TDA4VM: Questions related to SBL and DMSC firmware - SDK 7.0

Hi John,

Brief background to address the query:

There are two bootloader flows in the SDK

1. SBL boot flow

2. SPL/u-boot flow

-1-

In general SBL is used to load baremetal or RTOS applications on the cores. The bootflow is described in https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/07_00_00_11/exports/docs/pdk_jacinto_07_00_00/docs/userguide/boot/boot_jacinto.html#block-diagram 

From a very high level, SBL (tiboot3.bin) runs on the MCU R5F, loads the system firmware (sysfw.bin), passes the RM, PM, Security and common board configuration and then loads the application image (app) on the core it is intended to run.

-2-

SPL/u-boot flow is used to boot an HLOS (Linux in out SDK) on the A72 and also load the remote cores (C6x, C7x, R5Fs) with their respective firmwares. There is a very detailed Boot Flow diagram at https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-linux-jacinto7/07_00_01_01/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components_U-Boot.html#build-and-boot-flow-on-64-bit-platforms-based-on-k3-architecture which you can take a look at.

Here the tiboot3.bin is the R5 SPL.

Note: tiboot3.bin is the name of the image (any image, R5 SPL or R5 SBL) which the DMSC ROM loads on the MCU R5F. So in case of SBL boot flow it is SBL and in case of SPL/u-boot flow it is R5 SPL.

Now coming back to the question:

John H. Gardner said:

Are the mentioned files from both PSDKs supposed to be binary identical? What caught their attention is that the sysfw file contained in PSDK Linux Automotive, in the ti-processor-sdk-linux-automotive-j7-evm-07_00_01/board-support/prebuilt-images/boot-j7-evm.tar.gz package, has a different extension than the sysfw file generated in the PSDK RTOS accordingly with the instruction in chapter 8.3 of the PSDK RTOS description. What is the reason for that difference?

The difference in the extension (sysfw.bin vs sysfw.itb) is because both the above mentioned boot flows consume the sysfw.bin in a slightly different package.

If you look at the image format section in https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-linux-jacinto7/07_00_01_01/exports/docs/linux/Foundational_Components_U-Boot.html#build-and-boot-flow-on-64-bit-platforms-based-on-k3-architecture you will see that the sysfw.itb = sysfw.bin (the same as that in the SBL boot flow) + RM + PM + Security + common board configurations.

SBL take the sysfw.bin and passes the RM, PM, sec, common board config after it loads the sysfw.bin (the configs are a part of the SBL itself)

In SPL/u-boot case the configs are a part of the sysfw.itb.

John H. Gardner said:

Please explain what’s the purpose of the Application image mentioned in chapter 8.3.2.2 of the PSDK RTOS description. Is the customer to generate it on their own?

This is the actual image with your custom application (or any SDK application) which runs on the core and gets loaded by the bootloader. Any SDK example which you want to run will be the app.

John H. Gardner said:

The customer is not able to build SBL accordingly with the instruction in chapter 8.3 of the PSDK RTOS description. When they are using the ‘make pdk_sbl’ command, they see the following output ‘make: *** No rule to make target 'pdk_sbl'.  Stop.’ Do you know how to solve that issue?

Can you please try the below commands:

cd psdk_rtos_auto_j7_07_00_00_11/pdk_jacinto_07_00_00/packages/ti/build
make sbl_mmcsd_img DISABLE_RECURSE_DEPS=no -sj

This should build the SBL to be run from SD card.

John H. Gardner said:

What does the sciclient abbreviation mean?

SCI stands for System Control Interface and SCIClient is used to talk to the DMSC firmware running on the M3 core.

Below docs can provide details:

The user guide for tisci can be found here - http://software-dl.ti.com/tisci/esd/latest/1_intro/TISCI.html 

The SCIClient user guide - https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/processor-sdk-rtos-jacinto7/07_00_00_11/exports/docs/pdk_jacinto_07_00_00/docs/userguide/modules/sciclient.html#sciclient 

NOTE: all the above links are for SDK7.0

Let me know if you have more questions.

Regards,

Karan