topic Re: RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting in i.MX RT Crossover MCUs

RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting

kensu — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:16:55 GMT

I am new for OTA and studing RT1166 OTA from evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7.zip now.

I am confused why the evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 Flash setting is Address = 0x30040400 and size = 0x1ffc00.

I think it is primary FW flash location.

Question1:

I need to write the T1166 OTA from evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 bin file to 0x30000000.

Is it correct?

Question2:

What should I modify the setting if I want to build the primary FW?

Should I also set same setting Flash Address = 0x30040400 and size = 0x1ffc00 from MCUXpresso IDE?

For example:

If my primary FW is FreeRTOS_hello.

Should I set the Flash to Address = 0x30040400 and size = 0x1ffc00?

Regards

Ken

Re: RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting

Habib_MS — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 19:35:07 GMT

Hello @kensu,

The evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 is an example of an application; it is not the MCUboot bootloader itself. The actual bootloader is the example called mcuboot_opensource_cm7.You must load the MCUboot bootloader before loading the application.
Please refer to the README files of both examples, as they contain important information.

Additionally, MCUboot has two sections for storing images, as shown in the example_board_readme file of the mcuboot_opensource_cm7 project:

Your application could be placed in the primary slot, which is why the evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 example is located in that memory region.
You need to modify your FreeRTOS_hello application to be placed in this section. You can use MCUXpresso to achieve this. Additionally, the size of the memory section will be determined by the size of your application. It does not necessarily have to use the entire space, but it must not exceed it, because if it does, it will overflow into the second memory section, potentially corrupting both images.

Note: Your application must have specific configurations for the MCUboot bootloader to accept your image. Here's an example taken from the example_board_readme:

Finally, is there available an MCU Bootloader Reference Manual, if you would obtain more information available on this page:

If you experience any issue, do not hesitate to let me know.

BR
Habib

Re: RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting

Habib_MS — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 20:15:26 GMT

Hello @kensu,

This could be helpful:
Starting from version 9, the MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool supports automation for MCUboot image signing. More details can be found in Chapter 7.6: "MCUboot Workflow" of the MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool User Guide (v25.03), available at: MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool | NXP Semiconductors:

BR
Habib

Re: RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting

kensu — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:37:02 GMT

Hi Habib

Thanks for your explanation and your document information, I understood that evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 is primary image and evkmimxrt1160_mcuboot_opensource_cm7 is bootloader.

That is why evkmimxrt1160_mcuboot_opensource_cm7 flash is 0x30000000 and evkmimxrt1160_ota_mcuboot_basic_cm7 is 0x30040000.

We will start a project with RT1166 or RT1170. I already got a EVB.

I cannot find "middleware/mcuboot_opensource/scripts folder."

Could you give me more information?

Regards

Ken

Re: RT1166 OTA primary FW flash setting

Habib_MS — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 21:15:33 GMT

Hello again @kensu,

Absolutely! First, you will need to locate your SDK file. To do this, right-click on the "Installed SDKs" window in your development environment.

Once you have identified the SDK for the RT1160-EVK, open the corresponding .zip file. Inside, you will find the scripts located at: <mcu_sdk>.zip\middleware\mcuboot_opensource\scripts

BR
Habib