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Image-Based OTA Update

Complete guide for Over-The-Air (OTA) updates on Jetson devices without requiring a host PC.

Overview​

Image-based OTA update is a failsafe way to update JetPack version on a Jetson device by flashing a pre-generated image.

Benefits:

  • ✅ Update without host connection
  • ✅ Automated procedures possible
  • ✅ Failsafe mechanism
  • ✅ Suitable for remote deployments

Note: JetPack OS should not be broken for OTA to work.

Step 1: Download OTA Tool​

Download OTA tool from NVIDIA based on target JetPack version (e.g., JetPack 6.1 = r36.4.0).

Download Link

OTA Tool Download

Step 2: Prepare Host and BSP​

Requirements:

  • x86 device with Ubuntu 22.04+
  • 256 GB storage
  • Docker installed
sudo apt install docker.io -y

Follow wiki to download and compile BSP: AFE-R750 Wiki

BSP Preparation

Step 3: Install Dependencies in Container​

In order to build OTA package, container has to install some dependences by apt command.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y uuid-runtime libxml2-utils cpio dosfstools python3-pip
pip3 install pyyaml

Install Dependencies

Step 4: Setup Environment​

Set BASE_BSP and TARGET_BSP to Linux_for_Tegra folder absolute path. If just reflash OS, both variable will be set to same path.

export BASE_BSP=/home/adv/BSP/jetson_linux_risc/Linux_for_Tegra
export TARGET_BSP=/home/adv/BSP/jetson_linux_risc/Linux_for_Tegra

Environment Setup

Step 5: Setup OTA Tool​

Put the OTA tool into $TARGET_BSP/../ which should be /home/adv/BSP/jetson_linux_risc/ and extract the OTA tool.

cd $TARGET_BSP/../
sudo tar xpf ota_tools_R36.4.0_aarch64.tbz2

OTA Tool Setup

Step 6: Build OTA Package​

cd $TARGET_BSP/../

AGX Orin eMMC:

sudo -E ./tools/ota_tools/version_upgrade/l4t_generate_ota_package.sh jetson-agx-orin-devkit R36-4

AGX Orin NVMe:

sudo -E ./tools/ota_tools/version_upgrade/l4t_generate_ota_package.sh --external-device nvme0n1 jetson-agx-orin-devkit R36-4

Orin NX NVMe:

sudo -E ./tools/ota_tools/version_upgrade/l4t_generate_ota_package.sh --external-device nvme0n1 jetson-orin-nano-devkit R36-4

Build Time: ~3 hours

After the whole procedure is done, get OTA package: $TARGET_BSP/<target_board>/ota_payload_package.tar.gz

Due to the build command had defined where OS will be stored, the file name is recommended to rename and includes ModelName, JPSource, JPDest, Storage.

Renamed example: AFE-R750_JP6.1_to_JP6.1_AGX_NVMe.tar.gz

Step 7: Prepare Jetson Device​

Get Pre-generate OTA Image​

  • Follow previous session to generate your own OTA package by target Jetson device BSP and OTA tool.
  • Then put the OTA update package and OTA tool to Jetson device for doing reflash or upgrade.

Install Dependencies​

In order to do OTA update, AFE-R750 has to install two dependences by apt command.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y efibootmgr nvme-cli

Install on Jetson

Setup WORKDIR​

Create a ota_tool folder and put OTA tool and OTA image inside. Set the ota_tool absolute path as WORKDIR.

mkdir -p /home/ubuntu/ota_tool
export WORKDIR=/home/ubuntu/ota_tool

Work Directory

Setup OTA Tool​

Extract the OTA tool in ota_tool folder. Create /ota folder and move OTA image into /ota.

cd /home/ubuntu/ota_tool
sudo tar xpf ota_tools_R36.4.0_aarch64.tbz2
sudo mkdir /ota
sudo mv `<your_ota_package.tar.gz>` /ota

OTA Setup on Jetson

Step 8: Trigger OTA Update​

From WORKDIR go to OTA trigger script folder and Trigger the OTA update.

cd Linux_for_Tegra/tools/ota_tools/version_upgrade
sudo ./nv_ota_start.sh /ota/<your_ota_package.tar.gz>

Trigger OTA

Step 9: Complete Update​

After trigger finishes, reboot the system.

sudo reboot

Note: After reboot, device shows black screen for ~30 minutes. DO NOT power off.

OTA in Progress

Integration with Redundancy​

  • If a Jetson device flash with redundancy function and currently boot up into slot A.
  • Once OTA update is triggered, the slot B will be re-flash. Which means, if user want to re-flash or upgrade slot A, please switch to slot B first.

OTA with Redundancy

References​

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