Opal-6 has been designed for high-performance applications in demanding environments.

The Opal-6 SoM wraps up a Freescale i.MX6 Solo or DualLite with DDR3, eMMC, Ethernet PHY and power supply components. The custom footprint is 60mm x 60mm and uses 2 x 168-pin Hirose connectors to bring out almost all of the i.MX6 signals.

The i.MX6 is great for graphics & multimedia based applications AND connectivity.  Yes – that would be the IoT word you have been hearing everywhere :-)
The Opal-6 Dev Kit includes HDMI and dual LVDS display options. Internet connectivity is via Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and cellular. The cellular modem connects via PCIe and there is also dual SIM support. One SIM is a new solder down version enabled for global roaming, giving you connectivity right out of the box.

There are interfaces for industrial and automotive applications via CAN, RS485 and 5V I/O. These are on push-wire connectors. Our aim is to make it really quick to prototype your design.

Operating system support includes Linux support from Timesys and the new Windows Embedded Compact 2013 BSP from GuruCE.

Full details and technical docs will be on the web site in the coming weeks. Development kits are sampling in December. Email sales@device.solutions to reserve your kit.

This post explores some of the reasons why we at Device Solutions have gone the proprietary non-standard path, and why we think standards don’t work for ARM and don’t deliver on the benefits you expect from a standard.

Why choose a standard?

For processor modules, having a second or third supply option sounds attractive. Obsolescence is a big problem and using a standard module to avoid this sounds like a compelling reason to go down that road. In fact it does work very well – for x86 based modules. However x86 chips are very well defined compared to the huge variation in features found on ARM based parts.

Why standards don’t work for ARM

ARM devices are used for a huge variety of applications, with an equally diverse set of requirements. If you have ever taken a close look at a Freescale i.MX part, you will see a lot of different functions and no single application makes use of them all.

This creates some big problems when trying to map an ARM chip to a standard interface. The challenges are:

• Wide range of features, and not enough pins to expose them all.
• Multiplexed features – which feature do you pick for a particular pin?
• Functions change between chip generations and there may be no slot on the standard interface for a new feature. A good example of this is display interfaces – these have evolved from parallel TFT and chips have this interfaces along with LVDS, VGA or HDMI and now MIPI.

Designing with a standard ARM module

All this is not to say that ARM modules based on a standard don’t work at all. They do, but they might not do everything you expect (or need) them to do.

The first thing to check is, can you access all the features on the chip that you need? Make sure anything you think you might need is available. It is painful to get half-way through a design only to find you can’t get at a vital signal!

Using a standard module for second source reasons

This is where things get tricky and your design effort may effectively double. Because of all the reasons above, you can’t rely on two different standard ARM modules to give you exactly the same signals on the interface. It is important to identify what module you are going to use as a second source at the design stage. Every signal will need to be analysed and your base-board may need to have different build options for each module to get it working. Often this proves to be impossible because some vendors don’t share module schematics.

An alternative to second souring

Often the reason for having a second source is continuity of supply. Rather than invest in extra engineering (which is expensive and time consuming enough!), we suggest you ask the module vendor if they have an escrow service for their design files. This way should there be a problem for whatever reason, you will still have access to the module.

Conclusions

If you have made it this far, you will see that there are some issues with the current ARM based modules that follow a standard. Our advice is to choose a module that is the best fit for your design, and to solve second sourcing issues by other means.

There are a lot more details we haven’t gone into around this issue. Contact us if you would like to know more.

FreeBSD is usually associated with x86 and servers, however it is also used in embedded ARM devices. Support for the Quartz SOM based on the Freescale Vybrid part is now included in the FreeBSD source and drivers for all the key modules are included.

This page has all the details including the supported features, where to get the source and how to build and download it to a Quartz board.

Timesys has launched a Yocto BSP for our Quartz System on Module (SoM) solutions.

The Yocto Project is an open source collaboration project that provides templates, tools and methods to help you create custom Linux-based systems for embedded products regardless of the hardware architecture. 

For details visit the Timesys Yocto site, or the Quartz Development Centre at timesys.com.

Here are 2 ways Device Solutions modules help minimise this problem:

1. Freescale Longevity Programme
All our products are based on Freescale processors that are part of their longevity program. This guarantees availability of the key component of our modules for at least 10 or 15 years from first production. For our current products, this means availability until:

• 2023 for Quartz (Vybrid – 10 year program)
• 2026 for Opal (i.MX53 – 15 year program)
• 2024 for Topaz (i.MX25 – 15 year program)

2. We take care of component issues on the module
Using a module isolates you from the most common components that go end-of-life in a design.

