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Host Firmware Update Requests

The Notecard can be used by any host MCU or processor, from an 8-bit Arduino to a Raspberry Pi. It's also possible to communicate with the Notecard from any embedded language, including compiled languages like C and C++, to interpreted languages like Python and JavaScript. Because of this flexibility, you might expect that over the air firmware updates are not possible with the Notecard.

However, while the flexibility of host languages are processors makes a generic end-to-end DFU capability impossible, the Notecard does offer a set of host firmware update APIs that can be utilized by developers. Based on the Notecard's own firmware update protocols, these APIs offload a significant part of the burden of implementing over the air host firmware updates across devices.

At a high-level, the host firmware update process consists of the following steps:

  1. A developer creates a new firmware revision, including a version number and optional metadata that can be extracted from the binary upon upload.
  2. The administrator of the Project uploads the firmware binary to Notehub.
  3. Notehub extracts the version number, metadata, and adds the binary to the Project.
  4. The administrator of the Project selects one or more Notecards to update and queues a new firmware version for update.
  5. When target Notecards sync with Notehub, they will identify the new host firmware and download it progressively in the background.
  6. As the Notecard receives the host firmware, it places it into a special firmware storage area of flash. Periodically throughout this process, the host firmware issues dfu.status requests to the Notecard to determine the status of a firmware binary download.
  7. Once the download has completed, the host will use hub.set to halt network communication and inform the Notecard that it needs to access new firmware.
  8. Next, the host will issue dfu.get requests to load chunks of the firmware binary into its own memory.
  9. After the host obtains the full binary, it will re-flash and restart.
  10. Finally, the host will use hub.set to place the Notecard back into periodic or continuous mode.
note

The remainder of this section covers the Notecard API requests involved in steps 5, 6, and 8 above. Specifically: downloading host firmware, entering DFU mode on the Notecard, and retrieving host firmware from the Notecard to your host device.

Notehub supports the orchestration of the other OTA DFU steps via Notecard Outboard Firmware Update (supported on most modern STM32- and ESP32- based hosts) and IAP Firmware Updates. Consult the Manage Host Firmware section of the Notehub Walkthrough for more information on both methods.

Host firmware updates are not supported on the Notecard LoRa.

Obtaining Host Firmware Download Status

The dfu.status request is used to determine the status of the background download of firmware, and locally control whether the Notecard will allow a background firmware download.

When called with no arguments, a dfu.status request returns an object indicating the current mode, on or off to indicate whether local firmware updates are allowed. The default mode is idle to indicate that no firmware download is in progress and no data has been downloaded. In addition, on is true by default to indicate that the Notecard can receive firmware updates.

{
  "req": "dfu.status"
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.status");

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.status"}

rsp = card.Transaction(req)
{
 "mode": "idle",
 "on": true
}

To disable firmware downloads to the Notecard, set the off argument to true:

{
  "req": "dfu.status",
  "off": true
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.status");
JAddBoolToObject(req, "off", true);

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.status"}
req["off"] = True

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

To turn it back on, set the on argument to true:

{
  "req": "dfu.status",
  "on": true
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.status");
JAddBoolToObject(req, "on", true);

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.status"}
req["on"] = True

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

You can also use a voltage-variable value to control whether or not firmware updates are allowed, based on the battery level of the device, with the vvalue argument. This argument expects semicolon-delimited string values of on or off values that correspond to a battery state. The pre-defined Notecard battery states are:

  • usb
  • high
  • normal
  • low
  • dead

When the Notecard's power source is in a given state, it will adjust whether a firmware download is allowed based on the values in that string. For instance, if you want to allow firmware updates when the battery is full or high, but not when the power is lower, send a request like this:

{
  "req": "dfu.status",
  "vvalue": "usb:1;high:1;normal:0;low:0;dead:0"
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.status");
JAddStringToObject(req, "vvalue", "usb:1;high:1;normal:0;low:0;dead:0");

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.status"}
req["vvalue"] = "usb:1;high:1;normal:0;low:0;dead:0"

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

In addition to idle mode, dfu.status will return one of the following mode values after a device firmware update has been activated:

  • downloading
  • ready
  • error
  • completed

The downloading mode indicates that the Notecard detected the presence of new firmware on a previous sync and is in the process of downloading it. When in this mode, a status string is included in the response with additional details about download progress.

