In this article, I will explain you how to setup development environment for Apollo3 MCU programming.
Although there Eclipse + GCC setup is also possible but I wanted to focus more on the how to use interfaces rather than development environment, so I picked up Keil uVision.
In future, I will add a section for other IDE environment also.
Download Keil uVision MDK
(uVision Keil for Apollo 3 firmware development)
One can use UVision Keil Lite version which is free upto 32KB
You can download latest Keil uVision MDK. You will need full a small form before you can get an access to the installer.
Download Device Family Pack
For Ambiq Micro MCU support you need to download the device family pack as well.
Download Latest Apollo 3 SDK
Download the latest sdk from Ambiq Micro website and extract it, in the package you will be able to see example codes.
Download Latest J-Link tools
The J-Link tools of interest are:
J-Flash Lite
J-Link SWO Viewer
J-Flash is used to load pre-compiled binaries into the device flash. J-Link SWO Viewer is used to see the resulting application output.
You can download J-Links tools.
Installation
After downloading Keil uVision MDK, device support package, J-link tools, install all three on your PC.
You need to also extract Apollo 3 SDK Zip.
Once installation is complete, you can go to SDK directory and search for \boards folder(select the board you are using) and go to \examples.
\AmbiqSuite-R2.5.1\boards\apollo3_evb\examplesRunning default Binary Counter example
Go to binary counter code project
\AmbiqSuite-R2.5.1\boards\apollo3_evb\examples\binary_countergo inside Keil folder and double click project file, it will open the project in Keil.
You can flash this project into your evaluation board and press reset button, you will see 5x LEDs on evaluation board running a binary counter sequence.
You can use this project as base, whatever you don’t need you can remove and add your custom code, build the project, Flash and run.
KAGA FEI ELECTRONICS
While struggling to get started with Apollo 3 Blue MCU I contacted KAGA FEI ELECTRONICS one of the distributors of Ambiq Micro and thanks to their FAE team, I could speed up my development with their support.
If you want to develop product using Apollo 3/4, you may want to contact them.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and has help you setting up development environment for Apollo3 MCU.
I work as an embedded systems design consultant, helping companies build custom embedded products and develop test automation solutions for their PCBs.
If you have any feedback about the blog, you can share it in the comments below or contact me directly.