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Ubuntu 24.04

Ubuntu 24.04 Noble images are available in headless and minimal flavors.

ImageDescription
Headless
  • Base Ubuntu root filesystem with common utilities
  • Common embedded tools such as i2c-tools, can-utils, gpiod, libiio-utils, setserial, and picocom
  • Full TS-7250-V3 hardware support
  • Networking tools including Wi-Fi support
  • Development tools and libraries
Minimal
  • Small Ubuntu root filesystem
  • Basic wired networking and minimal hardware support
  • No development tools

Images

Image FileType
ts7250v3-ubuntu-24.04-noble-headless-20250219.tar.xzHeadless
ts7250v3-ubuntu-24.04-noble-minimal-20250219.tar.xzMinimal

Writing an Image

# Replace /dev/sdc with the target USB drive.
sudo sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdc
sudo sgdisk -n 0:0:0 -t 0:8300 /dev/sdc
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1
sudo mkdir /mnt/usb/
sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb/
sudo tar --numeric-owner -xf ts7250v3-ubuntu-24.04-noble-minimal-20250219.tar.xz -C /mnt/usb/
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/usb/
sudo umount /mnt/usb/

Configuring the Network

The network in Debian is configured with /etc/network/interfaces. For complete documentation, see Debian's documentation here

Some common examples are shown below. On this release network interfaces follow the predictable network interface names. Run ip addr show to get a list of the network interfaces.

Most commonly:

end0 - Ethernet device 0 (CPU Ethernet) enp1s0 - Ethernet PCIe port 1 slot 0 Ethernet usb<mac> - USB Ethernet wlan0 - Wi-Fi

DHCP on end0. Create the file /etc/network/interfaces.d/end0 with the contents:

allow-hotplug end0
iface end0 inet dhcp

Static IP on end0. Create the file /etc/network/interfaces.d/end0 with the contents:

allow-hotplug end0
iface end0 inet static
address 192.0.2.7/24
gateway 192.0.2.254

These will take effect on the next boot, or by restarting the networking service:

service networking restart

Wi-Fi Client

Wireless interfaces are also managed with configuration files in /etc/network/interfaces.d/. For example, to connect as a client to a WPA network with DHCP. Note some or all of this software may already be installed on the target.

Install wpa_supplicant:

apt-get update && apt-get install wpasupplicant -y

Run:

wpa_passphrase youressid yourpassword

This command will output information similar to:

network={
ssid="youressid"
#psk="yourpassword"
psk=151790fab3bf3a1751a269618491b54984e192aa19319fc667397d45ec8dee5b
}

Use the hashed PSK in the specific network interfaces file for added security. Create the file /etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0 with the contents:

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid youressid
wpa-psk 151790fab3bf3a1751a269618491b54984e192aa19319fc667397d45ec8dee5b

To have this take effect immediately:

service networking restart

For more information on configuring Wi-Fi, see Debian's guide here.

Host a Wi-Fi Access Point

note

The latest image for this platform as of April 28th, 2022 has known issues with the Wi-Fi driver due to incompatibility with cfg80211 powersave modes.

If using Wi-Fi, it is strongly recommended to bring up the Wi-Fi interface, and then run iw wlan0 set power_save off to disable powersave modes.

This issue will be addressed in future images and has already been addressed in our kernel sources. We will continue to provide updates as we receive them from the Wi-Fi module manufacturer.

This section will discuss setting up the WiFi device as an access point that is bridged to an ethernet port. That is, clients can connect to the AP and will be connected to the ethernet network through this network bridge. The ethernet network must provide a DHCP server; this will be passed through the bridge to WiFi client devices as they connect.

It is also possible to run a DHCP client on the platform itself. In this case the hostapd.conf file needs to be set up without bridging and a DHCP server needs to be configured. Refer to Debian's documentation for more details on DHCP server configuration.

The 'hostapd' utility is used to manage the access point of the device. This is usually installed by default, but can be installed with:

apt-get update && apt-get install hostapd -y
note

The install process may start an unconfigured 'hostapd' process.

This process must be killed before moving forward.

Modify the file /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf to have the following lines:

/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
ssid=YourWiFiName
wpa_passphrase=Somepassphrase
interface=wlan0
channel=7
driver=nl80211
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
note

Refer to the kernel's hostapd documentation for more wireless configuration options.

The access point can be started and tested by hand:

hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

Installing New Software

Debian provides the apt-get system which allows management of pre-built applications. The apt tools require a network connection to the internet in order to automatically download and install new software. The update command will download a list of the current versions of pre-built packages.

apt-get update

A common example is installing Java runtime support for a system. Find the package name first with search, and then install it.

root@ts:~# apt-cache search openjdk
default-jdk - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit
default-jdk-doc - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit (documentation)
default-jdk-headless - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit (headless)
default-jre - Standard Java or Java compatible Runtime
default-jre-headless - Standard Java or Java compatible Runtime (headless)
jtreg - Regression Test Harness for the OpenJDK platform
libreoffice - office productivity suite (metapackage)
openjdk-8-dbg - Java runtime based on OpenJDK (debugging symbols)
openjdk-8-demo - Java runtime based on OpenJDK (demos and examples)
openjdk-8-doc - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) documentation
openjdk-8-jdk - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK)
openjdk-8-jdk-headless - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) (headless)
openjdk-8-jre - OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT
openjdk-8-jre-headless - OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT (headless)
openjdk-8-jre-zero - Alternative JVM for OpenJDK, using Zero/Shark
openjdk-8-source - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) source files
uwsgi-app-integration-plugins - plugins for integration of uWSGI and application
uwsgi-plugin-jvm-openjdk-8 - Java plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 8)
uwsgi-plugin-jwsgi-openjdk-8 - JWSGI plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 8)
uwsgi-plugin-ring-openjdk-8 - Closure/Ring plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 8)
uwsgi-plugin-servlet-openjdk-8 - JWSGI plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 8)
java-package - Utility for creating Java Debian packages

In this case, the wanted package will likely be the "openjdk-8-jre" package. Names of packages can be found on Debian's wiki pages or the packages site.

