Ⅰ、Introduction The MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool (SEC) tool is a GUI-based application provided to simplify generation and provisioning of bootable executables on NXP MCU platforms. The latest version of SEC v8 adds FCB configuration function to help users program image to external flash. The MCX N94x family is a typical product series of MCX. A controller with a flexible serial peripheral interface (FlexSPI) that supports external memory. The external flash has a large storage capacity, high flexibility. It is relatively independent of the replacement or upgrade of the main chip, and has high reliability and lifecycle. This article focuses on how to use SEC tools to configure and program MCXN947 external flash quickly and easily. Ⅱ、Configuration steps This article uses the FRDM-MCXN947 board as an example to configure FCB and download an external flash image. Hardware requirements: FRDM-MCXN947 board、Type-C USB cable Software requirements: MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning Tool | NXP Semiconductors Step1. Create new workspace  After opening the software, click File->New Workspace, select "MCX N94x/N54x" -> MCXN947 -> Click "create". Refer to the following figure: Step2. Connection with Target Processor Enter ISP mode：Press and hold SW3(ISP key) => Press and release SW1 (RESET key) => Release SW3 Go to your workspace and click “Target”->Connection, the Connection with Target Processor window is displayed. Here, we make Connection through UART and select port and baud rate. Refer to the following figure: We can click "Test connection" to check whether the connection is successful. If the connection is successful, the result will display "OK". Refer to the following figure: Step3. Boot memory configuration Next we need to configure FCB. Click on "Target"-> Boot Memory… ,The Boot memory configuration window is displayed. First we need to select the Boot memory type, this part allows selection of the boot memory type, and optionally instance. The selection contains all memory types but unsupported types are disabled. FlexSPI NOR flash can be configured in two ways: By using the flashloader/ROM based simple configuration in the Boot Memory Configuration dialog or By using the complete FCB (FCB binary), which can be prepared from the boot device configuration as well, or via MCUXpresso IDE by adding the FCB component into Peripheral Drivers in Peripherals tools, where the full configuration can be specified. Here we use a simple configuration, click "FlexSPI NOR-simplified", on this Predefined template, select W25Q64JW and click apply. Then, corresponding parameters on W25Q64JW will be automatically created on Boot memory configuration parameters. Normally, keep the default value. Refer to the following figure: We use "Test the configuration" to check whether the configuration is correct. After clicking "Test", the script will pop up to run automatically, and "SUCCESS" will be displayed after running. Refer to the following figure: Then click "convert to FCB" and the "convert to FCB" dialog box will pop up. Keep the default position of "FCB file path". Select "Apply the converted FCB as boot device configuration" and click "convert". The script automatically runs and generates "converted_fcb.bin". The FlexSPI NOR-complete FCB window is displayed. Refer to the following figure: The generated converted_fcb.bin file is automatically loaded to FCB file for runtime and FCB File for write. Click "Test" and "SUCCESS" will be displayed. Click "OK" to close the window. Refer to the following figure: Step4. Build image After completing the above operations, we need to load the .s19 or .hex file generated by MCUXpresso IDE into the Source executable image. Note: The start address of the external flash of the project needs to be changed to 0x80001000. This section does not explain how to change the start address. For details, see “How to config booting from external flash”. After the file is loaded, the start address is automatically identified. If the start address is not 0x80001000, you cannot "built image". Then click on "built image". Refer to the following figure: After completing the built image, "SUCCECC: built image" will be displayed. Click "close". Refer to the following figure: Step5. Write image We can see that the required .bin file has been generated automatically in "write image", or we can import the corresponding .bin file we wrote by "import". The Image path file will be automatically loaded. Click "write image" to run the script automatically. After the file is successfully written, "SUCCESS: write image" is displayed. Refer to the following figure: Finally, by pressing the RESET key on the board to exit ISP mode, we completed the configuration and downloaded the external flash image. Ⅲ、Summarize We use SEC Tool to configure FCB and download external flash images via GUI. This is just a simple method, and users can choose different ways according to their requirements.

