Getting Started with the MIMXRT1020-EVK

• True debug support via SWD and JTAG
• High software flexibility
• Full set of peripheral drivers with source
• Application examples and project files

Learn more

• A scalable, open source real-time operating system (RTOS)
• Supports multiple hardware architectures
• Optimized for resource constrained devices
• Built with security in mind

To find our more, visit the Zephyr OS developer website.

Import the MCUXpresso SDK

1. Open MCUXpresso IDE
2. Choose a directory on your computer as a workspace.
3. Switch to the Installed SDKs view within the MCUXpresso IDE window.
4. Open Windows Explorer, and drag and drop the EVK-MIMXRT1020 SDK zip file into the Installed SDKs view.
5. You will get a prompt as follows. Click on OK to continue the import:
6. The installed SDK will appear in the Installed SDKs view as shown below:

Build an Example Application

1. Find the Quickstart Panel in the lower left hand corner

   

2. Then click on Import SDK examples(s)…

   

3. Click on the evkmimxrt1020 board to select that you want to import an example that can run on that board, and then click on Next.

   

4. Use the arrow button to expand the demo_apps category, and then click the checkbox next to hello_world to select that project. Make sure UART is selected as the SDK Debug Console. Then, click on Finish.

   

5. Now build the project by clicking on the project name and then click on the Build icon.

   

6. You can see the status of the build in the Console tab.

   

Run an Example Application

1. Now that the project has been compiled, you can now flash it to the board and run it.
2. Make sure the USB cable is plugged into the OpenSDA debug connector on the MIMXRT1020-EVK, and click on Debug in the QuickStart Panel.

3. MCUXpresso IDE will probe for connected boards and should find the CMSIS-DAP debug probe that is part of the integrated OpenSDA circuit on the MIMXRT1020-EVK. Click on OK to continue.

   

4. The firmware will be downloaded to the board and the debugger started.

   

5. Open up a terminal program and connect to the COM port the board enumerated as. Use 115200 baud 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit.

6. Start the application by clicking the "Resume" button:

   

7. The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not the case, check your terminal settings and connections.

   

8. Use the controls in the menu bar to pause, step into, and step over instructions and then stop the debugging session by click on the Terminate icon:

   

Build an Example Application

The following steps guide you through opening the hello_world example application. These steps may change slightly for other example applications as some of these applications may have additional layers of folders in their path.

1. If not already done, open the desired demo application workspace. Most example application workspace files can be located using the following path:

   <install_dir>/boards/<board_name>/<example_type>/<application_name>/iar</application_name>
   </example_type></board_name ></install_dir >

   Using the the hello_world demo as an example, the path is located in:

   <install_dir>/boards/evkmimxrt1020/demo_apps/hello_world/iar/hello_world.eww</install_dir>

2. Select the desired build target from the drop-down.

   For this example, select the “hello_world – flexspi_nor_debug” target.

   

3. To build the demo application, click the “Make” button, highlighted in red below.

   

Run an Example Application

To download and run the application, perform these steps:

1. Connect the development platform to your PC via USB cable.

2. Open the terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, and connect to the debug COM port. Configure the terminal with these settings:

   1. 115200 baud rate, (reference BOARD_DEBUG_UART_BAUDRATE variable in board.h file)
   2. No parity
   3. 8 data bits
   4. 1 stop bit

3. In IAR, click the "Download and Debug" button to download the application to the target.

   

4. The application is then downloaded to the target and automatically runs to the main() function.

5. Run the code by clicking the "Go" button to start the application.

   

6. The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not true, check your terminal settings and connections.

   

Install CMSIS Device Pack

After the MDK tools are installed, Cortex^® Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS) device packs must be installed to fully support the device from a debug perspective. These packs include things such as memory map information, register definitions and flash programming algorithms. Follow these steps to install the MIMXRT102x CMSIS pack.

