Beaglebone AI Board Bringup

This document explains the steps to configure the Beaglebone AI board bring up and execute the Vesc Motro Control application.

Prerequisites

• MicroSD Card (minimum 16 GB)

• Ethernet Cable

• FTDI cable for debugging

• Beaglebone AI Fan cape

• Micro HDMI to HDMI converter

Installing the latest image of Debian OS

Get the latest kernel image from the Beaglebone website. Install the Beaglebone AI Fan cape. The kernel version used for this application is provided here.

• Insert the SD card to the host system.

• Install a flashing software such as Balena Etcher.

• Unzip the kernel image. The kernel image consists of .img extension.

• Flash the kernel image on SD card.

• Remove the SD card and mount it on the Beaglebone AI.

• Connect the ethernet cable.

• Connect the display monitor with Beaglebone using HDMI cable.

• Plugin the power supply.

The connected monitor will prompt for username and password after a successfull boot:

username: debian password: temppwd

Debian OS Configuration

To use the maximum storage capacity of SD card the following commands needs to executed on the command line terminal

sudo /opt/scripts/tools/grow_partition.sh
sudo reboot

Install necessary packages :

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt upgrade
  sudo apt-get install build-essential
  sudo apt-get install binutils
  sudo apt install openssh-server
  sudo apt install git
  sudo apt install device-tree-compiler
  sudo apt-get install vim
  sudo apt-get install screen

Update the show-pins utility script to determine pin configuration

cd /usr/local/sbin
sudo wget -N https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mvduin/bbb-pin-utils/bbai-experimental/show-pins
sudo chmod a+x show-pins
cd /opt/scripts/tools
git pull

Installing RT-Linux on Beaglebone AI

• Check the kernel version on the board - uname -a

• sudo /opt/scripts/tools/update_kernel.sh –ti-rt-channel –lts-4_19

• sudo reboot

• After reboot the uname -a command must have “-rt” prefix attached to the kernel version

Enabling CAN and UART Interfaces

The CAN and UART interfaces are enabled on Beaglebone by modifying the device tree blob file. This is achieved by implementing the device tree overlays which reconfigures the pinmux settings of the respective pin headers. In order to compile these overlays Beaglebone provides a github repository that needs to be cloned. Below are the steps to enable CAN and UART interfaces:

• git clone https://github.com/beagleboard/BeagleBoard-DeviceTrees.git

• cd BeagleBoard-DeviceTrees

• make all

• The generated blob files can be copied in /lib/firmware folder

• The entry in /boot/uEnv.txt needs to be updated accordingly.

The device tree blob files are already generated and stored on Gitlab Racecar. The downloaded blob files can be copied in the /lib/firmware folder and the uEnv.txt file needs to be updated. A sample content of uEnv.txt is shown here:

uname_r=4.19.94-ti-rt-r68
#uuid=
#dtb=

###U-Boot Overlays###
###Documentation: http://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#U-Boot_Overlays
###Master Enable
enable_uboot_overlays=1
###
###Overide capes with eeprom
#uboot_overlay_addr0=<file0>.dtbo
#uboot_overlay_addr1=<file1>.dtbo
#uboot_overlay_addr2=<file2>.dtbo
#uboot_overlay_addr3=<file3>.dtbo
###
###Additional custom capes
uboot_overlay_addr4=/lib/firmware/BONE-UART4.dtbo
uboot_overlay_addr5=/lib/firmware/BONE-CAN1.dtbo

After updating the uEnv.txt the board must be rebooted. The next step is to ensure that the interfaces are active. This can be verified by executing the show-pins utility script present in /usr/local/sbin folder.

cd /usr/local/sbin
sudo ./show-pins

The output pinmux settings for UART is shown below:

To enable CAN interface the CAN pins needs to be activated. This is done by executing the below commands:

sudo ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 500000
sudo ifconfig can0 up
sudo modprobe can
sudo modprobe can_raw

Executing the ifconfig command must show the network parameters of CAN interface.

Executing sudo /opt/scripts/tools/version.sh show all the boot parameters.

Assigning static IP to Beaglebone AI

In order to connect the host machine to the BBAI without any dependency on the internet, static IP must be assigned to the Beaglebone. This ensures board access via Ethernet cable on the host machine. The following steps to enable static IP connection is valid for Ubuntu OS as the host machine.

• Login to the Beaglebone AI either by using the FTDI cable or by connecting the micro HDMI cable, mouse and keyboard.

• In order to assign the static IP user must have the root privileges, “sudo -i” command can be used to elevate to root privileges.

• Follow the below steps to assign a static IP.

  cd /etc/network
  vi interfaces

• Check if there is any existing entry for “eth0” interface. If there is any existing entry comment those changes and add the following lines in the file.

  auto eth0
  iface eth0 inet static
      address 10.0.0.3/8
      up route add 10.0.0.2 dev eth0

• Reboot Beaglebone

• Login again and check the IP address of “eth0” interface using ifconfig command. 10.0.0.3 must be the assigned IP address.

• Now on the host UBuntu machine open the setting for the wired connnection and add a new Ethernet configuration. Update the settings as mentioned below The image shown below shows the MAC address specific to the machine. The MAC address needs to be updated accordingly.

• Restart the host Ubuntu machine.

• Now connect the device with the ethernet cable and select the configuration created for Beaglebone AI on the host machine.

• Check the IP address of the ethernet interface - 10.0.0.2.

• Execute the ping command - ping 10.0.0.3

• If successfull, login to the Beaglebone using command debian@10.0.0.3. In case of failure restart the Beaglebone.