Getting Started with the i.MX 8M Nano EVK Board

CAAM Module Example

The i.MX 8M Nano EVK board includes the Cryptographic Acceleration and Assurance Module (CAAM) module that can be used through CryptoDev in order to accelerate by hardware the encryption and decryption process. It is recommended to use this module when working with large amounts of data or in any application where performance is important.

Checking the Speed Performance

OpenSSL is an open source project that defines the security protocols SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). It has a software library that can be used in applications that requires a secure information transmission in order to prevent eavesdropping.

OpenSSL includes a speed command that tests the encryption performance for a desired encryption algorithm. For this example, the algorithm used is the aes-128-cbc that implements the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm, with a Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode of operation and 128 bits block.

The OpenSSL speed test can be seen using the following command:

1234567891011121314151617181920212223Copy# openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc

Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 16 size blocks: 43389139 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s

Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 64 size blocks: 28788614 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s

Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 256 size blocks: 11766741 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s

Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 1024 size blocks: 3674139 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s

Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 8192 size blocks: 495157 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s

OpenSSL 1.0.2p 14 Aug 2018

built on: reproducible build, date unspecified

options:bn(64,64) rc4(ptr,char) des(idx,cisc,16,int) aes(partial) idea(int) blowfish(ptr)

compiler: arm-poky-linux-gnueabi-gcc -march=armv7ve -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -mcpu=cortex-a7 -DL_ENDIAN -DTERMIO -O2 -pipe -g -feliminate-unused-debug-types -Wall -Wa,--noexecstack -DHAVE_CRYPTODEV -DUSE_CRYPTODEV_DIGESTS

The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed. type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes

Aes-128-cbc 193627.86k 513839.78k 837089.96k 1048974.64k 1130986.42k

Solution: In doc “AN12838 Strengthening Public Key Crptography using CAAM Secure Key” section 5.2.1 and 5.2.2. it describes details of the usage.

Tools and References

Security Reference Manual for i.MX 8M Nano Applications Processor.

Wired Communications

With Linux running on the i.MX board, you can evaluate special features that i.MX SoCs provide. This tutorial shows the step-by-step instructions on how to connect to the Internet on Linux with i.MX 8M Nano EVK:

1. Connect an Ethernet cable to the board RJ-45 connector
2. Log in
3. Boot up the board and wait for the Linux prompt
4. At the Linux prompt, enter the following command

1Copy# ifconfig eth0

5. Ping any site to corroborate functionality

123456789Copy# ping 8.8.8.8 PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data. 

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=119 time=4.81 ms 64 bytes 

from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=119 time=4.87 ms 64 bytes 

from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=119 time=4.94 ms 64 bytes 

from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=119 time=4.61 ms

Wireless Connectivity

Low Power Mode Suspension Example

With Linux running on the i.MX board, you can evaluate special features that i.MX SoCs provide. This example shows how to suspend to low-power modes and resume to normal operation.

Enter the command below in order to enable serial TTY as a wake up source for the board:

Path:

1Copy# echo enabled > /sys/class/tty/ttymxc0/power/wakeup

Enter the command below to enter Suspend-To-RAM mode:

1Copy# echo mem > /sys/power/state PM: suspend entry (deep) PM: Syncing filesystems ... done. Freezing user space processes ... (elapsed 0.001 seconds) done. OOM killer disabled. Freezing remaining freezable tasks ... (elapsed 0.000 seconds) done. Suspending console(s) (use no_console_suspend to debug)

Press the SW901 switch to wake-up the board. The following messages should appear on terminal:

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556575859CopyHIFsuspendwow TODO

PM: suspend devices took 0.112 seconds

Disabling non-boot CPUs ...

CPU1: shutdown

psci: CPU1 killed.

CPU2: shutdown

psci: CPU2 killed.

CPU3: shutdown

psci: Retrying again to check for CPU kill

psci: CPU3 killed.

Enabling non-boot CPUs ...

Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU1

GICv3: CPU1: found redistributor 1 region 0:0x00000000388a0000

CPU1: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]

cache: parent cpu1 should not be sleeping

CPU1 is up

Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU2

GICv3: CPU2: found redistributor 2 region 0:0x00000000388c0000

CPU2: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]

cache: parent cpu2 should not be sleeping

CPU2 is up

Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU3

GICv3: CPU3: found redistributor 3 region 0:0x00000000388e0000

CPU3: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]

cache: parent cpu3 should not be sleeping

CPU3 is up

PM: resume devices took 0.028 seconds

OOM killer enabled.

Restarting tasks ... done.

PM: suspend exit   

Tools and References

i.MX Audio Board Hardware User's Guide. This manual includes system setup and configurations and provides detailed information on the usage of the i.MX Audio Board System from a hardware perspective.

Simple Audio Example

Connect your earphone to the Audio Jack on the i.MX 8M Nano EVK board.

If your earphone includes a microphone feature (TRRS with four contacts), do not push the microphone jack to the end. Leave one contact ring outside.

1234567891011121314151617181920212223Copy#aplay -1

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: imxspdif [imx-spdif], device 0: S/PDIF PCM snd-soc-dummy-dai-0 [S/PDIF PCM snd-soc-dummy-dai-0]
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
card 2: wm8524audio [wm8524-audio], device 0: HiFi wm8524-hifi-0 
[] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
card 2: wm8524audio [wm8524-audio], device 1: HiFi-ASRC-FE (*) 
[] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
# gst-launch-1.0 audiotestsrc ! alsasink device=plughw:2 
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ... 
Pipeline is PREROLLING ... 
Redistribute latency... 
Pipeline is PREROLLED ... 
Setting pipeline to PLAYING ... 

New clock: GetAudioSinkClock

You should be able to listen to a tone on the earphone.

When you are done with the tone, finish the command line by pressing kbd: [Ctrl+C]

This simple example shows the link between audiotestsrc and alsasink.

Connect your earphone to the Audio Jack on the i.MX 8M Nano EVK board.

This example explains how to decode just the audio from a video file. Copy a video file to your /home/root/ on your SD card roots partition, boot the board from the SD card and run the command below:

Note: You can obtain the file used in the example for free from the Big Buck Bunny  site.

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576777879808182838485868788899091Copy# gplay-1.0 SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4

  FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
  
  Set VideoSink kmssink
            
  Set TextSink fakesink ====== AIUR: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:35. ======
            
  Core: AVI_PARSER_03.05.29 build on Aug 31 2017 09:15:57
            
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/parser/lib_avi_parser_arm_elinux.so.3.1
            
  Track 00 [video]: Disabled
            
  Codec: 4, SubCodec: 1
            
  -----------------------
            
  ------------------------ Track 01 [audio_0] Enabled
            
  Duration: 0:09:56.424000000
            
  Language: und
            
  Mime: audio/mpeg, mpegversion=(int)1, channels=(int)2, rate=(int)48000, bitrate=(int)0
            
  codec_data=(buffer)014d401fffe10017674d401fda014016ec0440000003004000000c83c60ca801000468ef3c80
            
  ------------------------
            
  ====== BEEP: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:45. ======
            
  Core: MP3 decoder Wrapper build on Jan 11 2018 10:20:25
             
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/audio-codec/wrap/lib_mp3d_wrap_arm_elinux.so.3
            
  CODEC: BLN_MAD-MMCODECS_MP3D_ARM_02.13.01_ARMV8 build on Jan 11 2018 10:05:45. [Stop (No Repeated)][Vol=1.0][00:00:00/00:09:56]=========== fsl_player_play()=========== FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
            
  [h]display the operation Help
            
  [p]Play
            
  [s]Stop
            
  [e]Seek
            
  [a]Pause when playing, play when paused
            
  [v]Volume
            
  [m]Switch to mute or not
            
  [>]Play next file
            
  [ [r]Switch to repeated mode or not
            
  [u]Select the video track
            
  [d]Select the audio track
            
  [b]Select the subtitle track
             
  [f]Set full screen
             
  [z]resize the width and height
            
  [t]Rotate
            
  [c]Setting play rate
            
  [i]Display the metadata
            
  [x]eXit
            
  State changed: buffering
            
  State changed: playing
            
  [Playing (No Repeated)][Vol =1.0][00:00:13/00:00:13]EOS Found
            
  getNextItem No next item!
             
