications that use this API. PCAN Device Driver application also installs PCANBasic.dll library. Please refer https://www.peak-system.com/produktcd/Develop/PC%20interfaces/Windows/PCAN-Basic%20API/ReadMe.txt for more information on this.
- Interface DLL file needs to be present in the following windows directory:
  For x64 Windows systems:
  
  \x86\PCANBasic.dll --> Windows\SysWOW64
  
  \x64\PCANBasic.dll --> Windows\System32
- One can use the Microsoft sigcheck tool (can be dowloaded from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/sigcheck) to find out if your PCANBasic.dll file is 32 or 64 bit version.
  sigcheck.exe C:\Windows\SysWOW64\PCANBasic.dll
When using CCS projects to build, import the CCS project for the required combination and build it using the CCS project menu (see Using SDK with CCS Projects).
When using makefiles to build, note the required combination and build using make command (see Using SDK with Makefiles)
After hardware and software setup follow below steps to run the example:
- First the SBL CAN bootloader will be flashed.
- Create a flash configuration file, using the default flash configuration file present, at below as reference

${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/sbl_prebuilt/{board}/default_sbl_can.cfg

In this config file, modify the paths to the flashing application and CAN bootloader, in case you are not using the pre-built applications

--flash-writer={path to flash application .tiimage}

--file={path to CAN bootloader .tiimage} --operation=flash --flash-offset=0x0

Run below python command on the Windows command prompt (cmd.exe) or Linux bash shell to flash the files.

cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot

python uart_uniflash.py -p {name of your UART com port} --cfg={path to your edited config file}

Refer to the page Basic steps to flash files for more information
After flashing the bootloader, the application image file is sent using a python script (see CAN Bootloader Python Script).

Sample Output

After sending the application image over CAN, logs can be seen on the UART terminal

Table of Contents