MIMXRT1020
This NXP evaluation board (including integrated debugger and available for around $59) is based on the MIMXRT1021DAG5A, which is the consumer version [0..95°C] of the 528MHz Cortex-M7 base part with double-precision VFPv5 FPU in LQF144. It has 256k of internal RAM, external memory interface, 2 SD card controllers, high speed USB (with integrated PHY), 8 low power UARTs, 4 I2C controllers, 1 10/100M Ethernet controller, 2 CAN interfaces, 3 synchronous audio interfaces, 4 SPI interfaces, 1 FlexSPI interface (connected to 8MByte QSPI flash), 2 ADCs, a True Random Number Generator, plus various other features.
The processor's budget price for 10'000 pieces is $2.29 (low quantity distributor price for 100 pieces under $6), potentially making it very attractive for low cost products requiring high processing performance, USB and audio.
A 24MHz crystal on the board allows for accurate generation of up to 500MHz processor and 480MHz USB clocks.
The µTasker target for the MIMXRT1020 allows immediate use of the board for various functions with simple control of performance/consumption as well as the ability to switch operation between this and other i.MX board/processors and Kinetis parts. Accurate simulation of the device in VisualStudio combined with integrated µTasker application functionality ensures reliable, low footprint product development solutions with minimum effort, risk and investment.
Read the i.MX RT 1021 – the µTasker way to learn how µTasker has tamed this powerful device so that you can easily use it to achieve your objectives rather than spending precious developer's time fighting with its complexity!
MIMXRT1020 Binaries
Here are some binary files that can be loaded to the board. These were built using the µTasker applications (serial loader and V1.4 application) and can be simply generated using the supported compilers/IDEs [these were built using GCC], built using different configuration options or modified to suit specific requirements or hardware derived from this board :-
uTaskerSerialLoader_i.MX RT 1020_USB-MSD_Kboot-HID_Kboot-UART.bin [36.5k] HS USB-MSD / KBOOT-HID composite USB bootloader, including KBOOT UART loader on the board's VCOM UART which can be loaded (copied to its QSPI-Flash) using your favorite loading tool - for example NXP MCUBootUtility.
This boot loader enables uploading applications by one of three methods:
- USB-MSD drag-and-drop onto the external hard drive that appears when the processor's USB is connected to a host PC
- KBOOT-HID (compatible with the NXP protocol and loading tools, such as KinetisFlashTool) via USB-HID
- KBOOT-UART (connected at 57'600Baud on the board's VCOM UART)
To force the loader when there is already an application installed, reset the board with the USER button SW4, held down. When operating, the green LED blinks at 5Hz.
To quit the loader mode to start an installed application the USB-MSD driver can be simply ejected by the host.
The serial loaders are described in the µTasker Serial Loader guide
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uTaskerV1.4.12_i.MX-RT1020_USB-TCP.bin [74.4k] i.MX RT 1020 application with command-line menu on LPUART 1 (via the board's virtual COM port connection at 115'200 Baud) with various menu items, such as RAM and QSPI flash viewing, low power operation, control of GPIOs, etc. Furthermore the application allows the following to be utilised:
- Ethernet with embedded web server according to the i.MX RT tutorial, whereby the web pages are served from the µFileSystem operating in QSPI flash
- FTP to load and view files to the QSPI-flash
- µParameterSystem in QSPI-flash storing IP and MAC configuration and various other settings
- Telnet as alternative connection to the command line interface
- HS USB-MSD and USB-CDC composite allowing an alternative command line interface or performing USB-CDC to UART bridging and the viewing of memory (ITC, DTC and QSPI flash) based on FAT emulation as described in µTasker - FAT emulation
When the application is running, the green LED blinks at 2.5Hz and the processor is operating at its maximum speed of 500MHz. All code and data accesses are in tightly coupled RAM, thus achieving maximum speed of operation.
The board can be reset or commanded into the boot loader mode using commands found in the "Administrator" menu on the command line interface.
A set of web pages can be loaded to the board by using the bat file found in the web page package, or with your favorite FTP client. These show dynamically generated content and allow setting parameters and controlling GPIOs etc., as well as posting new images to the web server.
The default IP address of the board is 192.168.0.3 - its IP configuration can be changed and saved in the "Lan" menu on the command line interface.
These binary files and web pages are suitable for use with the i.MX RT tutorial. - EVKMIMXRT1020_utFAT_USDHC1.bin [43.5k] i.MX RT 1020 application with command-line menu on LPUART 1 (via the board's virtual COM port connection at 115'200 Baud) with utFAT disk interface to control an SD card inserted in the board's socket. The disk interface is accessed via menu item 8 and offers a DOS-like user interface to display directories and files, plus advanced commands to view file details and read/write raw sectors on the disk:
Disk interface =================== up go to main menu info utFAT/card info dir [path] show directory content dird [path] show deleted directory content dirh [path] show hidden content infof [path] show file info infod [path] show deleted info cd [path] change dir. (.. for up) comp compare [file1] with [file2] file [path] new empty file write [path] test write to file mkdir new empty dir rename [from] [to] rename trunc truncate to [length] [path] copy [file1] to [file2] hide [path] file/dir to hide unhide [path] file/dir to un-hide prot [path] file/dir to write-protect unprot [path] file/dir to un-protect print [path] print file content del [path] delete file or dir. sect [hex no.] display sector sectw [hex no.] [offset] [val] [cnt] help Display menu specific help quit Leave command mode
This binary file can be loaded after installing the µTasker bootloader (above)
uTaskerSerialLoader_i.MX-RT1020_USB-MSD_Kboot-HID_SREC-iHEX-UART_SD-card.bin [47.9k]
This is another variation of the flexible µTasker serial loader which adds SREC and iHex (automatic recognition) loading on the UART at 115200Baud and also SD card loading.
uTaskerCompleteImage_MIMXRT1020_7VCOM_LPUARTs.bin [189k]
This binary image shows how the USB-MSD loader is combined with an application so that the complete firmware can be loaded in production environments using a single file. The application that runs when started enumerates as a composite USB-device with 7 USB-CDC interfaces, meaning that it is seen by a connected PC host as 7 individual VCOMs (virtual COM serial ports). The first VCOM (usually the one with the lowest COM number) acts as a command line interface where, in its USB menu, the command "usb_serial" switches it to a VCOM<->LPUART1 bridge mode of operation. The other 6 VCOM interfaces are dedicated USB<->LPUART bridges to LPUARTs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively of the i.MX RT 1021 processor. This represents the maximum number of such USB-CDC interfaces possible on the i.MX RT 1021, using all of its HS USB's 8 endpoints.
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