RE: Flashing firmware on a new chip

Jared — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:18:33 GMT

Yes, that sounds right. I would prefer a programming header because it would make it possible to debug your application if something goes wrong after you've deployed your device.

regards

Jared

RE: Flashing firmware on a new chip

rtvd — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:03:42 GMT

Thank you, Jared.

I think I understand what can be done. There are two paths: either I provide a programming header on the board which would allow to reprogram the chips after the board is fully assembled, or I use one of the gang programmers which can program the chip before they are soldered onto a board.

Superb. Thank you very much!

RE: Flashing firmware on a new chip

Jared — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:20:28 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]My understanding is that as it is fresh from a factory, there is no firmware on it of any sort, so it needs to be programmed before it can be used for anything.[/quote]

Correct,

[quote user=""]

I believe I cannot use a single header to program multiple MCUs (the board already has another MCU), so a single programming header is not an option as unlike JTAG SWD does not support daisy-chaining.
Flashing the nRF chip via JTAG does not appear to be possible either.
I suppose I could add a dedicated header connected to nRF's SWD pins just to program that chip. But that seems wrong as I would end up with multiple programming headers on the PCB, which is error-prone and messy.
Over-the Air updates are - I think - also impossible even though the datasheet says it is supported. My reasoning here is that the chip would likely come entirely empty, so it would not have a bootloader for OTA updates.
It would not be on a dev board either, where a J-Link is already present. Although had it been present, that would still require extra headers, I suppose.
Perhaps there is a way to source chips pre-programmed with a bootloader enabling OTA updates but it is not clear where would I get that from.

[/quote]

Your understanding here is mostly correct, OTA is not possible as the ICs doesn't come with pre programmed fw that enables it.

I think most of the answers for your questions are summarized in our production programming white paper.

Can you take a look at that and see if that answers your question?

Thanks,

regards

Jared