With the package name apt-get install can be used to install the prebuilt packages.

apt-get install openjdk-8-jre
# More than one package can be installed at a time.
apt-get install openjdk-8-jre nano vim mplayer

For more information on using apt-get refer to Debian's documentation here.

Setting up SSH

To install ssh, install the package as normal with apt-get:

apt-get install openssh-server

Make sure the device is configured on the network and set a password for the remote user. SSH will not allow remote connections without a password or a valid SSH key pair.

passwd root
note

The default OpenSSH server will not permit root to login via SSH as a security precaution. To allow root to log in via ssh anyway, edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and add the line PermitRootLogin yes in the authentication section. This change will take effect after reboot or after sshd service restart.

After this setup it is now possible to connect from a remote PC supporting SSH. On Linux/OS X this is the "ssh" command, or from Windows using a client such as PuTTY.

note

If a DNS server is not present on the target network, it is possible to save time at login by adding "UseDNS no" in /etc/ssh/sshd_config.

Starting Applications Automatically

A systemd service can be created to start up various applications. Create the file /etc/systemd/system/yourapp.service with the contents:

[Unit]
Description=Run an application on startup
# Uncomment the following line if networking is a dependency of the application being run
# After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/your_app_or_script

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

The service can be started immediately and enabled on future boots with the following:

# Start the app on startup, but will not start it now
systemctl enable yourapp.service

# Start the app now, but doesn't change auto startup
systemctl start yourapp.service

See the systemd documentation for more information on how systemd services can be set up and configured.

Features

ADC

The TS-7250-V3 supports five 12-bit ADC channels through the i.MX6UL ADC. All channels support 0-30 V input, and channels 1-3 can optionally be used as 0-20 mA current loop inputs. The ADC header provides dedicated analog ground pins to reduce noise.

The ADCs are exposed through Linux IIO:

iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage0
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage1
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage5
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage8
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage9
ADC Header PinSchematic NameIIO deviceIIO nameVoltageCurrent loop
1AN_CH12198000.adcvoltage00-30 V0-20 mA
3AN_CH22198000.adcvoltage10-30 V0-20 mA
5AN_CH32198000.adcvoltage50-30 V0-20 mA
7AN_CH42198000.adcvoltage80-30 VN/A
9AN_CH52198000.adcvoltage90-30 VN/A
note

The inputs are rated for 30 V maximum, but the ADC front-end scales 40 V down to the 2.5 V reference. A 30 V input will not read the full-scale 12-bit value.

Current loop mode is controlled with GPIO:

gpioset 20ac000.gpio 7=0 # AN_CH1 voltage
gpioset 20ac000.gpio 8=0 # AN_CH2 voltage
gpioset 20ac000.gpio 9=0 # AN_CH3 voltage

gpioset 20ac000.gpio 7=1 # AN_CH1 current
gpioset 20ac000.gpio 8=1 # AN_CH2 current
gpioset 20ac000.gpio 9=1 # AN_CH3 current

For C applications, libiio provides the fastest API and reaches approximately 6 ksps across all channels. Python bindings currently reach approximately 2 ksps with similar logic.

C Example
/* Build with gcc adc-test.c -o adc-test -liio 
* Gets ~6 ksps
* At the time of writing this does not support the buffer interface */

#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <iio.h>

uint32_t scale_mv(uint32_t raw)
{
/* We need to scale for the ADC range, of a 12-bit adc at 0-2500mV, and
* the resistor divider (R1+R2/R2)
* (2500/4095) * ((33000 + 2200)/2200)
* This below is this fraction simplified
*/
return raw * 8000/819;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
static struct iio_context *ctx;
static struct iio_device *dev;
static struct iio_channel *chn[5];
int i, ret;
long long sample;

ctx = iio_create_default_context();
assert(ctx);
dev = iio_context_find_device(ctx, "2198000.adc");
assert(dev);

chn[0] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, "voltage0", false);
chn[1] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, "voltage1", false);
chn[2] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, "voltage5", false);
chn[3] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, "voltage8", false);
chn[4] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, "voltage9", false);

for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
ret = iio_channel_attr_read_longlong(chn[i], "raw", &sample);
assert(!ret);
printf("AN_CH%d_mv=%d\n", i, scale_mv((uint32_t)sample));
}

return 0;
}
Python Example
#!/usr/bin/env python3

import iio

ctx = iio.Context('local:')
dev = ctx.find_device('2198000.adc')

scan_channels = ["voltage0", "voltage1", "voltage5", "voltage8", "voltage9"]
i = int(0)
for chan_name in scan_channels:
chn = dev.find_channel(chan_name)
raw = int(chn.attrs['raw'].value)

# Scale 0-4095 to 0-2500(mV)
scaled = raw * (2.5/4095)

# Scale voltage divider on the pin
r1 = 330
r2 = 22
v = scaled / (r2 / (r1 + r2))

i += 1
print('AN_CH{}_V={:.3f}'.format(i, v))

Bluetooth

On many boards, support for Bluetooth is provided by the BlueZ project. BlueZ supports different profiles for HID, A2DP, and more. Refer to the BlueZ documentation for more information. Please see our BLE Examples page for information on installing BlueZ from source, getting started, and using demo applications.

