PB-2 Firmware Updates

The table below shows the PB-2 firmware updates available. Later revisions will always have a higher revision number but the numbers are not necessarily consecutive. The column labelled Importance provides (on a scale of 1 to 3) an indication of how important it is to upgrade from an earlier revision to the new revision. The grades are as follows:

  1. A minor functional improvement or trivial bug fix has occurred - probably not worth upgrading.
  2. A major functional improvement has been introduced or a significant bug has been fixed - upgrade recommended.
  3. A major bug has been identified and fixed - upgrade strongly recommended.

Later versions of the firmware contain all of the changes from the earlier versions so, you only need to install the latest version to get all the fixes/improvements listed below.

Revision Date Importance Description of Changes Firmware
284 14/01/2012 1 Minor fix to spectrum display when using Flat Top window. pb2-284.hex
282 01/01/2012 2 Fix ancient bug in calculation of ERR.
Fixed arithmetic overflow when vibration level is very high.		 pb2-282.hex
278 29/12/2011 2 Can now choose spectrum window function.
Reduced influence of other frequencies on polar IPS calculation.		 pb2-278.hex
256 17/12/2009 1 Fix occasional crash when changing balancer mode pb2-256.hex
252 17/08/2009 1 Make polar wizard report solution even when the effect of adding the trial weight is very small. pb2-252.hex
250 13/07/2009 1 Several minor changes that improve operation at very low RPMs. pb2-250.hex
236 4/4/2009 1 Fix polar wizard bug that displayed wrong angle when close to 90deg. pb2-236.hex
219 27/6/2008 1 Fixed rare crash in balancer mode - would hang for a few seconds and then switch off. pb2-219.hex
217 14/6/2008 1 Spectrum mode frequency range doubled - graphical display is divided into two pages showing 100-12700 RPM and 12800-25500 RPM. pb2-217.hex
204 25/5/2008 1 Reduced latency when taking snapshots by using the current values instead of waiting for the next set of values. pb2-204.hex
201 11/4/2008 1 Improved tacho level setting function. It now works harder to find the optimum value. pb2-201.hex
192 1/4/2008 N/A Initial revision. pb2-192.hex

The upgrade process is described in detail in the PB-2 manual. Basically, it involves connecting the PB-2 to a PC using a standard USB cable and then running a utility program on the PC to send the new firmware to the PB-2.

You can upgrade the PB-2 using a PC running either Linux or Windows:

Linux

The utility used to upgrade the firmware is lpc21isp. Here is a zip file containing both the source code and a pre-compiled binary: lpc21isp-148.zip.

Windows

The utility program used to upgrade the firmware was available from NXP's website but it seems to have moved/vanished so here's a local copy of flash.isp.utility.lpc2000.zip.

You also need to install the VCP (Virtual Comm Port) driver from FDTI.

Please contact support@smartavionics.com if you have any queries regarding upgrading the PB-2 firmware.

Copyright 2010 Smart Avionics Ltd.