AN136 Silicon_Laboratories, AN136 Datasheet - Page 2

• Manufacturer Part Number: AN136
• Description: Production Programming Options FOR Silicon LABS Devices
• Manufacturer: Silicon_Laboratories

AN136
Command Line Download Utility
If an EC2 Serial Adapter is used to program
devices, Silicon Labs provides a Command Line
Download utility ‘FlashUtilCL.exe’ that supports
downloading an Intel-HEX file to the target device.
It also supports devices connected in a JTAG chain.
The Command Line Download utility is available
from the Development Tools Web Page on the Sili-
con Labs Website.
Custom Software Using the Silicon
Labs Utilities DLL
The Command Line Download program utilizes
the functions provided by the Silicon Labs Utilities
DLL. This DLL may be used to write custom soft-
ware (in Visual Basic or Visual C++, for example)
that uses the EC2 Serial Adapter to program
devices. For more information about the Silicon
Labs Utilities DLL, see application note AN017 on
the Development Tools Web Page.
Pre-Programming Devices
Pre-programmed devices are useful for end sys-
tems that do not provide access to the debug pins
on the device. Devices are programmed before
being installed in the end system. Pre-programming
options include Silicon Lab’s in-house program-
ming service, creating custom hardware to program
devices, or using a third party programmer.
In-House Programming
For production orders, Silicon Labs offers a pro-
gramming service for all C8051F devices. The cus-
tomer can install the pre-programmed devices
directly in the end system without providing access
to the debug pins. Contact your local sales repre-
sentative for more information about this service. A
list of local sales representatives is available from
the “Contact Us” page on the Silicon Labs Website.
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Rev. 1.1
Custom Hardware and Third
Party Programmers
Another option for production programming is to
build custom hardware to program the device prior
to installation in the end system. This type of pro-
grammer would typically have one or more sockets
to hold unprogrammed devices. The FLASH pro-
gramming techniques in application notes AN005
(JTAG devices) and AN027 (C2 devices) can be
used to implement a custom programmer.
Support for Silicon Labs devices is also being inte-
grated into third party production programmers
from
<www.bpmicro.com>
<www.dataio.com>. Contact these suppliers for
more information about their programming solu-
tions.
Updating Firmware
All Silicon Labs devices have the ability to pro-
gram FLASH from application code. Once unini-
tialized devices have been programmed, firmware
can be updated using techniques described in this
application note or through application code. Firm-
ware updates through application code can receive
the update through any of the communications
peripherals such as the UART, SMBus/I
application note “AN012 – UART In-Application
Code Loading Examples” for an example UART
firmware updater.
suppliers
such
as
and
BPMicrosystems
2
C, etc. See
Data I/O