The RDK firmware upgrader, the RDK agent at the CPE device side with the goal to provide an efficient and safe way to upgrade Firmware on the Field boxes. The module has the capability to

• Ping cloud server to get new Firmware images
• Download the images to secure location
• Verify the signature of the downloaded firmware
• Flash the image onto the box using manufacture library APIs

The module supports the upgrade of multiple Firmware types to RDK unit (RDK Video and stream boxes.)

• PCI
• PDRI
• Remote Firmware
• Additional supports to deploy and updates security certificate bundles 

Repository

rdkcentral/rdkfwupdater

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This service provides the download location (URL) required for RDK download Manager for dynamic Apps/packages/certs/tools installation. This module is responsible to trigger RDM Application. The module will do the security evaluation of the downloaded packages and verify the signature to ensure the installation of packages. 

RDK Firmware Upgrader

The App or binary name as part of rootfs is "rdkvfwupgrader". This module having below components

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Broadcast Event For Maintenance Manager:

Broadcast Event For System Service

jsonprocess

This component is responsible for processing the xconf response and parse the json file. Then create a data structure to use further.

The firmware upgrader queries Xconf to check whether any upgrade is available for this device. The API is used to communicate with the Xconf and below are its typical parameters. The device details are fetched using the APIs as part of the deviceutils component.

The response from Xconf is processed as part of the jsonparser Component. This is a typical response from the Xconf.  

{
"firmwareDownloadProtocol

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":"http",
"firmwareFilename":"lib32-application-test-image-RPI4-raspberrypi4-64-rdke-feature-RDKECOREMW-863-OTA.wic.tar.gz",
"firmwareLocation":"https://tools.rdkcentral.com:8443/images/",
"firmwareVersion":"lib32-application-test-image-RPI4-raspberrypi4-64-rdke-feature-RDKECOREMW-863-OTA.wic.tar.gz",
"mandatoryUpdate":false,
"rebootImmediately":false
}

1. firmwareDownloadProtocol : This field represents the protocol. Rdkvfwupgrader support only http protocol.
2. firmwareFilename: This filed use for PCI image details.
3. firmwareLocation: This field provides URL endpoint to download image.
4. firmwareVersion: This field provides the firmware version with out adding signed or unsigned details.
5. rebootImmediatly: This field is used for critical updates. If this is true then the device will reboot immediately after PCI flash happens to flash memory. If this is false then reboot will happen during reboot window time.
6. additionalFwVerInfo: This field is used for PDRI image details.
7. remCtrl: This field is used for peripheral firmware details.
8. cloudDelayDownload: This field is use for make the download start with some delay.
9. dlCertBundle: This filed is used for to get certificate bundle details.

The key parameters of this json response are populated The key parameters of this json response are populated as part of this datastructure.

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This component is responsible for reading the rfc value and writing the rfc value. Below are the rfc used in this module.

1. RFC_THROTTLE: This is used to enable the throttle download feature. Using this feature we can control the download speed. RFC_TOPSPEED value is used to decide the speed of the download. This feature is used for a better experience for the user while watching videos.
2. RFC_INCR_CDL: This is used to enable the incremental/chunk download. Using this feature we can resume the download if the download is failed due to slow internet(curl error code 18) and max time out (curl error code 28). Using this feature we can save the network usage data and quick firmware upgrade.
3. RFC_DIRECT_CDN: This is use for enable direct cdn feature. If this feature is enable image download happen using signing url provided by xconf server.

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1. Communicate with XCONF server and get the response.
2. Processing of XCONF response and extract the firmware image details.
3. Download and flash PCI image from the SSR server to device flash memory.
4. Download and flash PDRI image from the SSR server to device flash memory.
5. Download and flash peripheral image from the SSR server to device flash memory.
6. retry download if download fail other than image not found on server error.
7. Trigger RDM Application.
8. Download cert bundle.
9. Support state red recovery download if the download is fail due to invalid certificate.
10. Support incremental download. This feature needs to be enable using "Device.DeviceInfo.X_RDKCENTRAL-COM_RFC.Feature.IncrementalCDL.Enable" RFC
11. Support Throttle download based on download speed mentioned. This feature needs to be enable using "Device.DeviceInfo.X_RDKCENTRAL-COM_RFC.Feature.SWDLSpLimit.Enable" RFC
12. Support codebig download. This is use if the device is not in comcast network.