  No more media file, exit gplay!
             
  State changed: stopped
            
  Exit display thread
            
  FSL_PLAYER_UI_MSG_EXIT
            
  fsl_player_deinit

Decoder Video Audio Example

This example explains how to decode just the audio from a video file. Copy a video file to your /home/root/ on your SD card roots partition, boot the board from the SD card and run the command below:

Note: You can obtain the file used in the example for free from the Big Buck Bunny  site.

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970717273747576777879808182838485868788899091Copy# gplay-1.0 SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4

  FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
  
  Set VideoSink kmssink
            
  Set TextSink fakesink ====== AIUR: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:35. ======
            
  Core: AVI_PARSER_03.05.29 build on Aug 31 2017 09:15:57
            
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/parser/lib_avi_parser_arm_elinux.so.3.1
            
  Track 00 [video]: Disabled
            
  Codec: 4, SubCodec: 1
            
  -----------------------
            
  ------------------------ Track 01 [audio_0] Enabled
            
  Duration: 0:09:56.424000000
            
  Language: und
            
  Mime: audio/mpeg, mpegversion=(int)1, channels=(int)2, rate=(int)48000, bitrate=(int)0
            
  codec_data=(buffer)014d401fffe10017674d401fda014016ec0440000003004000000c83c60ca801000468ef3c80
            
  ------------------------
            
  ====== BEEP: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:45. ======
            
  Core: MP3 decoder Wrapper build on Jan 11 2018 10:20:25
             
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/audio-codec/wrap/lib_mp3d_wrap_arm_elinux.so.3
            
  CODEC: BLN_MAD-MMCODECS_MP3D_ARM_02.13.01_ARMV8 build on Jan 11 2018 10:05:45. [Stop (No Repeated)][Vol=1.0][00:00:00/00:09:56]=========== fsl_player_play()=========== FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
            
  [h]display the operation Help
            
  [p]Play
            
  [s]Stop
            
  [e]Seek
            
  [a]Pause when playing, play when paused
            
  [v]Volume
            
  [m]Switch to mute or not
            
  [>]Play next file
            
  [ [r]Switch to repeated mode or not
            
  [u]Select the video track
            
  [d]Select the audio track
            
  [b]Select the subtitle track
             
  [f]Set full screen
             
  [z]resize the width and height
            
  [t]Rotate
            
  [c]Setting play rate
            
  [i]Display the metadata
            
  [x]eXit
            
  State changed: buffering
            
  State changed: playing
            
  [Playing (No Repeated)][Vol =1.0][00:00:13/00:00:13]EOS Found
            
  getNextItem No next item!
             
  No more media file, exit gplay!
             
  State changed: stopped
            
  Exit display thread
            
  FSL_PLAYER_UI_MSG_EXIT
            
  fsl_player_deinit

Display and Graphics

Camera Interfaces

Machine Learning

Machine learning (ML) typically encompasses applications where classification, recognition and prediction of man-made abstractions are desired. Examples include Image Recognition, Gesture Recognition, Anomaly Detection, Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, ASR, Scene Recognition and many more. This section will focus specifically on the NXP ML tools applied to image or video streams. The audio section may reference the included examples.

Device Management and Secure OTA

Serial Communication Console Setup

On the command prompt of the Linux host machine, run the following command to determine the port number:

1Copy$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*

The smaller number is for Arm® Cortex®-A53 core and the bigger number is for Arm® Cortex®-M7 core.

