Working NCS 3.0.2 Sysbuild DFU OTA example with multi image support (app + net) and external flash memory

[Atok]

Dear Nordic Support Team

How are you?


Currently we are looking into how to configure, compile and run a full-fledged NRF5340 project which should provide us with:

- Latest NCS version 3.0.2
- Sysbuild
- MCUBoot
- Secure Boot (B0, TF-M (if necessary?), Crypto, Image signature verification)
- Application- and Network-Core image update (multi image support) with network image update via application (using MCUMgr and Bluetooth SMP transport)
- External Flash Memory for secondary slots
- Packaging both app and net image into the DFU .zip-file
- A simple LED Blinky in the main.c application image for demoing purposes


As there seems to be incomplete or even conflicting documentation, we struggle to find a way to enable and run all the forementioned features in one single project.

Could you please provide us with a working example project for the NRF5340-DK board implementing these features? It would be a valuable starting point for a lot of projects.

Best regards
Markus

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

Take a look at this exercise: Simultaneous updates for both cores of the nRF5340.

Regards,
Amanda H.

[Atok]

Dear Amanda

Thanks for your feedback. I helped a lot to compare our project with the solution from the exercise and we got it working.

The secret sauce lies in:

SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_NRF53_MULTI_IMAGE_UPDATE=y  # Only seems to be documented in the NCS sources themselves and the exercise
SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_MODE_OVERWRITE_ONLY=y # No-rollback is supported currently according to exercise

For the community, here is the full sample project in a repository: https://github.com/NordicDeveloperAcademy/ncs-inter/tree/main/l9/l9_e5_nrf5340_both_sol

 Amanda Hsieh 

• Will there be a rollback/confirm feature available in the future?
• Would there be a way to have two additional image slots for both application and network image on external memory for fallback? We have a very large external flash chip which should easily accommodate a fallback image for application and network image, so we do not necessarily have to swap it with the internal flash image.

Best regards
Markus

[Amanda Hsieh]

Currently, there is no such solution for your requirements. Please contact your Regional Sales Manager (RSM) for the feature request. If you don't have the RSM's information, please fill in the Sales related questions form.