NVIDIA's TX1 SoC now comes on a credit-card sized module

Jurgen Stelbrink December 14, 2015 at 5:04am

I have now completed the design of the 38182. Also I have changed this design for a lite version (38188). Here I have dropped the 2 HDMI to CSI-2 bridges and have replaced them by two 22 pin FPC connectors with 0.5mm pitch. These 2 CSI-2 connectors on the right (CSI-CD and CSI-EF) have 4 lanes each and are compatible to the 22 pin connector on the Raspberry Pi carrier board for the RPi-CM (compute module). Also they are compatible to my B102 HDMI to CSI-2 bridge boards with 4 data lanes. The 2 CSI-2 connectors on the left are 2 lane CSI-2 interfaces as found on the Raspberry Pi, the HummingBoard and my B101 bridge module. In the middle of the board are 2 6 pin PicoBlade connector for two digital audio interfaces (I2S). The fan connector drives a fan in the same fashion as found on the Nvidia TX1 eval board.

So now up to 4 CSI-2 cameras may be connected: 2 with 2 lanes each and 2 with 4 lanes each. This allows me to test this 38188 together with the B102 HDMI to CSI-2 bridge module. If this is working fine, I plan to proceed with the original carrier design (38182).

The design of this lite version (38188) is finished now. So I plan to go to PCB production now and plan to populate the first prototypes in early January 2016.

Pricing: the price of this (extended) lite version will be €199 list.

Please let me know quickly if you have any recommendations or suggestions, as I will sign it off in a few days.

Jurgen Stelbrink December 4, 2015 at 2:49pm

Hi JB,

yes, the lite version will have the 2 CSI-2 connectors (15 pin FFC with 2 lanes) and the 2 USB 3 inputs. Thank you for very positive feedback.

Regards, Jurgen

JB December 3, 2015 at 10:58pm

Thx Jurgen

The lite version sounds good and the resulting price. Does this mean it's only missing the HDMI inputs but still has the CSI inputs as well as the USB 3 at that price? That would be an awesome board and exactly what I'd need a few of! Just need to source the TX1 modules individually next.

I'll send you a PM in regards to the google stuff. I was thinking you could use it for setting up a google group just for the board as well. Roger on the form...you're already nearly there now! By the time I catch up!

Overall I'm happy with the layout and design and can't really think of anything to change or improve on. I think its ready to roll.

Regards JB

Jurgen Stelbrink December 3, 2015 at 5:27pm

Hi JB,

this a certainly a possibility. As I have the SMD manufacturing in house, I can easily spin a couple of different versions. For an entry level version I could not populate the 2 HDMI in to CSI-2 bridge sections. This will roughly eliminate half the components. Also this would cut the price in half. So the list price of this lite version would be €149 net. I am not so sure about the requirement for the Google form. I appriciate your efforts there. But I think I am already past the point, where I can make serious changes in the design. I think it already meets the needs of most users. And reducing features or components is easy by not stuffing them. I think, at this point I would want to finish this design as it is now, to get prototypes in Jan 2016.

Regards, Jurgen

JB December 2, 2015 at 7:44pm

Hi Jurgen looks really good!

I can't really see anything that we haven't already covered and the price is reasonable so count me in. I need the small form factor more than anything else, the dev board just won't fly easy.

One thing I was wondering was if it's possible to produce some "blank" boards with just the USB3, uart and power components, and how that would affect the price etc, and if its at all possible to run it without. For our specific app that is all that is required. I also started to put together a google group with forms and gdrive in preparation to handing it over to you to manage. Do you think we should have this still? If so I'll try to finish it soon.

Regards JB

Dustin Franklin December 2, 2015 at 7:40pm

Impressive design Jurgen, looks really cool. I like how it can operate standalone and match the module's footprint, or cleverly interoperate with the motherboard for additional functionality. We'll pre-order when available. We also recently released the Camera Module Schematics and Layout Files for 5MP Omnivision OV5693 sensor here: https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/dlc/jetson-tx1-developer-kit-...

Patrick Poirier December 2, 2015 at 12:42pm

Hello Jurgen,

I understand that you plan to get an equivalent price as the development board, which if fine for me.

For the moment, I am planning to order the NVIDIA development board to get all my own stuff sorted out. Prior to get the TX1 onboard in need to make the Raspberry type 2 line cameras working on the CSI Bus and have them share the I2C for register commands in that aspect, I am not sure if I require an eeprom for each of them or if I cant get along with just a simple addressing scheme ising the existing signals.

Best of luck with this project, I will keep an eye for updates and progress reports and ultimately buyig this board.

Jurgen Stelbrink December 2, 2015 at 3:39am

I have made good progress on the design of the carrier board for the TX1. It is now 80% done. I expect to complete it within the next week. Then PCBs will be made and first prototypes can be build in January.

I plan to open this carrier board for peer-orders shortly. The list price will be EUR 299 net. I consider this project as fairly low risk. Most of the circuit modules I have used before on other projects, so they are well understood. The only unknown is the TX1 and its 400 pin connector. I have paid close attention to the orientation and the pinout of this connector. So I expect that the rev 1 boards will be usable. However, they may have a few bugs or jumper wires. If they are not usable, I will make the corrections and get rev 2 produced in March 2016. So if rev 2 is required for a usable board, then there will be a 2 month delay.

Depending on the number of boards pre-ordered there will be a discount for everyone who pre-orders.

10 pcs: EUR 279 net

25 pcs: EUR 269 net

50 pcs: EUR 259 net

100 pcs: EUR 249 net

Payment by Paypal. 40% pre-payment at the time of pre-order. The rest when the board is ready to ship. Please let me know, what you think.

These are the recent changes:

- the 4 pin PicoBlade connector on the top right is now 12V power in (up to 2A)

- on board power converter from 12V to 5V 3A to power the 2 USB3 ports at 900mA each plus the on board power supplies for the various low voltages

- new 30 pin connector on the bottom for GPIO, SDIO and SPI (optional)

- SD card socket moved to the edge on the carrier board

- the UART connector on the bottom right will be the debug UART connector for the TX1

- the carrier board is designed for standalone operation - however certain features will only be available, when it is plugged into a (modular) motherboard: 2x CAN, Gb Ethernet, PCIe, SDIO, 42V to 12V power converter, M.2, etc.

- I am looking at adding an extra board in between this carrier board and the TX1, to bring out all the CSI-2 signals on a 120 pin connector, so that the modules designed for the TX1 eval board may be used in this setup as well

- also I am considering follow on versions of the carrier board with alternative video inputs like HDMI 4k video with two 4 lane CSI-2 interfaces (using CSI ports C to F) and HD seal interfaces using the TI or Maxim deserializer chips

Please let me know, if you have any comments.

Regards, Jurgen

Thomas Stone November 30, 2015 at 8:58am

"Guide to set up NVIDIA TK1 to communicate with Pixhawk"

https://github.com/diydrones/companion/tree/master/Nvidia_JTK1/Ubuntu

Thomas Stone November 29, 2015 at 7:29pm

@benbojangles has been providing great descriptions on his experience with TK1.

http://diydrones.com/group/volta/forum/topics/companion-tk1

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NVIDIA's TX1 SoC now comes on a credit-card sized module

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