INTRODUCTION

Among the many features built into Microchip’s Enhanced FLASH Microcontroller devices is the capability of the program memory to self-program. This very useful feature has been deliberately included to give the user the ability to perform bootloading operations. Devices like the PIC18F458 are designed with a designated “boot block”, a small section of protectable program memory allocated specifically for bootload firmware.

This application note demonstrates a simple bootloader implementation for the PIC18F families of microcontrollers with a CAN module. The goals of this implementation are to stress maximum performance and functionality, while requiring a minimum of code space. For users developing CAN enabled systems, it provides a low level framework that can be used with higher level network protocols to develop more complex and custom-tailored systems.