  This guide helps you to: Get familiar with NPU inside the MCX Know eIQ ML examples included in SDK. Summarize related application notes and demo projects on GitHub Prerequisites: Windows 10 development PC. FRDM-MCXN947 board NXP’s  MCUXpresso IDE is installed on the development PC Generate and download FRDM-MCXN947 SDK package from the web-based MCUXpresso SDK builder. Introduction to NPU The MCXN94x and MCXN54x are based on dual high-performance Arm® Cortex®-M33 cores running at up to 150 MHz, it has 2MB of on-chip Flash with optional full ECC RAM and an integrated proprietary NPU. The integrated NPU delivers up to 40x faster machine learning (ML) throughput compared to a CPU core, enabling it to spend less time awake and reducing overall power consumption. The architecture provides power and performance-optimized NPUs integrated with NXP's very wide portfolio of microcontrollers and applications processors. The eIQ Neutron NPUs offer support for a wide variety of neural network types such as CNN, RNN, TCN, and Transformer networks and more. ML application development with the eIQ Neutron NPU is fully supported by the eIQ machine learning software development environment. The NPU used in MCXN94 is Neutron N1-16, its block diagram is shown in the below figure. The eIQ Neutron N1-16 NPU found inside the MCXN94 has 4 compute pipes and each compute pipe contains 4 INT8 MAC (Multiply Accumulate) blocks for a total of 16 MAC blocks. This means that MCXN94 could execute 4.8G(150MHz * 4 * 4 * 2) INT8 operations per second. The MCUXpresso Software Development Kit (MCUXpresso SDK) provides a comprehensive software package with a pre-integrated TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers (TFLM). The Neutron library is integrated into TFLM as well. The following table shows the operators which are supported by the NPU. Operator Operator input type MCXN947/MCXN548 NPU ADD Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes AVERAGE_POOL_2D Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes CONV_2D Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes DEPTHWISE_CONV_2D Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes FULLY_CONNECTED Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes UNIDIRECTIONAL_SEQUENCE_ LSTM Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) No LOGISTIC (Sigmoid) Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes MAX_POOL_2D Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) Yes MUL Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) No SOFTMAX Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) No SVDF Float No Uint8(PTQ) No Int8(PCQ) No Note: PTQ — Per-tensor quantized (asymmetric 8-bit quantization). PCQ — Per-channel quantized (symmetric 8-bit quantization). For more information please refer to eIQ TensorFlow Lite User's Guide.pdf in middleware/eiq/doc of SDK. eIQ ML examples included in SDK. Download SDK and select FRDM-MCXN947 in MCUxpresso SDK Builder, Remember to select eIQ middleware. Then open MCUXpresso, it’s convenient to install the SDK by dragging and dropping the file into the SDK installation window of the MCUXpresso IDE. Import SDK examples into the workspace: There are 7 ML examples included in SDK: Here are the descriptions of the eIQ examples: eIQ example Description Hardware requirements tflm_cifar10 CIFAR10 example based on TensorFlow Lite Micro, recognizes a static image FRDM-MCXN947 USB type-c cable tflm_kws Keyword spotting example based on TensorFlow Lite Micro recognizes a static WAV audio FRDM-MCXN947 USB type-c cable tflm_label_image Label 1000 classes of images based on TensorFlow Lite Micro FRDM-MCXN947 USB type-c cable mpp_camera_mobilenet_view_tflm Label camera images based on TensorFlow Lite Micro FRDM-MCXN947 LCD: MikroElektronika TFT Proto 5" OV7670 module USB type-c cable mpp_camera_ultraface_view_tflm Face detection using the camera as the source, based on TensorFlow Lite Micro FRDM-MCXN947 LCD: MikroElektronika TFT Proto 5" OV7670 module USB type-c cable mpp_camera_view A simple camera preview pipeline. FRDM-MCXN947 LCD: MikroElektronika TFT Proto 5" OV7670 module USB type-c cable tflm_modelrunner TFLite Model Benchmark example for Microcontrollers. FRDM-MCXN947 RJ45 Network cable For additional information and guidance, kindly refer to the README file located in the doc folder that accompanies each example. Summary of related application notes There are two application notes available that provide information on advanced usage of NPU. How to Integrate Customer ML Model to NPU on MCXN94x Face Detection demo with NPU accelerated on MCXN947. Please find the notes on the NXP website Summary of demo projects on GitHub There are five demos on nxp-appcodehub from GitHub: Multiple Face detection on FRDM-MCXN947 Multiple person detection on FRDM-MCXN947 Label CIFAR10 images on FRDM-MCXN947 Fashion-MNIST recognition on FRDM-MCXN947 NPU vs TensorFLM benchmark on MCX  

