JTAG Flasher User Guide

Table of Contents

Overview of JTAG Flasher tool

JTAG Flasher tool flashes application binary file (MetaImage) to device’s sFlash over JTAG (Joint Test Action Group). This tool uses CCS (Code Composer Studio) debug server script to connect and load to the device. To use this tool, the device/board should have a JTAG interface. Uniflash which is a software tool for programming on-board flash uses UART interface. The purpose of this tool is to flash the MetaImage via JTAG when there is no UART interface.

EVM Compatibility

This tool only supports 1st generation mmWave EVMs available currently. Below are the currently supported devices -

Device Supported EVM’s
AWR1843 AWR1843BOOST
AWR1642 AWR1642BOOST
AWR2944 AWR2944EVM
AWRL6432 AWRL6432BOOST

Requirements

Hardware

Item Details
Device AWR1843BOOST, AWR1642BOOST, IWR6843AOP, AWRL6432BOOST,AWR2944EVM
MMWAVEICBOOST EVM(for IWR6843AOP) Link to ICBOOST
Computer PC with Windows 7 or 10. If a laptop is used, please use the ‘High Performance’ power plan in Windows
Micro USB Cable Micro USB cable for mmwave sensor
Power Supply 5V, >3.0A with 2.1-mm barrel jack (center positive)

Software

Tool Version Download Link
TI mmWave SDK 3.6.0.x (16xx/18xx/68xx) MMWAVE-SDK
TI mmWave mcuplus SDK 4.6.1.2 (awr294x) MMWAVEMCUPLUS-SDK
TI MMWAVE-L-SDK 5.5.3.0 (6432) MMWAVE-L-SDK
Code Composer Studio 12.4 CCS
TI Radar Toolbox Latest Radar toolbox should be downloaded to access binaries and source code. Download Instructions in the readme file.

Quick Start

The quickstart guide will cover setting up the EVM and how to flash metaimage to the device’s SFLASH using this tool.

1. Setup the EVM for Functional Mode

Connect the EVM to the PC via a micro USB cable. Now, set the device into functional mode by adjusting the SOP switches and/or jumpers. Refer to the EVM Operational Setup guide for more information.

After this, power cycle the device by pressing the NRESET button on the EVM.

2. Flashing using the tool

To flash MetaImage using JTAG Flasher, follow the steps given below:

Platform BIN Name Location
AWR1642 xwr16xx_qspiflash_mss.xer4f <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/prebuilt_binaries/
AWR1843 xwr18xx_qspiflash_mss.xer4f <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/prebuilt_binaries/
IWR6843 xwr68xx_jtagflasher.xer4f <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/prebuilt_binaries/
IWRL6432 jtag_flasher_xwrL64xx-aop_m4fss0-0_freertos_ti-arm-clang.out <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/prebuilt_binaries/

3. Flashing using the tool for AWR294x

To flash MetaImage using JTAG Flasher, follow the steps given below:

Platform BIN Name Location
AWR2944 sbl_jtag_uniflash.release.out <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/prebuilt_binaries/

Developers guide

1. CCS Debug Server Script

JTAG flasher uses jtagFlasher.js file as CCS Debug Server Script. CCS Debug Server Script does the following

2. Flow chart

Here is a flowchart which depicts how the tool is implemented.

Here is the flowchart for AWR294x specific tool

3. Rebuild the program

Rebuilding for 16xx/18xx/68xx

To rebuild the program, open the command prompt and run the following commands

cd <SDK_DIR>/packages/scripts/windows
setenv.bat
cd <RTB_DIR>/tools/JTAG_Flasher/src
gmake clean
gmake all

Rebuilding for 6432

To rebuild the program, import the project into CCS and rebuild after making the desired changes

Rebuilding for AWR2944

To rebuild the program, download the SDK 4.6.1.2, and replace the main.c file in the path: C:\ti\mmwave_mcuplus_sdk_04_06_01_02\mcu_plus_sdk_awr294x_09_02_00_15\examples\drivers\boot\sbl_jtag_uniflash\awr294x-evm\r5fss0-0_nortos Then follow the SDK userguide to rebuild the application using the command: gmake -s -C examples/drivers/boot/sbl_jtag_uniflash/awr294x-evm/r5fss0-0_nortos/ti-arm-clang clean all Once rebuilt you can replace in the path: \prebuilt_binaries

4. Update the program to be loaded

To use the updated program, modify mssImage with the correct path.

var mssImage = currentDir + "\\..\\..\\src\\xwr6xx\\xwr16xx_qspiflash_mss.xer4f";

To flash image of user’s choice, update path of the image to be flashed i.e ImageToFlash.

5. Port this tool with other IDE or JTAG emulator

To use this tool with other IDE (different than CCS) or JTAG emulator (different than XDS110), you mainly need to modify this Javascript file (if with CCS but different JTAG emulator) OR write a script with similar logical flow which supports required IDE. As this .js uses .gel and .ccxml files to read/write memory and device connection respectively, so while writing another IDE based equivalent .js, you need to port these components as well. There should not be any impact to device side application during this porting, you can use same *.xer4f file.

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