Add DFU support to custom HCI_RPMSG netcore image

[Dilawar Ali]

I have separate app core enabled with DFU and secure boot. I added all that support with help from this ticket  nRF5340 Firmware Update from external NOR QSPI flash 

DFU for net core works fine.But it only works with an hci_rpmsg included automatically. How can I include the netcore DFU support in modified hci_rpmsg project. We compile this project but no "net_core_app_update.bin" is generated. How can I generate this DFU binary?

On app core image I have following configs enabled?

prj.conf

CONFIG_NRF53_UPGRADE_NETWORK_CORE=y
CONFIG_BOOT_IMAGE_ACCESS_HOOKS=y
CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY=y
CONFIG_ADD_MCUBOOT_MEDIATE_SIM_FLASH_DTS=y

/child_image/mcuboot/prj.conf

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_MCUBOOT=0x10000
CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_STACK_WRITE_BUFFER_SIZE=16

CONFIG_PCD_APP=y
CONFIG_UPDATEABLE_IMAGE_NUMBER=2
CONFIG_FLASH_SIMULATOR=y
CONFIG_FLASH_SIMULATOR_DOUBLE_WRITES=y
CONFIG_FLASH_SIMULATOR_STATS=n
CONFIG_BOOT_UPGRADE_ONLY=y


# Enable flash operations.
# CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_FLASH=y
# This must be increased to accommodate the bigger images.
CONFIG_BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS=256

# Disable netcore image OTA udpate
CONFIG_BOOT_IMAGE_ACCESS_HOOKS=n

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

modified hci_rpmsg project.

The answer here depends on how you include the modified hci_rpmsg project into your application.

What is your method for having a custom image on the network core?

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Dilawar Ali]

We treat it as separate project. we compile it separate and flash the netcore bin file via Jflash.
Can we include the modified hci_rpmsg as a child image? It will be best case scenario.

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Dilawar Ali said:

multiple things

Please elaborate

[Dilawar Ali]

As show below in static file. We have an external flash. We want to place both app core and net core DFU images in external flash instead of the internal. We do not have enough space in internal. Also a region in external flash is dedicated for the file system to store the configuration and other data.

That is why we require to define pm_static.yml file.

external_flash:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x200000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x200000

mcuboot_secondary:
  address: 0x0
  device: mx25r16
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x100000

mcuboot_secondary_1:
  address: 0x100000
  device: mx25r16
  end_address: 0x13FFFF
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x40000

littlefs_storage:
  address: 0x140000
  device: mx25r16
  region: external_flash
  size: 0xC0000

mcuboot_primary_1:
  address: 0x0
  device: flash_ctrl
  end_address: 0x40000
  region: ram_flash
  size: 0x40000

ram_flash:
  address: 0x40000
  end_address: 0x40000
  region: ram_flash
  size: 0x0

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Dilawar Ali said:

That is why we require to define pm_static.yml file.

It is not required for this.

The Partition Manager will automatically partition secondary mcuboot images to external flash if you have enabled external flash for the partition manager.

The same is true for file systems.

You can check this from the partiton report either from VS Code -> Memory Report or "west build -t partition_manager_report"

[Dilawar Ali]

Apologies for late reply. Got busy with other urgent tasks.

I created a sample project added the multicore compilation part as per defined in sample hellow world. Used the dynamic partition management.

I see there is a line in sysbuild.cmake "set(CPUNET_PM_DOMAIN_DYNAMIC_PARTITION hci_rpmsg CACHE INTERNAL "")"
So using this line we should use dynamic partition management.

Afterall the project compiles with no error but only netcore image is generated. No app core image is found.

Here is the partitions.yml content generated after build. I do not see any mcuboot_primary, mcuboot_primary_1, mcuboot_secondary, or mcuboot_primary_1.

app:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x100000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x100000
external_flash:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x800000
otp:
  address: 0xff8100
  end_address: 0xff83fc
  region: otp
  size: 0x2fc
rpmsg_nrf53_sram:
  address: 0x20070100
  end_address: 0x20080000
  placement:
    before:
    - end
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0xff00
sram_primary:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20070100
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x70100

Why the main appcore project fails to compile? I have attached the project files for details as well. Using hci_rpmsg sample this project works fine for app core and net core DFU.

hrdfu.zip

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Dilawar Ali said:

hrdfu.zip

I will test to build the sample and see if I can see what goes wrong.
Which version of the SDK should I build for?
Which board should I build for?
Should I include any other build options?

[Dilawar Ali]

Please use the sdk version 2.5.1
I have attached the boards files. I am using ublox evk nora-B10. No other build flags are required.
ubx_evknorab10_nrf5340.zip

[Dilawar Ali]

sorry, the content in hrdfu.zip should be extracted in a folder "hrdfu". The app core project name is "hrdfu"

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Dilawar Ali said:

sorry, the content in hrdfu.zip should be extracted in a folder "hrdfu". The app core project name is "hrdfu"

Yes, I was able to figure that out yesterday, after adding a comment asking about it. That is why I deleted the comment. Sorry if that was confusing.

Anyhow. We are moving from Multi-image builds to sysbuild.
The prior is part of the nRF repos, and automatically generates DFU files for you.

The latte is part of the Zephyr repos, which has no such functionality. So you will have to generate your own DFU files with "imagetool sign".

To get an idea on how to use this command, you can build an non-sysbuild project with DFU files with "west -vvv build ..." to see the commands our build system uses to generate the update files.

[Dilawar Ali]

Things getting bit confusing. Here is what I understand, Please correct me if I am wrong.

One option is I can compile app core and modified hci_rpmsg separately and then use imagetool to generate the images.

Other way is to do multicore compilation using sysbuild, as described in the sampe "/multicore/Hello_World".
The project "hrdfu" I shared I tried to use sysbuild for multicore compilation. But it failed to compile app core image.

My aim is to keep both app and netcore in a same project. If the build system can generate dfu packages for me, that will be awesome. 

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Dilawar Ali said:

One option is I can compile app core and modified hci_rpmsg separately and then use imagetool to generate the images.

Yep

Dilawar Ali said:

Other way is to do multicore compilation using sysbuild, as described in the sampe "/multicore/Hello_World".

Also correct.

Dilawar Ali said:

The project "hrdfu" I shared I tried to use sysbuild for multicore compilation. But it failed to compile app core image.

But you can build and flash it using nrfjprog no? Or do you miss the hex file as well?

Dilawar Ali said:

My aim is to keep both app and netcore in a same project. If the build system can generate dfu packages for me, that will be awesome. 

I asked our developers, and as far as I heard, we do not support automatic generating of DFU images for sysbuild yet. I would imagine that this is on a todo list somewhere.