Getting Started with MCXW72-LOC

2.1 Install Your Toolchain

NXP offers a toolchain called MCUXpresso for VS Code. Please download MCUXpresso for VS Code v25.09 or newer.

Get VS Code

Learn how to install VS Code for your host PC with the following tutorial.

2.2 Jump Start Your Design with the MCUXpresso SDK

The NXP extension adds tools to help add software repositories into the Visual Studio Code workspace. The software repository can be provided from three sources:

• Remote git URL
• NXP MCUXpresso archive file
• Existing git folder

This section will import the MCUXpresso SDK using the remote git repostiory option. To import the repository in this way, follow these steps:

1. Click on the MCUXpresso extension Icon
2. Click on the "QUICKSTART PANEL" tab and then click on the "Import Repository" button. After pressing that button a new import window will appear

3. Select the "Remote" option to import the provided SDK files
4. Browse to the Repository options by clicking on the arrow button and search for "MCUXpresso SDK" option
5. Click on the arrow button for Revision and search for version "v25.09.00" or newer
6. Click on "Browse" for the Location folder and select a common destination folder to store your SDK
7. Enter a name for the new SDK
8. Click on the "Import" button and wait for the installation

2.3 MCUXpresso Config Tools

The MCUXpresso Config Tool is an integrated suite of configuration tools that guides users in creating new MCUXpresso SDK projects, and also provides pin and clock tools to generate initialization C code for custom board support. It is fully integrated as a part of MCUXpresso IDE and also as a separate tool if using a different IDE.

Click the Get MCUXpresso Config Tools below to get the Config Tools installer.

Get MCUXpresso Config Tools

2.4 Programming and Provisioning Tools

The MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning (SEC) Tool is a GUI-based application provided to simplify the generation and provisioning of bootable executables on NXP MCU devices. We recommend all users to begin with the MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning (SEC) tool for trial run and mass production use. It supports secure programming and device provisioning on NXP's microcontrollers at the production stage.

After downloading the tool, you can find the user guide under the ‘Help’ tab. Follow the instructions for your board in the ‘Processor-specific workflow’ chapter.

SEC Installation

2.5 Installing IoT Toolbox

NXP's IoT Toolbox is a versatile mobile application designed to support wireless connectivity demonstrations and testing. It provides an intuitive interface to interact with NXP development platform. You will need this app to follow the next sections on this Getting Started guide.

Get started by installing the IoT Toolbox on your smartphone:

3.1 Updating the NBU Firmware

Before running any wireless demo, you need to make sure to have the NBU firmware updated to the SDK version you are going to use.

1. Connect your MCXW72-LOC board to your PC using a USB type-C cable
2. Open the LinkFlash tool you should have installed in Section 2.1. This tool comes included with the LinkServer component. The default path for this tool is "C:\nxp\LinkServer_XX.XX.XX\LinkFlash.exe"
3. Verify that your board is being recognized by the tool in the "Probe" field, if not, click on "Refresh"
4. Go to the "Erase" tab, an select the NBU memory region by clicking on the checkbox

5. Click on the "Erase" button. Verify that the operation was successful by the message at the bottom of the window

6. Go back to the "Program" tab and click on the "Browse" button to look for your NBU firmware binary file

7. Browse to the directory where you installed your SDK on Section 2.2, and follow the path to the NBU file: "{your_SDK_path}\mcuxsdk\middleware\wireless\ble_controller\bin\mcxw72_nbu_ble_all_hosted.bin". Click on "Open"

8. On the "Address" field, type 0x48800000. Click on "Program". Verify the correct completion of the operation

3.2 Build and Flash Application using MCUXpresso for VS Code

1. Find the activity bar in the left-hand bar and click it to open it. Once it's open go to the explorer and open the project tab

2. Then click on Import example from repository The following tab will open on the editor screen

3. Click on the arrow button on repository tab to choose your previously downloaded SDK, and the toolchain that matches the version

4. Select the KW47-LOC board from the Boards drop-down menu

5. Use the arrow button to expand the Template tab, and then select the"wireless_examples/bluetooth/bm/wireless_uart_bm" to use it as a template for the project. Then, click on import button

6. Select the project and build it by either clicking on the build icon in the shortcuts provided or by doing a right click and select the "Build" option

7. The project should build without presenting any errors or warnings in the console

8. Connect the board to your computer with the micro USB to J3 ‘MCU-LINK’ port
9. Download the application to your board by either clicking on the debug icon or by doing a right click and select the "Debug" option

