Is there a cross platform utility for nRF51 OTA DFU?

[Mahesh Venkitachalam]

Hello,

My understanding is that you can use the nRFToolBox app to upload code using OTA DFU.

But this looks cumbersome, as you have to first get the hex file on to the app from your computer.

Is there a cross-platform (Win, OS X & Linux) solution that lets you do the same from your computer?

Just wondering what kind of tools you folks are using to support DFU OTA - especially for commercial products. Or do you have to develop your own?

Regards

[Vidar Berg]

Hi,

Correct, nRFtoolbox can be used to perform OTA DFU on either Android or iOS, but it's maybe not ideal for running tests during development for the reason you mentioned.

PC Master control panel / master emulator is application that you can do DFU from a Windows computer either using the GUI, or calling the python DFU script from the command line. This should be line should be less cumbersome to use for test purposes. Unfortunately, master emulator is only supported on Windows.

Just wondering what kind of tools you folks are using to support DFU OTA - especially for commercial products. Or do you have to develop your own?

I my experience the end user will most commonly use a smart phone to perform device firmware updates. This can either be the nRFtoolbox app (source code), or a custom application from the manufacturer. In case of a custom app you could distribute the firmware image as a part of the app so the end user doesn't have to deal with uploading of the image to the phone.

[Mahesh Venkitachalam]

Thanks. Any plans to port the emulator to Linux or OS X?

[Vidar Berg]

nRF connect will have cross-platform support. But I'm not sure when it will support DFU.

[Mahesh Venkitachalam]

Looks like a very useful tool. Hope DFU gets priority, as it will help create nrF5* boards that won't require external hardware to upload code.