nRF9160 modem FW FOTA Updates

[Jack Panetta]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding the modem FW updates on the nRF9160.

1. It is my understanding that for new major versions of modem FW (i.e. Feature releases) there is no way to update the modem firmware via FOTA. So lets say I release a device into the field with modem FW version 1.x.x. Whenever the carrier (in my case its Verizon) mandates a modem firmware update, will Nordic continue to release modem FW delta updates for the lifetime of the device? Will there ever be a scenario where Nordic stops supporting 1.x.x and I have to physically retrieve the device from the field in order to update to some new major version (i.e. 2.x.x)?

2. Is there any way to do a modem FW delta image update via serial instead of http? For example, is it possible to modify the AWS FOTA sample so that the delta image is passed over via a UART connection and then sent to be programmed into the modem?

3. What does the modem FW process as a whole look like. For example I want to know the steps that all parties involved take from mandating a modem fw update to it actually being applied on the device. For example, i think it looks something like this:

1. The carrier mandates a modem FW update
2. Nordic takes those required updates and creates a delta image for the modem FW
3. Nordic releases that image to all customers (me)
4. The customer (me) deploys that update to some cloud hosted platform
5. The device sees there is a delta image and downloads that image
6. The device updates the modem FW with the delta image

Any help in this would be greatly appreciated.

- Jack Panetta

[JVantol]

Heidi,

Does the existing fota implementation work for modem fw? It would appear that it could, but from poking around, it's not clear that it does. We've gotten the AWS fota implementation working, and it works great for updating app firmware, but it's not clear that we could just make an aws job like so:

{
  "operation": "modem_fw_update",
  "fwversion": "v1.1.1",
  "size": 298748,
  "location": {
    "protocol": "http:",
    "host": "xxx.s3.amazonaws.com",
    "path": "modem_update.bin"
   }
}

Would this work? If so, can you supply the needed differential update file?

If not, I infer from your answer (c) above that you may be able to provide the needed code and information to make this work. We have a need, may we have access to the required info?

[Heidi-Irene Harvey Sollie]

Hi, that should work.

The file you need is found in the modem FW zip that you can download from our website here, called "mfw_nrf9160_update_from_1.1.0_to_1.1.1".

Best regards,

Heidi