Issues with the S32K116 Jumpstart project

[nxp84325]

Hi all,

We have designed a S32K116 based PCB with OpenSDA and we have issues to control it with FreeMASTER.

In order to better understand the issue and isolate the problem, we switched the development to the S32K116 evalboard described in this document: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/supporting-information/S32K116EVB-QSG.pdf

We wanted to get started with the Jumpstart project described in page 12 of the above PDF. So, we have downloaded the corresponding Firmware and PC gui from the nxp website here: https://www.nxp.com/downloads/en/board-support-packages/S32K116EVB_JumpStart_FreeMaster.zip 

We are using S32 Design Studio 2018.R1 as advised in the document. And we have all updates up to Update 10 installed. The enviroment works fine with various applications and projects.

(We are already familiar with FreeMASTER and TSA variables in the context of S21ZVL, WCT1013 and S32K144)

The problem:

Although we are able to connect to the S32K116 using the FreeMASTER tool(same issue with 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 versions), we don't see the variables watch being updated. There is a "?" in front of all the variables and we are not able to control the LEDs, the pins or interact with the Eval Board in any way. But we can see the RGB LED constantly switching colors.

The below screenshot show the succesful connection with the Eval Board:

Can anyone help us with how to setup this example project properly or fix it? Otherwise, can you point us at a working FreeMASRTER project for the S32K116? The sample projects inside the S32DS installation folder are just empty dummy projects with the comment "contact an FAE"

Looking forward to your feedback!

[MichalH · Accepted solution]

Dear Mohamed,

can you make sure you have a correct ELF file specified in the FreeMASTER Options? (see the MAP Files tab). The communication seems to be correct in your case, so the only reason for getting the question-mark might be an invalid variable address.

You may double-check if variable address is correct in the Variable properties dialog. Compare the value displayed with the information from MAP file produced by the linker.

Regards,

Michal

[nxp84325]

Hi Michal,

thank you very much for your helpful answer.

After loading the elf file, my variables are recongnized and I am able to control our newly designed S32K116 based PCB :smileyhappy:

Follow up question:

In the past, we used target side addressing (TSA) with our S12ZVL based demo and we didn't need to load any .elf file. It was a simple plug and play experience. Why is it still needed in this case? I am asking because we want to deliver the simplest user experience to our customers with minimum steps required to run the demo.

Thanks again!

[MichalH]

The TSA is only available when you use Serial, CAN or PD-BDM communication. With TSA, the target application actively informs the FreeMASTER about supported variables and types. This information cannot be acquired when using "passive" direct-memory JTAG access like in your case.

So in Serial or CAN examples, the TSA works normally and you do not need to load ELF file.

If you want to keep using the JTAG interface and get advantage of TSA, I recommend to use PD-BDM plug-in, which uses the low-level direct-memory JTAG/BDM communication to actively communicate between the FreeMASTER and a FreeMASTER driver in inside your embedded application.

Most of our examples (also including the PD-BDM) are available in MCUXpresso SDK and are targeting general-market MCU devices. As the PD-BDM example is really trivial and it does not use any communication peripheral, you can take any (e.g. FRDM-K64F) SDK example and use its FreeMASTER driver in your application.

Regards,

Michal