Electronics > Microcontrollers

Production loading of code into a ST 32F417

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peter-h:
The obvious way is to have a laptop running Cube IDE and a STLINK debugger connecting via spring-loaded probes (I already have such a fixture built for the SWD connection) and pressing this button



:)

How would this be done with just some "box" which does this? A laptop is actually ok for small batches... but at work we program thousands of little Atmel-AVR-CPU products and these are done with a dedicated box (we are using an ancient Equinox FS2000) driving the spring-loaded probe setup.

Is there such a box for the 32F4 into which you just load the .elf file and which has a PROGRAM button on top?

woofy:
I can't speak for ST, but we use a lot of PICs, and for volume production we buy them pre-programmed from Microchip.
Maybe ST offers a similar service?

pigrew:
One option is the Segger Flasher.

I also imagine you could setup another micro to flash it. In that case, I would use the MCU's bootloader (UART or SPI) instead of JTAG.

ADDED: Are you considering doing a production test at the same time? Perhaps whatever production test tool you're using could flash the MCU (through either JTAG or the bootloader)?

HwAoRrDk:
Ar the very least you'd probably want to use STM32CubeProgrammer rather than the IDE, would you not?

peter-h:
Aha - that Segger flasher looks just right. I recognise the Segger pricing too from a mile away - must be good, eh ;)

The ST programmer is also good and more idiot-proof than a Cube setup, although it still needs a laptop, and if you are using a laptop then it is simpler to just duplicate the development setup on that laptop.

Yes one could do it with another CPU but that's hard work, yet another bit of kit to document and maintain, potentially over many years.

There is indeed a "production test" which will probably be done via a menu presented on a serial port, interacted with Teraterm on a laptop. One could also do it over ETH with a browser client but a) if ETH is dud then you cannot do anything and b) the target code is a lot more convoluted, and maybe not possible if I want the factory test to be contained in what space is left in the 32k "boot block".

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