STM32 example

Overview

Example demonstrates how to flash ESP32 from another STM32 (host MCU) using esp_serial_flash component API. STM32F4-Discovery board is used in this example, as STM32F407VG has FLASH memory large enough to fit the whole hello-world example of ESP32. Binaries to be flashed from host MCU to ESP32 can be found in binaries directory and converted into C-arrays during build process. USART1 is dedicated for communication with ESP32, whereas, USART2 can be used for debug purposes by attaching UART-to-USB bridge.

Following steps are performed in order to re-program target's memory:

Peripherals are initialized.
Host puts slave device into boot mode tries to connect by calling esp_loader_connect().
Then esp_loader_flash_start() is called to enter flashing mode and erase amount of memory to be flashed.
esp_loader_flash_write() function is called repeatedly until the whole binary image is transfered.

Note: In addition, to steps mentioned above, esp_loader_change_transmission_rate is called after connection is established in order to increase flashing speed. Bootloader is also capable of detecting baud rate during connection phase, and can be changed before calling esp_loader_connect. However, it is recommended to start at lower speed and then use dedicated command to increase baud rate. This does not apply for ESP8266, as its bootloader does not support this command, therefore, baud rate can only be changed before connection phase in this case.

Hardware Required

STM32F4-Discovery board.
A development board with ESP32 SoC (e.g. ESP-WROVER-KIT, ESP32-DevKitC, etc.).
One or two USB cables for power supply and programming.

Hardware connection

Table below shows connection between STM32 and ESP32.

STM32 (host)	ESP32 (slave)
PB5	IO0
PB4	RST
PB6	RX0
PB7	TX0

Optionally, UART-to-USB bridge can be connected to PD5(RX) and PD6(TX) for debug purposes.

Build and flash

To compile the example:

Create and navigate to build directory:

mkdir build && cd build

Run cmake (with appropriate parameters) and build:

cmake -DTOOLCHAIN_PREFIX="/path_to_toolchain" -DSTM32Cube_DIR="path_to_stm32Cube" -DSTM32_CHIP="STM32F407VG" -DPORT="STM32" .. && cmake --build .

Binaries to be flashed are placed in separate folder (binaries.c) for each possible target and converted to C-array. Without explicitly enabling MD5 check, flash integrity verification is disabled by default.

For more details regarding to esp_serial_flasher configuration and STM32 support, please refer to top level README.md.

Note: CMake 3.13 or later is required.

STM32CubeMx configuration

Following configuration was used to generate STM32 cmake based project:

Project tab: Toolchain/IDE - Other toolchain (GPDSC)
Code Generator tab: Add necessary files as reference in the toolchain project configuration file

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