Minicom Tutorial

Use the following commands to install and run the serial communication program (minicom as an example):

1. Install Minicom using Ubuntu package manager.

   1Copy$ sudo apt-get install minicom

2. Launch Minicom using a console window using the port number determined earlier.

   1Copy$ sudo minicom /dev/ttyUSB* -s

3. Configure Minicom as show in Figure 3

4. The next step is to connect the HDMI cable

Serial Communication Console Setup

The FTDI USB-serial chip on i.MX 8M Mini enumerates two serial ports. Assume that the ports are COM9 and COM10. The smaller numbered port ( COM9) is for the serial console communication from Arm® Cortex®-A53 and the larger numbered port (COM10) is for Arm® Cortex®-M7 core. The serial-to-USB drivers are available at FTDI Chip Drivers .

Note: To determine the port number of the i.MX board virtual COM port, open the Windows device manager and find USB serial Port in Ports (COM and LPT).

Tera Term Tutorial

Is an open source terminal emulation application. This program displays the information sent from the NXP development platform's virtual serial port.

1. Download Tera Term. After the download, run the installer and then return to this webpage to continue
2. Launch TeraTerm. The first time it launches, it shows the following dialog. Select the serial option. Assuming your board is plugged in, there should be a COM port automatically populated in the list

3. Configure the serial port settings (using the COM port number identified earlier) to 115200 baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit. To do this, go to Set up → Serial Port and change the settings
4. Verify that the connection is open. If connected, Tera Term shows something like below in its title bar

5. The next step is to connect the HDMI cable

Serial Communication Console Setup

The FTDI USB-serial chip on i.MX 8M Mini enumerates two serial ports. Assume that the ports are COM9. This represents the serial console communication from Arm® Cortex®-A53 core. The serial-to-USB drivers are available at FTDI Chip Drivers .

Note: To determine the port number of the i.MX board virtual COM port, open the Windows device manager and find USB serial Port in Ports (COM and LPT).

PuTTY Tutorial

PuTTY is a popular terminal emulation application. This program displays the information sent from the NXP development platform’s virtual serial port.

1. Download PuTTY After the download, run the installer and then return to this webpage to continue
2. Launch PuTTY by either double-clicking on the executable file you downloaded or from the Start menu, depending on the type of download you selected
3. Configure In the window that launches. Select the Serial radio button and enter the COM port number that you determined earlier. Also enter the baud rate, in this case 115200

4. Click Open to open the serial connection. Assuming the board is connected and you entered the correct COM port, the terminal window opens. If the configuration is not correct, PuTTY alerts you
5. The next step is to connect the HDMI cable

Board Documents

• i.MX 8M Nano EVK Board Getting Started Guide
• Design Files for the i.MX 8M Nano Evaluation Kit with NXP WiFi/BT and NXP PMIC (8MNANOLPD4-EVK)

Chip Documents

• i.MX 8M Nano Applications Processor Datasheet for Consumer Products
• i.MX 8M Nano Applications Processor Datasheet for Industrial Products
• i.MX 8M Nano Applications Processor Reference Manual
• i.MX 8M Nano Hardware Developer's Guide
• Mask Set Errata for Mask 0N14Y

Software

• i.MX Software and Development Tools
• i.MX Linux User's Guide
• i.MX Linux Reference Manual
• i.MX VPU API Linux Reference Manual
• i.MX Yocto Project User's Guide
• i.MX Yocto Project: Frequently Asked Questions
• i.MX Porting Guide

Training

To learn what to do next, find your issue below. If you still need help, contact NXP Support.

Forums

Connect with other engineers and get expert advice on designing with the i.MX 8M Nano on one of our community sites.

Product Forums:

• i.MX Forums
• Useful Documents and Threads of i.MX Processors
• i.MX Graphics
• i.MX Solutions
• i.MX8 Coral Development Kit
• Power Management
• Wireless Connectivity

Software Forums:

• eIQ Machine Learning Software
• Processor Expert
• MQX Software Solutions
• MCUXpresso Software and Tools
• Software Community Articles