.. zephyr:board:: imx8mn_evk

Overview

i.MX8M Nano LPDDR4 EVK board is based on NXP i.MX8M Nano applications processor, composed of a quad Cortex®-A53 cluster and a single Cortex®-M7 core. Zephyr OS is ported to run on the Cortex®-A53 core.

Board features:
- RAM: 2GB LPDDR4
- Storage:
  - SanDisk 16GB eMMC5.1
  - Micron 32MB QSPI NOR
  - microSD Socket
- Wireless:
  - WiFi: 2.4/5GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n
  - Bluetooth: v4.1
- USB:
  - OTG - 2x type C
- Ethernet
- PCI-E M.2
- Connectors:
  - 40-Pin Dual Row Header
- LEDs:
  - 1x Power status LED
  - 1x UART LED
- Debug
  - JTAG 20-pin connector
  - MicroUSB for UART debug, two COM ports for A53 and M7

More information about the board can be found at the NXP website_.

Supported Features

.. zephyr:board-supported-hw::

Devices

System Clock

This board configuration uses a system clock frequency of 8 MHz.

Serial Port

This board configuration uses a single serial communication channel with the CPU's UART4.

Programming and Debugging

.. zephyr:board-supported-runners::

There are multiple methods to program and debug Zephyr on the A53 core:

Option 1. Boot Zephyr by Using JLink Runner

The default runner for the board is JLink, connect the EVK board's JTAG connector to the host computer using a J-Link debugger, power up the board and stop the board at U-Boot command line.

Then use "west flash" or "west debug" command to load the zephyr.bin image from the host computer and start the Zephyr application on A53 core0.

Flash and Run

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :host-os: unix :board: imx8mn_evk/mimx8mn6/a53 :goals: flash

Then the following log could be found on UART4 console:

.. code-block:: console

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v4.1.0-3063-g38519ca2c028 ***
Hello World! imx8mn_evk/mimx8mn6/a53

Debug

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :host-os: unix :board: imx8mn_evk/mimx8mn6/a53 :goals: debug

Option 2. Boot Zephyr by Using U-Boot Command

U-Boot "cpu" command is used to load and kick Zephyr to Cortex-A secondary Core, Currently it has been supported in latest U-Boot version by patch serials_.

.. _patch serials: https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/uboot/list/?series=417536&archive=both&state=*

Step 1: Download Zephyr Image into DDR Memory

Firstly need to download Zephyr binary image into DDR memory, it can use tftp:

.. code-block:: console

tftp 0x93c00000 zephyr.bin

Or copy the Zephyr image zephyr.bin SD card and plug the card into the board, for example if copy to the FAT partition of the SD card, use the following U-Boot command to load the image into DDR memory (assuming the SD card is dev 1, fat partition ID is 1, they could be changed based on actual setup):

.. code-block:: console

fatload mmc 1:1 0x93c00000 zephyr.bin;

Step 2: Boot Zephyr

Then use the following command to boot Zephyr on the core0:

.. code-block:: console

dcache off; icache flush; go 0x93c00000;

Or use "cpu" command to boot from secondary Core, for example Core1:

.. code-block:: console

dcache flush; icache flush; cpu 1 release 0x93c00000

Use this configuration to run basic Zephyr applications and kernel tests, for example, with the :zephyr:code-sample:synchronization sample:

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/synchronization :host-os: unix :board: imx8mn_evk/mimx8mn6/a53 :goals: build

This will build an image with the synchronization sample app, boot it and display the following ram console output:

.. code-block:: console

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v4.1.0-3063-g38519ca2c028 ***
thread_a: Hello World from cpu 0 on mimx8mn_evk!
thread_b: Hello World from cpu 0 on mimx8mn_evk!
thread_a: Hello World from cpu 0 on mimx8mn_evk!
thread_b: Hello World from cpu 0 on mimx8mn_evk!
thread_a: Hello World from cpu 0 on mimx8mn_evk!

.. include:: ../../common/board-footer.rst.inc

.. _NXP website: https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/evaluation-kit-for-the-i-mx-8m-nano-applications-processor:8MNANOD4-EVK

.. _i.MX 8M Applications Processor Reference Manual: https://www.nxp.com/webapp/Download?colCode=IMX8MNRM