Embedded-Hacking/drivers/0x0a_ir_rust/README.md

# 0x0a IR Rust Driver

This repository contains a Bare-Metal Rust driver for an **IR (Infrared) Receiver** decoding the **NEC Protocol** on the **RP2350** (and RP2040) microcontrollers, implemented strictly using a GPIO pin and a hardware timer to measure pulse widths.

It includes:
- A demo (`src/main.rs`) that waits for IR signals and decodes/prints the received command via UART.
- A reusable library module (`src/ir.rs`) providing a hardware-agnostic `ir_lib` containing the timing thresholds, bit accumulation logic, frame validation, and string formatting routines.
- Board initialization logic (`src/board.rs`).

## 🚀 Getting Started from Scratch

If you're starting with a fresh machine, follow these exact steps to install the toolchain, build the code, and flash it to your microcontroller.

### 1. Install Rust
First, install `rustup` (the Rust toolchain installer) if you haven't already:
```bash
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
```
*Note: Restart your terminal or run `source $HOME/.cargo/env` after this finishes.*

Ensure your Rust compiler is up to date:
```bash
rustup update
```

### 2. Install the Target Architecture
This project is configured for the **RP2350** (ARM Cortex-M33). We need to install the cross-compilation target for it:
```bash
rustup target add thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf
```
*(If you were targeting the RP2040, you would use `thumbv6m-none-eabi` instead).*

### 3. Install Build Tools
You will need a few extra tools to help link and format the firmware for the RP-series chips.

Install `flip-link` (adds zero-cost stack overflow protection):
```bash
cargo install flip-link
```

Install `picotool` (used by `cargo run` to flash the chip):
- **macOS:** `brew install picotool`
- **Linux/Windows:** Follow the official Raspberry Pi documentation to install `picotool` or build it from source.

### 4. Building the Code
To compile the code for the microcontroller, simply run:
```bash
cargo build
```

To build a highly optimized release version (smaller and faster):
```bash
cargo build --release
```

### 5. Flashing to the Microcontroller
This project is pre-configured in `.cargo/config.toml` to use `picotool` as the custom runner. 

To flash the code:
1. Hold down the **BOOTSEL** button on your RP2350 board.
2. Plug it into your computer via USB (or press the RUN/RESET button while holding BOOTSEL).
3. Run the following command:

```bash
cargo run --release
```
*`cargo` will compile the code and automatically use `picotool` to upload the `.elf` file directly to your board and start executing it!*

### 6. Testing on the Host
Because the NEC protocol logic (timing constants, bit shifting, checksum validation, and string formatting) is separated into a reusable math library without touching hardware registers, you can run the unit tests natively on your computer!

However, because this project sets a default bare-metal target (`thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf`) in `.cargo/config.toml`, running a plain `cargo test` will fail because the standard library doesn't exist on the microcontroller. You must explicitly tell Cargo to compile the tests for your host computer's processor architecture:

**Mac (Apple Silicon):**
```bash
cargo test --lib --target aarch64-apple-darwin
```

**Linux (Intel/AMD 64-bit):**
```bash
cargo test --lib --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
```

**Windows (64-bit):**
```bash
cargo test --lib --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
```

## 🧠 Code Walkthrough

This section explains exactly how the code works, where the entry point is, and traces the flow of execution as if you were stepping through it line-by-line.

### 1. The Entry Point (`src/main.rs`)
Unlike a standard computer program, bare-metal microcontrollers do not have an operating system to call `main()`. Instead, we use the `#[entry]` macro from the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) to define the very first function that runs after the chip boots up.

*   **`main() -> !`**: This is the absolute start of our code. It takes ownership of all the hardware peripherals (`hal::pac::Peripherals::take().unwrap()`) and immediately passes them into `board::run(...)`. The `-> !` means this function never returns (because embedded devices run in an infinite loop).

### 2. Board Initialization (`src/board.rs`)
Once execution enters `board.rs`, we initialize the system clocks, pins, UART (for logging), SysTick (for delay), and a hardware timer (for microsecond precision measurement of IR pulses).

*   **`run(...)`**: The master setup function. Calls the helper initialization functions below, prints an initialization banner over UART, and enters the infinite polling loop waiting for IR signals.
*   **`poll_receiver(...)`**: Called repeatedly in the main loop. It invokes the decoding sequence (`ir_getkey`) and, if a valid command is returned, formats it and writes it to UART.
*   **`ir_getkey(...)`**: The high-level function for receiving a full NEC frame. It waits for the 9ms leader mark and 4.5ms leader space, then attempts to read all 32 data bits, and finally validates the frame using the library.
*   **`wait_leader(...)`**: Executes the strict NEC protocol synchronization: waits for the line to go idle, then validates the lengths of the incoming leader mark (active low) and leader space (idle high).
*   **`read_nec_bit(...)`**: Waits for the standard 562.5µs bit mark, measures the duration of the following space, and calls the hardware-agnostic `accumulate_nec_bit()` function in the `ir_lib` to pack a 1 (long space) or 0 (short space) into the byte array.
*   **`wait_for_level(...)`**: A robust spin-loop that takes a timestamp, checks the GPIO state, and calculates elapsed time, returning the total duration if the state changes before the timeout.

### 3. The Reusable IR Library (`src/ir.rs`)
Because distinguishing between logical 0s and 1s requires precise duration thresholds, and manipulating bits across 4 bytes is tedious, this module handles all pure-logic data validation.

*   **`accumulate_nec_bit(...)`**: Shifts the current bit index and inserts a `1` if the measured pulse duration exceeds the 1.2ms threshold (a standard NEC "1" space is ~1.69ms).
*   **`validate_nec_frame(...)`**: The NEC protocol transmits the 8-bit Address, the inverse Address, the 8-bit Command, and the inverse Command. This function verifies that `byte0 + byte1 == 0xFF` and `byte2 + byte3 == 0xFF` to ensure data integrity, then returns the Command byte.
*   **`format_command(...)`**: Efficiently constructs the final ASCII string containing the hex and decimal representation of the command (e.g., `NEC command: 0x45 (69)`) without allocating memory, allowing the `board.rs` code to pipe the raw bytes directly to UART.