PocketBeagle Photos and Graphics

23 Feb 2018

I finally purchased a couple of PocketBeagles, I knew they would be small, but it is still amazing to see it close-up!

It is very thin too, it measured 4.60mm (the highest point is the surface of the Octavo module).

For connections, I purchased 2x9way total 18-way header pins2x9way total 18-way header pins because these are cheaper than 2x18way. A total of four of these are needed to fully connect to the PocketBeagle, although that might not be necessary for all projects. Note that the header pins are connected to the underside of the PocketBeagle, not to the top side like the larger BeagleBone Black. The pins won't fit on the top side, because the Octavo module hits the plastic surround of the header pins. It seems to make sense, that the PocketBeagle would be plugged on top of a larger board.

The very helpful silkscreen shows the pin descriptions on the underside:

Here are some graphics of the top and bottom side, perhaps useful for documenting projects:

Renders of the PCB:

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bwelsby over 7 years ago

Nice. What have you got planned for them?
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shabaz over 7 years ago in reply to bwelsby

Hi Brian,

I'm hoping to develop them as a kind of test tool. Still only a half-thought out idea : )
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cstanton over 6 years ago in reply to shabaz

Did you get any further with them?
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shabaz over 6 years ago in reply to cstanton

Hi Christopher,

I ended up using it for a proof-of-concept device, in the photo here:
There's a thermal camera behind it..
This is the type of thing it could do:

I'm thinking it could be worth taking the code, and making an open source portable thermal camera with it if there's interest.. since it can be handy for seeing where there are cold spots in the home, or for troubleshooting hot-spots on a PCB.
I was thinking of using the Pi 3A for it perhaps, since that could be quicker (there are some reasonable-cost TFT LCD HATs for it). Or I could just wire the Pi TFT to the PocketBeagle, if the drivers work for that.
Sadly I slightly damaged the thermal sensor (seems very static-sensitive : ( and now have some permanent failed image lines, but it still semi-functions enough to do a prototype.
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cstanton over 6 years ago in reply to shabaz

Which thermal sensor was it?
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cstanton over 6 years ago in reply to shabaz

Which thermal sensor was it?
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shabaz over 6 years ago in reply to cstanton

It's a FLIR sensor, so not many distributors for it: model Lepton third gen, part code 500-0726-01 , Avnet has the breakout board for it so I guess they may have supplied the sensor at some point too, or maybe planning to.
I used the sensor, plus the breakout board. The Lepton 3rd gen comes in two versions, the one I used, and another one which only costs an extra $10 - part code 500-0771-01
That more expensive one is better, because it can be set to a wider temperature range mode, and also provides calibrated temperature values for each pixel, as well as pixel color.
The version I used does not provide temperature value in degrees C, so I have to approximate or calibrate by pointing at a known temperature object first. I did not know that at the time I ordered it : (
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shabaz over 6 years ago in reply to cstanton

Found a photo I took of the sensor on my hard drive..
It's tiny : )
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cstanton over 6 years ago in reply to shabaz

Wow, that is small!
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