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

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#

Front

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

Back

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

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