{
 "mode": "downloading",
 "status": "downloaded 66% (28672/42892)",
 "on": true
}

Once the download is complete, the mode changes to ready to indicate that the firmware binary is fully downloaded and verified. When in this mode, a status string is included, as well as a body JSON object that includes essential details about the firmware binary, including the length of the binary, its md5 hash, and more.

{
 "mode": "ready",
 "status": "successfully downloaded",
 "on": true,
 "body": {
  "crc32": 2525287425,
  "created": 1599163431,
  "info": {},
  "length": 42892,
  "md5": "5a3f73a7f1b4bc8917b12b36c2532969",
  "modified": 1599163431,
  "name": "stm32-new-firmware$20200903200351.bin",
  "notes": "Latest prod firmware",
  "source": "stm32-new-firmware.bin",
  "type": "firmware"
 }
}

If the Notecard encounters an error during the download, the mode reports as error and the status field will provide a reason for the error.

{
 "mode": "error",
 "status": "DFU did not complete",
 "on": true
}

Entering DFU Mode on the Notecard

Once the firmware binary is available, the Notecard should be put into DFU mode by setting the hub.set mode argument to dfu. This request halts all Notecard communications activity and allows the host to access downloaded firmware from internal storage.

{
  "req": "hub.set",
  "mode": "dfu"
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("hub.set");
JAddStringToObject(req, "mode", "dfu");

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "hub.set"}
req["mode"] = "dfu"

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

Ensuring DFU Mode is Active

Depending on in-progress communications on the Notecard, it may take up to 30 seconds after setting the device to dfu mode before it is ready to retrieve firmware. To ensure that the Notecard is in DFU mode, issue a dfu.get request and set the length argument to 0. This will verify that the device is in DFU mode without attempting to retrieve firmware.

{
  "req": "dfu.get",
  "length": 0
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.get");
JAddNumberToObject(req, "length", 0);

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.get"}
req["length"] = 0

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

Retrieving Host Firmware from the Notecard

Once the Notecard is in dfu mode, use the dfu.get request to retrieve the downloaded firmware. This is typically done in successive chunks of length n until the entire binary has been delivered to the host. Use the length argument to provide a number of bytes to read for each request, and offset on each successive request to skip to the next available chunk.

For instance, if you wanted to read the binary 32 bytes at a time, the first request to dfu.get would look like this:

{
  "req": "dfu.get",
  "length": 32
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.get");
JAddNumberToObject(req, "length", 32);

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.get"}
req["length"] = 32

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

And each subsequent request would add an offset value that increments by the previously-requested length, each time:

{
  "req": "dfu.get",
  "length": 32,
  "offset": 32
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.get");
JAddNumberToObject(req, "length", 32);
JAddNumberToObject(req, "offset", 32);

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.get"}
req["length"] = 32
req["offset"] = 32

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

The first request to dfu.get returns the same body returned by dfu.status after a successful download. The first and subsequent requests also return a payload string containing the portion of the binary of the requested length and offset.

{
  "payload": "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAcy8ACIEvAAgAAAAAjy8ACJ0vAAg="
}

Clearing DFU State

After a firmware update is complete, clear the Notecard's DFU state with a dfu.status request and the stop argument. You can optionally supply a status message that will be sent to Notehub to indicate the final update status to a Notehub admin.

{
  "req": "dfu.status",
  "stop": true,
  "status": "firmware update successful"
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("dfu.status");
JAddBoolToObject(req, "stop", true);
JAddStringToObject(req, "status", "firmware update successful");

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "dfu.status"}
req["stop"] = True
req["status"] = "firmware update successful"

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

This request will set the dfu.status mode to completed and set the status field to the string value you provide.

warning

Don't Forget to Exit DFU Mode!

Once the DFU process is completed, be sure to return the Notecard to periodic or continuous mode after the firmware update is complete with another hub.set request. If you don't do this, the device will remain in dfu mode, unable to sync with Notehub.

{
  "req": "hub.set",
  "mode": "periodic"
}
J *req = NoteNewRequest("hub.set");
JAddStringToObject(req, "mode", "periodic");

NoteRequest(req);
req = {"req": "hub.set"}
req["mode"] = "periodic"

card.Transaction(req)