BlueZ Bluetooth modules can be activated with the following commands:

echo BT_POWER_UP > /dev/wilc_bt
sleep 1
echo BT_DOWNLOAD_FW > /dev/wilc_bt
sleep 1

btattach -N -B /dev/ttymxc2 -S 115200 &
sleep 1
bluetoothctl power on
sleep 1
hcitool cmd 0x3F 0x0053 00 10 0E 00 01
kill %1 # This terminates the above btattach command
sleep 1
btattach -B /dev/ttymxc2 -S 921600 &

At this point, the device is fully set up to be controlled by various BlueZ tools. For example, to do a scan of nearby devices:

bluetoothctl
power on
scan on

This will return a list of devices such as:

root@ts-imx6ul:~# bluetoothctl  
Agent registered
[CHG] Controller F8:F0:05:XX:XX:XX Pairable: yes
[bluetooth]# power on
Changing power on succeeded
[CHG] Controller F8:F0:05:XX:XX:XX Powered: yes
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller F8:F0:05:XX:XX:XX Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 51:DD:C0:XX:XX:XX Device_Name
[NEW] Device 2A:20:E2:XX:XX:XX Device_Name
[CHG] Device 51:DD:C0:XX:XX:XX RSSI: -93
[CHG] Device 51:DD:C0:XX:XX:XX RSSI: -82
[NEW] Device E2:08:B5:XX:XX:XX Device_Name
[CHG] Device 51:DD:C0:XX:XX:XX RSSI: -93
[CHG] Device 2A:20:E2:XX:XX:XX RSSI: -94
[NEW] Device 68:62:92:XX:XX:XX Device_Name
[NEW] Device 68:79:12:XX:XX:XX Device_Name
[bluetooth]# quit

Other supported commands include:

# Allow the BT chip to enter sleep mode
echo BT_FW_CHIP_ALLOW_SLEEP > /dev/wilc_bt

# Power down the BT radio when not in use
echo BT_POWER_DOWN > /dev/wilc_bt

CAN

The TS-7250-V3 CPU has two FlexCAN ports using Linux SocketCAN. These are available on the COM3 header.

ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 1000000
ip link set can1 up type can bitrate 1000000

At this point, applications can use standard SocketCAN APIs. Debian images include cansend and candump:

candump can0
cansend can0 7Df#03010c

In production use, set a restart timeout so the CAN bus can recover automatically from a bus-off condition:

ip link set can0 type can restart-ms 100
ip link set can1 type can restart-ms 100

CPU

This device uses the NXP i.MX6UL CPU, running at up to 696 MHz, based on an Arm Cortex-A7 core and targeting low power consumption.

Refer to NXP's i.MX6UL documentation for detailed CPU information.

GPIO

GPIO pins can be interacted with via gpiod tools such as gpioset and gpioget. For example, the En. Relay is chip and line 4 8:

gpioset 4 8=1  # Enable the relay solenoid
gpioset 4 8=0 # Disable the relay solenoid

To read the value of a GPIO line, gpioget can be used, for example to read the state of the Push Switch:

gpioget 2 18

eMMC Interface

Our default programming of the eMMC is the same as the SD card image for standard partitions.

The default software image contains 3 partitions:

DeviceContents
/dev/mmcblk1Full eMMC block device
/dev/mmcblk1boot0eMMC boot partition
/dev/mmcblk1boot1eMMC boot partition
/dev/mmcblk1p1Full Debian linux partition

This platform includes an eMMC device, a soldered down MMC flash device. Our off the shelf builds are 4 GB, but up to 64 GB are available for customized builds. The eMMC flash appears to Linux as an SD card at /dev/mmcblk1. Our default programming of the eMMC is the same as the SD card image for standard partitions, but includes additional boot partitions that are used by U-Boot and are not affected by the eMMC partition table.

The eMMC module has a similar concern by default to SD cards in that they should not be powered down during a write/erase cycle. However, this eMMC module includes support for setting a fuse for a "Write Reliability" mode, and a "psuedo SLC (pSLC)" mode. With both of these enabled all writes will be atomic to 512 B and each NAND cell will be treated as a single layer rather than a multi-layer cell. If a sector is being written during a power loss, a block is guaranteed to have either the old or new data. Even in cases where the wrong data is present on the next boot, fsck is often able to deal with the older data being present in a 512 B block. The downsides to setting these modes are that it will reduce the overall write speed and halve the available space on the eMMC to roughly 1.759 GB. Please note that even with these settings, Technologic Systems strongly recommends designing the end application to eliminate any situations where a power-loss event can occur while any disk is mounted as read/write. The TS-SILO option can help to eliminate the dangerous situation.

The "mmc-utils" package is used to enable these modes. The command is pre-installed on the latest image. Additionally we have created a script to safely enable the write reliability and pSLC modes. Since the U-Boot binary and environment reside on the eMMC, care must be taken to save the current state of the boot partitions, enable the modes, restore the boot partitions, and re-enable proper booting options. This script can be used in combination with the production mechanism scripting to complete these steps as part of an end application production process.

danger

Enabling these modes causes all data on the disk to become invalid and must be rewritten. Do not attempt to run the 'mmc' commands from the script individually, all steps in the script must occur as they are or the unit may be unable to boot. If there are any failures of the script, care must be taken to resolve any issues while the unit is still booted or it may fail to boot in the future.

danger

The script is only compatible with Rev. D or newer PCBs. Running the script on any previous PCB revision WILL result in the unit being unable to boot! There is no safe way to enable these modes on previous PCB revisions.

warning

Enabling these modes is a one-way operation, it is not possible to undo them once they are made. Because of this, setting these eMMC modes will invalidate Technologic Systems' return/replacement warranty on the unit. See the warranty section for more information on this.

The emmc_reliability script can be found in the TS-7553-V2 utilities github repository.

The script must be run when boot from any media other than eMMC, such as SD, NFS, or USB. No partition of the eMMC disk can be mounted when these commands are run. Doing so may result in corruption or inability for the unit to boot. Once the pSLC mode is enabled, all data on the disk will become invalid. This means the partition table will need to be re-created, the filesystems formatted, and all filesystem contents re-written to disk. This is why we recommend using this script in conjunction with the production mechanism scripting. The emmc_reliability script can be run first, then the rest of the production script can create and format the partitions as well as write data to disk.

The script requires a single argument, the device node of the eMMC disk, and will output verbosely to stderr. Any specific errors will also be printed out on stderr.

Example usage:

./emmc_reliability /dev/mmcblk1

Upon successful run, the script will return 0. Any errors will return a positive code. See the script for detailed error code information.

