BeagleBone AI

[Sulev-Madis Silber]

this might be not answer you're looking for, as it doesn't suggest new hw,
but, maybe you're interested looking into my hobby project for new / fresh
ideas, some of it can be seen at http://ketas.si.pri.ee/bbb/ sure, i kind
of temporarly lost willpower or didn't have money to continue with that so
it's outdated, but i hope at least some of it help, as it does somewhat
similar thing (control server, watchdogged embedded clients doing i/o,
encrypted connections, dual-partition emmc safe upgrades, cli, webui)


On Saturday, May 30, 2020, Dr. Rolf Jansen <freebsd at cyclaero.com> wrote:
> We are starting a new project of industrial device controllers. We want
to utilize ARM-SBCs as unit controllers (and here a unit is one industrial
device), and we need to attach at least 24 ADCs, 8 DACs and 16 DIOs to each
unit controller (UC). Many unit controllers (eventually tenths to hundreds)
would then communicate by a custom protocol over ethernet with a command
and control server. The UCs and the C&C server would be operated by
FreeBSD. Direct interoperability of the UCs with 3rd party IT systems is
not a concern, integration needs to be done via the C&C server.
>
> Since the sample/update rate requirements are quite low, we are going the
I²C path, and initial testing has been done using the BeagleBone Black. It
got 2 separate I²C 400 kbit/s busses which helps already, avoiding I²C
address conflicts. Yet, the 8 port I²C switch TCA9548A is working very
well, and we are now sure to be able to attach enough ADCs, DACs and DIOs
to each unit controller.
>
> Although the initial viability tests were done with a BeagleBone Black
running FreeBSD 13-CURRENT, we could start with another more modern SBC.
>
> First Question:
>
> What modern SBC with more than 1 I²C bus and which can run FreeBSD 13++
would you suggest?
>
>
> Now recently, I found the BeagleBone AI site https://beagleboard.org/ai/ <
https://beagleboard.org/ai/>. This one got also 2 I²C busses, and
physically, with respect to a housing, it could be a 1:1 replacement for a
BBB. It seems, this one is still too new for FreeBSD. I am very fond of the
BB concept - for me it is much more appealing for industrial embedded
applications than for example any RPI. However, the BBB came to age, and I
would start a new project with it only, if there would be a reasonable
chance for an upgrade path.
>
> Two more Questions:
>
> Is it reasonable to assume that FreeBSD would run on a BBAI in the
future, let’s say in 2 to 3 years?
>
> Perhaps I could help porting FreeBSD to a BBAI. What would be the general
steps?
>
>
> Many thanks in advance for any suggestions, advices and clarifications.
>
> Best regards
>
> Rolf
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