1. Open the MDK IDE, which is called µVision. In the IDE, select the "Pack Installer" icon.

   

2. In the Pack Installer window, navigate to the Devices tab and select the MIMXRT1021 device under NXP.

   
3. In the Packs tab, install the DFP for the MIMXRT1020-EVK board. The DFP is named NXP::MIMXRT1021_DFP. Click on the "Install" button next to the pack. This process requires an Internet connection to successfully complete.


4. After the installation finishes, close the Pack Installer window and return to the µVision IDE.

Build the Example Application

The following steps will guide you through opening the hello_world application. These steps may change slightly for other example applications as some of these applications may have additional layers of folders in their path.

1. If not already done, open the desired demo application workspace in:

   <install_dir >/boards/<board_name >/<example_type>/<application_name>/mdk</application_name>
   </example_type></board_name ></install_dir >

   The workspace file is named <demo_nam>.uvmpw, so for this specific example, the actual path is: </demo_nam>

   <install_dir>/boards/evkmimxrt1020/demo_apps/hello_world/mdk/hello_world.uvmpw</install_dir>

2. To build the demo project, select the "Rebuild" button, highlighted in red.

   

3. The build completes without errors.

Run an Example Application

To download and run the application, perform these steps:

1. Connect the development platform to your PC via USB cable.

2. Open the terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, and connect to the debug serial port number. Configure the terminal with these settings:

   • 115200 baud rate, (reference BOARD_DEBUG_UART_BAUDRATE variable in board.h file)
   • No parity
   • 8 data bits
   • 1 stop bit

3. After the application is properly built, click the "Load" button to download the application to the target.

   

4. To debug the application, click the “Start/Stop Debug Session” button, highlighted in red.

   

5. Run the code by clicking the "Run" button to start the application.

   

6. The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not true, check your terminal settings and connections.

   
7. Press Stop to end the debug session.

Set Up Toolchain

This section contains the steps to install the necessary components required to build and run a KSDK demo application with the Arm GCC toolchain, as supported by the Kinetis SDK. There are many ways to use Arm GCC tools, but this example focuses on a Windows environment. Though not discussed here, GCC tools can also be used with both Linux OS and Mac OSX.

Install GCC Arm Embedded Toolchain

Download and run the installer from GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain. This is the actual toolchain (i.e., compiler, linker, etc.). The GCC toolchain should correspond to the latest supported version, as described in the Kinetis SDK Release Notes.

Install MinGW

The Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) development tools provide a set of tools that are not dependent on third party C-Runtime DLLs (such as Cygwin). The build environment used by the KSDK does not utilize the MinGW build tools, but does leverage the base install of both MinGW and MSYS. MSYS provides a basic shell with a Unix-like interface and tools.

1. Download the latest MinGW mingw-get-setup installer from MinGW - Minimalist GNU for Windows Files.

2. Run the installer. The recommended installation path is C:\MinGW, however, you may install to any location.

   Note: The installation path cannot contain any spaces.

3. Ensure that the "mingw32-base" and "msys-base" are selected under Basic Setup.

   

4. Click "Apply Changes" in the "Installation" menu and follow the remaining instructions to complete the installation.

   

5. Add the appropriate item to the Windows operating system Path environment variable. It can be found under Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced System Settings in the "Environment Variables..." section. The path is:

   <mingw_install_dir>\bin</mingw_install_dir>

   Assuming the default installation path, C:\MinGW, an example is shown below. If the path is not set correctly, the toolchain does not work.

   Note: If you have "C:\MinGW\msys\x.x\bin" in your PATH variable (as required by KSDK 1.0.0), remove it to ensure that the new GCC build system works correctly.

   If you have "C:\MinGW\msys\x.x\bin" in your PATH variable (as required by KSDK 1.0.0), remove it to ensure that the new GCC build system works correctly.

   

Add a New Environment Variable for ArmGCC_DIR

Create a new system environment variable and name it ArmGCC_DIR. The value of this variable should point to the Arm GCC Embedded tool chain installation path, which, for this example, is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GNU Tools Arm Embedded\4.9 2015q3

Reference the installation folder of the GNU Arm GCC Embedded tools for the exact path name of your installation.



