Freescale LS1021A-IOT IoT Gateway Reference Design Powered by QorIQ LS1021A Dual ARM Cortex A7 SoC

Freescale has just launched a an IoT gateway reference design powered by their QorIQ LS1021A communication processors running Linux/OpenWRT, designed in partnership with TechNexion, and targeting various IoT applications such as building/home management, smart cities, networked industrial services, etc… Beside the dual core Cortex A7 QoirIQ processor, the board features six Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a SATA 3 port, two mini PCIe connector, an LVDS interface, HDMI output, Arduino UNO compatible headers, and various others expansions headers.

LS1021A-IOT IoT gateway Specifications:

• SoC – Freescale QorIQ LS1021A dual core Cortex A7 communication processor @ 1 GHz (5,000 coremarks)
• MCU – Freescale Kinetis K20 Cortex M micro-controller
• System Memory – 1 GB DDR3L
• Storage – 1 Gb QSPI NOR Flash, SDHC slot (up to 32 GB) populated with a 4GB SD card, 1x mSATA 3 slot
• Connectivity – 6x Gigabit ports via SGMII (Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface) and RGMII (Reduced Gigabit Media Independent Interface) interfaces
• Display I/F
  • 24-bit LVDS LCD interface muxed with QE UART (QUICCEngine UART) to header for PROFIBUS or RS485 (external transceiver required)
  • HDMI connector
• Audio I/F – Audio in and out
• USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2 mini port, and USB signals via mini PCIe interfaces
• Expansions and I/Os:
  • Arduino UNO compatible headers with I2C, SPI, Analog in, etc..
  • 1x Terminal (USB to UART)
  • Header with 1x Four wire LP-UART to Arduino connector (ZigBee), SPI, and ADC
  • GPIO expansion header
  • GPIO, Flextimer, and CAN header
  • 2x mini PCIe (x1) slots
  • 6x Interrupts
  • 1x SPI, 2x I2C
  • 13x GPIO or 8x FTM (PWM)
• Sensors – MMA8451Q 3-axis MEMS sensor
• Certification – FCC Class B and CE
• Power Supply – 12V. MC32VR500 regulator. Under 3 watts typical power consumption.
• Dimensions – 20.3 x 17.8 x 6.4 cm (full system with enclosure)

The full kit include the board, a metallic enclosure, a 12V/5A power supply, a micro USB cable, and HDMI cables, and SD card with software and documentation. The company provide Linux and OpenWRT for the board, reference design files (schematics, layout, and BOM), as well as an hardware quick start guide and a user guide.

The reference design is “production ready” so that OEMs can bring products based on this design faster market, and a lesser load on their R&D teams. Freescale’s QorIQ LS1021A IoT gateway is available for order from Freescale for $429 (USD). Further details are available on LS1012A-IoT product page, including a video with an overview of the kit with a better look at the various ports, and a demo using MQTT protocol with two Freescale Freedom boards, and uploading data to IBM Cloud services. It also shows how the gateway is programmed with Node-RED JavaScript graphical environment.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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