Flash the Edge AI Firmware¶

All three Teach tools live in the Edge AI firmware, ipro_reef_teach. At the end of this page the Reef boots with its own partition table, start-up mode and voiceprint model, the computer enumerates the USB device of the current mode, and IPRO AI Studio can find the board. You flash the firmware once; image and sensor models are deployed from Studio over USB-C afterwards, without flashing.

Prerequisites¶

• An IPRO7AI Reef EVK V4.0 and a data cable on the Reef's USB-C (USB1); it also powers the board while flashing.
• An IPRO Debug Probe, connected to the computer with a USB-C cable and to the Reef's U6 with a pin-reversed SH1.0 6-pin cable; see Debug connector U6. The probe does not power the Reef.
• The IntelProCube 0.7.0.1 command-line flash tool (ipro_iot_tool_macos, ipro_iot_tool_linux, ipro_iot_tool.exe), run from its own directory. Set Up Your Host shows how to install it.
• The firmware files: the firmware/ folder of the IPRO Edge AI package, or a build from SDK V2.2.1 (needs the toolchain and Python 3).

Day-to-day Teach use needs only the Reef's USB-C (①). For flashing or reading the console, add the probe (② and ③). The console is on the probe's "IPRO7 UART" serial port at 115200 baud, 8N1; flashing runs at 921600 baud.

Files for flashing¶

The image and sensor models are not in the mfg payload; IPRO AI Studio deploys them later.

Build from the SDK (optional)¶

Skip this section if you use the files from the package's firmware/. From the SDK root:

Flashing steps¶

Update the firmware only¶

To update only the firmware later, run the same command without --mfg. The board keeps its mode, the three tools' models and the enrolled voiceprints:

./ipro_iot_tool_macos --chipname ipro7 --chip-variant IPRO7AI \
    --port /dev/cu.usbserial-XXXX --baudrate 921600 --skip-ota \
    --pt <SDK>/apps/ai/ipro_reef_teach/partition_reef_teach.toml \
    --firmware ipro_reef_teach_IPRO7.bin

To change the start-up mode or restore the shipped voiceprint model, make a payload with mfg_payload.py and flash it with --mfg. If the board ran other firmware with the standard partition table before, deploy the image and sensor models again after you flash the Edge AI firmware.

Partition table and mfg partition¶

partition_reef_teach.toml shrinks the firmware partition and grows the mfg partition so the three tools' models fit at once; the other partitions are where IntelProCube's standard 2 MB table has them.

Layout of the mfg partition (offsets from the start of mfg):

The last 4 KB of each slot is a commit record. On a deploy, the board first checks the model's size, CRC-32 and format in RAM, then erases the commit record, writes an "installing" record, writes and reads back the model, and finally writes the commit word. A power cut, reset or unplugged cable therefore leaves the old model, the new model or no model - never half a model.

When the board reports no model, the reason appears in the boot log, in ipro-ai model list and on the image tool's camera view:

Switching modes¶

The Edge AI firmware runs one tool at a time, called the mode. The mode is stored in flash and survives a restart; switching restarts the board (about 2 s) and erases none of the three models.

Ways to switch:

• IPRO AI Studio: open the page of the tool you want. When the board is in another mode, the page offers Switch to Teach, Switch to Audio or Switch to Sensor; the page finds the board again by itself.

• Console: mode shows the current mode; mode image, mode voice or mode sensor switches and restarts.

  mode
  mode: image (of image voice sensor); `mode <image|voice|sensor>` restarts into another
  

• Command line: ipro-ai deploy <package.ipkg> --switch switches to the package's mode before deploying; ipro-ai model list --all switches through the three modes, lists each model and switches back.

• USB command: APP and APP <mode> on the voice and sensor serial protocols; a 16-byte TAPP header on the image tool. The format is in the IPRO7AI Edge AI Programming Guide.

Boot log¶

Press SW2 (RESET) or type reboot on the console. The boot log first shows the current mode, and its last line says the tool is ready, for example in voice mode:

RTCH:   mode: voice (`mode <image|voice|sensor>` to switch)
SPKM: model 'b3-e12': 437200 B, trunk 16/16 layers on the NPU, ...
RTCH: voice ready - shell `spk`, IPRO AI Studio Audio page over USB-C

The last line in each mode:

In sensor mode the boot log also has a SENM: model … line with the model size, NPU layers, class count, data source and window. Every mode prints [WDT] AON watchdog armed: … when the watchdog is on.

Watchdog¶

The Edge AI firmware arms the AON watchdog (CONFIG_APP_WATCHDOG=y, 8 s nominal). If the system stalls - for example when the NPU runs a corrupted model - the watchdog restarts the board in the mode it was in, with its models. The Reef's watchdog clock runs fast, so it fires after about 5.6 to 8 s. The watchdog is turned off before download mode, so flashing is not affected.

If the board restarts on its own (the boot log appears again on the console), see Troubleshooting.

Verify¶

1. IntelProCube's output has [All Success].
2. The console boot log shows mode: and that mode's ready line.
3. The computer enumerates that mode's USB device (for example IPRO7 UVC Cam).
4. In ipro-ai device info --json, version shows "fw": "ipro_reef_teach" and "platform": "2.0", and caps.modes is ["image", "voice", "sensor"].

Troubleshooting¶

Next steps¶

• Image Recognition: the package's mfg payload starts in image mode.
• Voiceprint Recognition, Sensor Recognition: switch with Studio's Switch to … or the console's mode.