Low Level Design Flow From Start To End

Low Level Design Flow From Start To End

1. This module is trigger by In case of X1 device this module is trigger by system service called swupdate.service and in case of TV this module is trigger by Maintenance Manager. And the trigger time is during boot up and maintenance window time and App trigger.
2. In case of non-RDKE swupdate.service or maintenance manager is calling "swupdate_utils.sh". Then swupdate_utils.sh will call "rdkvfwupgrader" if the RDK Firmware RFC is true else script based download will start. 
3. In case of RDK-E maintenance manager is calling rdkvfwupdater using system call.
4. Once the rdkvfwupgradr rdkvfwupgrader start it gets all device info like MAC, partner id, current running image, pdri image, peripheral image etc and create XCONF query request. Below is the sample XCONF query request.
   tbd
Once the query request is formed then this module send the request to XCONF server and get the response. This response is in json format.tbd
5. Once the XCONF response received then it processes the response and add to the data structure for future use.
6. Then this module does the image validation if image is invalid then this module is exit with error message.
7. Once the image validation pass then it goes for PCI download. If the download fail then it has 3 times retry before make download status fail. If the download completed successfully then this image is flashed to the flash memory. Before image download start this module will check if any chunk of the image already present if it present then download start from where it left last time.
8. After 3 retry happen because of http error code 0 then download switch to codebig server download. This kind of proxy server. If this download pass, then status is successfully else download is failed.
9. If the download is failed due to certificate validation error, then state red recovery download will trigger. This is a kind of recovery server which is use static certificate to download image.
10. If no failure during download and download completed successfully then this image is flashed to flash memory. Before flashing the image sign verification happen.
11. Same above step 7 to 10 repeat for PDRI image and peripheral image.
12. Once the download completed the status of the download is send to maintenance manager and some other service using IARM event.

Firmware Download Trigger Sequence Diagram in RDK-V Device:

Below Sequence diagram is for device where maintenance manager is running

1. eStbMac=D8:3A:DD:0A:43:71&firmwareVersion=lib32-middleware-test-image-RPI4-20251118074027&env=dev&model=RPI4&manufacturer=RaspberryPi&partnerId=community&activationInProgress=false&osClass=Not Available&accountId=1234&serial=10000000e33bf0d4&localtime=Wed Nov 26 13:44:09 UTC 2025&dlCertBundle=&rdmCatalogueVersion=&timezone=Asia/Calcutta&capabilities=rebootDecoupled&capabilities=RCDL&capabilities=supportsFullHttpUrl

2. Once the query request is formed then this module send the request to XCONF server and get the response. This response is in json format.

   { "firmwareDownloadProtocol":"http", "firmwareFilename":"lib32-application-test-image-RPI4-raspberrypi4-64-rdke-feature-RDKECOREMW-863-OTA.wic.tar.gz", "firmwareLocation":"https://tools.rdkcentral.com:8443/images/", "firmwareVersion":"lib32-application-test-image-RPI4-raspberrypi4-64-rdke-feature-RDKECOREMW-863-OTA.wic.tar.gz", "mandatoryUpdate":false, "rebootImmediately":false }

3. Once the XCONF response received then it processes the response and add to the data structure for future use.
4. Then this module does the image validation if image is invalid then this module is exit with error message.
5. Once the image validation pass then it goes for PCI download. If the download fail then it has 3 times retry before make download status fail. If the download completed successfully then this image is flashed to the flash memory. Before image download start this module will check if any chunk of the image already present if it present then download start from where it left last time.
6. If the download is failed due to certificate validation error, then state red recovery download will trigger. This is a kind of recovery server which is use static certificate to download image.
7. If no failure during download and download completed successfully then this image is flashed to flash memory. Before flashing the image sign verification happen.
8. Same above step 7 to 10 repeat for PDRI image and peripheral image.
9. Once the download completed the status of the download is send to maintenance manager and some other service using IARM event.

Firmware Download Trigger Sequence Diagram in RDK-V Device:

Below Sequence diagram is for device where maintenance manager is running

Sequence Diagram RDKE

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PlantUML Macro
@startuml title Reference legend |<back:Green> | Libraries | |<back:Yellow> | Cloud Endpoints | |<back:Grey> | Daemon | end legend @enduml

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1. In above Sequence Diagram Maintenance Manager is parg of rdkservices module. Which is responsible for all the device maintenance activity.
2. rdkvfwupdater is a binary having iarm, rfc and flash app in a single monolithic image.
3. download lib, utils lib and jason parser all 3 are part of common-utilities component. This module will provide all 3 shared library which can link to other module. 

