Dear Paul Stoffregen,
I'm designing a modular automation system for use in our line of modular buildings and I'm using the Teensy as the core for all the I/O nodes because of the ease of development, and the ability to utilize the Arduino IDE for future customization. Presently there are 20 I/O node designs in our system. Our design lifetime for these buildings is 100 years and thus I have placed great emphasis on longevity. As Flash memory forgets over time, lifespan of the firmware is of primary concern.
My question is whether there is any mechanism available, or whether one could be made available to reflash both the MKL04/02 and the connected ARM using the data already present in the flash of each chip? I understand interrupting this process would likely result in bricking but I also see the hardware outlasting the flash contents based on the Freescale flash longevity data I've seen. Running a command once a decade to refresh the Flash would allow us to specify the automation components' life using the component parts' MTBF rather than the far more nebulous Flash retention time.
We are presently working on a contract for 4,000 specialized modular buildings which in the present configuration would necessitate the use of several 10s of thousands of Teensys. Clearly we would need this feature to be able to be launched via software (all nodes are on CAN) as physically attaching to each embedded board would be an impractical saga. Some kind of a relatively impossible unlock sequence, perhaps one timed by the MKL04/02 taking hours or more, would be ideal.
Thank you for your consideration,
-Peter S
I'm designing a modular automation system for use in our line of modular buildings and I'm using the Teensy as the core for all the I/O nodes because of the ease of development, and the ability to utilize the Arduino IDE for future customization. Presently there are 20 I/O node designs in our system. Our design lifetime for these buildings is 100 years and thus I have placed great emphasis on longevity. As Flash memory forgets over time, lifespan of the firmware is of primary concern.
My question is whether there is any mechanism available, or whether one could be made available to reflash both the MKL04/02 and the connected ARM using the data already present in the flash of each chip? I understand interrupting this process would likely result in bricking but I also see the hardware outlasting the flash contents based on the Freescale flash longevity data I've seen. Running a command once a decade to refresh the Flash would allow us to specify the automation components' life using the component parts' MTBF rather than the far more nebulous Flash retention time.
We are presently working on a contract for 4,000 specialized modular buildings which in the present configuration would necessitate the use of several 10s of thousands of Teensys. Clearly we would need this feature to be able to be launched via software (all nodes are on CAN) as physically attaching to each embedded board would be an impractical saga. Some kind of a relatively impossible unlock sequence, perhaps one timed by the MKL04/02 taking hours or more, would be ideal.
Thank you for your consideration,
-Peter S