BeagleBone AI-64 Overview¶
BeagleBone AI-64 is the latest addition to BeagleBoard.org family and like its predecessors, is designed to address the open-source Community, early adopters, and anyone interested in a low cost 64-bit Dual Arm® Cortex®-A72 processor based Single Board Computer (SBC).
It has been equipped with a minimum set of features to allow the user to experience the power of the processor and is not intended as a full development platform as many of the features and interfaces supplied by the processor are not accessible from BeagleBone AI-64 via onboard support of some interfaces. It is not a complete product designed to do any particular function. It is a foundation for experimentation and learning how to program the processor and to access the peripherals by the creation of your own software and hardware.
It also offers access to many of the interfaces and allows for the use of add-on boards called capes, to add many different combinations of features. A user may also develop their own board or add their own circuitry.
BeagleBone AI-64 is manufactured and warranted by partners listed at https://beagleboard.org/logo for the benefit of the community and its supporters including the current BeagleBoard.org Foundation board members
Jason Kridner, principal of JK Embedded Consulting an independent contractor and architect for new Beagle designs.
Drew Fustini, independent Linux developer
Robert Nelson, applications engineer at Digi-Key
Mark Yoder, professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Kathy Giori, product engineer at ZEDEDA
See bbb.io/about
BeagleBone AI-64 has been designed by Seeed Studio (Seeed Development Limited) under guidance from BeagleBoard.org Foundation.
BeagleBone Compatibility¶
The board is intended to provide functionality well beyond BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone AI, while still providing compatibility with BeagleBone Black’s expansion headers as much as possible. There are several significant differences between the three designs.
Feature |
AI-64 |
AI |
Black |
---|---|---|---|
SoC |
TDA4VM |
AM5729 |
AM3358 |
Arm CPU |
Cortex-A72 (64-bit) |
Cortex-A15 (32-bit) |
Cortex-A8 (32-bit) |
Arm cores/MHz |
2x 2GHz |
2x 1.5GHz |
1x 1GHz |
RAM |
4GB |
1GB |
512MB |
eMMC flash |
16GB |
16GB |
4GB |
Size |
4” x 3.1” |
3.4” x 2.1” |
.4” x 2.1” |
Display |
miniDP + DSI |
microHDMI |
microHDMI |
USB host (Type-A) |
2x 5Gbps |
1x 480Mbps |
1x 480Mbps |
USB dual-role |
Type-C 5Gbps |
Type-C 5Gbps |
mini-AB 480Mbps |
Ethernet |
10/100/1000M |
10/100/1000M |
10/100M |
M.2 |
E-key |
- |
- |
WiFi/ Bluetooth |
- |
AzureWave AW‑CM256SM |
- |
Note
TODO: add cape compatibility details
BeagleBone AI-64 Features and Specification¶
This section covers the specifications and features of the board and provides a high level description of the major components and interfaces that make up the board.
Feature |
|
---|---|
Processor |
Texas Instruments TDA4VM |
Graphics Engine |
PowerVR® Series8XE GE8430 |
SDRAM Memory |
LPDDR4 3.2GHz (4GB) Kingston Q3222PM1WDGTK-U |
Onboard Flash |
eMMC (16GB) Kingston EMMC16G-TB29-PZ90 |
PMIC |
TPS65941213 and TPS65941111 PMICs regulator and one additional LDO. |
Debug Support |
10-pin JTAG TAG-CONNECT footprint |
Power Source |
USB C or DC Jack (5V, >3A) |
PCB |
4” x 3.1” |
Indicators |
1-Power, 5-User Controllable LEDs |
USB-3.0 Client Port |
Access to USB0, SuperSpeed, dual-role mode via USB-C (no power output) |
USB-3.0 Host Port |
TUSB8041 4-port SuperSpeed hub on USB1, 2xType A Socket, up-to 2.8A total, depending on power input |
Ethernet |
Gigabit, RJ45, link indicator, speed indicator |
SD/MMC Connector |
microSD , 1.8/3.3V |
User Input |
|
Video Out |
miniDP |
Audio |
via miniDP (stereo) |
Weight |
192gm (with heatsink) |
Power |
Refer to Main Board Power section |
Board Component Locations¶
This section describes the key components on the board. It provides information on their location and function. Familiarize yourself with the various components on the board.
Board components¶
Fig: BeagleBone AI-64 board components below shows the locations of the connectors, LEDs, and switches on the PCB layout of the board.
DC Power is the main DC input that accepts 5V power.
Power Button alerts the processor to initiate the power down sequence and is used to power down the board.
GigaBit Ethernet is the connection to the LAN.
Serial Debug ports WKUP_UART0 for early boot from the management MCU and UART0 is for the main processor.
USB Client is a USB-C connection to a PC that can also power the board.
BOOT switch can be used to force a boot from the microSD card if the power is cycled on the board, removing power and reapplying the power to the board.
There are five green LEDs that can be used by the user.
Reset Button allows the user to reset the processor.
microSD slot is where a microSD card can be installed.
miniDP connector is where the display is connected to.
USB Host can be connected different USB interfaces such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Keyboard, etc.
On bottom side we have,
TI TDA4VM processor.
4GB LPDDR4 Dual Data Rate RAM memory.
Ethernet PHY physical interface to the network.
eMMC onboard MMC chip that holds up to 16GB of data.