nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 09:00:57 GMT

Hi,

From what I learned it is not possible to do CONFIG_SINGLE_IMAGE_DFU for BLE DFU. This can only be done for USB or UART upgrade.

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

x_ruslan — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 05:45:47 GMT

Single image DFU suported for BLE?

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 13:34:44 GMT

Hi Håkon,

Thanks for the replay, in the meantime I figured out that single image DFU is not supported for BLE. So this is still not an option for me. Anyway, I will check the links you posted.

p.s.
Today I posted a private issue regarding this, if you have access check it out.

Best regards,
Vojislav

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Håkon Alseth — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 13:28:51 GMT

Hi,

We're continuously trying to optimize so that the samples fits within all our nRF52-devices, but we're unfortunately not quite there yet.

With the peripheral_lbs sample, where the configurations from the "minimal.conf" is applied, the RAM usage goes from ~24k -> 15.5k:

https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf/blob/master/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_lbs/minimal.conf

We also have a small section on which threads impact the RAM footprint in our documentation:

http://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrf/app_memory.html#bluetooth

Could you try this and see if you're able to get any savings?

[quote user="voja"]I am asking this because I noticed that in NCS v1.4.0 there is now Added support for single-image applications (see CONFIG_SINGLE_IMAGE_DFU). Does this mean that it does not need two slots for the update, and it will overwrite the current application?[/quote]

Although the configuration is there, unfortunately; the support in the multi build system isn't capable of handling mcuboot single slot application as of now.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 10:41:18 GMT

Hi Håkon,

I noticed something in the new release of NCS and wanted to check with you:

am trying to figure out if there is a possibility to fit the Nordic NUS app with MCUboot (for BLE DFU) on nRF52811. The biggest constrain in memory. Currently with NCS version v1.4.0 when you build the peripheiral_uart example without the MCUboot it cannot fit.

Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:      180208 B       192 KB     91.66%
            SRAM:       31679 B        24 KB    128.90%
        IDT_LIST:         152 B         2 KB      7.4

but if I strip down the application a bit, could it fit the MCUboot with it? I am asking this because I noticed that in NCS v1.4.0 there is now Added support for single-image applications (see CONFIG_SINGLE_IMAGE_DFU). Does this mean that it does not need two slots for the update, and it will overwrite the current application?

Best regards,
Vojislav

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Wed, 13 May 2020 11:28:52 GMT

Håkon, Thank you for your support.

Best regards,
Vojislav.

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Håkon Alseth — Wed, 13 May 2020 11:09:34 GMT

Hi,

Yes, There is an overflow in RAM by default when trying to target nrf52811/nrf52810, which is unfortunate, likely due to asymmetrical security, storing bond information, logging, and SeggerRTT printing being enabled. We do indeed have some optimization to do here. I'll report this internally.

The sample still requires more flash than what can be fit into a image with mcuboot support, unfortunately.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Wed, 13 May 2020 09:55:56 GMT

As I can see from testing even peripherial_uart application without the MCUboot cannot fit the nRF52811 because of the SRAM constraint:

Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:      148128 B       192 KB     75.34%
            SRAM:       25912 B        24 KB    105.44%
        IDT_LIST:         136 B         2 KB      6.64/home/voja/Documents/gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/8.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: zephyr/zephyr_prebuilt.elf section `datas' will not fit in region `SRAM'
/home/voja/Documents/gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/8.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: section .intList VMA [0000000020006000,0000000020006087] overlaps section datas VMA [0000000020005c28,0000000020006211]
/home/voja/Documents/gcc-arm-none-eabi-8-2019-q3-update/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/8.3.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld: region `SRAM' overflowed by 1336 bytes
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I suppose these examples need to be further optimised on your side?

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Vojislav — Wed, 13 May 2020 08:16:50 GMT

Hi Håkon,

Thank you for your reply and suggestions.
What I need to do is to create an application similar to peripherial_uart, and when adding MCUBoot to that application I get a memory problem which is a clear sign to me that my application won't fit.

Still, I will run the tests you recommended and get back to you with my rom_report.

Best regards,
Vojislav.

RE: nrf52811: Zephyr with MCUboot

Håkon Alseth — Wed, 13 May 2020 07:56:56 GMT

Hi,

You're overflowing flash by ~133 kB.

[quote user=""]So is there enough space on the nrf52811 to do such a thing?[/quote]

Technically, yes. It is space enough to do it, but it will highly depend on your image size.

If you take a small example, like hello_world, configure it to the nrf52811_pca10056 board, then apply these settings:

CONFIG_FLASH=y
CONFIG_IMG_MANAGER=y
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

You can then build and run the command "ninja rom_report" in the build folder and get the flash layout back:

[129/129] Running utility command for rom_report
Partition Manager report
FLASH (0x30000):
+-----------------------------------------+
| 0x0: mcuboot (0xc000)                   |
+---0xc000: mcuboot_primary (0x12000)-----+
| 0xc000: mcuboot_pad (0x200)             |
+---0xc200: mcuboot_primary_app (0x11e00)-+
| 0xc200: app (0x11e00)                   |
| 0x1e000: mcuboot_secondary (0x12000)    |
+-----------------------------------------+

[quote user=""]If it is what are the changes needed to be made so it can compile?[/quote]

As showed above, if you can get your application down to ~71kB flash, then you can run dual bank with the current mcuboot setup. However; there is not many applications that fits within this size

Kind regards,

Håkon