Mcumgr to transfer file from host to nrf52840 device over uart

[MK_V]

"I'm working with nRF Connect SDK v2.2.0 for nrf52840 and I'm trying to implement file transfer functionality using mcumgr over UART in Application. I've successfully configured and verified firmware upgrade using mcumgr in mcuboot , but now I need to transfer ordinary files, not firmware files in Application. Can you provide a step-by-step guide on how to set up and use mcumgr for transferring regular files over UART in nRF Connect SDK v2.2.0? 

And suggest any other method apart from using mcumgr to tranfer file from hos to nrf52840 over uart?

Here is my config

CONFIG_STDOUT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_USB_DEVICE_STACK=y

CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=24576

CONFIG_LOG=y 

CONFIG_USB_DRIVER_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_USB_DEVICE_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_UART_INTERRUPT_DRIVEN=y

CONFIG_UART_LINE_CTRL=y

CONFIG_SPI=y

CONFIG_CBPRINTF_FP_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_ENTROPY_GENERATOR=y

CONFIG_TEST_RANDOM_GENERATOR=y

CONFIG_GPIO=y

CONFIG_PRINTK=y

CONFIG_RTT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT=y

CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y

CONFIG_PTHREAD_IPC=y

CONFIG_POSIX_API=y

CONFIG_MAX_PTHREAD_COUNT=20

CONFIG_TIMESLICING=y

CONFIG_TIMESLICE_SIZE=2

CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=n 

#CONFIG_APP_WIPE_STORAGE=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=y

CONFIG_FLASH=y

CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y

CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_NANO=n 

CONFIG_STDOUT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y

CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLES_DEFAULTS=y

CONFIG_BT=n # BT disabling completely

CONFIG_BT_PERIPHERAL=n # BT disabling completely

CONFIG_MCUMGR=y

CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_FS_MGMT=y

# CONFIG_MCUMGR_GRP_FS=Y

CONFIG_BASE64=y

CONFIG_FLASH=y

# CONFIG_IMG_MANAGER=y

CONFIG_NET_BUF=y

CONFIG_ZCBOR=y

CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_STREAM_FLASH=y

#CONFIG_MCUMGR_GRP_FS_FILE_ACCESS_HOOK=y

#MGMT_DEF_EVT_OP_ALL

# Enable most core commands.

# CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_IMG_MGMT=y

CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_OS_MGMT=y

# Ensure an MCUboot-compatible binary is generated.

CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

# Allow for large Bluetooth data packets.

#CONFIG_BT_L2CAP_TX_MTU=252

#CONFIG_BT_BUF_ACL_RX_SIZE=256

# Allow for large Bluetooth data packets.

 # BT disabling completely

#CONFIG_BT_L2CAP_TX_MTU=498

#CONFIG_BT_BUF_ACL_RX_SIZE=502

#CONFIG_BT_BUF_ACL_TX_SIZE=502

#CONFIG_BT_CTLR_DATA_LENGTH_MAX=251

# Enable the Bluetooth (unauthenticated) and shell mcumgr transports.

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT=n  # BT disabling completely

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT_AUTHEN=n

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_BT_CONN_PARAM_CONTROL=n  # BT disabling completely

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_REASSEMBLY_BT=n # BT disabling completely

CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE=2475

#CONFIG_OS_MGMT_MCUMGR_PARAMS=y

# Some command handlers require a large stack.

CONFIG_SYSTEM_WORKQUEUE_STACK_SIZE=4096

# Enable file system commands

#CONFIG_MCUMGR_CMD_FS_MGMT=y

# Required by the `taskstat` command.

CONFIG_THREAD_MONITOR=y

# Enable logging

CONFIG_MCUBOOT_UTIL_LOG_LEVEL_WRN=y

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_SHELL=y

CONFIG_LOG_MODE_IMMEDIATE=y

#SMP for UART

CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_UART=y

#To increase the UART/USB transfer speed for DFU Upload FW

CONFIG_CONSOLE_INPUT_MAX_LINE_LEN=1240

CONFIG_UART_MCUMGR_RX_BUF_SIZE=1240

[MK_V]

Hi Amanda, 

Thank you for providing the test project.

I have incorporated some of the configuration settings from your code into my custom board's source code. Setting CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE=2475 resolved the UART issue for mcumgr in the application.

Now I could be able to successfully transfer my complete file to the External Flash.

However, I have noticed that transferring a 137 KB file takes approximately 1 minute and 10 seconds. Is there any potential to reduce this transfer time?

I have attempted to increase CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE and utilize MTU values of 512 and 1024 as arguments for mcumgr, but these adjustments have not yielded any improvement.

I would appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to optimize this transfer process.

Thanks,

MK V

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

MK_V said:

Is there any potential to reduce this transfer time?

Check out this post. Maybe you can try the latest version of NCS v2.8.0.

MK_V said:

I have attempted to increase CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE and utilize MTU values of 512 and 1024 as arguments for mcumgr, but these adjustments have not yielded any improvement.

I can increase CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE and CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_UART_MTU to 2475 without issue by using the following command with my test project. 

west build -p -b nrf52840dk_nrf52840 zephyr/samples/subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/smp_svr -- -DOVERLAY_CONFIG='overlay-fs.conf;overlay-serial.conf' -DCONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE=2475 -DCONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_UART_MTU=2475 && west flash --recover

-Amanda H.

[MK_V]

Amanda Hsieh said:

I can increase CONFIG_MCUMGR_BUF_SIZE and CONFIG_MCUMGR_SMP_UART_MTU to 2475 without issue by using the following command with my test project. 

After this change, could you able to observe improvement in file transfer speed and overall upload time?

Amanda Hsieh said:

Check out this post. Maybe you can try the latest version of NCS v2.8.0.

Thanks! I will check it out!

[Amanda Hsieh]

As this post indicated mcumgr is known to be quite slow.

For now, see  MCUBOOT slow with nRF52840 / Zephyr / USB CDC_ACM protocol for how to speed up mcumgr or use other alternatives than mcumgr-native-cli. See https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/services/device_mgmt/mcumgr.html for a list. Most of these will be faster than the old tool.

[MK_V]

Sure, Thanks!