nRF52810 bootloader SDK 16/17

[sixaxix9]

Hi,

I am working on a secure bootloader for a nRF52810 chip, and I am starting from the PCA10400e example in the SDK 16 and SD112 on SES (MacOS).

I successfully compiled and load it following the instructions described in https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/short-range-guides/b/software-development-kit/posts/getting-started-with-nordics-secure-dfu-bootloader.

I could load it on an nRF52832 dev board and I could get the DFU advertised over BL, but when I removed the DEVELOP_IN_NRF52832 flag as suggested in https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.nordic.infocenter.sdk5.v14.1.0%2Fnrf52810_user_guide.html to load it on my nRF52810 board the DFU was not advertising anymore. Please note that the Bluetooth works on the custom board and using some bootloaders found on the Nordic DevZone based on SDK14/15 the advertisement worked.

Is there any known issue with this kind of bootloader? Should I change anything else when trying to load the project on an nRF52810?

I am also willing to change to SDK17, but I found no entry for the --sd-req in the nrfutil when preparing the zip file, is it still unsupported?

Thanks a lot!

P.s. Please consider that I am using the Oberon lib

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

The oberon library has a larger memory footprint compared to uECC. which means you will have to allocated more flash the bootloader compared to the standard configuration. Assume you may have done that already. there was a bug in flash_placement.xml for the SDK 16 bootloader that made it possible to build the bootloader even if you had overlapping flash sections.

Please try to do a complete re-build of the bootloader with the flash placement file copied from SDK 17.0.2 below. I expect you will get a linker error if your bootloader is too big.

Fullscreen 0564.flash_placement.xml Download

<!DOCTYPE Linker_Placement_File>
<Root name="Flash Section Placement">
  <MemorySegment name="FLASH" start="$(FLASH_PH_START)" size="$(FLASH_PH_SIZE)">
    <ProgramSection load="no" name=".reserved_flash" start="$(FLASH_PH_START)" size="$(FLASH_START)-$(FLASH_PH_START)" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="0x100" load="Yes" name=".vectors" start="$(FLASH_START)" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".init" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".init_rodata" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".text" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".crypto_data" inputsections="*(SORT(.crypto_data*))" address_symbol="__start_crypto_data" end_symbol="__stop_crypto_data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".dfu_trans" inputsections="*(SORT(.dfu_trans*))" address_symbol="__start_dfu_trans" end_symbol="__stop_dfu_trans" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".nrf_queue" inputsections="*(.nrf_queue*)" address_symbol="__start_nrf_queue" end_symbol="__stop_nrf_queue" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".log_const_data" inputsections="*(SORT(.log_const_data*))" address_symbol="__start_log_const_data" end_symbol="__stop_log_const_data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".nrf_balloc" inputsections="*(.nrf_balloc*)" address_symbol="__start_nrf_balloc" end_symbol="__stop_nrf_balloc" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".log_backends" inputsections="*(SORT(.log_backends*))" address_symbol="__start_log_backends" end_symbol="__stop_log_backends" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".nrf_sections" address_symbol="__start_nrf_sections" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".fs_data"  inputsections="*(.fs_data*)" runin=".fs_data_run"/>
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".log_dynamic_data"  inputsections="*(SORT(.log_dynamic_data*))" runin=".log_dynamic_data_run"/>
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".log_filter_data"  inputsections="*(SORT(.log_filter_data*))" runin=".log_filter_data_run"/>
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".dtors" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".ctors" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".rodata" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" name=".ARM.exidx" address_symbol="__exidx_start" end_symbol="__exidx_end" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" runin=".fast_run" name=".fast" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" runin=".data_run" name=".data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="Yes" runin=".tdata_run" name=".tdata" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".mbr_params_page" address_symbol="__start_mbr_params_page" end_symbol="__stop_mbr_params_page" start = "0x0007E000" size="0x1000" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".bootloader_settings_page" address_symbol="__start_bootloader_settings_page" end_symbol="__stop_bootloader_settings_page" start = "0x0007F000" size="0x1000" />
  </MemorySegment>
  <MemorySegment name="RAM1" start="$(RAM_PH_START)" size="$(RAM_PH_SIZE)">
    <ProgramSection load="no" name=".reserved_ram" start="$(RAM_PH_START)" size="$(RAM_START)-$(RAM_PH_START)" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="0x100" load="No" name=".vectors_ram" start="$(RAM_START)" address_symbol="__app_ram_start__"/>
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".nrf_sections_run" address_symbol="__start_nrf_sections_run" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".fs_data_run" address_symbol="__start_fs_data" end_symbol="__stop_fs_data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".log_dynamic_data_run" address_symbol="__start_log_dynamic_data" end_symbol="__stop_log_dynamic_data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".log_filter_data_run" address_symbol="__start_log_filter_data" end_symbol="__stop_log_filter_data" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="No" name=".nrf_sections_run_end" address_symbol="__end_nrf_sections_run" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".fast_run" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".data_run" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".tdata_run" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".bss" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".tbss" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" load="No" name=".non_init" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" size="__HEAPSIZE__" load="No" name=".heap" />
    <ProgramSection alignment="8" size="__STACKSIZE__" load="No" place_from_segment_end="Yes" name=".stack"  address_symbol="__StackLimit" end_symbol="__StackTop"/>
    <ProgramSection alignment="8" size="__STACKSIZE_PROCESS__" load="No" name=".stack_process" />
  </MemorySegment>
  <MemorySegment name="uicr_bootloader_start_address" start="0x10001014" size="0x4">
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".uicr_bootloader_start_address" address_symbol="__start_uicr_bootloader_start_address" end_symbol="__stop_uicr_bootloader_start_address" start = "0x10001014" size="0x4" />
  </MemorySegment>
  <MemorySegment name="uicr_mbr_params_page" start="0x10001018" size="0x4">
    <ProgramSection alignment="4" keep="Yes" load="Yes" name=".uicr_mbr_params_page" address_symbol="__start_uicr_mbr_params_page" end_symbol="__stop_uicr_mbr_params_page" start = "0x10001018" size="0x4" />
  </MemorySegment>
</Root>

I am also willing to change to SDK17, but I found no entry for the --sd-req in the nrfutil when preparing the zip file, is it still unsupported?

 The list is not always up to date, but that doesn't mean it's not supported. You can find the FWID listed in the SD release notes.