Introduction
1. What is Inforce 6502 Micro SoM?
The Inforce 6502 Micro SoM is a high performance tiny System on Module (SoM) solution for embedded systems designers. It is based on Qualcomm’s custom Octa-core 64-bit Kryo (260) CPU (Snapdragon 660) processor for embedded applications. The plug-and-play Inforce 6502 Micro SoM comes in an ultra-small form factor of 28mm x 50mm and provides pin, electrical, and form-factor compatibility across a wide product line of Snapdragon processor-based SoMs from Inforce for easy migration.
2. Does Inforce offer a reference carrier board for its SoMs or other form factors based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (SD660) processor?
Yes. Inforce offers a reference carrier board for this SoM. All native interfaces of the Qualcomm SDA660 (Snapdragon 660) processor are brought out on this carrier. Please stay tuned to our website for more details and availability on the reference design which shall comprise of the Inforce 6502 SoM and the reference carrier.
3. Does Inforce provide any custom design solutions since some designs wouldn’t be able to use the standard SoM’s form factor and or features?
Yes, while we offer standard products off-the-shelf (OTS) on our website and through our multiple distributors, we also have a strong background in customized hardware and software solutions. We offer pre-validated build-to-order (BTO) configurations, as well as configure-to-order (CTO) options for existing products. For customers wanting to design their own unique form-factor carrier board to interface with the OTS Inforce 6502 Micro SoM, we offer design assistance support packages that include dedicated engineer, reference schematics and design reviews—contact Inforce sales for more details. In addition, Inforce also offers full custom hardware design and associated software/device driver development, for those projects where a unique hardware design is required to meet sophisticated technical challenges.
4. Where can I find more information about the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM? What do I get when I buy an Inforce 6502 Micro SoM based reference design? Is the device available internationally?
Inforce’s website has a lot of useful information about our SoM based reference design at https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/reference-designs.
Please check on the exact product SKU for the pre-loaded software and supported temperature ranges. The Inforce 6502 Micro SoM requires a carrier board (like all SoMs do) to power up and connect to peripheral devices and gain access to the extensive set of I/Os that are available on the Micro SoM. If you are considering the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM for the first time, please purchase the comprehensive Inforce 6502 reference design platform, which includes the Micro SoM, the reference carrier board, and a starter kit comprising the power adapter and USB-C cable. Inforce’s Snapdragon processor-based Micro SoMs are all cross-compatible (pin, connector, and form factor) with Inforce’s reference carrier board designs, ensuring a smooth path to migrate/upgrade to new Snapdragon processor-based Micro SoMs in the future.
Once you register the product with Penguin Solutions, you would get dedicated support from Inforce.
The board ships to most places worldwide and relevant shipping and local tax/customs duty charges may apply. Please contact PenguinEdgeSales@penguinsolutions.com for pricing details or any additional questions that you may have before buying an Inforce 6502.
5. Does Inforce have a blog?
Yes! You can find our periodic blogs athttps://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/resources/blog/category/articles. Here you can keep up with all of the latest information about Inforce products, conference appearances, and innovative customer applications.
General
6. What are the accessories available?
Our website https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/accessories lists all the available accessories. Please note that User guides and product datasheets are available for all accessories.
7. Does the board support a cellular or GSM connection?
The Inforce 6502 does not include support for a wireless modem. Third party cellular modem dongles can be connected to the Inforce 6502 based reference design via USB ports and may require special drivers from the respective manufacturers. We can also help you design in a 3rd party cellular modem module in your custom carrier board that is mated with an Inforce Micro SoM.
8. What is the storage capacity of the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM? Is it expandable?
The on board storage (eMMC) capacity is 32GB. Storage can be expanded by connecting a Micro-SD card on the Inforce 6502 SoM based reference design. Please check on the exact product SKU for details on pre-loaded software.
9. What are the performance details of the Inforce 6502? What is the speed of the RAM?
The Inforce 6502 Micro SoM is based on the Qualcomm SD660 (Snapdragon 660) processor, which includes custom Qualcomm® Kryo™ Quad-core 64-bit ARM V-8 compliant CPUs organized as two clusters viz., Gold@2.2GHz each with 1MB of L2 I-Cache and Silver@1.843GHz each with 1MB of L2 cache. The Qualcomm® Adreno™ 512 is capable of 240 GFLOPS of general purpose compute and provides support for OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 2.0. Note that these libraries are provided as binaries only.
The on-board 3GB LPDDR4 RAM operates at 1866MHz.
