nRF9160 External RAM & Flash

[EthanShirk]

Hi DevZone

We would like to use the nRF9160 for another usecase, however we require additional RAM and Flash to effectively run our firmware. 

As per the Devkit which has external flash, is is possible to run code out of that flash?

What are the options available for adding additional RAM. 

Our requirements need 360k RAM and around 1.5MB of Flash. 

TLDR, How would you recommend we increase the 9160's resources to the above specs?

[Didrik Rokhaug]

Hi,

Unfortunately, it is not possible to expand the RAM or the (program) flash of the nRF9160.

Why do you need that much RAM and flash for your application?

Maybe there are other ways to make the nRF9160 work for you.

Best regards,

Didrik

[EthanShirk]

Hi Didrik

So it is possible to add external flash for storage purposes but not to run code out of. 

RAM expansion is not possible.

It's my understanding that you can use external flash to store FOTA images for example, would you not be able to boot from that flash or does it still need to be used to overwrite internal flash?

Am I understanding you correctly  ?

[Didrik Rokhaug]

EthanShirk said:

It's my understanding that you can use external flash to store FOTA images for example, would you not be able to boot from that flash or does it still need to be used to overwrite internal flash?

Yes, you can store FOTA images on external flash, but it must be moved to the internal flash before it can be executed.

[Waqar Ahmed]

Hi,
we are also looking for the same solution we want to add additional External  RAM in our next gen product.

we need near 300K RAM on our custom board

is there any way to add with nrf9160?

Thanks

[Didrik Rokhaug]

Hi Waqar Ahmed,

As I've said earlier, it is not possible to add more RAM to the nRF9160.

What do you need that amount of RAM for?

Best regards,

Didrik