New Refactor Design[WORK IN PROGRESS]

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PlantUML Macro
script refactorsequencediag
@startuml participant mm participant rdkvfwupdater participant iarmlib #Green participant rfclib #Green participant jsonlib #Green participant upgradelib #Green participant utilslib #Green participant downloadlib #Green participant xconfserver #Yellow participant parsinglib #Green participant ssrserver #Yellow participant flashapp mm -> rdkvfwupdater : trigger rdkvfwupdater -> rdkvfwupdater : initial validation alt validation success rdkvfwupdater -> utilslib : get device details utilslib
PlantUML Macro
script refactorsequencediag
@startuml participant mm participant rdkvfwupdater participant iarmlib #Green participant rfclib #Green participant jsonlib #Green participant upgradelib #Green participant utilslib #Green participant downloadlib #Green participant xconfserver #Yellow participant parsinglib #Green participant ssrserver #Yellow participant flashapp mm -> rdkvfwupdater : trigger rdkvfwupdater -> rdkvfwupdater : initial validation alt validation success rdkvfwupdater -> utilslib : get device details utilslib --> rdkvfwupdater : device details rdkvfwupdater -> rfclib : get rfc data rfclib --> rdkvfwupdater : rfc data rdkvfwupdater -> jsonlib : create json request jsonlib -> parsinglib : generic JSON parse/construct parsinglib --> jsonlib : result jsonlib --> rdkvfwupdater : json payload rdkvfwupdater -> upgradelib : request xconf connection upgradelib -> downloadlib : connect to xconf server downloadlib -> xconfserver : request alt xconf response success xconfserver --> downloadlib : success response downloadlib --> upgradelib : success response upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : success response rdkvfwupdater -> jsonlib : parse json data jsonlib -> parsinglib : generic JSON parse/construct parsinglib --> jsonlib : result alt parsing success jsonlib --> rdkvfwupdater : success response rdkvfwupdater -> rdkvfwupdater : process json data alt new image different rdkvfwupdater -> upgradelib : download image upgradelib -> downloadlib : download image downloadlib -> ssrserver : request ssrserver --> downloadlib : server status alt server status 0 downloadlib --> upgradelib : success response upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : success response rdkvfwupdater -> flashapp : flash image flashapp --> rdkvfwupdater : flashdevice statusdetails rdkvfwupdater -> rfclib : get rfc data rfclib --> rdkvfwupdater : rfc data rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlibjsonlib : successcreate json statusrequest jsonlib -> parsinglib : generic JSON parse/construct parsinglib --> jsonlib : result iarmlibjsonlib --> mmrdkvfwupdater : successjson statuspayload rdkvfwupdater -> upgradelib : request xconf connection upgradelib -> elsedownloadlib server: statusconnect 18to orxconf 28server downloadlib -> xconfserver : request alt xconf response success downloadlib xconfserver --> upgradelibdownloadlib : chunkdownloadsuccess response upgradelibdownloadlib --> upgradelib rdkvfwupdater: :success chunkdownloadresponse upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : success response rdkvfwupdater -> flashappjsonlib : parse flashjson imagedata jsonlib -> parsinglib : generic JSON parse/construct flashapp parsinglib --> rdkvfwupdaterjsonlib : flashresult status alt parsing success rdkvfwupdaterjsonlib --> iarmlibrdkvfwupdater : success statusresponse iarmlib --rdkvfwupdater -> mmrdkvfwupdater : process successjson statusdata else server status 58 alt new image different rdkvfwupdater -> rdkvfwupdaterupgradelib : recoverydownload downloadimage elseupgradelib other-> serverdownloadlib status : download image downloadlib --> upgradelibssrserver : retry downloadrequest ssrserver upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdaterdownloadlib : retryserver downloadstatus alt server rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlib : fail statusstatus 0 iarmlibdownloadlib --> mmupgradelib : failsuccess statusresponse end upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : success response else same image rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlibflashapp : successflash statusimage iarmlibflashapp --> mmrdkvfwupdater : successflash status end elserdkvfwupdater parsing-> fail iarmlib : success status rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlib : fail status iarmlib --> mm : failsuccess status end else xconf response failserver status 18 or 28 xconfserver --> downloadlib : fail response downloadlib --> upgradelib : fail responsechunkdownload upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : fail response upgradelib rdkvfwupdater --> iarmlibrdkvfwupdater : fail statuschunkdownload iarmlib --> mm : fail status end else validation fail rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlibflashapp : errorflash statusimage iarmlib --> mm : error status end @enduml

