Over-The-Air updates on an ESP32-C6 were stress-tested by intentionally interrupting firmware downloads to validate that a device never bricks and can recover to the target version automatically. The experiment used the ESP-IDF dual-partition OTA pattern (ota_0/ota_1) so updates download to the inactive slot and the bootloader only switches when a new image confirms itself; a deliberate second reset after a successful update verified no lingering PENDING_VERIFY state. Three interruption methods were exercised mid-download - software-triggered reboot, hardware reset-pin pulse, and complete power cut - while measuring recovery behavior and timing, and trials included both rollback enabled and disabled settings.
Every one of eighteen interruption trials completed successfully: the device booted back to the original firmware, rejoined the network, retried the OTA, and finished on the new version with no manual intervention, relying on ESP-IDF’s rollback to prevent bricking. Recovery time clustered by interruption type more than by rollback setting: hard power cuts recovered fastest (~99.6s rollback enabled, 93.5s disabled), software resets and reset-pin toggles took ~155-166s. Varying when the cut occurred lengthened recovery roughly in proportion to how much of the download had to be redone (baseline 89s; recovery at 25/50/75% produced ~157.5s, 183.2s, 223.2s). The results demonstrate that automated, worst-case OTA interruption testing is essential and that ESP-IDF’s partition/rollback scheme reliably protects devices in these scenarios.
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