Request to Update AN12149 for Modern SDKs and Middleware

mastupristi

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working with the application note AN12149 ("Implementing an IEEE 1588 V2 on i.MX RT Using PTPd, FreeRTOS, and lwIP TCP/IP stack") published by NXP in 2018. While it’s a great starting point, it’s severely outdated:

It relies on SDK 2.4.x (current version is 2.16.100, which is vastly different).
It uses FreeRTOS 10.0.1 (current version is 11.1.0).
It uses a patched version of lwIP 2.0.3 (current version is 2.2.0).
The PTPd version is 2.2.2, heavily patched to run on a microcontroller. This project, originally POSIX-based and designed for Linux, isn’t well-suited for microcontroller environments. It requires significant memory (both code and data) and isn’t particularly optimized or efficient.

The example is also limited to the RT1020, RT1050, and RT1060. We managed (with considerable effort) to port it to the RT1170, but we’re still struggling to get 100M Ethernet working reliably.

Given these challenges, I’d like to request that NXP updates AN12149 to:

Use the latest SDK, FreeRTOS, and lwIP versions.
Replace PTPd with a more microcontroller-friendly solution.

For reference, Zephyr now includes support for PTPv2, which we may consider in the future. However, for now, we’re bound to lwIP and FreeRTOS.

I believe an updated application note would greatly benefit the community. Is this something NXP could consider?

Thanks for your support!

diego_charles

Hi @mastupristi

I am glad that you asked about this. With your report we already know what you need and we will try to deliver this.

Regarding your issue, please help us to create another thread.

Diego

Littell

I'm curious about the Ethernet problems you're having with the RT1170 and if you're attempting to get some help in a different thread? In any case, good luck with all that!

mastupristi

Hi @Littell

Thanks for your reply and your curiosity about the Ethernet issues with the RT1170. Let me explain briefly the challenges I’m facing:

I'm curious about the Ethernet problems you're having with the RT1170

To make PTP work on the RT1170, I first need to figure out which patches were applied in the 2018 example. This is already a daunting task because:

It’s unclear which files from the 2018 example were modified.
There’s no precise information about the exact SDK version NXP used. I’ve found SDK 2.4.0, 2.4.1, and three different releases of 2.4.2, but I don’t know which one served as the base.

Even if I manage to understand the required patches, applying them to the newer SDK is a completely different challenge. The file structure has changed significantly. For instance, the file enet_ethernetif_kinetis.c, which is critical for Ethernet management today, didn’t exist in the older SDK. And it is not the only example.This means I can’t simply patch the code; I have to manually adapt it, which increases the likelihood of errors.

And that is only considering the SDK, then there would be to consider all the middleware (lwip, freertos, etc.) and not least PTPd

you're attempting to get some help in a different thread?

no, I haven’t created a separate thread for this.

Thanks again for your interest!

Regards

Max