nRF9160 in Production

[Saleem]

I want to design the chip (nRF9160) on our board.
1- What kind of external debug / flash (SWD) can I use to flash the modem firmware and my app?

2- Is there any suitable method to update the firmware via serial port from nRF9160 in production mode?

3- Is bootloader available for nRF9160?

I look forward to your feedback and support

[Carl Richard]

Hi, Saleem!

Good to hear that you want to use the nRF9160. 

1. Any J-LINK debugger that supports the ARM M33 core can be used. You can have a look at the combability matrix. However, for development I strongly suggest that you get hold of an nRF9160 DK, which has an onboard debugger that can be used as an external debugger for custom boards as well. 

2. We support serial device firmware update (DFU) in the nRF Connect SDK through MCUBoot and mcumgr. For an example on this you can read this guide on serial DFU for the Thingy:91. It's a bit outdated, but the information should still be valid.

3. Yes. You can read more about this in the Secure Bootloader Chain documentation.

I hope this information is helpful. Good luck on your project!

Best regards,
Carl Richard

[Saleem]

Thank you very much for your feedback.

In my use case I want to use the nRF9160 only as a modem (LTE/GPS). I have done some research in your site and the following are clear to me:
A- To flash and debug the nRF9160 externally I need these adapters J-LINK . Hardware connection looks like the picture

B- to communicate with the modem with AT command, I will use UART0 like here interfacing with UART0 

C- flash the bootloader using J-LINK

My question 

1- Which serial interface can I use to update the modem firmware through MCUBoot and mcumgr (without adapters J-LINK)? The same interface UART0 like this 

or anther interface UART1

2-  it is possible to send At-Command with the same serial interface and update firmware (for example UART0)

Best regards 

Saleem

[Carl Richard]

Hi!

Sounds good. For your application I suggest that you look into the serial lte modem sample application which implements a serial AT-command interface in addition to using the MCUBoot bootloader.  In addition, just to clarify: to flash and debug the nRF9160 externally you need a J-Link debugger, like the one you link to or like the one on the nRF9160 DK. Then to your questions.

1. You must use one of the UART interfaces. The specific UART used by mcumgr can be configured using CONFIG_UART_MCUMGR_ON_DEV_NAME.

2. I will need to check this with the developers. I'll come back to you within Friday.

Best regards,
Carl Richard

[Carl Richard]

Hi!

Got from a colleague that it's theoretically possible to use the same UART for AT-commands and serial firmware updates we would recommend against it. 

Best regards,
Carl Richard

[Saleem]

Hi Richard, 

Thank you for your quick reply.

I want to update the modem firmware in production (end of line), and I think it will go through uart (I will also test once the board nRF9160 is there).
My last questions:
1- Is there At-Command, to put the nRF9160 in flash mode, so I can update the modem firmware. Or do I have to trigger/reset via GPIO (hardware).

2- Can I use the GPS receiver while the modem (LTE) is connected to the provider network. (GPS receiver and modem at the same time).

Thanks for your support