AWR1843BOOST: Bootloader use for AWR1843

Hello Jitendra Gupta and thanks for your answer, but I can't really see how these scripts can help me because my goal is to send data using the bootloader not just flash the device. thanks 

Hi Jitendra Gupta I'd like to add one more thing I have noticed: when I send more than 10 bytes but I put 0x0A  in the size byte 

I always get the ACK response as you can see in the pictures below ( the input length is 0x00 0x0A in all these cases ) 

using a logic analyzer I got the ACK response ( blue signal on channel 1) when I tried to send 12, 14, and 18 bytes but when I change the length byte to the correct ones I no longer get acknowledgment from the AWR1843 !! like here for example ( same 18 bytes sent but with the input length is 0x00 0x12): 

any explanation, please? thanks.

Hi Wajih,

Let me first confirm your usecase here: you are trying to flash binary file from external MCU to AWR1843 device over UART interface, correct??

If that is the case you better refer above mentioned python script which is equivalent implementation but instead of external MCU, that script is running on PC and communicating to AWR1843 over UART interface to send the binary file byte data to finally flash it.

You can refer that python script to have same communication protocol implemented on your external MCU.

Regards,

Jitendra

Hello Jitendra Gupta,

yes, that is my usecase. Okay I will see the script you told me about and get back to you. Thanks 

Hello Jitendra Gupta,

I've been trying to use the python scripts you told me about lately and I verified some things I've done correctly, yet I have a question. 

so in this example, I am trying to send just 4 bytes as shown here  with the write to flash command and this is the sequence of commands I am using : get version cmd, a buffer containing CC, open cmd, get status cmd, CC buffer, write to flash cmd, get status cd, CC buffer, close cmd, get status cmd and lastly another CC buffer as shown here 

and these are the commands : 

before those commands, I send a buffer of just zeroes to the radar. 

and I have been getting an ACK response 0xCC from all commands except the close command which gives me a NACK response 0x33 so do you have any idea why is that? PS: I verified with the logic analyzer that the commands sent by the Uniflash tool while loading an image to the radar are the same as the commands that I've been sending to the radar using an external MCU and also with the same order. 

Thanks

Hi Wajih,

The Open command does not look correct for SFLASH storage. For SFLASH you should be using 2 while it looks you are using 4 which is for RAM. Can you once again check your open command buffer and let us know your results/observations.

Thanks,

Pradipta.

Hello Pradipta Bandyopadhyay and thanks for your answer,

as you can see below this is the open command in the bootloader docs : 

and I believe I am respecting that flow in my command : 

where 0x2B is the checksum value, and after the 0x21 byte we put the file size ( we write on 4 bytes), and since I am sending 4 bytes in my write to flash command:   so that should be 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x04. After that, there is the storage type ( 4 bytes as well )  as you said SFLASH should be then 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x02 and at last, the file type I used META IMAGE 1 which is 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x04 and I added 4 reserved bytes in the end as stated in document 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00. So I believe my command is correct. Thanks 

Hello Pradipta Bandyopadhyay, is there a possibility maybe that I should add a delay time to allow the radar to fully receive the buffers I am sending? I added it like this :  

Is there maybe an already fixed value instead of 0xFFFF that I used ? Thanks.

Hi,

Can you once also check the format of the Close Command. In the figures shared the close command has 0x04 in the storage type field. Can you change this to 0x02 and let us know your observations.

Thanks,

Pradipta.

Hello Pradipta Bandyopadhyay, In fact, I believe there is an error in the document because in the flashing tool (python script) implementation at C:\ti\uniflash_7.2.0\deskdb\content\TICloudAgent\win\ccs_base\mmWave\gen1  mmWaveProgFlash.py, FlashPython.py, serialStub.py you can see that in the close command we actually write the file type ( file_ID in the script ) and not the storage type  

I also tried to capture the signal generated by the uniflash tool while loading an image to the AWR1843 using an IKA logic analyzer  ( scanaQuad SQ50) and I confirmed that the close command specifies the file type and NOT the storage type as it says in the docs. so it should be correct with 0x04 as I am using META IMG1.

Thanks  

Hi,

Can you once try with 0x02 instead of 0x04 in the close command and let us know your results. 

Thanks,

Pradipta.

I already tried nothing changed 

Hi,

So with Uniflash, are you receiving the ACK signal ? And with your custom code you are getting Nack ?

Thanks,

Pradipta.

yes that is correct but only for the close command

for the other commands I get the ACK response from my custom code 

Hi,

Currently we do not have any clear idea as to why this is the case. We can suggest you to use the python script (used for the implementation of Uniflash) as it is first and try it at your end.

Thanks,

Pradipta.