NXP MIMXRT685-EVK

Overview

The i.MX RT600 is a crossover MCU family optimized for 32-bit immersive audio playback and voice user interface applications combining a high-performance Cadence Tensilica HiFi 4 audio DSP core with a next-generation Cortex-M33 core. The i.MX RT600 family of crossover MCUs is designed to unlock the potential of voice-assisted end nodes with a secure, power-optimized embedded processor.

The i.MX RT600 family provides up to 4.5MB of on-chip SRAM and several high-bandwidth interfaces to access off-chip flash, including an Octal/Quad SPI interface with an on-the-fly decryption engine.

MIMXRT685-EVK

Hardware

  • MIMXRT685SFVKB Cortex-M33 (300 MHz, 128 KB TCM) core processor with Cadence Xtensa HiFi4 DSP

  • Onboard, high-speed USB, Link2 debug probe with CMSIS-DAP protocol (supporting Cortex M33 debug only)

  • High speed USB port with micro A/B connector for the host or device functionality

  • UART, I2C and SPI port bridging from i.MX RT685 target to USB via the on-board debug probe

  • 512 MB Macronix Octal SPI Flash operating at 1.8 V

  • 4.5 MB Apmemory PSRAM

  • Full size SD card slot (SDIO)

  • NXP PCA9420UK PMIC

  • User LEDs

  • Reset and User buttons

  • Arduino and PMod/Host expansion connectors

  • NXP FXOS8700CQ accelerometer

  • Stereo audio codec with line in/out and electret microphone

  • Stereo NXP TFA9894 digital amplifiers, with option for external +5V power for higher performance speakers

  • Support for up to eight off-board digital microphones via 12-pin header

  • Two on-board DMICS

For more information about the MIMXRT685 SoC and MIMXRT685-EVK board, see these references:

Supported Features

The mimxrt685_evk board configuration supports the following hardware features:

Interface

Controller

Driver/Component

NVIC

on-chip

nested vector interrupt controller

SYSTICK

on-chip

systick

OS_TIMER

on-chip

os timer

IOCON

on-chip

pinmux

GPIO

on-chip

gpio

FLASH

on-chip

OctalSPI Flash

USART

on-chip

serial port-polling

I2C

on-chip

i2c

SPI

on-chip

spi

I2S

on-chip

i2s

CLOCK

on-chip

clock_control

HWINFO

on-chip

Unique device serial number

RTC

on-chip

counter

The default configuration can be found in the defconfig file:

boards/arm/mimxrt685_evk/mimxrt685_evk_cm33_defconfig

Other hardware features are not currently supported by the port.

Connections and IOs

The MIMXRT685 SoC has IOCON registers, which can be used to configure the functionality of a pin.

Name

Function

Usage

PIO0_2

USART

USART RX

PIO0_1

USART

USART TX

PIO0_14

GPIO

GREEN LED

PIO1_1

GPIO

SW0

PIO0_17

I2C

I2C SDA

PIO0_18

I2C

I2C SCL

PIO1_5

GPIO

FXOS8700 TRIGGER

PIO1_5

SPI

SPI MOSI

PIO1_4

SPI

SPI MISO

PIO1_3

SPI

SPI SCK

PIO1_6

SPI

SPI SSEL

PIO0_23

I2S

I2S DATAOUT

PIO0_22

I2S

I2S TX WS

PIO0_21

I2S

I2S TX SCK

PIO0_9

I2S

I2S DATAIN

PIO0_29

USART

USART TX

PIO0_30

USART

USART RX

PIO1_11

FLEXSPI0B_DATA0

OctalSPI Flash

PIO1_12

FLEXSPI0B_DATA1

OctalSPI Flash

PIO1_13

FLEXSPI0B_DATA2

OctalSPI Flash

PIO1_14

FLEXSPI0B_DATA3

OctalSPI Flash

PIO1_29

FLEXSPI0B_SCLK

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_12

PIO2_12

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_17

FLEXSPI0B_DATA4

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_18

FLEXSPI0B_DATA5

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_19

FLEXSPI0B_SS0_N

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_22

FLEXSPI0B_DATA6

OctalSPI Flash

PIO2_23

FLEXSPI0B_DATA7

OctalSPI Flash

System Clock

The MIMXRT685 EVK is configured to use the OS Event timer as a source for the system clock.

Serial Port

The MIMXRT685 SoC has 8 FLEXCOMM interfaces for serial communication. One is configured as USART for the console and the remaining are not used.

Programming and Debugging

Build and flash applications as usual (see Building an Application and Run an Application for more details).

Configuring a Debug Probe

A debug probe is used for both flashing and debugging the board. This board is configured by default to use the LPC-Link2.

  1. Install the J-Link Debug Host Tools and make sure they are in your search path.

  2. To connect the SWD signals to onboard debug circuit, install jumpers JP17, JP18 and JP19, if not already done (these jumpers are installed by default).

  3. Follow the instructions in LPC-Link2 J-Link Onboard Debug Probe to program the J-Link firmware. Please make sure you have the latest firmware for this board.

Configuring a Console

Connect a USB cable from your PC to J16, and use the serial terminal of your choice (minicom, putty, etc.) with the following settings:

  • Speed: 115200

  • Data: 8 bits

  • Parity: None

  • Stop bits: 1

Flashing

Here is an example for the Hello World application. This example uses the J-Link Debug Host Tools as default.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b mimxrt685_evk_cm33 samples/hello_world
west flash

Open a serial terminal, reset the board (press the RESET button), and you should see the following message in the terminal:

***** Booting Zephyr OS v1.14.0 *****
Hello World! mimxrt685_evk_cm33

Debugging

Here is an example for the Hello World application. This example uses the J-Link Debug Host Tools as default.

# From the root of the zephyr repository
west build -b mimxrt685_evk_cm33 samples/hello_world
west debug

Open a serial terminal, step through the application in your debugger, and you should see the following message in the terminal:

***** Booting Zephyr OS zephyr-v2.3.0 *****
Hello World! mimxrt685_evk_cm33

Troubleshooting

If the debug probe fails to connect with the following error, it’s possible that the image in flash is interfering and causing this issue.

Remote debugging using :2331
Remote communication error.  Target disconnected.: Connection reset by peer.
"monitor" command not supported by this target.
"monitor" command not supported by this target.
You can't do that when your target is `exec'
(gdb) Could not connect to target.
Please check power, connection and settings.

You can fix it by erasing and reprogramming the flash with the following steps:

  1. Set the SW5 DIP switches to ON-ON-ON to prevent booting from flash.

  2. Reset by pressing SW3

  3. Run west debug or west flash again with a known working Zephyr application (example “Hello World”).

  4. Set the SW5 DIP switches to ON-OFF-ON to boot from flash.

  5. Reset by pressing SW3