SDK 3.0.0 custom board definition

[Tiit]

I'm having trouble porting my project from the older SDK (2.6.0) to the new SDK. 

I thought the most straightforward way to do that would be to start with a sample project similar to what I want to do. So I took the Matter Window Cover Sample. I have the nRF54L15-DK so I compiled the project for that board and it seems to work.

Now I use the VSCode button to create a new board. After closing VSCode and opening it again I can select my new custom board as the target for the build. It fails as my custom board is pretty much just boilerplate empty board definitions. So I start copying the contents of the nRF54L15-DK board definitions to my own custom board folder. The aim being to get the project to compile for the same dev kit with my custom board as the target. Ideally I would make no changes to the files but due to custom name I still have to do that. This also means I have to make another partition manager static definition file. I just copy the one used for the DK build and rename it for my custom board.

After fighting with some very hard to fix devicetree errors I get compilation process to reach the partition manager stage and there is something weird happening there. I have the exact same contents for the static definition file as the DK but for my board the build fails complaining about too many gaps in the partitions. I'm attaching the actual file I use for this.

pm_static_blindy_v3_nrf54l15_cpuapp.zip

The error I get from partition manager is this:

-- Found partition manager static configuration : /home/tiit/code/nordic/blindy_matter/pm_static_blindy_v3_nrf54l15_cpuapp.yml
Partition 'mcuboot' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition 'mcuboot_pad' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition 'mcuboot_primary' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition 'mcuboot_primary_app' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition 'settings_storage' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition 'mcuboot_secondary' is not included in the dynamic resolving since it is statically defined.
Partition manager failed: Incorrect amount of gaps found in static configuration. There must be exactly one gap in the static configuration to support placing the dynamic partitions (such as 'app'). Gaps found (2):0xd800-0x165000 0x17d000-0x172000 The most common solution to this problem is to fill the smallest of these gaps with statically defined partition(s) until there is only one gap left. Alternatively re-order the already defined static partitions so that only one gap remains.
Failed to partition region flash_primary, size of region: 1462272
Partition Configuration:
app:
  size: 1460224
factory_data:
  size: 4096
mcuboot:
  size: 53248
mcuboot_pad:
  size: 2048
mcuboot_primary:
  size: 1462272
mcuboot_primary_app:
  size: 1460224
settings_storage:
  size: 40960

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!

Can you please check what I'm doing wrong here to cause this. This is somehow caused by using the custom board definition. I'm also attaching the whole custom board folder here just in case you can see something weird in there. This is just the folder that has to be extracted into the boards folder and after a VSCode restart it appears as a target for the build.

soma.zip

Hoping to hear back from you after the Easter Holidays,

Tiit

[AHaug]

Hello Tiit,

A couple of starting points here before I get back to you early in the coming week,

1. You state that you've based your project on the Matter window cover sample, is this from 2.6.0 or is it from a newer version of NCS (if so which version are you referring to with "to the new SDK"?  Nonetheless, there will be quite a few changes between 2.6.0 and 2.9.1 or 3.0.0 (of those are the versions you're referring to), so we'll just go through the hoops until we get there.
   
   
2. The first thing I would like you to verify is the hardware model you're using. Since you're based on 2.6.0 I assume it is hwm2, but could you verify if you've gone through the steps here? https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/releases_and_maturity/migration/migration_hwmv2.html 
   
   
3. The next is, which revision of the nRF54L15 SoC are you using? I.e what I'm asking is if your SoC revision is compatible with the SDK version you intend to use
   

• I just copy the one used for the DK build and rename it for my custom board.
I would say that this is the way to go, unless there are certain things that are set up in the nrf54l15Dk's board files that you've not attached somehow. Could you verify if you've done the following:
1. Build the window cover sample for the nrf54l15dk
2. Checked the generated partitions.yml located within build (or build/your_app/ or build/your_app/zephyr I can't quite remember, but there should only be one)
3. Copy the contents of that and attach in a static partitioning file that your custom board will use
4. Since you're migrating from child/parent images used in NCS 2.6.0 I would also recommend you to have a look at the sysbuild academy lesson unless you've already done so: https://academy.nordicsemi.com/courses/nrf-connect-sdk-intermediate/lessons/lesson-8-sysbuild/topic/sysbuild-explained/ 

Let me know about this and I'll get back to you when I get back in office next week

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Tiit]

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for getting back to me so fast and sorry I wasn't able to respond sooner.

1. I used VSCode to install SDK 3.0.0 and created a new application from the example included with that (using the built in button for that). I changed nothing in that example and built it for my nRF54L15-DK. This worked and I was able to flash and add the device to Alexa through the Echo with Matter support (it did complain about the device not being certified but that is normal as I understand).