All our Android releases are benchmarked with Antutu and validated with the Qualcomm Trepn™ Profiler to ensure that all cores are capable of operating at their maximum frequency.
10. What is the stacked height of the SoM mounted on the carrier board?
The height of the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM is between 6.7mm to 7.4 mm depending on the presence of the EMI shield. The full height when mounted on mating connectors on the carrier board is between 7.6mm and 8.3mm. Please check on product SKU details for the presence of the EMI shield.
11. What types of displays are supported and at what resolutions?
Primary, dual-link MIPI-DSI up to WQXGA (2560 × 1600) 24bpp @60 Hz refresh.
The Inforce 6502 SoM based reference design has a 51-pin FI-R DSI connector with support for dual MIPI-DSI ports. Note that the displays are not provided as peripherals with the Inforce 6502 reference design. They can be purchased from https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/accessories.
12. What are the capabilities of the video Decoder/Encoder on the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM?
Please refer to https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html for supported codecs from Android. Hardware accelerated capabilities of the SDA660 SoC are:
|
Supported Codec |
Profile(s) |
Resolution/Bitrate/Framereate |
| Video Decode |
H.265 (HEVC) |
Main profile(8-bit/10-bit) up to level 5.1 |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 1080P/60mbps/60fps 3840×2160/100mbps/30fps 4096×2160/100Mbps/24fps |
| H.264 (AVC) |
(Constrained) Baseline, main, (Constrained) high profiles; up to level 5.1 |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 1080P/60mbps/60fps 3840×2160/100Mbps/30fps 4096×2160/100Mbps/24fps |
| H.263 |
Profile 0; up to Level 70 |
720×576/16mbps/30fps 864×480/16mbps/30fps |
| MPEG-4 |
Simple, Advanced simple profiles; up to levels 8 and 5, respectively |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 1080P/60mbps/60fps |
| MPEG-2 |
Main profile |
1080P/40mbps/30fps |
| VC-1 |
Adv Main, Simple and High profile |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 1080P/60mbps/60fps |
| DivX |
DivX 3.11/4/5/6 |
DivX 3.11 720×480/2mbps/30fps DivX 4.x/5.x/6.x 1080P/10mbps/30fps |
| VP8/VP9 |
Profile 0; Level 5.1 |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 3840×2160/100mbps/30fps 4096×2160/100mbps/24fps |
| Video Encode |
H.265 (HEVC) |
Main profile up to level 5.1 |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 3840×2160/100mbps/30fps 4096×2160/100Mbps/24fps |
| H.264 (AVC) |
Baseline, main, high profiles; up to level 5.1 |
1080P/40mbps/30fps 3840×2160/100Mbps/30fps 4096×2160/100Mbps/24fps |
| H.263 |
Profile 0; up to Level 70 |
864×480/2mbps/30fps |
| MPEG-4 |
Simple, Advanced simple profiles; up to levels 8 and 5, respectively |
1080P/40mbps/30fps |
| VP8 |
|
1080P/20mbps/30fps 3840×2160/100Mbps/30fps |
13. What are the camera capabilities of the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM?
The Inforce 6502 Micro SoM has two MIPI-CSI camera interfaces that support 4 lanes from CSI0 and CSI2 each. 2×14-bit ISP that are 16MP+16MP capable Dual simultaneous camera capability is possible on a system built on this SoM.
Inforce platforms are typically validated with a Sony IMX230 sensor (21MP) based camera module for 4K@30fps capture and record. Note that the camera is not provided as part of the Inforce 6502 reference design. It can be purchased as an accessory from https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/accessories.
14. How much power does the SoM draw? Is it possible to measure the power?
The Inforce 6502 SoM takes 3.8V DC power or Battery. The reference design is powered by a 12V/3A wall adaptor or a 3.8V Battery (not part of the reference design). Our products typically offer support for 7V-16V power input range. The total power consumed by the Inforce 6502 reference design ranges between 6W to 17W when different use cases are executed. There are no test points made available to measure run-time power on the board. But the input current through the DC jack can be measured during different use-cases. Please note that we run the Qualcomm Trepn™ profiler as part of our validation process on all of our stock Android releases.
15. What are the audio capabilities of the reference design?
Audio is brought out on a combo jack as line-outs, and mic-in from the integrated PMIC audio codec on the SoM. Audio is also available from the USB lines.
16. What are the sensor capabilities?
Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (SDA660) processor’s Hexagon DSP cluster has a dedicated sensor core to support always-on sensor-aware apps. Note that the reference design doesn’t have any onboard sensors.
