General purpose flash memory
XLR PRO Radio Frequency (RF) Modem User Guide
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Example:
To verify a firmware image previously loaded into the GPM on a target radio with serial number of
0x0013a200407402ac a FIRMWARE_VERIFY packet should be formatted as follows (spaces added to delineate
fields):
7E 001C 11 01 0013A200407402AC FFFE E6 E6 0023 C105 00 00 05 00 0000 0000 0000 1F
Assuming all transmissions were successful and that the firmware image previously loaded into the GPM is valid,
the following API packets would be output the source node's serial interface:
7E 0007 8B 01 FFFE 00 00 00 76
7E 001A 91 0013A200407402AC FFFE E6 E6 0023 C105 C1 85 00 0000 0000 0000 5F
Working with flash memory
When working with the General Purpose Memory, observe the following limitations:
•
Flash memory write operations are only capable of changing binary 1s to binary 0s. Only the erase operation can
change binary 0s to binary 1s. For this reason, you should erase a flash block before performing a write operation.
•
When performing an erase operation, you must erase the entire flash memory block—you cannot erase parts of a
flash memory block.
•
Flash memory has a limited lifetime. The flash memory on which the GPM is based is rated at 20,000 erase cycles
before failure. Take care to ensure that the frequency of erase/write operations allows for the desired product
lifetime. Digi's warranty does not cover products that have exceeded the allowed number of erase cycles.
•
Over-the-air firmware upgrades erase the entire GPM. Any user data stored in the GPM will be lost during an over-
the-air upgrade.
Over-the-air firmware upgrades
XLR PROs provide two methods of firmware update:
•
Local firmware update via XCTU using the front-panel serial port interface.
•
Over-the-air firmware update using the RF interface.
The over-the-air firmware upgrade method provides a robust and versatile technique which can be tailored to many
different networks and applications, with minimum disruption of normal network operations.
There are three phases of the over-the-air upgrade process: distributing the new application, verifying the new
application, and installing the new application. In the following section, the node to be upgraded is referred to as the
target node. The node providing the update information is referred to as the source node. In most applications, the
source node is locally attached to a PC running update software.
Distributing the new application
The first phase of performing an over-the-air upgrade on an XLR PRO is transferring the new firmware file to the target
node. The new firmware image should be loaded in the target node's GPM prior to installation. XLR PROs use an
encrypted binary (.ebin) file for both serial and over-the-air firmware upgrades. The firmware files are available on the
Digi support website.
The contents of the .ebin file should be sent to the target radio using general purpose memory WRITE commands. The
entire GPM should be erased prior to beginning an upload of an .ebin file. The contents of the .ebin file should be
GPM_NUM_BYTES
Set to 0. This field is unused for this command.
GPM_DATA
This field is unused for this command.
Field name
Command-specific description