MR-NavQ95 — Deploy and Run Quick Start¶

The MR-NavQ95 is the i.MX 95 vehicle computer of the NXP Mobile Robotics family. It is built on the NXP i.MX 95 applications processor, a heterogeneous multicore SoC that combines six Arm Cortex-A55 application cores, a Cortex-M7 real-time core, and a Cortex-M33 System Manager, together with the on-chip NXP Neutron neural processing unit (NPU) for machine-learning inference. On the board this maps to two cooperating domains: a Cortex-A55 compute domain running Linux (Ubuntu) and a Cortex-M7 real-time domain running the RTOS/PX4 firmware. For a full board description and functional block diagram, see the MR-NavQ95 overview.

Unlike the single-MCU platforms, the MR-NavQ95 requires flashing two images with two different tools: the Cortex-A Linux .wic image with UUU, and the Cortex-M RTOS firmware with pyOCD. The Cortex-A image is flashed first.

Get the artifacts first¶

Every platform assumes the images are already available — either downloaded or built with the SDK:

# prebuilt (fastest)
west sdk download --platform mr-navq95      # lands in <west topdir>/bin/mr-navq95/

# or build from source
west sdk build    --platform mr-navq95  # lands in <west topdir>/{build,bin}/...

Docker required. Downloading and building are done inside a Docker container built from the SDK’s Dockerfile — see the NXP Robotics SDK README for how to set it up. All west commands are assumed to run inside that container.
The SDK builds/downloads images but does not flash them — deployment is done with each platform’s native tool.
Where do the artifacts land? <west topdir> is the west workspace root — the directory containing .west/, created by west init. The bin/ directory is created next to the robotics-sdk/ clone, not inside it:

<west topdir>/
├── .west/
├── robotics-sdk/         <- the SDK clone (west init -l)
├── build/                <- west sdk build intermediates
└── bin/mr-navq95/       <- final artifacts land here

For MR-NavQ95 the platform is mr-navq95. Run west sdk list for the authoritative list.

west sdk download --platform mr-navq95                 # firmware (raw + signed) + linux .wic
# or build from source:
west sdk build    --platform mr-navq95                 # PX4 (default)
west sdk build    --platform mr-navq95 --stack zephyr  # plain Zephyr

What to flash¶

MR-NavQ95 has two images that are flashed separately, in this order:

Domain	Image	Artifact (in `bin/mr-navq95/`)	Tool	Target
1. Cortex-A (Linux)	Ubuntu root filesystem	`linux/imx-image-robotics-imx95-navq.rootfs.wic.zst`	UUU	eMMC or SD card
2. Cortex-M (RTOS)	Signed M7 firmware	`realtime/nxp_imx95_default.mcuboot.bin`	pyOCD	NOR flash

ℹ️ Use the signed nxp_imx95_default.mcuboot.bin image for the default TCM-based deployment. MCUboot verifies this image during startup. The nxp_imx95_ddr.bin variant is an alternative M7 firmware configuration that runs primarily from external DDR memory instead of TCM and is not packaged as an MCUboot-signed image.

⚠️ The Cortex-A Linux image must be flashed first; flash the Cortex-M firmware only after the board reaches the Linux login prompt.

Connect¶

USB Type-C from USB1 (J13) — the Serial Download port used by UUU (Cortex-A flashing).
USB Type-C from DEBUG USB (J10) — exposes two serial consoles (Cortex-A and Cortex-M), 115200 baud, 8N1.
JTAG probe (NXP MCU-Link or J-Link) on the JTAG connector (J7) — used by pyOCD for Cortex-M flashing.
9–52 V DC power supply on the power input connector J9.

Set boot switch SW2 before powering the board (and before attaching any ARA M.2 module, which physically covers SW2). See MR-NavQ95 Board Overview for the full SW2[1:4] map and connector locations.

Flash the Cortex-A Linux image (UUU)¶

Download UUU (uuu / uuu.exe) from the mfgtools releases and place it next to the .wic image.
Set SW2[1:4] = 1001 (Serial Downloader), connect USB1 (J13) + DEBUG USB (J10), apply power, and verify detection:
```
./uuu -lsusb        # expect an NXP i.MX95 device
```

Flash to eMMC (or SD):

./uuu -b emmc_all imx-image-robotics-imx95-navq.rootfs.wic.zst
# OR
./uuu -b sd_all   imx-image-robotics-imx95-navq.rootfs.wic.zst

UUU prints Done / Success 1 on completion.

Set the boot switches to the flashed media (eMMC = SW2[1:4] 0101, SD = 1101), power-cycle, and watch both DEBUG-USB consoles at 115200 8N1. Default Linux login: user / user.

See Flashing the Cortex-A Linux Image for full details.

Flash the Cortex-M RTOS firmware (pyOCD)¶

Clone the NXP-Robotics pyOCD fork (the i.MX95 target is not in mainline pyOCD):

git clone https://github.com/NXP-Robotics/pyOCD -b pr-imx95 && cd pyOCD

To install pyOCD:

# Option 1: install using python virtual environments. If you choose
# this option, please make sure you always activate the virtual environment
# before trying to use pyOCD!
python3 -m venv .venv
source ./.venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install .

# Option 2: install using pipx
sudo apt-get install -y pipx
# you may need to open a new terminal session for this to take effect!
pipx ensurepath
pipx install .

Keep the boot switches on the media you flashed, connect the JTAG probe (J7) + DEBUG USB (J10), apply power, and wait for the Linux login prompt.
Flash the signed M7 image to NOR:
```
pyocd flash -t mimx95_cm7_mx25um --base-address 0x28020000 \
    nxp_imx95_default.mcuboot.bin -f 10m
```
NOR writes are not fully stable in the current release — retry until pyOCD reports 0 pages programmed (confirms flash matches the binary). The clock can be dropped to 4m after repeated failures.
Reboot; the M7 RTOS shell is reachable from Linux on /dev/ttynsh:
```
picocom /dev/ttynsh
```

See Flashing the Cortex-M RTOS Firmware for full details, including the CM33-AP fallback.