Which secure firmware to use and how to it onto a nfr5840 USB Dongle to connect with the OpenThread Border Router.

[rocksetta]

I have 3 Fanstel USB 840F Dongles which have the  nfr 52840 inside. I want to connect one of them to the OpenThread Border Router using a Linux machine (Ubuntu 18.04), but they are expecting secure software. I either need a public signed software or how to sign the correct software to install.

What I have so far:

nrf-connect working and can view the dongle in DFU mode

I have the NRF SDK nRF5_SDK_15.2.0_9412b96

I have nrfpro and mergehex programs

I have wpantund working

I have Openthread docker installed on my linux machine

I have the OpenThread border router working and can view the local webpage.

I downloaded pre-made NCP software   https://openthread.io/guides/ncp/ot-ncp-ftd-gae2b0194-nrf52840.tar.gz   to install on the dongle.

Issue: The pre-made NCP software shows up on nrf-connect but the write button is greyed out. I think it is because the dongle is expecting secure firmware and the pre-made NCP software is for non-secure installations.

I have signed android app software before but have no idea of the signing  process for firmware.

[rocksetta]

Can I edit the title? Should have been

Which secure firmware to use and how to load it onto a nfr52840 USB Dongle (a Fanstel usb840F) to connect with the OpenThread Border Router.

[rocksetta]

So it looks like I just have to use nrfutil to sign the firmware.hex files. Still don't really know the process. but at least I now have something I can lookup.

[bjorn-spockeli]

Hi Jeremy, 

Has Fanstel provided you with a private key that you can use to sign the Pre-Built NCP Firmware from OpenThread.io ? 

I'm not sure if you will be able to perform an update with the precompiled binary from OpenThread as its overlapping the MBR section 0x0000-0x1000 and thats why the write button is greyed out.. The Thread NCP Example in the nRF5 SDK for Thread and Zigbee comes in four configurations, where one of them is USB with bootloader. This configuration uses the USB peripheral that is available in nRF52840 and communicates as a native USB CDC device. This configuration targets PCA10059 board that contains factory-programmed USB bootloader. 

I have attached a the precompiled binary for the USB bootloader configuration below, could you try to use that one instead?

nrf52840_xxaa.hex

[rocksetta]

Thank you so much for the reply. A private key from Fanstel would make so much sense, but I got nothing on paper with the purchase, I just emailed them.  On my windows machine the bootloader and cli .hex files come up with "write" enabled but then the install dies since the fanstel expects a signed file.

Just checked my email and they say the bootloader is pre-installed. The link is here

https://www.fanstel.com/download-opensource/

With an install  here 

www.fanstel.com/.../BT840_USBbootloader181018b.rar

That seems positive

But to connect with the OpenThread border router I am going to need to know some connection information from  Fanstel. Any suggestions for this step? A few of them like the network Name and passphrases I make up but the PAN ID etc?

[rocksetta]

Thanks for the .hex file. I did get a debug private key from Fanstel. It looks like I need a Jlink with another board if I want to wipe the Fanstel USB Dongle clean to be able to use my own private key, but that is fine I am just testing anyway.

Do you think with nfrConnect for Desktop that I can just take your .hex file and the keys and make a package that will install? That seems a lot easier than what many posts are suggesting I do where I build the files from scratch.

I will try doing things on my own but if you have a link showing how to sign the firmware .hex file that would be really useful.