MP Image

In response to the different needs of user, SDK provides two types of mass production (MP) image: shrink MP image and expand MP image. Both MP images are capable to run complete MP test. The comparison between them is listed below.

MP image comparison

Image	Size	Download address	Download time	Lifetime	Description
Shrink	Small	RAM	Short	Lost after power off	Bootloader is different with normal image. Only include MP test code
Expand	Large	Flash	Long	Retain after power off	Share the same bootloader with normal image. Besides MP test code, include application code

Image Generation

The steps of generating MP image are depicted below:

1. Switch to work directory {SDK}\amebadplus_gcc_project.

2. Use command $make menuconfig to modify the configurations.

   1. Enable MP.

      

   2. For shrink MP image, just keep default shrink MP mode. For expand MP image, change MP mode to expand.

      

   3. Enable Wi-Fi.

      

   4. Enable BT.

      

   5. Save and exit the menuconfig.

3. Use command $make all to build the project.

Note

• The MP image consists of bootloader firmware and application firmware, and both of them are generated under {SDK}\amebadplus_gcc_project.

• The application firmware is km0_km4_app_mp.bin, while the name of bootloader firmware is different.

  • For expand MP image, the bootloader firmware is km4_boot_all.bin.

  • For shrink MP image, in order to distinguish with bootloader of normal image, the bootloader firmware is modified to km4_boot_all_mp.bin.

Image Download

There are two methods to download MP image to the chip:

1. Use image tool to download MP image directly.

   The address configuration in image tool is different between shrink MP image and expand MP image. Besides, it is required to click Option menu and select Reset after download before downloading shrink MP image.

   Image tool download configuration

   Image	Bin	Start address	End address
   Shrink	km4_boot_all_mp.bin	0x20012000	0x2001A000
   	km0_km4_app_mp.bin	0x2001A000	0x20080000
   Expand	km4_boot_all.bin	0x08000000	0x08014000
   	km0_km4_app_mp.bin	0x08014000	0x08200000

2. Use image tool to generate Image_All.bin, then use 1-N MP tool to download Image_All.bin.

   This method applies to download MP image to multiple chips at the same time.

   Image tool generate configuration

   Image	Bin	Offset
   Shrink	km4_boot_all_mp.bin	0
   	km0_km4_app_mp.bin	0x8000
   Expand	km4_boot_all.bin	0
   	km0_km4_app_mp.bin	0x14000

   1-N MP tool download configuration

   Image	Bin	Offset
   Shrink	Image_All.bin	0x20012000
   Expand	Image_All.bin	0x08000000

MP Test

Wi-Fi and BT Performance Verification

There are two methods to verify the Wi-Fi and BT performance of the chip: standard MP test and fast MP test. These two methods apply to different test conditions and are included in both shrink MP image and expand MP image.

MP test comparison

Method	Cost	Test time	Accuracy	Description
Standard	High	Long		Use the professional tester to do wired test
Fast	Low	Short	High	Use the golden board offered by realtek to do wireless test

Standard MP Test

Refer to MP flow.pdf for details.

Fast MP Test

Refer to Fast MP flow.pdf for details

User-defined Function Verification

Besides Wi-Fi and BT performance verification, adding extra function verification in MP image is supported.

For example, to verify the GPIO function of some pins, APIs defined in gpio_api.c are available to implement a test command. Others such as serial_api.c and spi_api.c apply to UART and SPI function verification.

Note

For adding a custom command in SDK, refer to atcmd.pdf for details.

User data

Besides image, it is optional to download user data to chip during MP process. According to different circumstances, it is important to select an appropriate way to download user data.

For example, for common data such as audio file, it is recommended to combine it with image into a bin file by image tool and download the combined file to every chip. While for special data, such as product license, which is unique and corresponds to the MAC address of the chip, combining data and image before downloading may not be appropriate because data file is different between every chip. It is more acceptable to transmit data to chip through LOGUART after MP image runs, which requires user to implement a command for receiving data file and writing it into Flash in MP image.

Note

The SDK can support transmitting up to 4KB data at a time through LOGUART when longer command in menuconfig is enabled. For programing Flash, flash_api.c provides related APIs.