Memory is one of the worst offenders when it comes to revisions and changes. It is also a difficult one when it comes to supply issues, but we won’t cover that here.

Whenever there is a change, we will notify existing customers and give them an option to qualify the updated module before we ship the new version. If software changes are required, these are taken care of by the operating system.

SOMs are available in all shapes and sizes. There are SOMs based on standards and others with proprietary connection methods. The main reason for this variety is that the embedded market that uses SOMs is incredibly diverse and each SOM fits a particular need in the market.

This post looks at surface-mount SOMs. They are ideal for applications that have demanding size, cost or environmental constraints.

Surface-mount SOMs have components on one side of a small PCB, and pads on the other side. You can think of it like a big BGA. When it comes to manufacture, you paste the footprint of the SOM along with the rest of your board, place the module along with the other components and reflow.

The image above is of Quartz, our latest surface-mount Vybrid-based SOM. This is 38mm x 38mm and is the smallest package of any Vybrid module on the market.

Here are 5 good reasons to consider a surface-mount SOM for your next design:

1. Lower system cost
A surface-mount module means no connector cost on the module and your board. This is one (or more) less components to source and add to your BOM cost. The module cost is also generally lower as it does not have connectors.

2. Robust Connection
For certainty in a demanding application, nothing beats soldering down a module.

3. Size
A surface-mount module is the least height option of any module. It adds 1mm compared with the alternative of soldering the components directly to your board. The module size is also usually very compact.

4. Faster manufacturing
Our surface-mount modules are supplied in trays – just like BGA components. A SMT machine can pick and place the module, saving labour when compared with a connector based module.

5. Easy Transition to a Design License
If your product volumes increase, we have options to license the design. Using a surface-mount module means the transition has no effect on the placement of components on your board. The components that were on the module end up 1mm lower and directly on your board. There are a number of factors to consider when making this decision which we won’t cover here. Please talk to us if you want to know more about this option.

If you think this is a good option for your new project, please drop us a line. We would love to talk to you about it.

The main tool set provided with Quartz is the LinuxLink PRO edition suite. This is usually US$5,000, but is free for Quartz development. LinuxLink PRO is a suite of tools for both platform and application development.

The best place to get started is the Quartz Development Center page on the Timesys site. This has links to download code and tools along with demos, documentation and getting started videos.

Fortunately PDFs took over and are still the most common way to get documentation today. This is what we have been using for our modules and development kits. Until now.

We have recently moved all our documentation online and are using Confluence to host our pages.

You can access documentation for each product from the “Documentation” tab on the product pages, or at http://devicesolutions.net/docs

The biggest reason to move to the online system was updates. We can easily add new content or fix issues without having to publish a new pdf every time.

It is also easier to search for the information you need, and we can include links to information such as schematics and sample code.

As you can see from the image to the left, information is organised by product and by module/development kit. There is also the search box at the top which is a great shortcut to find what you need in a hurry.

This next image shows the Quartz module main page. Most pages have a contents link on the right hand side for quickly skipping to the item you are interested in.

Another key feature about using an online tool is feedback. At the bottom of each page you can leave a comment. This is for anything on your mind – technical questions, something missing in the docs or if you spot a typo.

If you really need a pdf, there is an option under the Tools menu (top right hand side of each page) to export to PDF or Word. This exports the current page only and not the child pages.

If you made it this far, you obviouly have some interest in how documentation is presented!  Let us know what you think by taking the survey below or leaving a comment.

As you can see from the picture, we have Quartz Development Kits in stock!

Quartz is based on the Freescale Vybrid chip which is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A5 + M4 part.  Here is our quick intro video which shows the key features of the kit.

The kits are running a Timesys Linux build. Check out their development centre page for information on the tools that are available FREE to support Quartz software development.

Other Operating System ports are in the works including Windows Embedded Compact 2013 and FreeBSD.

The kit is designed around the connector version of the Quartz module. This is small (45mm x 35mm x 7mm) , but we have an even smaller surface-mount LGA version (38mm x 38mm x 3mm) for applications where vibration or space is an issue. You can still start your prototyping and evaluation with the development kit and move to the LGA when developing your product.

The Quartz Development Kit cost is $399 without LCD and $499 with a 7″ LCD. It can be ordered direct from us here.

Contact GuruCE for more information on the i.MX53 port and us (Device Solutions) for information on Opal.

We also want to congratulate Erwin Zwart from GuruCE on his Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award!  This award recognizes technical excellence in Windows Embedded, and Erwin joins Michel Verhagen (APAC branch) who also has the MVP award.

GuruCE provide Windows CE and Windows Embedded Compact BSPs for our Topaz, Opal and Quartz products.