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AWR2944: Bootloader reserving 1M of memory in AWR294x MCU+ SDK 09.00.00 - why?

Part Number: AWR2944

Recently upgraded to  AWR294x MCU+ SDK  09.00.00. In this new SDK the bootloader is reserving 1M of L3 memory. I'd like to know why, and what the implications are.

From AWR294x MCU+ SDK  09.00.00:

File: C:\ti\mmwave_mcuplus_sdk_04_04_01_02\mcu_plus_sdk_awr294x_09_00_00_15\source\drivers\bootloader\soc\awr294x\bootloader_soc.c

Bootloader_resMemSections gResMemSection =

{

    .numSections    = 2,

    .memSection[0].memStart   = 0x10200000,

    .memSection[0].memEnd     = 0x10220000,

    .memSection[1].memStart   = 0x88100000,

    .memSection[1].memEnd     = 0x88200000

};

File: C:\ti\mmwave_mcuplus_sdk_04_04_01_02\mcu_plus_sdk_awr294x_09_00_00_15\source\drivers\bootloader\bootloader.c

            resMem = Bootloader_socGetSBLMem();

            for (resSectionCnt = 0; resSectionCnt < resMem->numSections; resSectionCnt++)

            {

                start = resMem->memSection[resSectionCnt].memStart;

                end = resMem->memSection[resSectionCnt].memEnd;

                if((section.addr > start) && (section.addr < end))

                {

                    status = SystemP_FAILURE;

                    DebugP_logError("Application image has a load address (0x%08X) in the SBL reserved memory range!!\r\n", section.addr);

                    break;

                }

            }

  • Hi Magnus,

    Can you please let us know if you are encountering any issue are looking for some specific use case? or are you just looking for information on why this is done.

    Regards,

    Ajay

  • I am encountering an issue when I try to flash my application. I imagine the SBL reserved memory area is "normally" used for the data cube, guess in my case some of it is used for other things. Note that this is just a guess, I don't know where the reference application stores the data cube.

    In general the part doesn't have a lot memory. Seems like an odd choice to reserve 1/2 of the only big memory block in the SoC for the bootloader. That is why I want to understand the reasoning behind it. Once I know the reason for it I'm in a better position to determine how to solve the issue in a satisfactory manner.

  • Hello Magnus,

    Let me check this with the team and get back to you by end of week.

    Regards,
    Saswat Kumar

  • Hello Magnus,

    That 1 MB is used as a buffer only during flashing, that is to ensure that there is space if your app image is a huge one. Once the SBL is done, in the application this memory will be free to use by the application, that is in our demo you can use that memory freely. Only during the flashing this space is reserved as buffer.

    Regards,
    Saswat Kumar