10. Open up a serial terminal to be able to see the application’s output. Select the port corresponding to the MCULINK probe to your board “MCULink-VCOM” window. Set your terminal to boudrate or speed to "115200", 8 bits data, no parity and 1 stop bit and connect to that port

11. Run the application by pressing the “run” icon. See the output printed on the terminal

12. Press SW3 button to switch the BLE role to peripheral. Then press SW2 to start BLE Advertising. You should see the messages printed on the terminal

13. Use the IoT Toolbox app to connect to the board. First, select Wireless UART in the main menu

14. Select the board to connect. You should see a connection message displayed on the terminal

15. Type any message on the app and see it displayed on the terminal

16. Type a message into the terminal and see it displayed on the app

4.1 Clone an Example Project from MCUXpresso IDE

The following steps will guide you through the manipulation of the general-purpose outputs. The example sets up an LED that toggles every second.

1. Following the instructions from the previous section, import the led_blinky SDK example

2. Click on the “led_blinky_cm33_core0” project in the Project tab and build, compile, and run the demo as described in the previous section

3. You should see the BLUE LED toggling each second
4. Terminate the debug session

4.2 Use MCUXpresso Config Tools

Note: Previously, you had to clone an SDK project like in the previous step.

1. Open the pins tool by right clicking on your project and then selecting "Open with MCUXpresso Config Tools"

2. Select the "Open an existing configuration" option. Browse to the path where you installed the SDK, then to mcuxsdk\examples\_boards\kw47loc\demo_apps\led_blinky\ and select led_blinky.mex file and click on Finish
3. The pins tool should now display the pin configuration for the blinky led project

4.3 Use the Pins Tools to Modify the LED Routed Pin

1. In the Pins view deselect “Show dedicated pins” and “Show no routed pins” checkboxes to see only the routed pins. Routed pins have a check in a green box next to the pin name. The functions selected for each routed pin are highlighted in green

2. In the current configuration, PTC0 (LEB_BLUE) is routed as an output. Let’s add the pin configuration to enable the GREEN LED
3. Select “Show no routed pins” to see the other options. To enable the GREEN LED, search for PTC6 and select GPIO6, under the GPIO column. Select "No" for any Simultaneous Routing message

4. Next configure the GPIO pin as an output and Logical 1 as GPIO initial state in the “Routing Details” window

5. Now it’s time to implement these changes into the project by exporting the new updated pin_mux.c and pin_mux.h files that are generated by the Pins tool. Click on Update Project in the menu bar

6. The screen that pops up will show the files that are changing. Click on “OK” to overwrite the new files into your project

Note: The clocks and other files may also be tagged as being updated since the header has been changed.


7. Let’s add some additional code to the example. Open led_blinky.c file and add the following line to toggle the GREEN LED

8. Build and download the project as done in the previous section
9. Run the application. You should now see the Green and Blue LED blinking alternately
10. Terminate the debug session

Check out each of the following sections to learn about the ecosystem provided for flexible protyping and development. In the video below, we will introduce you to the FRDM platform, the full-featured EVK and the compatible shields for extended capabilities. In addition we will walk you through our Application Code Hub portal where we provide numerous application examples through NXP's Github.

5.1 FRDM Platform, Full Feature EVK and Shields

For quick prototyping platforms, we offer both the low-cost FRDM platform and the full-featured EVK.

FRDM development boards come with standard form factor and headers, easy access to MCU I/Os, on-board MCU-Link debugger and a USB-C cable. Our full featured evaluation kits include extended I/O and interface access, extendibility with WiFi and additional MCU-Link features. There are also many compatible Click Boards and/or Arduino shields. For those that are supported with an Open CMSIS Pack examples may be available on ACH, but if not, many of them are easy to use via serial interface like I²C, SPI and UART, for which we provide drivers with examples in the MCUXpresso SDK.

5.2 Application Code Hub

The Application Code Hub further enhances our MCUXpresso Developer Experience by giving developers an interactive dashboard to quickly locate software. Visit the ACH  today to start exploring or discover additional details and benefits of the new interactive Application Code Hub.

Software accessible from Application Code Hub is located in NXP’s GitHub repository  so it can be easily accessed and cloned from that location directly.

5.3 Demo Walkthrough

The following demo walks us through importing a project from ACH using a system based on the FRDM platform with a motor control shield and a low cost LCD. Although your evaluation board may differ from this system, the following steps can be replicated and used for all supported platforms.

Additional References

• Getting Started with MCUXpresso SDK
• MCUXpresso SDK API Reference Manual
• MCUXpresso SDK Builder
• MCU-Link FW
• Secure Provisioning Tool User Guide
• SPSDK Wiki

Support

• General Support
• MCX Community