Wirelessly programming the uno32 board using the PMOD BT2

Created Sun, 02 Dec 2012 23:29:05 +0000 by Hepta5

Hepta5

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 23:29:05 +0000

Basically, I want to wirelessly program the uno32 using Bluetooth instead of using a USB cable (manual RESETs are okay).

I bought a PMOD BT2 in order to receive wireless information, but I am not sure how to proceed. Specifically, how would I send the information received by the BT2 to the uno32 to reprogram it and NOT be interpreted as digital I/O.

I have several ideas so far:

1. Output the PMOD BT2 data into a usb and plug that usb into the uno32 programming port.

2. Somehow, directly send serial data from the BT2 to the uno32 and flash it.

Any pointers on how to proceed about doing this, or if my approach is correct?

Thanks for the help! :geek:

GeneApperson

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:40:00 +0000

The host PC communicates with the boot loader via the FTDI FT232R USB serial interface. This serial interface uses UART1 in the PIC32 microcontroller on the Uno32. On the board, there is a direct connection between the FT232R and the Tx and Rx pins on UART1.

However, the UART1 Tx and Rx are also connected to digital pins 0 (Rx) and 1 (Tx). If the board is not connected to the PC via the USB cable, then the FT232R won't be trying to pass communications through to the bootloader. In this case, any other serial device connected to pins 0 & 1 can talk to the bootloader.

So, in principal, what you need to do is connect the Tx pin from the PmodBT2 to digital pin 0, and the Rx pin from the Pmod to digital pin 1. You would then need to have some appropriate BT device connected to your PC and install a driver for it that creates a COM port over bluetooth connected to the Pmod. Once that has been accomplished, you would operate in MPIDE the way that you normally do and just choose the appropriate (bluetooth based) COM port to talk to the board.

Gene Apperson Digilent