2. My original code is based on SDK 2.5.0 with some changes it does work with 2.6.0 and that is what I have been using to develop the Matter branch of our firmware. There are still issues with that but the Matter build itself works and can also be added to most Matter controllers with the warning about certification. I spent two days trying to port that to SDK 3.0.0 without luck. So in frustration I decided to just take the clean example from 3.0.0 and get that example to build on my custom board as a starting point. I have a button and an RGB led on my board so the example should be very close to compatible. I also have the exact same external memory chip and had experience with doing a similar thing when we first started our firmware on 2.5.0. Now I'm guessing the hardware model thing should be correct when I start from the example in 3.0.0. SO what I want to do first is take the code that is working on the dev board and get this to compile on a custom board that still describes the exact same dev board. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this right. What I want to do is compile the clean example code but instead of selecting "nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp" I want to select "blindy_v3/nrf54l15/cpuapp". I clicked create new board and named it "blindy_v3". This created the board and I can select it as the target. But this fails because the board created is pretty much empty. Now I tried copying in all the required things from the SDK folders that defined the devkit but it still fails to build.

3. I think my dev kit has the engineering sample. The markings on the chip say QFAABB. The sticker on the dev kit says PCA10156, 0.9.1, 2024.44

The example does build and it does generate the partitions.yml file. But there is already a static partition file that is defined for each board in the project folder and I copied the one for the DK with no changes and I can see in the build process that the correct file does get included (Found partition manager static configuration :/home/tiit/code/nordic/blindy_matter/pm_static_blindy_v3_nrf54l15_cpuapp.yml). Should I just replace that with the one from the successful DK build? If so - why would it not work with the copy that works for the DK build? I would feel hesitant using this in production without understanding the reason for the problem.

4. I will definitely take a look. I did use sysbuild for the Matter version already but I don't really understand it. I just know that whenever I make a build configuration I have to select sysbuild or things will fail in weird and interesting ways.

Tiit

[Tiit]

Hi Edvin,

Yes. There is no UART output. 

[Edvin]

I see. There were no UART console in your board files. Sorry this took so long, but I needed to dig out why the DRIVER_HAS_SERIAL was not set, and it was the lacking settings in the board files.

Please see the attached project with it's boards folder:

7725.coap_server.zip

Warning: I do get an assert when running (stack overflow) but I didn't have time to look into the application why this was happening. I tested the same board files with the hello_world sample (NCS\zephyr\samples\hello_world), and that worked as intended. I don't know what other changes that may have been done to the coap_server sample.

Best regards,

Edvin

[Tiit]

Hi Edvin,

I see the serial output now so thank you for that. But I still don't understand why this is not working if the same sample built for the DK works. My board files are a direct copy of the DK board files so it should compile to an almost identical binary (just the board name is different). Even this UART change should not have been necessary as far as I understand. This overflow error now is another difference that makes me worried. The coap sample is rather simple (as is the hello world sample) and I do believe we can get those to work. But my end goal is the Matter window cover sample. That is a crazy complex sample that touches almost every part of the SOC system so these small differences will add up and this makes me worried that there will be hidden issues with the more complex sample. I really just want to port my own code that currently runs well on the 52840 to this new SOC. Right now it seems that this will be more difficult than going from a legacy 51822 project to a 52840 and Zephyr. I have done another project porting a 52840 based project to the new SDK3.0.1 and that went rather painlessly. So the issue really is just with the new 54 series SOCs. Maybe you can just make a simple custom board file using the 54L15 that would work with the Matter sample and post that somewhere. Seeing how many people seem to follow this post I'm not alone in having issues with this right now.

Tiit

[Tiit]

Hi Edvin,

I tried debugging the project you sent me. It seems to crash in thread setup. Specifically it fails in some crypto library function. In the OpenThread library there is crypto_psa.c. The function from that file called otPlatCryptoImportKey calls psa_import_key. That in turn calls psa_crypto_storage_store and that in turn calls trusted_storage_get_key. Eventually exection ends up in hw_unique_key_derive_key. It starts going through the cracen_key_derivation set of functions ending with cracen_key_derivation_output_bytes. But execution stops upon entering the cracen_key_derivation_output_bytes function with a USAGE FAULT. I'm not sure why this happens but it is very similar to the way the Matter samples fail with this board setup. This again confirms my suspicion that the root cause of all these problems is somehow related to Thread. All the samples I have tried that do not have Matter work with this board definition. The fact that UART also had issues is interesting but I don't think that is really related to the main issue.

Tiit

[Edvin]

Hello,

Tiit said:

I see the serial output now so thank you for that. But I still don't understand why this is not working if the same sample built for the DK works. My board files are a direct copy of the DK board files so it should compile to an almost identical binary

That is not the case. The changes that I did to your board files was copying parts from the DK board files, and into your board files. Perhaps they were a copy of the board files in an older NCS version. I don't know. But e.g. UART was not enabled, which they are in the board files for the DK.

If you want it to behave like the DK, I suggest you try once more to copy the board files from NCS, and change the name of the files and content to match your own board name's file.

For your Thread/Matter issues. Do the samples build for the DK? If so, I think you need to compare your board files to the DK's again.

Best regards,

Edvin