Serial number in nRF24le1

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Hung Bui — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 08:58:12 GMT

@Gustav: I have to correct myself. After checking around with my colleague, seems that it's not possible to write to the infopage from the MCU. It's clearly mentioned in the Product Spec for the nRF24LU1P, but not the nRF24LE1 so it made me confused.

The only part in the spec that implied the MCU can't write to infopage is: "The MCU can perform erase page and write operations to the unprotected part and the data part of the flash main block" => not the infopage.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Hung Bui — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 12:43:31 GMT

@Gustav: You are correct, I'm not a software engineer but an application engineer. Do both software, and hardware, but more focusing on helping people.

I wrote "I'm not sure if memory protection is implemented in the example" because last time I looked into the code was almost 3 years ago. nRF24LE1 is a pretty old chip. (And no, memory protection was not implemented in the code)

I mentioned "it should be straight forward to implement" because the instruction on how the memory protection work is defined clearly in "Protected pages and data pages" section in the Spec.

nAN-18 should be used with nRF24LE1, that what written in the title of the document: "nRF24LE1 firmware update over-the-air"

How this set-up works is the bootloader on nRF24LE1 connects to a nRF24LU1 who acts as the master. The nRF24LU1 receive the new image for nRF24LE1 via USB from the PC. Then the nRF24LU1 send that image via RF to the nRF24LE1 and the bootloader on nRF24LE1 updates that new firmware and starts running with the new firmware.

If you don't plan to use the nRF24LU1 as the master, you can use nRF24LE1, the code won't be too much different, you just have to figure out a way to receive the image, maybe from external flash, or from UART.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Gustav — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 08:00:45 GMT

The nAN-18 and nAN-22 are fine, but they are based on nRF24LU, not nRF24Le1. The example uses USB. nRF24Le1, does not have USB.

My conclusion on nRF24Le1 is: "Fine chip, but weak documentation".

Writing "I am not sure ..., but I guess it should be straight forward to implement." It sounds like you are not a software engineer.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Hung Bui — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 11:19:15 GMT

@Gustav: Yes, we have an example of a bootloader to do DFU. You can have a look at this page. In the download tab, look for nAN-18 and nAN-22. With that example, you can update firmware from PC to a NRF24LE1. I am not sure memory protection is implemented in the example, but I guess it should be straight forward to implement.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Gustav — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:27:37 GMT

Do you have any application notes, or tutorials that cover ways to do firmware updates? I am asking because the information in section 6.3.6 and 6.3.2.1, is not specific enough for me to get started.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Hung Bui — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 09:24:53 GMT

@Gustav: You can use that area, but it's not protected from the MCU flash operation. So we suggest you to configure the protected area in flash instead.

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Gustav — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 08:03:57 GMT

OK, so there are 256 bytes in the infoPage at address 0x100. In section 6.3.2.1 of the datasheet, table31 it says that this area is "for user data".

Is this the area, that could be used for a permanent serial number?

RE: Serial number in nRF24le1

Hung Bui — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 11:38:12 GMT

@Gustav: You can think of using protected area in flash. Please have a look at section 6.3.6 and 6.3.2.1 in the nRF24LE1 Spec.