Ethernet Ports

The NXP processor implements a 10/100 ethernet controller with support built into the Linux kernel. Standard Linux utilities such as ifconfig/ip can be used to control this interface. See the Configuring the Network section for more details. For the specifics of this interface see the CPU manual.

FEC PTP Support

PTP is supported in Linux via the linuxptp project. This allows synchronizing the system clock to within ±1 us.

Note that Linux kernel version 4.9 or greater is required for PTP support with the i.MX6UL CPU. An example of setting up an ethernet interface with PTP and adjusting the clock based on that is below.

apt-get install linuxptp -y

# For PTP on eth0
phc2sys -s /dev/ptp0 -w &
ptp4l -2 -H -i eth0 -m -p /dev/ptp0 &

# For PTP on eth1
phc2sys -s /dev/ptp1 -w &
ptp4l -2 -H -i eth1 -m -p /dev/ptp1 &

If the clocks are significantly off this may take time for the clocks to converge.

FPGA

The TS-7250-V3 FPGA provides board-specific I/O including GPIO banks, 16550-compatible UARTs, SPI, I2C, PWM, ADC support, interrupts, and the PC/104 ISA interface.

The FPGA is memory mapped at 0x50000000. The kernel drivers expose the supported interfaces through standard Linux APIs where possible, which is the recommended access method for applications.

Useful top-level regions include:

RegionDescription
0x50000000FPGA top-level/syscon region
0x5000010016550-compatible UART region
0x50000180FPGA SPI controller region
0x50004010 and laterFPGA GPIO banks
0x50004050PC/104 ISA access window

The syscon register at offset 0x08 controls several muxes, including mikroBUS GPIO mode, PC/104 GPIO mode, DIO SPI GPIO mode, and the optional DIO UARTs. Prefer tshwctl for syscon access:

# Read a syscon register
tshwctl --address 0x08 --peek32

# Enable the DIO header UART muxes
tshwctl --address 0x08 --poke32 0x6000

PC/104 Bus

The TS-7250-V3 includes an ISA bus for compatibility with PC/104 peripherals. User space can access the bus using files exposed by the fpgaisa driver:

/sys/bus/platform/devices/50004050.fpgaisa/
FileDescription
io88-bit strobes on IOR/IOW
io1616-bit strobes on IOR/IOW
ioalt1616-bit strobes on IOR/IOW with alternate pinout
mem88-bit strobes on MEMR/MEMW
mem1616-bit strobes on MEMR/MEMW
memalt1616-bit strobes on MEMR/MEMW with alternate pinout

For 16-bit accesses, addresses must be aligned to an even byte and reads/writes must use multiples of two bytes.

The pc104_peekpoke utility can be used from a shell:

Usage pc104_peekpoke <io/mem> <8/16/alt16> <address> [value]
Eg: pc104_peekpoke io 8 0x140

PC/104 cycles are approximately 1 us per access on either 8-bit or 16-bit accesses.

FRAM

The TS-7250-V3 supports an optional Fujitsu MB85RS16N FRAM device. This is a 2 KiB non-volatile SPI memory with very high write endurance and long data retention.

Linux exposes the FRAM as a flat EEPROM file:

/sys/bus/spi/devices/spi4.1/eeprom
note

FRAM is not present on all TS-7250-V3 configurations.

I2C

The i.MX6UL supports I2C at 100 kHz or 400 kHz fast mode. This platform uses two CPU I2C buses for onboard devices and one FPGA I2C bus for off-board mikroBUS use.

DeviceAddressDescription
/dev/i2c-00x1eMagnetometer
/dev/i2c-00x54Supervisory microcontroller on early hardware
/dev/i2c-00x68RTC
/dev/i2c-00x6aIMU
/dev/i2c-10x20NXP PCA9555 GPIO expander, chip 2-0020
/dev/i2c-10x64ATSHA204, not populated by default
/dev/i2c-4N/AmikroBUS header

IMU

Accelerometer (ST ISM330)

This platform features an ST ism330dhcx accelerometer / gyroscope. The accelerometer has an acceleration range of ±2/±4/±8/±16 g.

The accelerometer is accessed through IIO with channels:

  • accel_x
  • accel_y
  • accel_z
  • timestamp

For example:

# ISM330DHCX
iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_x
iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_y
iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_z

The below examples will be written for the ism330dhcx_accel, but if this fails instead use the ism330dlc_accel device. These commands will provide a single sample of all of the values:

root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_x
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_x' (input), attr 'injection_raw', ERROR: Permission denied (-13)
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_x' (input), attr 'raw', value '-183'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_x' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.000598'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_x' (input), attr 'scale_available', value '0.000598 0.001196 0.002392 0.004785'
root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_y
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_y' (input), attr 'injection_raw', ERROR: Permission denied (-13)
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_y' (input), attr 'raw', value '-292'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_y' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.000598'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_y' (input), attr 'scale_available', value '0.000598 0.001196 0.002392 0.004785'
root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_z
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'injection_raw', ERROR: Permission denied (-13)
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'raw', value '16491'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.000598'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'scale_available', value '0.000598 0.001196 0.002392 0.004785'

To get the real world value, multiply the scale * the raw value. In this case:

  • X: -0.109434 g
  • Y: -0.174616 g
  • Z: 9.861618 g

The default scale is ±2, but ±2/±4/±8/±16 can be selected by setting the scale:

dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.000598'
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input), attr 'scale_available', value '0.000598 0.001196 0.002392 0.004785'

To set ±4, you would write the second available scale:

iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel accel_x scale 0.001196

The scale values are not independent on this device, and setting x/y/z will set the scale for all 3.

