Blackfin based development platform
Lee Begg
Further to the WLS blog post [1] and last nights discussion, I'm having a
closer look at the Blackfin based dev boards, and in particular the Surveyor
SRV-1.
http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/
Price: US$350 (blackfin, camera, wifi)
or US$160 (blackfin, camera)
+ US$16 for signal breakout board
Any comments about the board or it's price?
1.3 Megapixel camera or VGA low-light camera?
Later
Lee
[1] http://www.whitelabelspace.com/2009/10/how-to-build-radar-altimeter.html
Lee Begg
first.
On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:41:07 Lee Begg wrote:
> http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/
>
> Price: US$350 (blackfin, camera, wifi)
> or US$160 (blackfin, camera)
> + US$16 for signal breakout board
On closer inspection, probably don't need the signal breakout board.
The price seems a little high, but I don't have anything comparable.
>
> Any comments about the board or it's price?
I have a couple of concerns.
Lack of secondary storage is the big one. While it has suitable eeprom and
SDRAM (for program and small images), there is no large flash storage or port.
I note the RCM board (an extra US$170) has a micro SD card slot, so adding
something shouldn't be too hard.
Access to some of the extras on the blackfin chip are missing. In particular I
note the CAN bus and a large number of GIO pins are not available through the
connector.
The mounting would need some work to survive a rocket launch or balloon flight
landing.
On the plus side:
- Good processor speed, 500 MHz
- Low power usage: approx < 1 W
- Can run uclinux or the custom firmware
- Good community
- Open source toolchain
- Fairly good documentation
The Wifi looks useful. The antenna could easily be replaced with something more
directional and have better gain if needed.
> 1.3 Megapixel camera or VGA low-light camera?
My first thought was for the 1.3 MP camera. But a low-light camera might be
better for sub-optimal lighting on rocket launches or balloon flights.
Later
Lee
Jonathan Oxer
> The price seems a little high, but I don't have anything comparable.
It only seems high if wifi is included. US$160 for the basic board +
camera seems pretty decent to me for something that is small and fast.
> Lack of secondary storage is the big one. While it has suitable eeprom and
> SDRAM (for program and small images), there is no large flash storage or port.
> I note the RCM board (an extra US$170) has a micro SD card slot, so adding
> something shouldn't be too hard.
However, it does have SPI which means adding something like a Vinculum
VNC1L shouldn't be too hard. That would give two host/slave USB channels
with full VFAT support (among other things) so mass storage could be as
simple as a USB memory stick with CSV files written to it.
VNC1L is an LQFP-48 package though so we're not talking about a weekend
DIY project, it'll take a fairly intricate PCB and reflow soldering to
assemble it. On the upside, functional prototyping is trivial by using a
VDIP1 module with the VNC1L preinstalled. Or a VDIP1 could simply be
used as-is if it's not too big.
> Access to some of the extras on the blackfin chip are missing. In particular I
> note the CAN bus and a large number of GIO pins are not available through the
> connector.
Lack of CAN could be annoying. Not in the immediate short-term but
ultimately for integration into the vehicle network.
Cheers :-)
Jonathan Oxer
Practical Arduino: <www.practicalarduino.com>
Lee Begg
> On Fri, 2009-10-09 at 22:11 +1300, Lee Begg wrote:
> > The price seems a little high, but I don't have anything comparable.
>
> It only seems high if wifi is included. US$160 for the basic board +
> camera seems pretty decent to me for something that is small and fast.
So we would have to sort out some other way of communicating with the board.
Maybe use the UART that the MatchPort was using?
> > Lack of secondary storage is the big one. While it has suitable eeprom
> > and SDRAM (for program and small images), there is no large flash storage
> > or port. I note the RCM board (an extra US$170) has a micro SD card slot,
> > so adding something shouldn't be too hard.
>
> However, it does have SPI which means adding something like a Vinculum
> VNC1L shouldn't be too hard. That would give two host/slave USB channels
> with full VFAT support (among other things) so mass storage could be as
> simple as a USB memory stick with CSV files written to it.
Looks neat.
> VNC1L is an LQFP-48 package though so we're not talking about a weekend
> DIY project, it'll take a fairly intricate PCB and reflow soldering to
> assemble it. On the upside, functional prototyping is trivial by using a
> VDIP1 module with the VNC1L preinstalled. Or a VDIP1 could simply be
> used as-is if it's not too big.
The VDIP1 looks small enough for now.
> > Access to some of the extras on the blackfin chip are missing. In
> > particular I note the CAN bus and a large number of GIO pins are not
> > available through the connector.
>
> Lack of CAN could be annoying. Not in the immediate short-term but
> ultimately for integration into the vehicle network.
I've just found the Analog Devices "Stamp" dev board, which does have access
to all the IO pins, for a price a little higher than the SV1 with camera
(without wifi). The board is much larger and no camera.
http://www.analog.com/en/embedded-processing-dsp/blackfin/BF537-
STAMP/processors/product.html
The SV1 is about the size of your palm (approx 50x60mm).
I suspect, while we might use one of these dev boards, we will eventually have
to design our own board.
> Cheers :-)
>
> Jonathan Oxer
> Practical Arduino: <www.practicalarduino.com>
Later
Lee