Thingy:53 firmware

Edge Impulse enables developers to create the next generation of intelligent device solutions with embedded Machine Learning. This repository contains the Edge Impulse firmware for the Nordic Semiconductor Thingy:53 development board that includes many different sensors. This firmware supports all Edge Impulse features, including ingestion, remote management, and inferencing. Direct communication with the device is performed over a mobile application, but the user can execute all functions via AT command over a USB interface.

Requirements

Hardware

• Nordic Semiconductor Thingy:53
• nRF Connect SDK 1.9.1

Software

• nRF Connect SDK 1.9.1
• GNU ARM Embedded Toolchain 9-2019-q4-major.
• nRF Command Line Tools.
• CMake v3.21.3

Or you can build this application with Docker (see below).

Building the device firmware (locally)

1. Clone this repository:

   $ git clone https://github.com/edgeimpulse/firmware-nordic-thingy53-internal
   

2. Build the application:

   $ west build -b thingy53_nrf5340_cpuapp
   

   When doing DFU over nRF Connect application, app_update.bin file needs to be used (this file is also in the dfu_application.zip).

Building the device firmware (Docker)

1. Clone this repository:

   $ git clone https://github.com/edgeimpulse/firmware-nordic-thingy53-internal
   

2. Build the Docker container:

   $ docker build -t edge-impulse-nordic .
   

3. Build the application:

   $ docker run --rm -v $PWD:/app edge-impulse-nordic west build -b thingy53_nrf5340_cpuapp
   

4. Copy build/zephyr/zephyr.bin to the JLINK mass storage device.

Flashing

Over JLink

1. Connect the JLink to the Thingy:53; if not previously done, erase the chip with:

   nrfjprog --recover
   

2. Flash the chip, both application core and networking core, with the command:

   west flash
   

Over Serial DFU

1. Connect USB-C to the Thingy:53. Open the enclosure, press the small button (SW2) on top of the device and turn the power switch on.

   

2. After the device is on, release the button. The device is now in bootloader mode. For flashing the new firmware, use commands:

   mcumgr -t 60 --conntype serial --connstring=/dev/ttyACM0 image list
   mcumgr -t 60 --conntype serial --connstring=/dev/ttyACM0 image upload app_update.bin
   

Over BLE DFU

Use mobile app (Android/iOS)

Use nRF Connect for Android and build/zephyr/app_update.bin. After connecting to the device, click on the DFU icon and select the file. When the DFU process is done, the device will boot with the new image.

Use mcumgr

1. Install mcumgr
2. Upload the firmware (adjust the path to app_update.bin and hci interface number if you have a few of them)

   mcumgr --conntype ble --hci 0 --connstring peer_name='EdgeImpulse' image upload app_update.bin
   

3. Check if the firmware has been uploaded correctly and get the hash of new firmware

   mcumgr --conntype ble --hci 0 --connstring peer_name='EdgeImpulse' image list
   

   The output should be similar to the one below; the new image is in slot 1.

   Images:
   image=0 slot=0
       version: 0.9.9
       bootable: true
       flags: active confirmed
       hash: 67f6f87f3f639217140f9e8073cb28f214499d7f646cb774276496108326a7ba
   image=0 slot=1
       version: 0.9.1
       bootable: true
       flags: 
       hash: c218220606d3ecef26dc46ffd7c112e700d08837335516c40ae12f6a86aa7ab2
   Split status: N/A (0)
   

4. Test the image and swap the images

   mcumgr --conntype ble --hci 0 --connstring peer_name='EdgeImpulse' image test <HASH_OF_THE_IMAGE>
   

5. Reset the device (may take up to 10-20 seconds)

   mcumgr --conntype ble --hci 0 --connstring peer_name='EdgeImpulse' reset
   

Creating a production firmware

MCUboot and b0n bootloaders in NCS >1.7.0 have a bug resulting in a network core failed after full OTA update. Therefore (up to NCS 1.9.1) the full firmware has to be made as a mix of components from NCS 1.7.0 and 1.9.1

1. Get NCS 1.7.0 (see instruction above) and build the following example

   export ZEPHYR_BASE=~/ncs-1.7.0/zephyr/
   cd ~/ncs-1.7.0/nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_uart/
   west build -b thingy53_nrf5340_cpuapp
   

2. Build firmware from this repository (see instruction above)

3. Merge required components (run from this repository level)

   ${ZEPHYR_BASE}/scripts/mergehex.py -o merged_CPUNET.hex --overlap replace ~/ncs-1.7.0/nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_uart/build/hci_rpmsg/zephyr/b0n_container.hex build/hci_rpmsg/zephyr/signed_by_b0_app.hex
   
   ${ZEPHYR_BASE}/scripts/mergehex.py -o merged_CPUAPP.hex --overlap replace ~/ncs-1.7.0/nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_uart/build/mcuboot/zephyr/zephyr.hex build/zephyr/app_signed.hex