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AWR1642: Flash image when doing mass production

James Austrial
Intellectual 2910 points
Part Number: AWR1642
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH, MMWAVE-SDK

The AWR1642 has an TM4C129x micro-controller which doing XDS110 and UART/USB functions.

When customer design their board for mass production, this TM4C129x will be removed definitely.

In this case, we have the following questions:

(1) Will Uniflash still work?

(2) What is the best approach to do image flash to external QSPI NOR flash?

(3) Can we use "pre-flashed" QSPI NOR flash and then mount it to board directly? 

(4) If "pre-flashed" NOR flash is OK, does that mean customer may need to design "anti-clone" protection?

  • 0
    TI__Guru 58035 points
    Hello James,
    We will get back to you on this.

    Regards,
    Vivek
  • 0
    TI__Guru 68160 points

    Hi James,

    Please find our answers inline.

    (1) Will Uniflash still work?

    For Uniflash to work it requires UART to USB converter emulator. So if you remove TM4C129x Uniflash won't work.

    (2) What is the best approach to do image flash to external QSPI NOR flash?

    In case the UART is not accessible, you may use a pre-flashed QSPI NOR flash (as per your following query).

    (3) Can we use "pre-flashed" QSPI NOR flash and then mount it to board directly? 

    Yes, we can use pre-flashed QSPI NOR flash and connect to the device but images must have the same format as AWR1642 bootloader expects it to be. AWR1642 meta-image format is explained in the image creator user guide which is part of mmWave-SDK (mmwave_sdk_01_00_00_05\packages\scripts\ImageCreator\xwr16xx\Image_Creator_User_Guide.pdf) and in the appnote available at this link

    (4) If "pre-flashed" NOR flash is OK, does that mean customer may need to design "anti-clone" protection?

    TI will have a secured version of AWR1642 where bootloader supports flashing and storing of encrypted user application image to avoid any clone-copy.

    Regards,

    Jitendra Gupta

  • 0 in reply to Jitendra Gupta
    TI__Intellectual 2910 points

    Hi Jitendra,

    Thank you. I'm OK with (2), (3), (4).

    Regarding to (1), I would like to double confirm:

    (1) Will Uniflash still work?

    For Uniflash to work it requires UART to USB converter emulator. So if you remove TM4C129x Uniflash won't work.

    It looks to me Uniflash uses UART COM port to program image to external QSPI NOR Flash.

    That means as long as AR_RS232TX, AR_RS232RX and AR_MSS_LOGGER (MSS_UARTB_TX) had been wired out from AWR1642
    These pins should be able to be connected to two COM ports on PC

    The whole path doesn't involved with any UART to USB conversion. So even TM4C129x is not there, Uniflash is still able to work.
    Is my understanding correct?

  • 0 in reply to James Austrial
    TI__Guru 68160 points
    Hello James,
    Yes, your understanding is correct.

    Uniflash looks for COM port of the computer to flash the binary image to mmWave Radar device. This connection you can do either via UART/USB emulator or connect AR_RS232TX, AR_RS232RX and Ground lines of AWR device directly to the computer.



    Best Regards,
    Jitendra Gupta
  • 0 in reply to Jitendra Gupta
    TI__Intellectual 2910 points
    Thanks for your confirmation. The questions had been answered and can be closed.