Ux_Device_CDC_ACM Application Description

This application provides an example of Azure RTOS USBX stack usage on NUCLEO-WBA65RI board, it shows how to develop USB Device communication Class "CDC_ACM" based application. The application is designed to emulate an USB-to-UART bridge following the Virtual COM Port (VCP) implementation, the code provides all required device descriptors framework and associated class descriptor report to build a compliant USB CDC_ACM device. At the beginning ThreadX call the entry function tx_application_define(), at this stage, all USBx resources are initialized, the CDC_ACM class driver is registered and the application creates 3 threads with different priorities :

• app_ux_device_thread_entry (Prio : 10; PreemptionPrio : 10) used to initialize USB OTG HAL PCD driver and start the device.
• usbx_cdc_acm_read_thread_entry (Prio : 20; PreemptionPrio : 20) used to read the received data from Virtual COM Port.
• usbx_cdc_acm_write_thread_entry (Prio : 20; PreemptionPrio : 20) used to send the received data over UART.

During enumeration phase, three communication pipes "endpoints" are declared in the CDC class implementation :

• 1 x Bulk IN endpoint for receiving data from STM32 device to PC host: When data are received over UART they are saved in the buffer "UserTxBufferFS". Periodically, in a usbx_cdc_acm_write_thread_entry the state of the buffer "UserTxBufferFS" is checked. If there are available data, they are transmitted in response to IN token otherwise it is NAKed.

• 1 x Bulk OUT endpoint for transmitting data from PC host to STM32 device: When data are received through this endpoint they are saved in the buffer "UserRxBufferFS" then they are transmitted over UART using DMA mode and in meanwhile the OUT endpoint is NAKed. Once the transmission is over, the OUT endpoint is prepared to receive next packet in HAL_UART_RxCpltCallback().

• 1 x Interrupt IN endpoint for setting and getting serial-port parameters: When control setup is received, the corresponding request is executed in USBD_CDC_ACM_ParameterChange.

In this application, two requests are implemented:

- Set line: Set the bit rate, number of stop bits, parity, and number of data bits
- Get line: Get the bit rate, number of stop bits, parity, and number of data bits

The other requests (send break, control line state) are not implemented.

Expected success behavior

When plugged to PC host, the NUCLEO-WBA65RI must be properly enumerated as an USB Serial device and an STlink COM port. During the enumeration phase, the device must provide host with the requested descriptors (Device descriptor, configuration descriptor, string descriptors). Those descriptors are used by host driver to identify the device capabilities. Once NUCLEO-WBA65RI USB device successfully completed the enumeration phase, Open two hyperterminals (USB COM port and UART COM port(USB STLink VCP)) to send/receive data to/from host from/to device.

Error behaviors

Host PC shows that USB device does not operate as designed (CDC device enumeration failed, PC and device can not communicate over VCP ports).

Assumptions if any

User is familiar with USB 2.0 "Universal Serial BUS" specification and CDC_ACM class specification.

Known limitations

None

Notes

• Receiving data over UART is handled by interrupt while transmitting is handled by DMA allowing hence the application to receive data at the same time it is transmitting another data (full- duplex feature).

• The user has to check the list of the COM ports in Device Manager to find out the COM port number that have been assigned (by OS) to the VCP interface.

• CDC ACM non-blocking transmission by default disabled, to enable non-blocking transmission UX_DEVICE_CLASS_CDC_ACM_TRANSMISSION_DISABLE must be disabled and 2048 additional in USBX byte pool and USBX_MEMORY_SIZE.

ThreadX usage hints

• ThreadX uses the Systick as time base, thus it is mandatory that the HAL uses a separate time base through the TIM IPs.

• ThreadX is configured with 100 ticks/sec by default, this should be taken into account when using delays or timeouts at application. It is always possible to reconfigure it, by updating the "TX_TIMER_TICKS_PER_SECOND" define in the "tx_user.h" file. The update should be reflected in "tx_initialize_low_level.S" file too.

• ThreadX is disabling all interrupts during kernel start-up to avoid any unexpected behavior, therefore all system related calls (HAL, BSP) should be done either at the beginning of the application or inside the thread entry functions.

• ThreadX offers the "tx_application_define()" function, that is automatically called by the tx_kernel_enter() API. It is highly recommended to use it to create all applications ThreadX related resources (threads, semaphores, memory pools...) but it should not in any way contain a system API call (HAL or BSP).

• Using dynamic memory allocation requires to apply some changes to the linker file. ThreadX needs to pass a pointer to the first free memory location in RAM to the tx_application_define() function, using the "first_unused_memory" argument. This requires changes in the linker files to expose this memory location.

  • For EWARM add the following section into the .icf file:

  place in RAM_region    { last section FREE_MEM };
  

  • For MDK-ARM:

  either define the RW_IRAM1 region in the ".sct" file
  or modify the line below in "tx_initialize_low_level.S to match the memory region being used
      LDR r1, =|Image$$RW_IRAM1$$ZI$$Limit|
  

  • For STM32CubeIDE add the following section into the .ld file:

  ._threadx_heap :
    {
       . = ALIGN(8);
       __RAM_segment_used_end__ = .;
       . = . + 64K;
       . = ALIGN(8);
     } >RAM_D1 AT> RAM_D1
  

  The simplest way to provide memory for ThreadX is to define a new section, see ._threadx_heap above.
  In the example above the ThreadX heap size is set to 64KBytes.
  The ._threadx_heap must be located between the .bss and the ._user_heap_stack sections in the linker script.
  Caution: Make sure that ThreadX does not need more than the provided heap memory (64KBytes in this example).
  Read more in STM32CubeIDE User Guide, chapter: "Linker script".
  

  • The "tx_initialize_low_level.S" should be also modified to enable the "USE_DYNAMIC_MEMORY_ALLOCATION" flag.

Keywords

RTOS, ThreadX, USBX, USBXDevice, USB_OTG, Full Speed, CDC, VCP, USART, DMA.

Hardware and Software environment

• This application runs on STM32WBAxx devices

• This application has been tested with STMicroelectronics NUCLEO-WBA65RI boards revision MB2130-WBA65RI-A01 and can be easily tailored to any other supported device and development board.

• NUCLEO-WBA65RI Set-up:

  • Connect the NUCLEO-WBA65RI board CN15 to the PC through "TYPE-C" to "Standard A" cable.
  • For VCP the configuration is dynamic for example it can be:
    • BaudRate = 115200 baud
    • Word Length = 8 Bits
    • Stop Bit = 1
    • Parity = None
    • Flow control = None

• The USART1 interface available on PA8 and PB12 of the microcontroller are connected to ST-LINK MCU.

• By default the USART1 communication between the target MCU and ST-LINK MCU is enabled. It's configuration is as following:

  • BaudRate = 115200 baud
  • Word Length = 8 Bits
  • Stop Bit = 1
  • Parity = None
  • Flow control = None

How to use it ?

In order to make the program work, you must do the following :

• Open your preferred toolchain
• Rebuild all files and load your image into target memory
• Run the application