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IWRL6432: Flashing to a specific memory location using an external tool.

Daniel Sharp
Prodigy 160 points
Part Number: IWRL6432
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: UNIFLASH,

Tool/software:

Hello experts, 

We are using the flash memory to store a table of information that we would like to have on each of the devices we manufacture. We have developed a custom board but are using the same flash chip as the IWRL6432BOOST board. It would be convenient to our manufacturing process if we could flash the aforementioned information to a specific location in the flash, even if we have to use a tool like Uniflash. Is there a way to specify the starting location from an external tool? 

We hope this is possible because Uniflash has 4 locations, one each for a different META_IMAGE_x. We have also used the arprog_cmdline.py tool from the latest SDK and in looking at that code we believe it may be possible to specify a memory location to write to. 

I should also add that we have been able to read and write to flash manually from the code running on the IWRL6432 but again, we want to use an external tool to be able to do the initial flashing. 

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 37780 points

    Hi Daniel,

    Let me make sure I understand this correctly - you want to know if there is a way to write to an unused section on the memory chip you're using in conjunction with the IWRL6432 device to store some data. This data is NOT a binary file or anything, rather, it will be read/written to by the IWRL6432 during operation. You want to write this to the flash memory using uniflash or the arg_prog script. Is that accurate?

    Best,

    Nate

  • 0 in reply to Nathan Block
    Prodigy 160 points

    Nate, 

    Thank you for the clarification. You're understanding is correct. 

    The only thing I will add is that writing can be done using any tool. If Uniflash or the arg_prog script can be used to write to the specified location in memory that is beneficial since we have experience with those tools. 

    To provide some additional insight the SBL example has the following diagram: 

    We have done two things

    1. We have added another section in the flash for the config information

    2. We have moved the factory default image location. 

    The functionality I am looking for should fill both of our needs - writing arbitrary information to an arbitrary location; and changing the location of the factory default image. 

    I appreciate your help and insight.

  • 0 in reply to Daniel Sharp
    TI__Genius 13095 points

    Daniel,

    For UniFlash, as you noted, it supports selecting Meta Image 1 to 4 in the GUI. So it doesn't allow you to specify exactly where to load the images directly in the GUI, but I think the meta image format does allow you to control addresses, offsets, etc. So you might be able to generate an image that meets your requirements.

    If you have the mmWave SDK installed, there is some information on the format in \mmwave_sdk_<ver>\packages\scripts\ImageCreator\Image_Creator_User_Guide.pdf

    If you need additional information, I might need to pull in experts in this area.

    Thank you,

    Ricky

  • 0 in reply to Ricky Lau
    Prodigy 160 points

    Thank you. I will look into this documentation and let you know if it solved my problem. 

  • 0 in reply to Daniel Sharp
    TI__Genius 13095 points

    Sounds good. Please keep me updated. Thank you.