This driver also supports pulling continuous samples using the buffer interface. These can be accessed using iio_readdev:

iio_readdev ism330dhcx_accel -T 0 -s 128 > samples.bin

The format of this file is specified with iio_attr:

root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c ism330dhcx_accel
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_x' (input, index: 0, format: le:S16/16>>0), found 4 channel-specific attributes
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_y' (input, index: 1, format: le:S16/16>>0), found 4 channel-specific attributes
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'accel_z' (input, index: 2, format: le:S16/16>>0), found 4 channel-specific attributes
dev 'ism330dhcx_accel', channel 'timestamp' (input, index: 3, format: le:S64/64>>0), found 0 channel-specific attributes

The samples are padded to the nearest 8-bytes, so this means the binary format is:

BitsDescription
15:0accel_x, little endian, signed
15:0accel_y, little endian, signed
15:0accel_z, little endian, signed
63:0timestamp, little endian, signed
15:0Padding

The unix utility hexdump supports formatting options which can parse these fields:

root@tsimx6ul:~# hexdump samples.bin --format '1/2 "X:%d " 1/2 "Y:%d " 1/2 "Z:%d " 1/8 "TS:%d" 1/2 "" "\n"' | head -n 4
X:-95 Y:-163 Z:8221 TS:200185381271666439
X:-107 Y:-147 Z:8248 TS:200190332264480519
X:-100 Y:-155 Z:8263 TS:200195283888013063
X:-95 Y:-159 Z:8253 TS:200200232540667655

This gives the raw values which can then be multiplied by the scale to get the real world value.

The IIO library can also be used to fill buffers with samples for processing. For example:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import struct
import iio

ctx = iio.Context('local:')
ctx.set_timeout(0)
dev = ctx.find_device('ism330dhcx_accel')

with open(f'/sys/bus/iio/devices/{dev.id}/sampling_frequency', 'w') as f:
f.write(f"833.000")

for chan_name in ["accel_x", "accel_y", "accel_z"]:
chn = dev.find_channel(chan_name)
chn.enabled = True

# We will request 64 samples at a time
buffer = iio.Buffer(dev, 64, False)
# sample size (3x 16-bit signed data)
sample_size = 6
# Refill and process the buffer
buffer.refill()
data = buffer.read()
for i in range(0, len(data), sample_size):
if i + sample_size <= len(data):
x, y, z = struct.unpack('<hhh', data[i:i+sample_size])
print(f' accel_x={x}, accel_y={y}, accel_z={z}')

for chn in dev.channels:
chn.enabled = False

This can also be done using the C library:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iio.h>

#define NUM_CHANNELS 3
#define SAMPLE_SIZE 6 // 3x 16-bit signed data (2 bytes per axis)

void process_samples(struct iio_buffer *buffer, size_t sample_size) {
char *data = iio_buffer_start(buffer);
size_t buffer_size = iio_buffer_end(buffer) - iio_buffer_start(buffer);
int16_t x, y, z;

for (size_t i = 0; i < buffer_size; i += sample_size) {
memcpy(&x, &data[i], sizeof(x));
memcpy(&y, &data[i + sizeof(x)], sizeof(y));
memcpy(&z, &data[i + 2 * sizeof(x)], sizeof(z));
printf("accel_x=%d, accel_y=%d, accel_z=%d\n", x, y, z);
}
}

int main() {
struct iio_context *ctx;
struct iio_device *dev;
struct iio_channel *channels[NUM_CHANNELS];
struct iio_buffer *buffer;
const char *channel_names[NUM_CHANNELS] = { "accel_x", "accel_y", "accel_z" };

// Create context and find device
ctx = iio_create_local_context();
if (!ctx || !(dev = iio_context_find_device(ctx, "ism330dhcx_accel")) &&
!(dev = iio_context_find_device(ctx, "ism330dlc_accel"))) {
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to create context or find device\n");
iio_context_destroy(ctx);
return 1;
}

// Enable channels and set sampling frequency
for (int i = 0; i < NUM_CHANNELS; i++) {
channels[i] = iio_device_find_channel(dev, channel_names[i], false);
if (!channels[i] || iio_channel_attr_write(channels[i], "sampling_frequency", "833.000") < 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to find or configure channel %s\n", channel_names[i]);
iio_context_destroy(ctx);
return 1;
}
iio_channel_enable(channels[i]);
}

// Create buffer and process samples
buffer = iio_device_create_buffer(dev, 64, false);
if (!buffer || iio_buffer_refill(buffer) < 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to create or refill buffer\n");
iio_context_destroy(ctx);
return 1;
}

process_samples(buffer, SAMPLE_SIZE);

// Cleanup
iio_buffer_destroy(buffer);
iio_context_destroy(ctx);

return 0;
}

Gyroscope (ST ISM330)

This platform features an ST ism330dhcx accelerometer / gyroscope. The gyroscope has a selectable angular range of ±125/±250/±500/±1000/±2000 dps

The gyroscope is accessed through IIO with channels:

  • anglvel_x
  • anglvel_y
  • anglvel_z
  • timestamp

Magnetometer (ST IIS2MDCTR)

This board includes an ST IIS2MDCTR 3-axis magnetometer, which has a magnetic field dynamic range of ±50 gauss (16 bits of precision at up to 150 Hz).

The magnetometer is accessed through Linux's industrial I/O (IIO) subsystem as iis2mdc with channels:

  • magn_x
  • magn_y
  • magn_z
  • timestamp

For example:

root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c iis2mdc -c magn_x
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_x' (input), attr 'raw', value '630'
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_x' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.001500'
root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c iis2mdc -c magn_y
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_y' (input), attr 'raw', value '-165'
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_y' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.001500'
root@tsimx6ul:~# iio_attr -c iis2mdc -c magn_z
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_z' (input), attr 'raw', value '9'
dev 'lis2mdl_magn', channel 'magn_z' (input), attr 'scale', value '0.001500'
note

The 5.10 LTS kernel did not have the same "iis2mdc" driver, but uses a drop in under the name "lis2mdl". use this as the device name on 5.10 instead.

