miriac MPX-LS1028A NXP QorIQ LS1028A SoM Targets TSN Applications with HMI Display

NXP QorIQ LayerScape LS1028A communication SoC was first unveiled in March 2017 with two Armv8 cores, GPU and LCD controller for HMI systems, as well as Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) capabilities useful in industrial settings.

As usual it takes a while before the company finalize their design and software support, but LS1028A has started to appear at least in one hardware platform that’s supposed to launch this quarter (Q2 2019): MicroSys miriac MPX-LS1028A system-on-module.

miriac MPX-LS1028A SoM specifications:

• SoC – NXP QorIQ LS1018 / LS1028 single / dual core Arm Cortex-A72 clocked at up to 1.3 GHz with MXC Vivante GPU, Mali Display Processor, configurable cryptographic offload engines (Optional: LS1017/LS1027 without GPU for cost saving)
• System Memory – Up to 4GB 32 Bit DDR4 with ECC RAM at up to 1600 MT/s
• Storage – Up to 256MB Serial NOR Flash & up to 4GB Serial NAND Flash; EEPROM
• MXM 2.0 edge connector with:
  • Up to two eSDHC interfaces (SD3.0, up to eMMC 5.1)
  • Video Output – DisplayPort / eDP interface
  • Ethernet – Up to five TSN-capable Ethernet ports
  • USB – 1x USB 3.0 host / device interface, 1x USB 2.0 OTG interface
  • SerDes lanes – 4x SerDes lanes at 10 Gbps maximum, configurable in different options:
    • 2x PCIe 3.0 interfaces (two x1 or one x2 configuration)
    • 1x SATA 3.0 interface
    • Up to 1x QSGMII & up to 4x SGMII interfaces
    • Up to 1x 10G-QXGMII & 1x 10G-SXGMII interface
  • Serial – 2x CAN FD, 2x UART
  • Audio – Up to 6x Sound SAI
  • One RGMII interface
  • Up to 8x I²C, 2x SPI
  • GPIOs
  • JTAG
• Misc – Temperature Sensor, Realtime Clock (RTC)
• Dimensions – “New small, rugged and cost-effective system on module form factor connecting to a standard edge connector (MXM2.0 socket)”

The board supports Linux, and MicroSys Microware OS-9 real-time OS is planned for Q3 2019 with support for the open source OPC UA-TSN project aiming to provide a unified standard for industrial automation and IIoT connectivity.

I had never heard about Microware OS-9, but it’s not exactly new as according to Wikipedia, the first version of the real-time system “OS-9 Level One” was written back in 1979–80 in assembly language for the Motorola 6809 CPU. However, since February 2013 Microware OS9 is owned by a partnership of three companies, MicroSys, Freestation(Japan) and RTSI (USA) who formed Microware LP to actively continue the development on OS9, and recent developments provide support for e.g. ARM Cortex A CPU series integrated for example in NXPs Layerscape LS1043A, LS1046A or LS1088A CPU.

There’s no price information for miriac MPX-LS1028A system-on-module, and limit number of samples are available through the company’s early access program. miriac SBC-LS1028A development kit which includes a SoM, carrier board, Linux BSP, and accessories should also become available, but not details are provided about the kit. More information may eventually be added to the product page.

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