AN4657

Application note
STM32 in-application programming (IAP) using the USART

Introduction
An important requirement for most Flash-memory-based systems is the ability to update
firmware when installed in the end product. This ability is referred to as in-application
programming (IAP).
Most newer STM32 microcontrollers are supported by middleware open source library
called Open Bootloader (OpenBL).
More information on OpenBL is available for example in USART protocol used in the STM32
bootloader (AN3155).
The purpose of this application note is to provide general guidelines for creating an IAP
application on older STM32 microcontrollers not supported by the OpenBL.
An STM32 microcontroller is able to run user-specific firmware to perform an IAP of the
Flash memory embedded in the microcontroller. This feature uses any communication
interface available and supported by the product. The USART using the Ymodem protocol is
the example taken in this application note.
The X-CUBE-IAP-USART firmware package is delivered with this document and contains
the source code of IAP examples for STM32 microcontrollers. It is available from
www.st.com.

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www.st.com 1
Contents AN4657

Contents

1 IAP overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1 Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 IAP driver example description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 IAP driver flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2 Running the IAP driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.1 Tera Term configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 IAP driver menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.1 Downloading an image into the internal Flash memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Uploading an image from the internal Flash memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
3.3 Executing the new program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
3.4 Configuring the write protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

4 IAP implementation summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5 User program conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6 Revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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AN4657 List of tables

List of tables

Table 1. Document revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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List of figures AN4657

List of figures

Figure 1. Flash memory map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Figure 2. IAP flowchart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Figure 3. COM port settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 4. IAP driver menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 5. IAP driver menu when the Flash memory is write-protected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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AN4657 IAP overview

1 IAP overview

1.1 Principle
When a reset occurs, the program counter is set to execute the IAP driver. It must be a
compact code that checks a specific condition, for example that a combination of keys is
pressed. When this condition is met, the IAP driver code either executes a branch that
updates the user application or directly (usually by default) executes this user application.
The user application needs to be separated from the IAP driver. The most practical solution
is to place the IAP driver code at the beginning of program memory and the user code at the
beginning of the next free Flash memory block, sector or page, which allows independent
memory protection to be configured on both areas. For the example given in this application
note, the IAP is performed through the USART rather than a more advanced communication
interface, thus allowing for a minimal memory footprint.
The user application is likely to have independent stack and interrupt vectors (both are
recommended but neither is mandatory) as illustrated in Figure 1. When the IAP driver
directly launches the user application:
1. The IAP driver sets the main stack pointer to the application address.
2. The next instruction executes the jump (unconditional branching) to the application.
3. The application then sets its own interrupt vector table as active.

Figure 1. Flash memory map

Flash memory end address

User application code

Vector table
APPLICATION_ADDRESS

IAP code

Vector table
Flash memory start address

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IAP overview AN4657

1.2 IAP driver example description

The IAP driver contains the following set of source files:
• main.c: where the USART initialization and RCC configuration are set. A main menu is
then executed from the menu.c file.
• menu.c: contains the main menu routine. The main menu gives the options of
downloading a new binary file, uploading internal Flash memory, executing the binary
file already loaded and managing the write protection of the pages where the user
loads the binary file.
• flash_if.c: contains write, erase and configure write protection of the internal Flash
memory functions.
• common.c: contains functions related to read/write from/to USART peripheral
• ymodem.c: used to send and receive the data to and from the terminal emulation
application using the Ymodem protocol(a). In the event of a failure when receiving the
data, the “Failed to receive the file” error message is displayed. If the data is
successfully received, it is programmed into the internal Flash memory from the
appropriate address. A comparison between internal RAM contents and internal Flash
memory contents is performed to check the data integrity. If there is any data
discrepancy, the “Verification failed” error message is displayed. Other error messages
are also displayed when the image file size is greater than the allowed memory space
and when the user aborts the task.
• STM32Cube hardware abstraction layer files.

1.3 IAP driver flowchart

The user chooses to either launch the application or execute the IAP code for
reprogramming purposes by pressing a push-button connected to a pin:
• Not pressing the push-button at reset switches to the user application if it is present in
the memory.
• Pressing the push-button at reset displays the IAP main menu (see Figure 4).
Refer to readme.txt, provided with the example code, for more details on your board
implementation.
The IAP application flowchart is shown in Figure 2.

a. The Ymodem protocol sends data by 1024-byte blocks. An error check is performed in the transmitted
data blocks to compare the transmitted and received data. Blocks unsuccessfully received are
acknowledged with an NAK (negative acknowledgment). For more details about the Ymodem protocol,
refer to the existing documentation.