Device manufacturers spend months or years developing application software for their end products, which is one of the most valuable assets.   During the software development phase, the engineering teams use development platforms with easy access to critical electronics development components, but this is no longer the case when the projects move to the manufacturing phase. Once the project is ready to go to manufacturing the exposure of the electronics components changes drastically from a development environment. In Most cases the programming connector is not accessible because PCB now resides inside an assembled enclosure or has been removed to reduce PCB cost or very important, for security reasons. On Any case you still need to download manufacture testing FW or final product firmware to the microcontrollers in the system and to help with that NXP MCX microcontrollers have embedded tools called the In-system programming to assist with the FW provisioning. In-System programming (ISP) is a method of erasing and programing the on-chip FLASH or RAM memory using a ROM bootloader firmware without using an external Debug tool. NXP MCX Microcontroller family have ISP support over several serial peripherals like: UART SPI I2C USB High-Speed USB Full-Speed CAN Depending on the MCX microcontroller you are using the ISP supported peripherals will change so it is important to review the “In-system Programming” reference manual chapter on the specific MCX microcontroller that will be used. One important thing to remark is that the ISP firmware resides inside a ROM section on the MCX microcontrollers, meaning that the entire flash of the device can be used for the main application without the need of reserving on-chip FLASH for a firmware provisioning bootloader. The flash bootloader code is executed automatically every time the part is powered on or reset. The bootloader can execute the ISP command handler or pass execution to the user application code depending on several conditions. When the internal flash in empty the MCX microcontroller automatically enters ISP mode. Translating this to the manufacturing, Microcontrollers are ready to get firmware using ISP after the PCB assembly process. In-circuit programming features can be tested using any FRDM or EVK boards available for MCX family. You can find instructions of how to use the ISP mode alongside many other MCX examples, demos and tools directly on NXP Application Code Hub   Here are some Application Code Hub for ISP on MCX FRDM boards: How to use In-System Programming (ISP) on FRDM-MCXN947 How to use In-System Programming (ISP) on FRDM-MCXA153   Security is at the core of NXP. Not only do we want each element of our devices or software to be safe and secure, but it is just as critical that we enable the manufacturing of each customer's product to be secure. Manufacturing processes should be worry-free and hassle-free with the backing of highly secure technology, even if the manufacturing site itself cannot provide strong assurances of security. NXP is offers a variety of features that enable OEMs to protect their IP and revenue. Utilizing our MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning tool (SEC) and Secure Provisioning SDK (SPSDK)   MCXpresso Secure Provisioning tool (SEC) The MCUXpresso Secure Provisioning tool (SEC) is a GUI-based application that provides firmware provisioning operations such as setting up e-fuses/OTP, building secure boot image, flash programming, keys generation, trust provisioning, etc.   NXP SEC tool features: Easy-to-use configuration of secure provisioning project settings Enables direct communication with attached device for provisioning and programming. Supports generation of executable scripts for production use Manufacturing mode for simplified production line use     Secure Provisioning SDK (SPSDK) Secure Provisioning SDK (SPSDK) is an open-source development kit with its source code released on Github and PyPI. It contains a set of API modules for custom production tool development which requires more advanced secure provisioning flow. SPSDK enables connection and communication with NXP’s microcontrollers for the following purposes:   Generation of Secure Binary (SB) bootable images Security features configuration (CMPA, CFPA, Trustzone, secure bootloader, debug authentication, etc.) Generation and management of cryptographic keys and certificates Trust provisioning and secure programming through MCU Bootloader Debug authentication through J-Link, PEmicro and PyOCD debug probes   For more information about NXP development ecosystem for microcontrollers please visit: MCUXpresso Suite of Software and Tools https://nxp.com/mcuxpresso  

FRDM-MCXA153 FRDM-MCXN947    Hardware & Software To do this, surely you have to download the next software. MCU Link JTAG/SWD Debug Probe | NXP Semiconductors MCUXpresso IDE for NXP MCUs | Linux, Windows and MacOS | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors About the hardware. FRDM-MCXN947 FRDM-MCXA153 MCU Link Firmware update. We will need the firmware to update the LPC55s69 on the board, the MCU Link firmware version 2.263 is compatible with the MCX. You may need the EVK connected to the computer under DFU mode, in the schematic of the EVK does not mention the DFU but has the named jumper of ISP [JP21] MCX - N or [JP8] MCX - A, sure you put the LPC55s69 in ISP, not the MCX, review the schematic below. MCX - N MCX - A When you have installed this version on your computer, go to the locations. ROOT: C:\nxp\MCU-LINK_installer_2.263\scripts Then open the CMD prompt console and run the script for CMSIS. The console asks if you have the appropriate jumper, if yes click enter again. If everything is right the message successfully will appear. Then in the MCUXpresso, you can see the debugger probe. Happy Debugging.