STM32F4 Bootloader

[t239955_stm1_stmicro]

Posted on March 19, 2015 at 09:23

Hi,

this is my first post here so I'd like to introduce myself to this community. I'm a development engineer for analog and digital electronics doing a lot of software work, too, especially on Atmel 8bit, PIC 8 and 32bit platforms. Due to processing power requirements I'd like to give the STM32F4 family a try. Unfortunately I lack a problem I couldn't find solutions for: The STM32F4 family contains a hardcoded bootloader which requires to ''bootstrap'' the boot0 and boot1 pins to choose between starting the application in flash or the bootloader. Our devices work another way, all my recently used bootloaders for the processor families mentioned above enter the bootloader automatically at every start and wait for a programmable time to receive a ''hello''-string from the computer running the firmware update tool. If there is no hello-string received the bootloader goes into timeout and jumps to the application. With this kind of bootloader it is possible to update devices on remote sites cause I don't have to press any buttons / use jumpers for bootstrapping of any pins. Is there any open source bootloader available for the STM32F4 family using ''this way of bootloading''? Best regards and thanks in advance!

[Tesla DeLorean]

Posted on March 19, 2015 at 13:25

There are several IAP (In Application Programming) examples that split the memory into loader and application sections. There is a fw_upgrade example in the STM32F4-DISCO firmware library that pulls an update from a USB flash drive. It is also possible to call the ROM bases system loader from an application, allowing for USART and USB (DfuSe)

Personally, I'd just use a serial boot loader that would support XMODEM

[stm32forum]

Posted on March 20, 2015 at 10:02

Have a look at AN3965, it's a nice base.

http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/PF257903