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PlantUML Macro
script refctordesign
@startuml skinparam componentStyle rectangle skinparam packageStyle rectangle ' Layer 1: Device System Components package "New Device System" {flashapp --> rdkvfwupdater : flash status [rdkvfwupdater Daemon] <<daemon>> as RDKV [App Plugin] <<component>> as AppPlugin [Firmwarerdkvfwupdater Update-> Library]iarmlib <<library>>: assuccess FWUpdatestatus package "Common Utilities" { [libdwnl] <<library>> iarmlib --> mm : [libjsonparser]success <<library>>status [libutils] <<library>> } [Flash Memory]else <<storage>>server asstatus FlashMem }58 ' Layer 2: External Network Servers package "External Servers" { [XConf Server] <<cloud>> as XConf [SSR Server] <<cloud>> as SSR } ' App Plugin interactions AppPlugin --> FWUpdate : download + flash API calls ' Firmware update lib communicates with rdkvfwupdater FWUpdate ..> RDKV : IPC Request\n(download/flash tasks) RDKV ..> FWUpdate : IPC Response\n(task result) ' rdkvfwupdater uses common utilities and flash memory RDKV --> libdwnl : fetch/download helpers RDKV --> libjsonparser : parse JSON config RDKV --> libutils : device info/utils RDKV --> FlashMem : flash firmware ' Common utils interaction with servers libdwnl --> XConf : fetch xconf data libdwnl --> SSR : download firmware image @enduml

NEW DEVICE SYSTEM:

PlantUML Macro

@startuml skinparam componentStyle rectangle skinparam packageStyle rectangle ' Layer 1: Device System Components package "NEW Device System" { [rdkvfwupdater Daemon] <<daemon>> as RDKV [App Plugin] <<component>> as AppPlugin [Firmware Update Library] <<library>> as FWUpdate package "Common Utilities" { rdkvfwupdater -> rdkvfwupdater : recovery download else other server status downloadlib --> upgradelib : retry download upgradelib --> rdkvfwupdater : retry download rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlib : fail status iarmlib --> mm : fail status [libdwnl] <<library>>end [libjsonparser] <<library>> else same image [libutils] <<library>> } ' New libs placed outsiderdkvfwupdater "Common Utilities" per your instruction-> iarmlib : success status [iarmlib] <<library>> [rfclib] <<library>> [jsonlib] <<library>> iarmlib --> mm : [upgradelib]success <<library>>status [Flash Memory] <<storage>> as FlashMem } ' Layer 2: External Network Serversend package "External Servers" { [XConf Server]else <<cloud>>parsing as XConffail [SSR Server] <<cloud>> as SSR } ' App Plugin interactions (unchanged) AppPlugin --> FWUpdate : download + flash API calls ' Preserve original communication between daemon and Firmware Update Library (unchanged) FWUpdate ..> RDKV : IPC Request\n(download/flash tasks) RDKV ..> FWUpdate : IPC Response\n(task result) ' rdkvfwupdater uses new libs and common utilities and flash memory RDKV --> rfclib : fetch RFC data RDKV --> iarmlib : send status/notify MM RDKV --> jsonlib : prepare JSON request RDKV --> upgradelib : coordinate upgrade policies rdkvfwupdater -> iarmlib : fail status iarmlib --> mm : fail status end else xconf response fail xconfserver --> downloadlib : fail response downloadlib --> upgradelib : fail response upgradelib --> libdwnlrdkvfwupdater : delegate network download calls RDKV - fail response rdkvfwupdater -> libjsonparseriarmlib : fail parsestatus JSON config (responses) RDKV --> libutils : device info/utils RDKViarmlib --> FlashMemmm : flashfail firmwarestatus end 'else Commonvalidation utilsfail interaction with servers (unchanged) libdwnlrdkvfwupdater --> XConfiarmlib : fetch xconf data libdwnl error status iarmlib --> SSRmm : download firmware imageerror status end @enduml

 

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