PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra

Overview

The PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra evaluation kit is a hardware platform to evaluate the Microchip PIC32CK GC microcontrollers, and the evaluation kit part number is EV44P93A. This kit provides a comprehensive set of features that allow users to explore the PIC32CK GC peripherals and gain insight into integrating the device into their own designs.

Hardware

144-pin TQFP PIC32CK2051GC01144 microcontroller
Arm® Cortex®-M33 Microcontroller
32.768 kHz crystal oscillator
12 MHz crystal oscillator
2048 KiB flash memory and 512 KiB of RAM
Two user LEDs (Red and Green)
One green board power LED
Two mechanical user push buttons
One reset button
On-Board Temperature Sensor
Two USB interfaces (Type-C and Micro-B)
Virtual COM port (VCOM)
Programming and debugging of on-board PIC32CK GC through Serial Wire Debug (SWD) and on-board PKoB4 debugger
Arduino Uno connector
MikroBUS™ socket
Xplained Pro extension header
Graphics interface
10/100 MB Ethernet interface
Two CAN FD interface
SD card slot
QSPI Flash and Serial EEPROM
One Motor control Position Decoder (PDEC) interface

Supported Features

The pic32ck_gc01_cult board supports the hardware features listed below.

on-chip / on-board: Feature integrated in the SoC / present on the board.
2 / 2: Number of instances that are enabled / disabled.
Click on the label to see the first instance of this feature in the board/SoC DTS files.
vnd,foo: Compatible string for the Devicetree binding matching the feature.
Click on the link to view the binding documentation.

`pic32ck_gc01_cult/pic32ck2051gc01144` target

Type	Location	Description	Compatible
CPU	on-chip	ARM Cortex-M33 CPU1	`arm,cortex-m33`
GPIO & Headers	on-chip	Microchip Port G1 GPIO2 2	`microchip,port-g1-gpio`
Input	on-board	Group of GPIO-bound input keys1	`gpio-keys`
Interrupt controller	on-chip	ARMv8-M NVIC (Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller)1	`arm,v8m-nvic`
LED	on-board	Group of GPIO-controlled LEDs1	`gpio-leds`
MMU / MPU	on-chip	ARMv8-M MPU (Memory Protection Unit)1	`arm,armv8m-mpu`
MTD	on-chip	Flash node2	`soc-nv-flash`
Pin control	on-chip	Microchip PORT Pinctrl container node1	`microchip,port-g1-pinctrl`
SRAM	on-chip	Generic on-chip SRAM1	`mmio-sram`
Timer	on-chip	ARMv8-M System Tick1	`arm,armv8m-systick`

Connections and IOs

The PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra User Guide has detailed information about board connections.

Programming & Debugging

The pic32ck_gc01_cult board supports the runners and associated west commands listed below.

	flash	debug	rtt	reset	debugserver	attach
jlink	✅ (default)	✅ (default)	✅	✅	✅	✅

Flash Using J-Link

To flash the board using the J-Link debugger, follow the steps below:

Install J-Link Software
- Download and install the J-Link software tools from Segger.
- Make sure the installed J-Link executables (e.g., JLink, JLinkGDBServer) are available in your system’s PATH.
Connect the Board
- Connect the J32 Debug Probe to the board’s CORTEX DEBUG header.
- Connect the other end of the J32 Debug Probe to your host machine (PC) via USB.
- Connect the DEBUG USB port on the board to your host machine to power up the board.
Build the Application

You can build a sample Zephyr application, such as Blinky, using the west tool. Run the following commands from your Zephyr workspace:
```
west build -b pic32ck_gc01_cult -p -s samples/basic/blinky
```
This will build the Blinky application for the pic32ck_gc01_cult board.
Flash the Device

Once the build completes, flash the firmware using:
```
west flash
```
This uses the default jlink runner to flash the application to the board.
Observe the Result

After flashing, LED0 on the board should start blinking, indicating that the application is running successfully.

Debug Using J-Link: GDB Command-Line

To debug the board using the J-Link debugger, follow the steps below:

Build the Application

You can build a sample Zephyr application, such as Blinky, using the west tool. Run the following commands from your Zephyr workspace:
```
west build -b pic32ck_gc01_cult -p -s samples/basic/blinky
```
This will build the Blinky application for the pic32ck_gc01_cult board.

Debug the Application

To debug the application, run the following command from your Zephyr workspace:

west debug

Note

Debugging with J-Link GDB Server: Halting at `main` and Setting Breakpoints

(gdb) break main
(gdb) break main.c:42         # Optional: set breakpoint at line 42 in main.c
(gdb) continue                # Start execution, halts at first breakpoint
(gdb) info breakpoints        # List all breakpoints
(gdb) delete 1                # Delete breakpoint number 1
(gdb) delete                  # Delete all breakpoints
(gdb) clear main.c:42         # Clear breakpoint at specific location
(gdb) continue                # Resume execution

Debug Using J-Link: VSCode

To debug using VSCode, create or edit the .vscode/launch.json file in your project directory with the following configuration:

{
   "version": "0.2.0",
   "configurations": [
      {
            "name": "Debug (J-Link, PIC32CK2051GC01144)",
            "type": "cortex-debug",
            "request": "launch",
            "servertype": "jlink",
            "device": "PIC32CK2051GC01144",
            "interface": "swd",
            "runToEntryPoint": "main",
            "showDevDebugOutput": "none",
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "executable": "${workspaceFolder}/zephyr/build/zephyr/zephyr.elf",

            //J-Link settings
            "serverpath": "C:/Program Files/SEGGER/JLink_Vxxx/JLinkGDBServerCL.exe",
            "serverArgs": [
               "-singlerun",
               "-if", "swd",
               "-speed", "4000",
               "-device", "PIC32CK2051GC",
               "-port", "50000"
            ],

            //Zephyr SDK toolchain paths
            "gdbPath": "***/zephyr-sdk-x.xx.x/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/arm-zephyr-eabi-gdb.exe",
            "objdumpPath": "***/zephyr-sdk-x.xx.x/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/arm-zephyr-eabi-objdump.exe",
      }
   ]
}

Note

serverpath: Specify the full path to the J-Link GDB Server executable if it is not in your system’s PATH.
gdbPath: Specify the full path to the GDB executable if it is not in your system’s PATH.
objdumpPath: Specify the full path to the objdump executable if it is not in your system’s PATH.

Debugging Steps in VSCode

Start the J-Link GDB Server as shown above.
Open the samples/basic/blinky/src/main.c in VSCode.
Set breakpoints in your source files by clicking next to the line numbers.
Press F5 or click the green “Start Debugging” button in VSCode.
The debugger will connect, load your program, and halt at main.
Use the VSCode debug controls to continue, step, or inspect variables.

References

PIC32CK GC Product Page:: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/pic32ck2051gc01144
PIC32CK SG/GC Product Family Page:: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/products/microcontrollers/32-bit-mcus/pic32-sam/pic32ck-sg-gc