Serial number in nRF24le1

[Gustav]

Is it possible to protect part of the memory of nRF24le1, in such a way, that it can be used for a serial number?

For my application, it would be beneficial to be able to update the firmware, without changing the original serial number.

To put it in other words: "I need 32 bytes, that can not be changed by the customer"....

I know, that there is a check box with "block readback of mainmemory" in nRFgo Studio under "advanced settings". And that could be part of the solution, but that does not prevent the serial number from being overwritten, when the firmware is updated.

[Hung Bui]

@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.

[Gustav]

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?

[Hung Bui]

@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.

[Gustav]

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.

[Hung Bui]

@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.