SWIR Acuros CQD Series, User Manual, Page: 113 / 121

User Manual
Acuros
®
CQD
®
Camera
113 | P a g e
10.5.2 Appendix_B: Uploading FPGA Code
FPGA configuration data is sent to the camera via a sequence of software commands. The data is
received by the camera and programmed into FPGA configuration Flash memory. After the
upload is finished, power must be cycled on the camera to invoke the new FPGA code.
Configuration data is generated by the Quartus software in the form of a .rpd (raw programming
data) file. The file size is 2,633,728 bytes and consists of just over 40, 65536 bytes sectors. Each
sector contains 256 pages. Each page contains 256 bytes. Individual sectors must be erased
before they can be programmed. Programming is done page by page.
FPGA configuration data transfer takes place as follows;
1) The host sends an EraseFpgaSectors command to the camera, starting with sector 0,
indicating which sector to erase. An echo is returned when the sector has been
erased. The time to erase a sector may be as long as 3 seconds, so make sure any
communication timeouts are set longer than this period.
2) The host sends a SendFpgaPage command to the camera accompanied by the 3-byte
starting address of the page being sent, and the first 256 bytes of configuration data.
The camera receives the data and programs it into flash. An echo is returned when
the programming is done.
3) Step 2 is repeated for 256 pages. The page start address is incremented by 256 as
each page is sent. 256 pages constitute one sector.
4) Steps 1,2 and 3 are repeated for 41 sectors. The page start address does not get
“reset” with each sector, but rather accumulates over the entire 41 sectors. The last
sector will only be partially filled with configuration data. The host software should
pad the unused data locations with zeroes.
10.5.3 Appendix_C: Uploading MicroController Firmware
Uploading microcontroller firmware (code) is facilitated by the use of a bootloader application
which resides in the base memory of the PIC microcontroller. The object file
(bootloader_application.hex) must be programmed into the PIC via the USB dongle before any
code uploading can take place. There are therefore three pieces of code in play, the bootloader
app, the host app which communicates with the bootloader app and the main app, which is the
camera application code.
The bootloader application functions as follows;