This shows a snapshot of the x, y, z values. To get the measured field strength along each axis, multiply the scale by the raw value to get the actual reading in milligauss. In the above example:

  • X: 0.945 mG (milligauss)
  • Y: -0.2475 mG
  • Z: 0.0135 mG

Interrupts

This section is incomplete in the upstream manual at this time.

LEDs

LEDs can be manipulated from userspace using the LED sysfs interface. The LEDs have 4 behaviors from default software:

Green BehaviorRed behaviorMeaning
Solid OnOffThe kernel has booted and the system is running.
OffSolid OnThe unit has powered on and is in the bootloader.
On for 10s, off for 100ms, and repeatingOn for 10s, off for 100ms, and repeatingThe watchdog is continuously resetting the board. This happens when the system cannot find a valid boot device, or the watchdog is otherwise not being fed. This is normally fed by the kernel once a valid boot media has started. See the Watchdog Timer section for more details.
OffOffThe device is unable to boot. Typically either it is not being supplied with enough voltage, or the unit has been otherwise damaged. If a stable voltage is being provided and the supply is capable of providing at least 1A to the unit, an RMA is suggested.
OffBlinking about 5ms on, about 10ms off.The device is receiving too little power, or something is drawing too much current from the unit's power rails causing the unit to reboot consistently.

The red and green LEDs can be controlled from userspace after bootup using the sysfs LED interface. For example, to turn on the red LED:

echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/red-led/brightness

A number of triggers are also available, including timers, disk activity, and heartbeat. These allow the LEDs to represent various system activities as they occur. See the kernel LED documentation for more information on triggers and general use of LED class devices.

We also use the LED control system to control a number of DIO pins which need to have their default state specified. See the DIO section for more information on this.

MicroSD Interface

The i.MX6UL SD card controller internal to the CPU provides support for microSD cards and is fully compliant with the SD specification. This controller has been tested with Sandisk Extreme SD cards which allow read speeds up to 20.5MB/s, and write speeds up to 21.5MB/s.

Our default software image contains a single partition:

DeviceContents
/dev/mmcblk0SD Card block device
/dev/mmcblk0p1Full Debian linux partition

Supervisory Microcontroller

note

The supervisory features are supported in Linux kernel 5.10 and later, and on PCB revision C and later.

The TS-7250-V3 includes a preprogrammed supervisory microcontroller that manages the SBC power state, RTC, reset controller, selected ADC rails, and USB console functionality.

The console routing can be inspected from sysfs:

cat /sys/bus/i2c/devices/0-0010/console_cfg
SettingDescription
autoConsole routes to DB9 by default, but routes to USB when a microUSB cable is connected
always-usbConsole is only available on USB and does not route to DB9

The setting is persistent:

echo "always-usb" > /sys/bus/i2c/devices/0-0010/console_cfg

Any time the console is routed to USB instead, ttyS8 is routed to the DB9 port for application use.

SPI

The TS-7250-V3 FPGA includes two OpenCores SPI controllers. Under Linux these are spi4 and spi5.

ControllerChip selectDevice
spi40/dev/spidev4.0, DIO header SPI bus
spi41FRAM
spi42FPGA flash, /dev/mtdblock0
spi50/dev/spidev5.0, mikroBUS SPI
warning

Do not manipulate the FPGA flash unless instructed by embeddedTS support. Erasing it can require an RMA to recover.

The /dev/spidev* devices can be accessed from Linux using the kernel spidev API. Bindings are available for C, Python, Rust, and JavaScript.

UARTs

The TS-7250-V3 includes CPU UARTs and FPGA 16550A-compatible UARTs.

UART deviceTypeTX / + locationRX / - locationCTSRTSDCDDTRTXEN
ttymxc0USB consoleP2 MicroUSBP2 MicroUSBN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
ttymxc2BluetoothOnboardOnboardN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
ttymxc33.3 V TTLXBEE pin 3XBEE pin 2XBEE pin 12N/AN/AN/AN/A
ttyS8RS-232DB9 pin 3DB9 pin 2DB9 pin 8DB9 pin 7DB9 pin 1DB9 pin 4N/A
ttyS9RS-232COM2 pin 3COM2 pin 2COM2 pin 8COM2 pin 7N/AN/AN/A
ttyS10RS-232COM3 pin 3COM3 pin 2COM3 pin 8COM3 pin 7N/AN/AN/A
ttyS11RS-485COM2 pin 1COM2 pin 6N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
ttyS12RS-485COM2 pin 4COM2 pin 9N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
ttyS13TTLmikroBUS pin 13mikroBUS pin 14N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
ttyS14TTLDIO pin 5DIO pin 7N/AN/AN/AN/ADIO pin 13
ttyS15TTLDIO pin 9DIO pin 11N/AN/AN/AN/ADIO pin 15

The DIO header UARTs are disabled by default. Enable the mux before using ttyS14 and ttyS15:

tshwctl --address 0x08 --poke32 0x6000

USB

The TS-7250-V3 offers two USB 2.0 host ports. The USB A host stack can provide 1 A total power shared between the two ports.

The lower USB host port can be routed to the XBEE header for USB cellular modems:

# Route USB to XBEE
gpioset 209c000.gpio 11=1

# Route USB to the lower Type-A host port, the default
gpioset 209c000.gpio 11=0

USB host power can be controlled to save power or reboot peripherals:

gpioset 20a4000.gpio 0=0 # Turn off USB power
gpioset 20a4000.gpio 0=1 # Turn on USB power

Watchdog

The board implements a WDT inside the supervisory microcontroller. A standard kernel WDT driver is in place that feeds the WDT via the I2C bus. As soon as the kernel starts it will start the WDT and feed it on 30 second timeouts every 15 seconds. If a userspace application opens and uses the watchdog file the kernel will stop auto-feeding and the user application is now responsible for feeding the WDT. The kernel driver supports the "Magic Close" feature of the WDT. This means that a V character must be fed in to the watchdog file before the file is closed in order to disable the WDT. If this does not happen then the WDT is not stopped and it will continue it's countdown. Additionally, if the kernel is compiled with CONFIG_WATCHDOG_NOWAYOUT then the WDT can never be stopped once it is started at boot.