17. What documents are provided? Are board design files also provided?
We provide datasheets, user guide and Hardware Reference Manuals for both the SoM and the reference design. Schematics are not provided for the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM. Contact our sales team for access to the schematics of the reference carrier board. All Board design files are proprietary and are the intellectual property of Inforce, and hence not provided.
All software releases are accompanied with release notes, user guides and application notes that describe the installation procedure.
18. What is the support model from Inforce after products are purchased?
Inforce offers a range of standard products off-the-shelf (OTS) on its website and through our distributors (Arrow/Mouser/Atlantik). Apart from these, it offers pre-validated build-to-order (BTO) configurations, as well as configure-to-order (CTO) options for existing products. In addition, we also offer full custom hardware design and associated software/device driver development, for those projects where a unique design is required to meet sophisticated technical challenges. All purchases of Inforce products get unlimited access to the online TechWeb support portal, which provides a host of technical documentation and software downloads. Purchasers are also provided free technical support for two support tickets. For a sustained technical support, Inforce offers Design Assistance Support Contracts for shorter periods of time and Annual Support Contracts for its customers who would like unlimited prioritized technical support. Please contact PenguinEdgeSales@penguinsolutions.com to obtain more details of the support contracts.
Networking, IO and Wireless
19. Does the device support networking and wireless communication?
Supported connectivity includes 802.11ac 2X2 MU-MIMO 2.4GHz/5GHz + Bluetooth 5.xLE (available via WCN3990) and GPS (supported via Qualcomm SDR660G).
20. How can I change the MAC address for WiFi/BT/Ethernet on my board?
MAC addresses are fixed at the factory. Changing them should not be necessary since the correct addresses are programmed before the board is shipped. If it is still required, please refer to the Release Notes and App notes available on Inforce’s TechWeb support portal.
21. What are the IO interfaces available?
Standard I/O interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, UIM and GPIOs are available. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660(SDA660) processor supports 1x USB 3.1 gen1 and 1 x USB 2.0. Please refer to the product specifications in the Hardware Reference Manual or the datasheet for more information.
Software
22. What operating systems are supported and what is the OS roadmap for the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM?
A Board Support Package (BSPs) for Android Oreo is available today as an officially supported package on the Inforce TechWeb. Periodic releases shall be provided with feature improvements on this package. Inforce also upgrades the BSPs to newer Android releases and upstream Linux kernel to support feature improvements on its platforms. Please stay tuned for announcements on our website for update releases.
23. Is root access possible? Could you please explain how to get root privileges in Android?
Yes. As Android derives from the Linux kernel, rooting an Android device gives similar access administrative permissions as on Linux. Please give below commands in adb shell to get root privileges
#adb root
#adb remount
24. Is fastboot supported? How to enter fastboot?
Yes. To go to fastboot mode, keep the Vol- button (for exact location, check the Quick Start Guide [QSG] document for the Inforce 6502 Micro SoM based reference design) pressed before powering on the board and release it after the board has powered on.
25. I’ve modified the boot partitions on my board and the board is no longer booting. What should I do?
If the eMMC (flash memory) partitions have been erased or the partition table has been corrupted, you can recover through a procedure that uses the USB port. Please logon to our Techweb repository to access the necessary document.
26. Is the Hexagon DSP available on the Inforce 6502 platform?
Yes. Qualcomm’s Hexagon DSP architecture is designed to deliver performance with low power over a variety of heterogeneous computing applications. It has features such as hardware assisted multithreading, privilege levels, VLIW, SIMD and instructions geared toward efficient signal processing. The Inforce 6502 micro SoM comes with the Hexagon™ 680 DSP with dual-Hexagon vector processor (HVX-512) designed for 787 MHz for ultra-low-power audio and computer vision processing.
Qualcomm also opens up a comprehensive Hexagon SDK for all its processors that provides for a complete environment to generate dynamic Hexagon DSP code modules. Please check https://developer.qualcomm.com/software/hexagon-dsp-sdk for downloading the SDK.
27. Why isn’t Google Play (previously Android Market) available on my board?
Google Play is part of Google Mobile Services (GMS) and is licensed separately by Google. This is usually available on commercial Android devices. Though our hardware is capable of meeting requirements of the Google Test Suite that would lead to GMS certification, we have not added this to our product. Please contact our sales team at PenguinEdgeSales@penguinsolutions.com if this is a requirement for your product.
Nevertheless, it is possible to side-load any Android application using the following commands:
#adb devices
#adb mount
#adb remount
#adb install apk
Should you have further questions not answered by the above FAQ and would like to have them included here, please contact PenguinEdgeSales@penguinsolutions.com.