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AN4657 IAP overview

Figure 2. IAP flowchart

Start

Jump to
Key button is
user no
pressed?
program

yes

Initialize IAP

yes

Toggle the
Main Write the data
write Success?
menu to Flash
protection
yes
no
3 Receive Display
Menu item
4 1 binary Success? no error
choice
file message

Transmit
binary
file

yes Success? no

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Running the IAP driver AN4657

2 Running the IAP driver

The IAP driver must be programmed via the JTAG/SWD interface, starting from the Flash
memory base address. This is performed either through a chosen development toolchain or
the factory-embedded bootloader located the System memory area.
The IAP driver uses the USART to:
• download a binary file from the terminal emulator to the STM32 internal Flash memory.
• upload the STM32 internal Flash memory content (starting from the defined user
application address) into a binary file.

2.1 Tera Term configuration

To use the IAP, the user must have a PC running terminal emulator that supports the
Ymodem protocol.
This application note takes as an example the Tera Term popular open-source emulator
version 4.84. Tera Term COM port must be configured as shown in Figure 3. To do this,
select Setup followed by Serial port from the application menu bar.

Figure 3. COM port settings

Note: The baud rate value of 115200 bps is used in the firmware examples.
Care must be taken when selecting the system clock frequency. To guarantee successful
communication via the USART, the system clock frequency in the end application must
support a baud rate ofat least 115200 bps.
The COM port number depends on the user PC configuration. The examples are
configured to use the ST link virtual COM port.Executing the IAP driver

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AN4657 Running the IAP driver

In the example given in this application note, pressing the push-button at reset launches the
IAP driver.
By pressing the push-button at reset, the user runs the IAP driver to reprogram the STM32
microcontroller internal Flash memory. Refer to the readme.txt file provided within the
firmware package and to your board documentation for implementation details.

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IAP driver menu AN4657

3 IAP driver menu

Running the IAP displays the following menu in the Tera Term window.

Figure 4. IAP driver menu

3.1 Downloading an image into the internal Flash memory

Follow the sequence below to download a binary file via Tera Term into the STM32 internal
Flash memory:
1. Press 1 on the keyboard to select the Download image to the internal Flash menu
option.
2. Select File/Transfer/YMODEM/Send from the Tera Term menu.
3. In Tera Term YMODEM Send dialog window, select the binary file of the application.
4. Click the Open button.
5. The IAP driver then loads the binary file into the internal Flash memory starting from
the defined base address and displays the binary file name and size in the Tera Term
window.

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AN4657 IAP driver menu

3.2 Uploading an image from the internal Flash memory

Follow the sequence below to upload a copy of the internal Flash memory starting from the
user application address:
1. Press “2” on the keyboard to select Upload image from the internal Flash menu
option.
2. Select File/Transfer/YMODEM/Receive from the Tera Term menu.
3. A file, containing a copy of the internal Flash memory content, is saved in the last used
folder.

3.3 Executing the new program

Once the new program has been loaded, press “3” on the keyboard to select the Execute
the loaded application program menu option and jump to the application code.

3.4 Configuring the write protection

When the IAP starts, it checks the Flash memory pages where the user program is to be
loaded to see if any are write-protected. If it is the case, the menu shown in Figure 5 is
displayed.

Figure 5. IAP driver menu when the Flash memory is write-protected

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IAP driver menu AN4657

Prior to downloading the new program, the write protection must be disabled. To do so,
press 4 Disable the write protection on the keyboard. The write protection is then disabled
and a system reset is generated to reload the new option byte values. After resuming from
reset, the menu shown in Figure 4 is displayed if the key push-button is pressed.
When a new user application is installed, the write protection may be enabled once again to
prevent accidental corruption of the code. To toggle the write protection, select menu option
“4” again.
Note: In this example, the read protection is not supported, so the user has to verify that the Flash
memory is not read-protected. Removing the read protection requires a mass erase of the
non-volatile memory content.

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AN4657 IAP implementation summary

4 IAP implementation summary

The IAP firmware package comes with:

• source files and pre-configured projects for the IAP program (under IAP_Main sub-
directory)
• source files and pre-configured projects that build the application to be loaded into
Flash memory using the IAP (under IAP_Binary_Template sub-directory).
The readme.txt files provided within code package describes step by step how to execute
this IAP application and contains microcontroller specific implementation details.

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User program conditions AN4657

5 User program conditions

The user application to be loaded into the Flash memory using IAP must be built with these
configuration settings:
1. Using your toolchain linker settings, set the program load address as configured in the
IAP project code.
2. Relocate the vector table to APPLICATION_ADDRESS, for example by modifying the
value of the constant VECT_TAB_OFFSET defined in the project source files.
An example application program to be loaded with the IAP is provided with pre-configured
projects. Refer to the project readme.txt file for details.

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AN4657 Revision history

6 Revision history

Table 1. Document revision history

Date Revision Changes

27-Apr-2015 1 Initial release.

Updated:
01-Apr-2020 2 – Introduction
– Section 2.1: Tera Term configuration

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 AN4657

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