BeagleBoard.org BBB Wireless BBBWL-SC-562 - Review

Table of contents

RoadTest: BeagleBoard.org BBB Wireless BBBWL-SC-562

Author: ninjatrent

Creation date: 29 May 2017

Evaluation Type: Evaluation Boards

Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True

What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Raspberry Pi 3

What were the biggest problems encountered?: Shutdown with power button not consistent. HDMI Micro Type D port and USB port too close together. Tight fit when using both ports at same time.

Detailed Review:

I would  like  to  start by  thanking  the  Element  14  community  for allowing  me  the  privilege  of participation  in  the  testing  and review  of this  product . I hope  that  you will  find  this report  helpful  and thank  you  for  your  time reading  it. Okay  let's  get  started. It is with  great  honor  I present  to you, the Beaglebone  Black  Wireless.

Arrival of the Beagle Bone Black Wireless

    The BBB Wireless  arrived  from  Newark  Element  14 on time  as promised. It was found

securely  packaged and intact upon  opening  of box. Packaging  is  of good  quality  with  Newark

Element  14 website  printed on  box. Inside  the  box  protected with  recyclable  packing  paper  and

pink antistatic  bubble  wrap  is the  box containing  the  BBB  Wireless, a Micro USB to USB cable and some  documentation from  Element  14. The  box containing  the  BBB W is of very  good  quality. Glossy  printed color  image  of device  on box, on reverse some  information  about  the  device  and country  of  origin which  is  Madison Heights, Michigan,USA.

    Inside  the  box  I found  a printed  card from beagleboard.org containing easy to follow  instructions  for  the  first  boot. On the  reverse  of card are found  two different  methods  of getting  started  with  the  device. The first  option  is “Tethered  to  a PC” and the  directions are as follows:

Tethered to a PC

1. Connect the  USB cable  to the  board

2. Connect  the  other  end  of  the  USB  cable  to  the  PC

3. Look  for  a  new  mass storage  drive  to appear  on  PC

4. Open the  drive  and click  on START.HTM

5. Follow  the  instructions  on the  PC

Stand alone  Beaglebone Black

       Here  are  the  directions  as listed. I would  like  to  mention  that  this method  will  require  peripherals  not  included  with  the  board. They  are  an USB  keyboard  and  mouse, an USB  hub, a HDMI  TYPE  A  to  HDMI MICRO  TYPE  D  cable, and  a 5V  1 - 2A  DC Power  Supply with  a  2.1mm ID x 5.5mm OD Coaxial DC Barrel Plug or USB Micro Type B Plug, all of  which  are  available  from  Newark Element  14 ,  Premier  Farnell  Element  14, MCM Electronics, and Adafruit. The  start up  guide  states a 5V 1A DC power  supply  but  I purchased a 5V  2A  DC Power  Supply with  a  2.1mm ID x 5.5mm OD Coaxial DC Barrel Plug and one with a USB Micro Type B Plug for this Road Test. If  you  have  the  necessary  peripherals  to get started  with  the  stand alone  Beaglebone  then here  are  the  simple  instructions  for  that method as stated in provided  quick  start guide.

1. Connect the keyboard/mouse to the USB Host port

2. Connect  the  HDMI  cable  to the  board

3. Connect  the  HDMI  cable  to  the  HDMI  monitor

4. Plug  in  a 5V  1A  DC  power  supply

5. Board  will  boot without  password

6. Desktop  will  appear  on  the  monitor

BeagleBone Black Wireless Specifications:

Processor:  Octavo Systems OSD335x SiP TI Sitara AM335x 1GHz ARM® Cortex-A8

SGX530 graphics accelerator, NEON floating-point accelerator, and 2x PRU 32-bit 200MHz microcontrollers in a 27mm x 27mm BGA Package.

Memory: 512MB 800MHZ DDR3 RAM, 4GB 8-bit eMMC on-board flash storage, and SD/MMC Connector for microSD

Software Compatibility:

Debian Linux, Android, Ubuntu, Cloud9 IDE on Node.js w/ BoneScript library

Connectivity:

High speed USB 2.0 Client port: Access to USB0, Client mode via microUSB

High speed USB 2.0 Host port: Access to USB1, Type A Socket, 500mA LS/FS/HS

Serial port: UART0 access via 6 pin 3.3V TTL Header. Header is populated

WiLink 1835 WiFi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz.  Supports the following modes:

2x2 MIMO , AP, SmartConfig, STA, Wi-Fi Direct, Mesh over Wi-Fi based on 802.11s, and Bluetooth 4.1 with BLE

Power management: TPS65217C PMIC is used along with a separate LDO to provide power to the system

