Introduction#

BeaglePlay is an open-source single board computer designed to simplify the process of adding sensors, actuators, indicators, human interfaces, and connectivity to a reliable embedded system. It features a powerful 64-bit, quad-core processor and innovative connectivity options, including WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, sub-GHz wireless, and single-pair Ethernet with power-over-data-line. With compatibility with 1,000s of off-the-shelf add-ons and a customized Debian Linux image, BeaglePlay makes expansion and customization easy. It also includes ribbon-cable connections for cameras and touch-screen displays, and a socket for a battery-backed real-time-clock, making it ideal for human-machine interface designs. With its competitive price and user-friendly design, we expect BeaglePlay to provide you with a positive development experience. Some of the real world applications for BeaglePlay include:

  • Building/industrial automation gateways

  • Digital signage

  • Human Machine Interface (HMI)

  • BeagleConnect sensor gateways

BeaglePlay BeaglePlay

Detailed overview#

BeaglePlay is built around Texas Instruments AM62x Sitara™ Processors which is a Quad-Core Arm® Cortex®-A53 Human-machine-interaction SoC. It comes with 2GB DDR4 RAM, 16GB eMMC storage, Full size HDMI, USB-A host port, USB-C power & connectivity port, serial debug interface, and much more.

Table 7 BeaglePlay features#

Feature

Description

Processor

TI AM6254 (multicore A53s with R5, M4s and PRUs)

PMIC

TPS6521901

Memory

2GB DDR4

Storage

16GB eMMC

WiFi

  • PHY: WL1807MOD (roadmap to next-gen TI CC33XX WiFi 6 & BLE)

  • Antennas: 2.4GHz & 5GHz

BLE/SubG

  • CC1352P7 M4+M0 with BeagleConnect firmware

  • BeagleConnect Wireless enabled

  • Antennas: 2.4GHz & SubG IEEE802.15.4 software defined radio (SDR)

Ethernet

  • PHY: Realtek RTL8211F-VD-CG Gigabit Ethernet phy

  • Connector: integrated magnetics RJ-45

Single-pair Ethernet

  • BeagleConnect Wired enabled

  • PHY: DP83TD510E 10Mbit 10BASE-T1L single-pair Ethernet phy

  • Connector: RJ-11 jack

  • Power (PoDL): Input: N/A (protection to 12V), Output: 5V @ 250mA

USB type-C

  • PD/CC: None, HS shorted to both sides

  • Power: Input: 5V @ 3A, Output: N/A (USB-C DRP Not supported)

HDMI

  • Transmitter: IT66121

  • Connector: full-size

Other connectors

  • microSD

  • USB 2.0 type-A (480Mbit)

  • mikroBUS connector (I2C/UART/SPI/MCAN/MCASP/PWM/GPIO)

  • Grove connector (I2C/UART/ADC/PWM/GPIO)

  • QWIIC connector (I2C)

  • CSI connector compatible with BeagleBone AI-64, Raspberry Pi Zero / CM4 (22-pin)

  • OLDI connector (40-pin)

AM6254 SoC#

The low-cost Texas Instruments AM625 family of application processors are built for Linux® application development. With scalable Arm® Cortex®-A53 performance and embedded features, such as: dual-display support and 3D graphics acceleration, along with an extensive set of peripherals that make the AM62x device well-suited for a broad range of industrial and automotive applications while offering intelligent features and optimized power architecture as well.

Some of the SoC applications include:

  • Industrial HMI

  • EV charging stations

  • Touchless building access

  • Driver monitoring systems

AM625 processors are industrial-grade in the 13 x 13 mm package (ALW) and can meet the AEC-Q100 automotive standard in the 17.2 x 17.2 mm package (AMC). Industrial and Automotive functional safety requirements can be addressed using the integrated Cortex-M4F core and dedicated peripherals, which can all be isolated from the rest of the AM62x processor.

Tip

For more details checkout https://www.ti.com/product/AM625

The 3-port Gigabit Ethernet switch has one internal port and two external ports with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) support. An additional PRU module on the device enables real-time I/O capability for customer’s own use cases. In addition, the extensive set of peripherals included in AM62x enables system-level connectivity, such as: USB, MMC/SD, CSI Camera interface, OSPI, CAN-FD and GPMC for parallel host interface to an external ASIC/FPGA. The AM62x device also employs advanced power management support for portable and power-sensitive applications.

Board components location#

BeaglePlay board front components location

Fig. 151 BeaglePlay board front components location#

Table 8 BeaglePlay board front components location#

Feature

Description

RTC Battery

BQ32002 Real Time Clock (RTC) Battery holder takes CR1220 3V battery

User LEDs

Five user LEDs, Power and boot section provides more details. These LEDs are connect to the AM6254 SoC

JTAG (AM62)

AM6254 SoC JTAG debug port

mikroBUS

mikroBUS for MikroE Click boards or any compliant add-on

OLDI

AM6254 OpenLDI(OLDI) display port

CSI

AM6254 Camera Serial Interface (MIPI CSI-2)

Grove

SeeedStudio Grove modules connection port

QWIIC

SparkFun QWIIC / Adafruit STEMMA-QT port for I2C modules connectivity

User Button

Programmable user button, also servers as boot mode slect button (SD Card/eMMC). Press down to select SD Card as boot medium

SD Card

Use to expand storage, boot linux image or flash latest image on eMMC

Reset button

Press to reset BeaglePlay board (AM6254 SoC)

JTAG (CC1352)

JTAG debug port for CC1352P7

Power button

Press to shut-down (OFF), hold down to boot (ON)

Power & Connectivity LEDs

Indicator LEDs for Power ON, CC1352 RF, and Single-pair connectivity

Single-pair Ethernet

Single-pair Ethernet connectivity port with power over data line

GigaBit Ethernet

1Gb/s Wired internet connectivity

HDMI Output

Full size HDMI port for connecting to external display monitors

USB-A host port

Port to connect USB devices like cameras, keyboard & mouse combos, etc

USB-C port

Power and Device data role port

BeaglePlay board back components location

Fig. 152 BeaglePlay board back components location#

Table 9 BeaglePlay board back components location#

Feature

Description

CC1352P7

2.4GHz BLE + SubG IEEE 802.15.4 with 1 x 2.4GHz + 1 x SubG uFL antenna

WL1807MOD

Dual band (2.4GHz & 5GHz) WiFi module with 2 x uFL antennas

DP83TD510E

Single-pair IEEE 802.3cg 10BASE-T1L Ethernet PHY

RTL8211F

Gigabit IEEE 802.11 Ethernet PHY

AM6254

Main SoC

16GB eMMC

Flash storage

2GB DDR4

RAM / Memory

BQ32002

Real Time Clock (RTC)

TPS6521901

Power Management IC

IT66121

HDMI Transmitter