ddrmax/NanoVNA-V2-firmware

This repository contains the source code to build the firmware for the NanoVNA V2 (S-A-A-2).

See https://nanorfe.com/nanovna-v2.html for more info.

Developers chat room: https://discord.gg/DUH5Xk5

Below is information for building the firmware on Linux.

Installing the compiler

Debian based systems

On any recent Debian based installation:

sudo apt install gcc-arm-none-eabi

Installing the upstream toolchain

If you want to install the latest version of the gnu ARM toolchain:

get the latest version from https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-rm/downloads . You can download it using your browser or a command line tool like wget:

wget https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu-rm/9-2020q2/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2020-q2-update-x86_64-linux.tar.bz2

untar it, eg. in /opt/toolchains:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/toolchains
sudo tar xvf -C /opt/toolchains gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2020-q2-update-x86_64-linux.tar.bz2

set your PATH environment variable:

export PATH=/opt/toolchains/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2020-q2-update/bin:$PATH

Installing dependencies

To upload the firmware on the NanoVNA2, you will need:

Python 3
pyserial

On a Debian based system, you can use:

sudo apt install python3-serial

Getting the source code

The code is spread out over 3 repositories, 2 of which are submodules of the main NanoVNA-V2-firmware one:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/nanovna/NanoVNA-V2-firmware.git
cd NanoVNA-V2-firmware

Building

Now you can build the firmware by running make in the firmware sources directory:

cd NanoVNA-V2-firmware
make BOARDNAME=board_v2_2 EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DSWEEP_POINTS_MAX=201 -DSAVEAREA_MAX=7"

Note that SWEEP_POINTS_MAX and SAVEAREA_MAX can be customized depending on hardware target. Since Plus4 ECAL is no longer needed, and the extra RAM can be used to increase SWEEP_POINTS_MAX to 301 points (warning: experimental! there may not be enough stack space if ram usage is near full).

BOARDNAME should be set to:

board_v2_2 for V2.2 hardware
board_v2_plus for V2 Plus hardware
board_v2_plus4 for V2 Plus4 hardware

For Plus4, a different linker script needs to be used. The build command line for the Plus4 is:

make BOARDNAME=board_v2_plus4 EXTRA_CFLAGS="-DSWEEP_POINTS_MAX=201 -DSAVEAREA_MAX=7 -DDISPLAY_ST7796" LDSCRIPT=./gd32f303cc_with_bootloader_plus4.ld

The first time you build the firmware on a fresh repository, there is a libopencm3 bug that sometimes causes the linker script to be overwritten with a nonworking one. If the built firmware does not boot, try running:

git reset --hard gd32f303cc_with_bootloader.ld
git reset --hard gd32f303cc_with_bootloader_plus4.ld

And rebuilding.

Flashing the firmware

There are two options to update the firmware when using the regular USB interface:

Use NanoVNA-QT
Command line For this to work the device must stay in the bootloader and enter DFU mode

Another option is using a debugger using the debug pins.

Entering DFU mode

Switch the device off
Press and hold down the left button (the one closest to the Port 1 or the On/Off switch)
Switch the device on (screen stays white), release the button

The current user probably needs to be part of the dialout group to allow access.

Flashing can be done by running:

python dfu.py -f binary.bin

On some systems you may need to invoke python3 instead:

python3 dfu.py -f binary.bin

Note that depending on your installation the device might be seen as an Mobile Modem (3G/4G/etc) and it will not open the /dev/ttyACM0 port. After a while the modem manager will give up and you can access the device. If this is too much of a burden, you need to add udev rules to block modem manager from doing so.

ddrmax / NanoVNA-V2-firmware