See the Linux WDT API documentation for more information.

WiFi

This board uses an ATWILC3000-MR110CA IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Link Controller Module With Integrated Bluetooth® 4.0. Linux provides support for this module using the wilc3000 driver.

Summary features:

  • IEEE 802.11 b/g/n RF/PHY/MAC SOC
  • IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (1x1) for up to 72 Mbps PHY rate
  • Single spatial stream in 2.4GHz ISM band
  • Integrated PA and T/R Switch Integrated Chip Antenna
  • Superior Sensitivity and Range via advanced PHY signal processing
  • Advanced Equalization and Channel Estimation
  • Advanced Carrier and Timing Synchronization
  • Wi-Fi Direct and Soft-AP support
  • Supports IEEE 802.11 WEP, WPA, and WPA2 Security
  • Supports China WAPI security
  • Operating temperature range of -40°C to +85°C

External Interfaces

InterfaceConnector typeDescriptionReference
ADC2 x 5 pin headerFive 0-30 V ADC channels, three optional 0-20 mA current loopsReference
BatteryVertical coin cell holderRTC backup batteryReference
COM22 x 5 pin headerRS-485, RS-422, and RS-232Reference
COM32 x 5 pin headerCAN and RS-232Reference
DB9DE-9 connectorFull-handshake RS-232Reference
DIO2 x 8 pin headerSPI, GPIO, optional DIO UARTsReference
LCD2 x 7 pin headerHD44780-compatible LCD interfaceReference
mikroBUS2 x 8 pin headerMikroe Click board socketReference
MicroUSBMicroUSBUSB consoleReference
PC/104104-pin PC/104 headerISA-compatible PC/104 busReference
PowerRemovable terminal blocks5 VDC and 8-48 VDC inputsReference
USBDual USB Type-AUSB 2.0 host portsReference
XBEE2 x 10 pin headerDigi XBEE / NimbeLink-style socketReference

ADC Header

The ADC header supports five 0-30 VDC ADC channels. Channels 1-3 also support 0-20 mA current loop sampling.

iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage0
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage1
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage5
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage8
iio_attr -c 2198000.adc voltage9
PinSignal
12198000.adc/voltage0
2GND
32198000.adc/voltage1
4GND
52198000.adc/voltage5
6GND
72198000.adc/voltage8
8GND
92198000.adc/voltage9, WAKE_UP#
10GND

Battery Connector

The battery connector holds a removable CR1632 coin cell for the battery-backed RTC. Insert the cell from the top of the holder with the positive lead oriented as marked on the board.

COM2 Header

The COM2 header is a 0.1 inch pitch 2 x 5 header supporting RS-485, RS-422, and RS-232.

PinSignal
1ttyS11 RS-485+
2ttyS9 RS-232 RXD
3ttyS9 RS-232 TXD
4ttyS12 RS-485+
5GND
6ttyS11 RS-485-
7ttyS9 RS-232 RTS
8ttyS9 RS-232 CTS
9ttyS12 RS-485-
10NC

COM3 Header

The COM3 header is a 0.1 inch pitch 2 x 5 header supporting CAN and RS-232.

PinSignal
1CAN2_H
2ttyS10 RS-232 RXD
3ttyS10 RS-232 TXD
4CAN1_H
5GND
6CAN2_L
7ttyS10 RS-232 RTS
8ttyS10 RS-232 CTS
9CAN1_L
10NC

DB9 Connector

The DB9 connector provides a full-handshake RS-232 port.

PinSignal
1ttyS8 RS-232 DCD
2ttyS8 RS-232 RXD
3ttyS8 RS-232 TXD
4ttyS8 RS-232 DTR
5GND
6ttyS8 RS-232 DSR
7ttyS8 RS-232 RTS
8ttyS8 RS-232 CTS
9ttyS8 RS-232 RI

DIO Header

The DIO header is a 0.1 inch pitch 2 x 8 header with SPI, GPIO, and optional DIO UART functions. All pins are 5 V tolerant except SPI output pins. SPI input pins are 5 V tolerant.

PinIO TypeSignal
1FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 1
2GND
3FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 2
4Open drainCurrent sink output, chip 209c000.gpio IO 30
5FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 3 / ttyS14 TX
6FPGA 3.3-V LVTTLspidev4.0 CS / GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 11
7FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 4 / ttyS14 RX
8FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 5
9FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 6 / ttyS15 TX
10FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861spidev4.0 MISO / GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 10
11FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 7 / ttyS15 RX
12FPGA 3.3-V LVTTLspidev4.0 MOSI / GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 15
13FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 8 / ttyS14 TXEN
14FPGA 3.3-V LVTTLspidev4.0 CLK / GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 14
15FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS3861GPIO chip 50004010.fpga_gpio IO 9 / ttyS15 TXEN
163.3 V

The DIO UARTs are enabled through the FPGA syscon mux:

tshwctl --address 0x08 --poke32 0x6000

Ethernet Connectors

The TS-7250-V3 provides two 10/100 Ethernet ports. Linux exposes these as eth0 and eth1.

LCD Header

The LCD header is a 0.1 inch pitch 2 x 7 header designed around HD44780-compatible LCD modules such as the embeddedTS LCD-LED. The Debian images include lcdmesg.

lcdmesg "line 1" "line 2"
echo -e "line 1\nline 2\n" | lcdmesg
PinIO TypeSignal
15 V
2GND
3CPU 3.3 VLCD_RS, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 21
4CPU 3.3 VLCD_BIAS, PWM duty cycle controlled by FPGA syscon register 0x1c
5CPU 3.3 VLCD_EN, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 20
6CPU 3.3 VLCD_WR, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 19
7CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D1, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 9
8CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D0, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 10
9CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D3, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 11
10CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D2, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 12
11CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D5, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 15
12CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D4, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 16
13CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D7, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 17
14CPU 3.3 V+QS3861LCD_D6, GPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 18

mikroBUS Header

The mikroBUS header is a 0.1 inch pitch 2 x 8 socket supporting the Mikroe Click board ecosystem. It provides 3.3 V, 5 V, SPI, GPIO, ADC, PWM, UART, and I2C. All I/O on this header is FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL.

