Using a Physical Device

This guide covers building and flashing the Ocre runtime onto actual development boards. While simulated environments are great for initial testing, deploying to real hardware allows you to test your applications under authentic conditions and take advantage of board-specific features like sensors and networking capabilities.

Please refer to the board-specific documentation in our Board Support section for detailed setup instructions and requirements for your board before attempting to flash Ocre.

Steps

1. Install Dependencies and Zephyr SDK

Complete the Install dependencies and the Install the Zephyr SDK sections for your host operating system from the Zephyr (v3.7.0) Getting Started Guide.

Currently the Ocre runtime is built on Zephyr 3.7.0. As a result, the links in the above section reference v3.7.0 documentation and not the latest documentation. It is advised to follow the links in this guide to ensure compatibility with your device.

2. Install WEST

Install the west CLI tool, which is needed to build, run and manage Zephyr applications.

pip install west

We recommend using a Python virtual environment like venv to help manage pip dependencies for this project.

3. Initialize the workspace

Next, we will prepare the Zephyr workspace and checkout the project code.

First, create the runtime directory in the location of your choosing.

mkdir runtime

Next, cd to the runtime directory.

cd runtime

Now, initialize the ocre-runtime repo.

west init -m git@github.com:project-ocre/ocre-runtime.git

Lastly, update the repo with the west utility.

west update

4. Install Additional Zephyr (pip) requirements

In order to build the Ocre runtime properly, you’ll need to install a few remaining requirements for Zephyr.

pip install -r zephyr/scripts/requirements.txt

5. Build the Ocre Runtime

To build and flash for a physical device, follow these steps:

  1. Connect your board to your computer.

  2. Build the application for your specific board. Replace BOARD_NAME with your board’s name:

    west build -b BOARD_NAME ./application -d build -- -DMODULE_EXT_ROOT=`pwd`/application

You can also run the West Build task directly from the Ocre Workspace file as defined in the Setting Up Your Development Environment section. If you do, be sure to select your board name as your build target. See the Board Support section in your docs to see if your board is currently supported.

6. Flash the Ocre Runtime to Your Device

  1. Flash the application to your device: 
    west flash

After flashing, restart/reset your board to run the application.

Troubleshooting

This section covers common issues you might encounter when building and flashing the Ocre runtime to physical hardware, along with their solutions.

  • Unsupported Board: If you’re unable to flash to your board, and it’s not listed in our Board Support, check out our Adding Board Support guide under the Board Support section. This guide will walk you through the process of adding support for your specific hardware.