Install CMake

1. Download CMake 3.0.x from CMake

2. Install CMake, ensuring that the option "Add CMake to system PATH" is selected when installing. It's up to the user to select whether it's installed into the PATH for all users or just the current user. In this example, the assumption is that it's installed for all users.

   

3. Follow the remaining instructions of the installer.

4. You may need to reboot your system for the PATH changes to take effect.

Build an Example Application

To build an example application, follow these steps.

1. If not already running, open a GCC Arm Embedded tool chain command window. To launch the window, from the Windows operating system Start menu, go to “Programs -> GNU Tools Arm Embedded <version>” and select “GCC Command Prompt”. </version>

2. Change the directory to the example application project directory, which has a path like this:

   <install_dir >/boards/<board_name >/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc</application_name>
   </example_type></board_name ></install_dir >

   For this guide, the exact path is:

   <install_dir>/boards/evkmimxrt1020/demo_apps/hello_world/armgcc</install_dir>

   

3. Type “build_flexspi_nor_debug.bat” on the command line or double click on the "build_flexspi_nor_debug.bat" file in Windows operating system Explorer to perform the build. The output is shown in this figure:

   

Run an Example Application

This section describes steps to run a demo application using J-Link GDB Server application. To perform this exercise, two things must be done:

• Make sure that either:

• The OpenSDA interface on your board is programmed with the J-Link OpenSDA firmware. If your board does not support OpenSDA, then a standalone J-Link pod is required.

• You have a standalone J-Link pod that is connected to the debug interface of your board. Note that some hardware platforms require hardware modification in order to function correctly with an external debug interface.

After the J-Link interface is configured and connected, follow these steps to download and run the demo applications:

1. This board supports the J-Link debug probe. Before using it, install SEGGER software, which can be downloaded from SEGGER

2. Connect the development platform to your PC via USB cable between the OpenSDA USB connector and the PC USB connector. If using a standalone J-Link debug pod, also connect it to the SWD/JTAG connector of the board.

3. Open the terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY or TeraTerm, and connect to the debug serial port number. Configure the terminal with these settings:

• 115200 baud rate, (reference BOARD_DEBUG_UART_BAUDRATE variable in board.h file)

• No parity

• 8 data bits

• 1 stop bit

• Open the J-Link GDB Server application. Go to the SEGGER install folder, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGGER\JLink_V632f. Open the command windows here, for Debug and Release targets, and use the command "JLinkGDBServer.exe". Note: for the sdram_debug and sdram_release targets, use the command:

   JLinkGDBServer.exescriptfile<install_dir>/boards/evkmimxrt1020/demo_apps/hello_world/
  evkmimxrt1020_sdram_init.jlinkscript</install_dir>

• The target device selection chosen for this example is the MIMXRT1021xxx5A.

  

• After it is connected, the screen should resemble this figure:

  

• If not already running, open a GCC Arm Embedded tool chain window. To launch the window, from the Windows operating system Start menu, go to “Programs -> GNU Tools Arm Embedded <version>” and select “GCC Command Prompt”.</version>

  

• Change to the directory that contains the example application output. The output can be found in using one of these paths, depending on the build target selected:

  <install_dir >/boards/<board_name >/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc/debug</application_name> </example_type></board_name>
  </install_dir >

  <install_dir >/boards/<board_name >/<example_type>/<application_name>/armgcc/release</application_name>
  </example_type></board_name ></install_dir >

  For this example, the path is:

  <install_dir>/boards/evkmimxrt1020/demo_apps/hello_world/armgcc/flexspi_nor_debug</install_dir>

• Run the command “arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe <application_name>.elf”. For this example, it is “arm-none-eabi-gdb.exe hello_world.elf”.</application_name>

  

• Run these commands:

  "target remote localhost:2331"

  "monitor reset"

  "monitor halt"

  "load"

• The application is now downloaded and halted at the reset vector. Execute the “monitor go” command to start the demo application.

The hello_world application is now running and a banner is displayed on the terminal. If this is not true, check your terminal settings and connections.