Firmware on custom board (Application + Bootloader)

[Tim Adu]

I've reached a critical point in the firmware development process where I need to start considering integrating a bootloader with the application code.

I have a custom board with an nrf52840 SoC. I have created a new bsp for the board and I'm able to execute code and run debugging on the board using Segger Embedded Studio. At some point, we'll have to integrate a bootloader in order to be able to create a release image.

Based on the requirements at my company, it has been decided to implement the application in two phases:

• Phase 1 will include the application and bootloader
• Phase 2 will include the application, bootloader and softdevice, once the BLE-related requirements have been locked.

I wish to implement phase 1 and as this is critical, I do not wish to get fragmented information.

My questions

1.  Are there any ready-made bootloaders I can use?
2. How do I go about combining the application and bootloader (without softdevice)
3. How do I fragment the flash memory so that I can have the application, bootloader, and eventually softdevice?
4. Are there any detailed tutorials explaining the integration processes?
5. Eventually we'll implement FOTA over Bluetooth. Anything I should be specially aware of here?

Any link to documentation/tutorials will be very much appreciated. I apologize in advance if the questions seem a bit broad. I'm a bit new to this process of integrating application code and bootloaders.

Thanks,

/Tim

[Tim Adu]

I tried it. It didn't work. My updated script:

#---------- Settings ----------------#
device_family="NRF52840"
app_image_path="../path_to_production_app_hex/application.hex"
app_version="0"
bl_version="0"
bl_settings_version="1"
key_file="../path_to_generated_keys/private.key"
output_file="../path_to_store_generated_bl_settings/bootloader_settings.hex"
softdevice_file="../path_to_softdevice_image/s140_nrf52_6.1.0_softdevice.hex"
#-----------------------------------#

echo "---------------------------------------------------------------"

#Delete any existing bootloader settings image
rm -f $output_file
nrfutil settings generate --family $device_family --application $app_image_path --application-version $app_version --bootloader-version $bl_version --bl-settings-version $bl_settings_version --softdevice $softdevice_file --key-file $key_file $output_file

I read a thread with a similar problem: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/19068/uploading-application-and-bootloader-application-not-starting.

Is  there maybe an equivalent way to do it in SDK 15.2.0

[Tim Adu]

Also, do you think this is a bit odd: I generate the bootloader settings, read it out immediately, and the start address is different, plus I get a warning message: Bad access at 0x7F000: not enough data to read 4 contiguous bytes:

Generated Bootloader DFU settings .hex file and stored it in: ../production/images/ns_wms_bootloader_settings.hex

Bootloader DFU Settings:
* File:                     ../production/images/ns_wms_bootloader_settings.hex
* Family:                   NRF52840
* Start Address:            0x000FF000
* CRC:                      0x390CDFC7
* Settings Version:         0x00000001 (1)
* App Version:              0x00000000 (0)
* Bootloader Version:       0x00000000 (0)
* Bank Layout:              0x00000000
* Current Bank:             0x00000000
* Application Size:         0x0002AD34 (175412 bytes)
* Application CRC:          0x2D2EC708
* Bank0 Bank Code:          0x00000001
* Softdevice Size:          0x00024E7C (151164 bytes)
* Boot Validation CRC:      0x00000000
* SD Boot Validation Type:  0x00000000 (0)
* App Boot Validation Type: 0x00000000 (0)

Bad access at 0x7F000: not enough data to read 4 contiguous bytes

Bootloader DFU Settings:
* File:                     ../production/images/ns_wms_bootloader_settings.hex
* Family:                   NRF52840
* Start Address:            0x000FE000
* CRC:                      0x390CDFC7
* Settings Version:         0x00000001 (1)
* App Version:              0x00000000 (0)
* Bootloader Version:       0x00000000 (0)
* Bank Layout:              0x00000000
* Current Bank:             0x00000000
* Application Size:         0x0002AD34 (175412 bytes)
* Application CRC:          0x2D2EC708
* Bank0 Bank Code:          0x00000001
* Softdevice Size:          0x00000000 (0 bytes)
* Boot Validation CRC:      0x00000000
* SD Boot Validation Type:  0x00000000 (0)
* App Boot Validation Type: 0x00000000 (0)

Any thoughts about this?

[Edvin]

I believe this post has become a duplicate of your latest ticket:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/53464/generating-production-image-without-dfu-ota

Let us follow up in that thread, and give me a detailed explanation on how you determine that "it doesn't work", and what it says when you program the different parts (BL, SD, BL_settings, application).

BR,

Edvin