MCUBOOT for KW36 MCU

[mohammed_medhat]

Hello Guys,

Regarding NXP's Bootloader (iMCUBOOT), From what i could gather:

NXP Kinetis bootloader implementations can be:

1- "ROM-based" bootloader (Preprogrammed in device ROM by NXP & unerasable) 

==> Not Applicable for KW36 since it doesn't have an on-chip ROM.

2- Flashloader (Preprogrammed in device flash) 

In Which the  Kinetis Flashloader  is preprogrammed in the on-chip flash memory, for one-time, in-system factory programming. The Kinetis Flashloader’s main task is to load a customer firmware image into the flash memory.

==> Applicable for KW36 but the FlashLoader is packaged as an executable that is loaded from flash and executed from RAM to program a user application into the Flash (accordingly the Flashloader no longer exists) => it can only be used for "One time" in-system programming.

3- "Flash-resident" bootloader (as source code for custom, flash-based implementations ) 

=> Applicable for all Kinetics MCUs but it's only implemented/ported by NXP for some of them.

So i have some questions:

1- For Point #3:

a)- I don't think that MCUBOOT supports KW36 MCU out of the box, does it need to be Ported ? if so how & is this an easy task?

b)- From what i understand the bootloader only supports the following peripherals for loading data into Flash : I2C, SPI, UART & CAN.

(also USB if PC is used), but can it support LIN interface ? if not can it be added ?

In my application i want to flash a new application on the KW36 from another board over LIN bus.

2-For point #2:

This "FlashLoader" is only provided as an executable(.bin),so is its source code available? (i.e no need to Port the bootloader in Point#3 ?)

Thank you

[mohammed_medhat]

Hello Fang Li, miduo

Thank you for your reply but i don't think you answered my questions:

-Porting the Bootloader is needed for KW36 MCU,right?

-LIN communication is not supported in the bootloader,can it easily be added or not?

-There is no available source code for the "Flash-Loader",right?

Thank you

[miduo]

Hello,

Answer to your questions one by one:

1. The Kinetis KW36/KW35 bootloader is an application that is programmed into the internal flash memory of a KW36/KW35 device.

The Kinetis KW36/KW35 bootloader supports the following communication interfaces for downloading an application:
• LPUART
• I2C
• SPI
• CAN    (LIN is not suported)

2. The bootloader release contains source code and build projects for the following PC-based host tools:
• blhost: command line debug tool for sending individual commands to the bootloader.
• elftosb: command line tool for converting an ELF-formatted application image to SB format