Awesome

Antmicro's Google Coral Baseboard

Copyright (c) 2019-2023 Antmicro

Overview

This project contains open hardware design files for a baseboard supporting the Google Coral SoM with NXP i.MX8X and Google's Edge TPU ML inference ASIC (also available as part of the Coral Edge TPU Development Board, created by Antmicro. The board provides standard I/O interfaces and allows the user to interface with two MIPI CSI-2 compatible video devices over a unified Flexible Flat Cable (FFC) connector.

Key features

• Interface connectors for the Coral Edge TPU module
• Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 connector
• Micro USB serial debug connector
• Micro SD card interface
• 50-pin FFC connectors exposing MIPI CSI-2 camera interfaces
• USB-C DFP (Host) port
• Mini HDMI video output interface
• Integrated DC/DC power supply accepting 6-36VDC of input voltage

The PCB project files were prepared in Altium Designer 14.1.

Project structure

The main directory contains Altium project file, documentation script a LICENSE and README. The remaining files are stored in the following directories:

• Libraries - contains the component libraries
• img - contains graphics for this README
• PCB - contains schematics and layout files
• Documentation - contains PDF schematic and generated assembly assets

Getting started

The board can be produced and assembled using the provided design files. Please take a look at the mechanical layers for more information regarding the PCB stackup recommended for fabrication. The board accepts power supply voltage in the 6-36VDC range. It is recommended to use a 12V 2A DC supply to power the board. The board has an integrated power sequencer that starts the module automatically right after applying the power supply. Please refer to the Coral documentation for more details regarding the flashing procedure.

Debug UART connection

Most of the debug messages are provided through the serial console. The board is equipped with an FTDI chip exposing both UART interfaces to the host PC. Please refer to the schematic sheets for more details. The default debug UART channel is accessible through /dev/ttyUSB0 (assuming that there are no other FTDI units connected to your PC). The default baudrate for the serial debug connection is 115200 baud with 8-bit transmission, 1 stop bit and with no flow control.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.