Debug Support: Optional Onboard 20-pin CTI JTAG, Serial Header

Power Source: microUSB USB or DC Jack , 5VDC External Via Expansion Header

User Input / Output: Reset Button, Boot Button, and Power Button

4 user configurable LEDs; WiFi and BT LEDs; Power LED

Video/Audio Interfaces: HDMI D type interface, LCD interface, Stereo audio over HDMI interface

Expansion Interfaces: LCD, UART, eMMC, ADC, I2C, SPI, PWM

Personal notes:

    The uFL SMT Antenna Connectors are a great feature allowing the user multiple options to upgrade from factory to larger antennas with the use of uFL to SMA and UFL to RP-SMA adapter cables. With the addition of the TI WiLink 1835 WiFi Chip the potential use in IT and Robotics applications is only limited to your imagination.

     Important note, P9-07 SYS 5V receives power from micro USB 5V power supply while P9-05 VDD 5V receives power when the barrel plug 5V power supply is used.

   The proximity of USB port and  HDMI  Micro  Type  D port are a bit close. Very tight fit when using usb port and HDMI Micro Type D cable at same time. A change to more readily available HDMI Mini Type C would be optimal if intended for use with display. Even though the Micro Type D port occupies less space than the Mini Type C, there are more available options the Mini Type C. I ran into some difficulty locating a Type D that would fit while also using the USB port. Changing out the USB Type A port for USB Micro Type B OTG would free up space on PCB. I found the HDMI port unnecessary with my intended application.

     The addition of a CSI camera port similar to Raspberry Pi 3 would be helpful and a beagleboard standard camera of at least 8 MP would be awesome. There are many cameras that are compatible with the BBBW but as the user I would prefer to use a camera that is optimally designed for use with the BBBW.

     Timing of powering down the BBBW with power button is not consistent and a bit unpredictable. This could be due to process running in backround or issue in my device tree. Longest time to power down with power button about 2 minutes. Power down through SSH is very quick and responsive.

     I was very interested to see how much heat the BBBW generated while the CPU was under a full workload. I took surface temperature readings from several points on the BBBW with an infrared thermometer. The highest surface temperature I recorded was 109.1°F or 42.83°C on the processor.

Overall the BBBW performed exceptionally. The recent addition of the TI WiLink 1835 WiFi chip allows users more options for connectivity and development. The greatest thing about the BBBW is that it is an open source, open hardware platform. If there is something you don’t like about the design, or you feel it might not suit your particular application needs, the BeagleBoard organization has made available all design files and software on GitHub.

  https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black-wireless

Here is link if you would to learn more about BeagleBoard.org:

  http://beagleboard.org/black-wireless

This is a link to the Octavo Systems website where information regarding the  Octavo Systems OSD335x SiP TI Sitara AM335x 1GHz ARM® Cortex-A8 Processor:

`    http://octavosystems.com/octavo_products/osd335x/

Currently I have connected to the BBBW an Adafruit BME280 temp/baro/humidity breakout board, the Adafruit DS3231 Precision RTC breakout board, Adafruit 0.56" 4-Digit 7-Segment Display w/I2C Backpack,  and an Adafruit Power Boost 1000c LiPo charger & power supply mounted on the Adafruit BeagleBone ProtoPlate.

Here you will find helpful info on configuration of these components with the BeagleBone Black Wireless:

      https://learn.adafruit.com/adding-a-real-time-clock-to-beaglebone-black

      https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_BME280

      https://github.com/adafruit/adafruit-beaglebone-io-python/blob/master/doc/run_config-pin_during_startup.md

    https://learn.adafruit.com/led-backpack-displays-on-raspberry-pi-and-beaglebone-black

Final remarks

  I am very impressed with the performance of the BeagleBone Black Wireless. There is not much that I would improve other than the few points previously mentioned.  Most cases, peripherals, and other accessories designed for use with the BeagleBone Black are compatible with the BBBW. I highly recommend the BeagleBone Black Wireless to anyone who is looking to purchase a reliable single board computer with amazing wireless capabilities for development.

Update 7-19-17

     The Adafruit Proto Cape Kit fits with lid fully closed. The lid will require modification to accommodate any additional components on top of the Proto Cape.

                          Custom 27mm x 27mm heatsink. The BBB W does not require a heatsink.

  I used the mounting hardware from the Adafruit Proto Plate kit. If you would like to purchase the mounting hardware separately, the dimensions are as follows:

      4 x 4-40 1/2" Metal or Nylon Polyamide Screws

      4 x 4-40 Metal or Nylon Polyamide Hexnuts

      4 x 3/16" Nylon Polyamide Standoffs * This height will work if the Micro USB is used for power. If you desire to use the 5V power jack, a shorter standoff must be used.