ALFAT-SD-338 GHI Electronics, ALFAT-SD-338 Datasheet - Page 36

• Manufacturer Part Number: ALFAT-SD-338
• Description: Memory IC Development Tools ALFAT SD / MMC OEM BOARD
• Manufacturer: GHI Electronics

Specifications of ALFAT-SD-338

• Rohs: yes
• Product: SD Board
• Tool Is For Evaluation Of: SD, SDHC, MMC Cards
• Memory Type: Flash
• Operating Supply Voltage: 3.3 V
• Interface Type: I2C, SPI, UART
• Maximum Operating Temperature: + 85 C
• Minimum Operating Temperature: - 40 C
• Part # Aliases: GHI-ALFAT-SD-338

6. Boot Loader and firmware update
The boot loader is a software that boots the system up. It verifies and runs the ALFAT
firmware. It also gives the hosting system an interface for firmware maintenance.
GHI Electronics regularly maintains ALFAT firmware with improvements and bug fixes.
ALFAT boot loader allows the hosting system to update the firmware.
The boot loader can only be accesses through the UART port, without hardware
handshaking. So it only requires UART_TX and UART_RX pins.
It is very important that this UART port is exposed on the hardware even if the used
ALFAT interface with the hosting system is not UART (SPI or I2C). This guarantees that
ability to update ALFAT firmware when needed.
An updater application is provided by GHI to aid in updating the firmware. Users may also
wish to implement this functionality right into the host system so an update can happen
within the hosting system. The firmware update uses standard XMODEM 1K CRC
protocol. To connect ALFAT, or one of the OEM boards, to a PC for update, a TTL serial
connection is needed. If using a regular PC serial port then RS232 to TTL level converter
is required between ALFAT UART interface and the serial port.
We recommend using USB TTL serial cable. Here is the part number TTL-232R-3V3 from
FTDI. This USB enumerated as a virtual serial port and it provide TTL 3.3V levels at the
other side that can be connected directly to ALFAT's UART interface.
6.1. General Description
6.2. Firmware Updater App
GHI Electronics
Rev. 1.13
Page 36 of 51
Boot Loader and firmware update
ALFAT SoC Processor
www.ghielectronics.com