Workspace Setup

Building the CANnectivity firmware requires a proper Zephyr development environment. This repository can either be used as a stand-alone Zephyr workspace or it can be added to an existing Zephyr workspace as a module.

Stand-alone Workspace

Follow the official Getting Started Guide until the “Get the Zephyr source code” step.

Replace the instructions for getting the Zephyr source code with the command below. This will clone the CANnectivity firmware repository and download the necessary Zephyr modules:

west init -m https://github.com/CANnectivity/cannectivity --mr main <workspace directory>
cd <workspace directory>
west update

After performing the step above, continue with installing the Zephyr SDK according to the instructions found in the Zephyr Getting Started Guide.

CANnectivity as a Zephyr Module

The CANnectivity firmware repository is a Zephyr module which allows for adding it to an existing Zephyr workspace, either for building the CANnectivity firmware as part of an existing workspace, or for reuse of its components (i.e. the “gs_usb” protocol implementation) outside of the CANnectivity firmware application.

To pull in CANnectivity as a Zephyr module, either add it as a West project in the west.yaml file or pull it in by adding a submanifest (e.g. zephyr/submanifests/cannectivity.yaml) file with the following content and run west update:

manifest:
  projects:
    - name: cannectivity
      url: https://github.com/CANnectivity/cannectivity.git
      revision: main
      path: custom/cannectivity # adjust the path as needed

Building and Running

After setting up a workspace, build the CANnectivity firmware in its default configuration for your board (here lpcxpresso55s16) using west:

west build -b lpcxpresso55s16/lpc55s16 cannectivity/app/

To use the debug configuration, which has logging enabled, set FILE_SUFFIX=debug:

west build -b lpcxpresso55s16/lpc55s16 cannectivity/app/ -- -DFILE_SUFFIX=debug

After building, the firmware can be flashed to the board by running the west flash command.

USB Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) Mode

CANnectivity supports USB Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) via the MCUboot bootloader. This is intended for use with boards without an on-board programmer.

To build CANnectivity with MCUboot integration for USB DFU use sysbuild when building for your board (here frdm_k64f):

west build -b frdm_k64f/mk64f12 --sysbuild cannectivity/app/

After building, MCUboot and the CANnectivity firmware can be flashed to the board by running the west flash command.

Subsequent CANnectivity firmware updates can be applied via USB DFU using dfu-util:

dfu-util -D build/app/zephyr/zephyr.signed.bin.dfu

The dfu-util command will automatically switch the firmware into DFU mode and reboot into the new firmware once completed.

If your board has a dedicated DFU button (identified by the mcuboot-button0 devicetree alias), it can also be used to force the firmware into DFU mode by pressing and holding it for 5 seconds. If your board has a DFU LED (identified by the mcuboot-led0 devicetree alias), the LED will flash while the DFU button is being held and change to constant on once DFU mode is activated. Refer to your board documentation for further details.