Determine your update strategy for Azure Percept DK

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Important

Retirement of Azure Percept DK:

Update 22 February 2023: A firmware update for the Percept DK Vision and Audio accessory components (also known as Vision and Audio SOM) is now available here, and will enable the accessory components to continue functioning beyond the retirement date.

The Azure Percept public preview will be evolving to support new edge device platforms and developer experiences. As part of this evolution the Azure Percept DK and Audio Accessory and associated supporting Azure services for the Percept DK will be retired March 30th, 2023.

Effective March 30th, 2023, the Azure Percept DK and Audio Accessory will no longer be supported by any Azure services including Azure Percept Studio, OS updates, containers updates, view web stream, and Custom Vision integration. Microsoft will no longer provide customer success support and any associated supporting services. For more information, please visit the Retirement Notice Blog Post.

Caution

The OTA update on Azure Percept DK is no longer supported. For information on how to proceed, please visit Update the Azure Percept DK over a USB-C cable connection.

To keep your Azure Percept DK software update-to-date, Microsoft offers two update methods for the dev kit. Update over USB cable or Over-the-air (OTA) update.

Update over USB cable does a clean install to the dev kit. Existing configurations and all the user data in each partition will be wiped out after the new image is deployed. To do that, connect the dev kit to a host system with a type-c USB cable. The host system can be a Windows/Linux machine. You can also use this update method as the factory reset. To do that, redeployed the exact same version to the dev kit. Refer to Update the Azure Percept DK over a USB-C cable connection for detail about the USB cable update.

The OTA update is built on top of the Device Update for IoT Hub Azure service. Connect the dev kit to Azure IoT Hub to do this type of update. Configurations and user data will be preserved after the OTA update. Refer to Update your Azure Percept DK over-the-air (OTA) for detail about doing the OTA update.

Check the pros and cons for both USB cable update and OTA update, then follow the Microsoft recommendations for different scenarios.

USB cable update

  • Pros
    • You don't need to connect the dev kit to internet/Azure.
    • Latest image is always applicable no matter what version of software and firmware are currently loaded on the dev kit.
  • Cons
    • Reimages the device and will remove configurations, and user data.
    • Need to rerun OOBE and download any non-preloaded container.
    • Cannot be performed remotely.

OTA update

  • Pros
    • Preserves user data, configurations, and downloaded containers. Dev kit will keep working as it was after the OTA.
    • Update can be performed remotely.
    • Several similar devices can be updated at the same time. Updates can also be schedule to happen, for example during night-time.
  • Cons
    • There may be hard-stop version(s) that cannot be skipped. Refer to Hard-Stop Version of OTA.
    • The device needs to connect to a IoT Hub, which has been properly configured the “Device Update for IoT Hub” feature.
    • It won't work well for downgrade.

Important

Device Update for IoT Hub does not block deployment of image with version that is older than the currently running OS. However doing so to dev kit will result in loss of data and functionality.

Microsoft recommendations

Type Scenario Update Method
Production Keep dev kit up to date for latest fix and security patch while it's already running your solution or deployed to the field. OTA
Production/Develop Unboxing a new dev kit and update it to the latest software. USB
Production/Develop Want to update to the latest software version while have already skipped several monthly releases. USB
Production/Develop Factory rest a dev kit. USB
Develop During solution development, want to keep the dev kit OS and F/W up to date. USB/OTA
Develop Jump to any specific (older) version for issue investigation/debugging. USB

Next steps

After deciding the update method of choice, visit the following pages for getting ready to do update:

USB cable update

OTA