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BeagleV-Ahead

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Features

  • T-Head TH1520 AI system-on-chip processor
    • Quad-core XuanTie C910 open-source RTL RISC-V (RV64GCV ISA) CPU @ 2GHz
      • 3 issue, 8 instruction, 9-12 stage pipeline
      • In-order fetch, out-of-order launch, out-of-order completion and in-order retirement
      • 64KB I-cache, 64KB D-cache per core
    • AI NPU with 4TOPS INT8 @ 1GHz
      • Support for TensorFlow, ONNX, Caffe
      • Feature extraction accelerator
    • Image signal processor
    • H.264/H.265/JPEG video encoder and decoder
    • 2D accelerator
    • 3D Vulkan/OpenCL/OpenGLES accelerator (IMG?)
    • C906-based (RV64IMA[FD]C[V] ISA) audio processor subsystem
  • 4GB LPDDR4
  • 16GB eMMC
  • New Beagle form-factor open-source development board
    • 2xSuperSpeed-USB type-A host (stacked)
    • SuperSpeed USB type-C dual-role with power input (no power output)
    • Consider adding USB-to-serial/JTAG for the type-C device and move USB to host-only
    • Gigabit Ethernet with speed/connection indicators
    • HDMI type-A connector
    • TBD SDIO WiFi
    • uSD card cage
    • 2xCSI ribbon cable connectors
    • 1xDSI ribbon cable connector
    • 2x46-pin expansion headers with 4-pin HS-USB extension
    • 2x8-pin "mikroBus shuttle" ribbon-cable connector for audio and sensors
    • 3-pin TTL-level debug UART connector
    • Fan power connector (fan is optional)
    • 6x LEDs (1 power, 5 programmable)
    • 3x push-buttons (power, reset, boot/user)
    • 5V barrel jack
  • BeagleBoard.org Debian Linux image
    • Tracking mainline u-boot/kernel with T-Head patches as needed
    • Package feeds for custom binaries for TensorFlow Lite, etc.
    • Familiar and flexible graphical user interface environment
    • Self-hosted Visual Studio Code IDE via web-browser
    • USB-based virtual network for "single-cable development"

Requirements to begin

  • Documentation needs to start
    • Reference schematic and PCB source files
      • Reference for DDR
      • Reference for PMIC and power design
    • Additional SoC details (Chinese language is good) - pointers to licensed IP is fine
      • Power consumption
    • Clear legal path to usage
      • Verify the IP in the SoC is licensed for use
      • Verify the IP user documentation can be public
      • Signed 3P agreement
    • Supplier part commitment
      • 10k parts for launch
      • 50k units per year
      • fixed price and availability 5 years as long as 10k units per year
    • SDK source required to test board
      • Review Linux device tree
  • Documentation needs to launch
    • Additional SoC details (Chinese language is good) - pointers to licensed IP is fine
      • Overview of SoC Memory Map
      • Boot process
      • Clocking and reset
      • Interrupts map or List
      • PLIC (Platform Level Interrupt Controller)
      • CLINT (Core-Local Interruptor)
      • L2 Cache Controller
      • DMA Controller
      • DDR interface
      • UART peripheral (including register map)
      • PWM peripheral (including register map)
      • I2C controller (including register map)
      • SPI controller (including register map)
      • GPIO controller (including register map)
      • Gigabit Ethernet MAC (including register map)
      • USB controller (including register map)
    • SDK source
      • Open source Linux kernel with reasonable SoC entitlement (or register-level detailed IP documentation)
      • V4L2 driver for video encoder/decoder
      • IMG 3D open source Mesa/Vulkan driver
      • libcamera and V4L2 driver for ISP and CSI video interace for common sensors (IMX219-based Pi camera)
      • DRM driver for the 2D image accelerator, display processing unit and DSI video interface
      • ALSA driver for audio interface

DVT v0.2 testing

  1. Flash latest Ubuntu image
  2. UART debug port access
  3. WiFi connection
  4. GPIO testing
  5. Bluetooth testing