By default, pins use their non-GPIO functions. FPGA syscon register 0x08 can change the muxing:

# Make all mikroBUS header pins GPIO
memtool mw -l 0x50004008 0xF0

# Set only SPI to GPIO
memtool mw -l 0x50004008 0x10
PinNameDescription
1ANFPGA ADC / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 1
2RSTGPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 0
3CSspidev5.0 CS / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 5
4SCKspidev5.0 CLK / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 4
5MISOspidev5.0 MISO / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 3
6MOSIspidev5.0 MOSI / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 2
73.3V3.3 V
8GNDGround
9PWMFPGA PWM / GPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 6
10INTGPIO chip 50004054.fpga_gpio IO 7
11RXttyS13 RX
12TXttyS13 TX
13SCL/dev/i2c-4 SCL
14SDA/dev/i2c-4 SDA
155V5 V
16GNDGround

MicroSD Connector

The microSD connector is available as U-Boot device mmc1 and as Linux media when a card is inserted. U-Boot searches it after USB and before the on-board eMMC.

MicroUSB Connector

The microUSB connector provides the supervisory microcontroller USB serial console. Linux hosts typically enumerate it as /dev/ttyACM0 or under /dev/serial/by-id/.

PC104 Header

The PC/104 header exposes the FPGA ISA-compatible bus. Use the Linux fpgaisa files or pc104_peekpoke utility rather than directly manipulating FPGA registers.

Access fileDescription
io88-bit I/O cycles
io1616-bit I/O cycles
ioalt1616-bit I/O cycles using the alternate TS pinout
mem88-bit memory cycles
mem1616-bit memory cycles
memalt1616-bit memory cycles using the alternate TS pinout
warning

Do not use third-party PC/104 power supplies. The -12 V and -5 V rails are incompatible with this PC/104 implementation.

Power Connectors

The TS-7250-V3 provides two power inputs on removable 2-pin terminal blocks. Only one power input may be connected at a time.

ConnectorInput range
CN25 VDC
CN128-48 VDC

The PCB is marked with polarity under the removable terminal blocks. A typical power supply should provide at least 10 W.

note

Some PCB silkscreens show 8-28V on the high-voltage input, but every PCB revision from Rev. A forward supports 8-48 VDC.

USB Ports

The TS-7250-V3 has two USB Type-A host ports. The lower host port can optionally be routed to the XBEE header for USB cellular modems.

# Route USB to XBEE
gpioset 209c000.gpio 11=1

# Route USB to the lower Type-A host port
gpioset 209c000.gpio 11=0

USB power can also be controlled:

gpioset 20a4000.gpio 0=0 # Turn off USB power
gpioset 20a4000.gpio 0=1 # Turn on USB power

XBEE Header

The CN20 header is a 2 mm pitch 2 x 10 socket supporting XBEE form-factor modules including Digi radios and NimbeLink-style cellular modems.

note

Review the target module datasheet before use. Some XBEE-form-factor modules vary from the mechanical and electrical conventions used by other vendors.

For USB cellular radios, route USB to the socket:

gpioset 209c000.gpio 11=1

Only enable the power rail that matches the module:

# For 3.3 V modules
gpioset 50004040.fpga_gpio 4=1

# For 4 V modules
gpioset 50004040.fpga_gpio 11=1
PinIO TypeSignal
1VCC, XBEE_3.3V or NIMBEL_4.7V
2CPU 3.3 Vttymxc3 RXD
3CPU 3.3 Vttymxc3 TXD
4GND
5Open drainGPIO chip 209c000.gpio IO 10
6NIMBEL_4.7V
7USB_XBEE_P
8USB_XBEE_N
9GND
10GND
11GND
12CPU 3.3 Vttymxc3 CTS#
13Open drainGPIO chip 20a4000.gpio IO 2
143.3 V VREF
15GND
16GND
17NC
18NC
19NC
20Open drainGPIO chip 209c000.gpio IO 31

Specifications

IO Specifications

IO TypeVoltage maxAbsolute maxSource currentSink currentVILVIH
CPU 3.3V3.3 V3.6 V0.99 V2.31 V
CPU 3.3V+QS38615 V7 V
FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL3.3 V3.6 V6 mA6 mA
FPGA 3.3-V LVTTL+QS38615 V7 V6 mA6 mA
PCA95555.3 V6 V25 mA max per IO, 100 mA per octal bank, 160 mA total8-24 mA0.3 V2.31 V

Power Consumption

The i.MX6UL CPU can change frequency as needed to reduce power or provide more processing headroom. Ethernet power savings can be improved by briefly bringing interfaces up and down during startup:

ifconfig eth0 up
ifconfig eth1 up
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth1 down
ifconfig wlan0 up # only needed if Wi-Fi is present

The following tests used the 5 V input, no external connections except power, eMMC boot, and an idle prompt unless otherwise noted.

TestAvg. (W)Peak (W)
Idle0.771.29
CPU fully loaded with stress-ng --matrix 0 -t 60m1.031.45
CPU idle, single Ethernet port up and active with iperf1.171.75
CPU fully loaded and single Ethernet port up and active1.402.03
Supervisory microcontroller sleep mode, ARM CPU off0.0550.063

Power Input Specifications

The TS-7250-V3 supports the 5 VDC input on CN2 and the 8-48 VDC input on CN12. The 8-48 VDC input can also come from the PC/104 connector's +12V signal.

InputMin rangeMax range
5 VDC4.7 VDC5.2 VDC
8-48 VDC8 VDC48 VDC
note

The CN12 power connector silkscreen may show 8-28V; every PCB revision from Rev. A forward supports the full 8-48 VDC range.