AM2632-Q1: Sitara boot from MRAM

Daniel Frank

Part Number: AM2632-Q1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: AM2632, TMS570LC4357

Tool/software:

Hello,

I am looking into using the AM2632 (or other Sitara MCU) for an application in a radiation environment, and one of the main concerns is the corruption of the firmware by single event effects.

An interesting approach to mitigate that risk is to store the firmware on an external MRAM, as they are quite tolerant to SEEs.

Is it possible to boot the microcontroller from an external QSPI MRAM? Booting from QSPI NOR Flash is supported, but I am unsure about the protocol differences.

Kind Regards

Daniel

over 1 year ago

+1 Ralph Jacobi over 1 year ago

TI__Guru*** 135355 points

Hello Daniel,

You would need to make a custom secondary boot loader to achieve this. It wouldn't be possible to support it from a ROM standpoint, but if you used something like SBL QSPI as a basis then you could build out a custom boot loader that handles MRAM.

Best Regards,

Ralph Jacobi

0 Daniel Frank over 1 year ago in reply to Ralph Jacobi

Prodigy 20 points

Hello Ralph,

thanks for the quick response!

That would mean though, that the secondary bootloader must first be read from an external Flash, right?
Which would be problematic as this Flash and the bootloader on there would then be susceptible to SEEs.
Which would onle leave the hardware UART bootloader.

Best Regards

Daniel

0 Ralph Jacobi over 1 year ago in reply to Daniel Frank

TI__Guru*** 135355 points

Hi Daniel,

That does raise some valid points yes, I've been trying to think of how to address that but I haven't come up with any ideas. I'll check with one of our boot experts to see if they have any additional ideas.

Best Regards,

Ralph Jacobi

0 Daniel Frank over 1 year ago in reply to Ralph Jacobi

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Ralph,

thanks, appreciate it!

Best Regards
Daniel

+1 Aakash Kedia over 1 year ago in reply to Daniel Frank

TI__Mastermind 26145 points

Hi Daniel,

The SBL will require to be booted from UART or QSPI memory only because that's what ROM supports. To interface another media like MRAM on another CS of QSPI interface is achievable only after SBL is booted by ROM.

Best Regards,
Aakash

0 Daniel Frank over 1 year ago in reply to Aakash Kedia

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Aakash,

thanks for the response, that confirms what Ralph wrote.

Best Regards

Daniel

0 Daniel Frank over 1 year ago in reply to Daniel Frank

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Ralph and Aakash,

one more question: I guess the same is true for the TMS570LC4357, in that I would need to have a bootloader on the Flash (integrated in this case) to load the firmware from the MRAM, and there is no other boot option?

Best Regards

Daniel

0 Ralph Jacobi over 1 year ago in reply to Daniel Frank

TI__Guru*** 135355 points

Hi Daniel,

We'll have to defer to a TMS570 expert on this - I'll loop them in.

Best Regards,

Ralph Jacobi

+1 jagadish gundavarapu over 1 year ago in reply to Ralph Jacobi

TI__Guru 69891 points

Hi Daniel,

Daniel Frank said:
one more question: I guess the same is true for the TMS570LC4357, in that I would need to have a bootloader on the Flash (integrated in this case) to load the firmware from the MRAM, and there is no other boot option?

You are correct!

In TMS570LC4357 the code will always start executing from the flash. So, you should need to have a bootloader code in the flash. And you can interface MRAM using EMIF (External Memory Interface) of TMS570LC4357. Now you can program the MRAM using this bootloader and if there is a valid code in MRAM then you can execute it directly from MRAM using EMIF.

--
Thanks & regards,
Jagadish.

0 Daniel Frank over 1 year ago in reply to jagadish gundavarapu

Prodigy 20 points

Hi Jagadish,

thanks for confirming! The option of executing directly from MRAM sounds nice.

Best Regards

Daniel

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AM2632-Q1: Sitara boot from MRAM