Introduction
1. What is IFC6503 Nano SoM?
The Penguin Edge IFC6503 Nano SoM is a high performance tiny System on Module (SoM) in a LGA package 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 IFC6503 Nano SoM comes in an ultra-small form factor of 35mm x 40mm and has 248 pins with a pitch of 1.27mm with 0.8mm pad. 
2. Does Penguin Solutions offer a reference carrier board for its SoMs or other form factors based on the Qualcomm SDA660 (Snapdragon 660) processor?
Yes. Penguin Solutions offers a reference carrier board for this SoM. Considering that the SoM is a LGA package, the reference design consists of a mezzanine card to which the LGA SoM is soldered. The mezzanine card provides an opening at the bottom to accommodate the SoM components to reduce vertical profile. This card connects to the carrier board through the standard 100-pin B2B connectors that are standard to Penguin Edge SoMs. 
We would be glad to help customers developing their own carriers with custom flip-top sockets during their development phase.
3. Does Penguin Solutions 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 IFC6503 Nano SoM, we offer design assistance support packages that include dedicated engineer, reference schematics and design reviews—contact Penguin Solutions sales for more details. In addition, Penguin Solutions 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 IFC6503 Nano SoM? What do I get when I buy an IFC6503 Nano SoM? Is the device available internationally?
The Penguin Edge portion of the Penguin Solutions website has a lot of useful information about our SoMs at https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/system-on-modules.
Please check on the exact product SKU for the pre-loaded software, available memory and supported temperature ranges. The IFC6503 Nano 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 Nano SoM. If you are considering the IFC6503 Nano SoM for the first time, please contact our sales team to procure the comprehensive SYS6503 reference design, which includes the Nano SoM, the interposer card that has the SoM soldered on it, the reference carrier board, and a starter kit.
Once you register the product with Penguinsolutions.com, you would get dedicated support from Penguin Solutions.
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 IFC6503.
5. Do you have a blog?
Yes! You can find our periodic blogs at https://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 case-studies and 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 IFC6503 Nano SoM does not include support for a wireless modem. Third party cellular modem dongles can be connected to the IFC6503 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 Penguin Edge Nano SoM.
8. Does the SoM support extended temperatures?
Yes, we can help customers support extended temperatures on their product based on our Nano SoM. We provide a detailed app note on determining a suitable solution for heat transfer from the SoM. We will be glad to propose a cooling solution for the thermal dissipation of heat for the full system too after we have details of your chassis.
9. What is the storage capacity of the IFC6503 Nano SoM? Is it expandable?
The on board storage (eMMC) capacity is 32GB. Storage can be expanded by connecting a Micro-SD card on the SYS6503 reference design. Please check on the exact product SKU for details on pre-loaded software and available memory.
10. What are the performance details of the IFC6503? What is the speed of the RAM?
The IFC6503 Nano SoM is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor (SD660), 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 1866 MHz
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.
11. What is the stacked height of the Nano SoM mounted on the carrier board?
The height of the IFC6503 Nano SoM soldered on our reference carrier is 2.2mm and 3.4mm including the shields. Please check with our sales team on product SKU details for the presence of the EMI shield.
12. 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 SYS6503 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 SYS6503 reference design.
13. What are the capabilities of the video Decoder/Encoder on the IFC6503 Nano 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/20mbps/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. |
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 |
14. What are the camera capabilities of the IFC6503 Nano SoM?
The IFC6503 Nano 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.
Penguin Solutions 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 SYS6503 reference design. It can be purchased as an accessory from https://www.penguinsolutions.com/edge/products/accessories.
15. How much power does the SoM draw? Is it possible to measure the power?
The IFC6503 SoM takes 3.8V DC power or battery. The Reference Design is powered by a 12V/3A wall adaptor. Our products typically offer support for 7V-16V power input range. The total power consumed by the SYS6503 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.
16. What are the audio capabilities?
Audio is brought out as line-outs, HPH and mic-in from the integrated PMIC audio codec on the SoM. Audio is also available from the USB lines. The SYS6503 Reference Design comes with a microphone for recording and a combo jack for microphone and speaker out.
17. 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.
18. Does the SoM support a Haptics Interface?
Yes, it does. The SoM has a dedicated H-bridge driver output for driving linear resonant actuator (LRA) or eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motors. The driver output voltage is programmable from 1.2 V to 3.6 V to cover wide range of ERM/LRA.
19. What documents are provided? Are board design files also provided?
We provide datasheets, user guide and a Hardware Reference Manual. Schematics are not provided for the IFC6503 Nano SoM. Board design files are proprietary and are the intellectual property of Penguin Edge, and hence not provided.
All software releases are accompanied with release notes, user guides and application notes that describe the installation procedure.
20. What is the support model after products are purchased?
Penguin Solutions 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 our 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, Penguin Solutions 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 Penguin Edge to obtain more details of the support contracts
Networking, IO and Wireless
21. 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).
22. 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 Penguin Solutions TechWeb support portal.
23. What are the IO interfaces available?
Standard I/O interfaces including I2C, SPI, UART, UIM and GPIOs are available. The Qualcomm SD660 (Snapdragon 660) 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
24. What operating systems are supported and what is the OS roadmap for the IFC6503 Nano SoM?
A Board Support Package (BSPs) for Android Oreo is available today as an officially supported package on the Penguin Solutions TechWeb. Periodic releases shall be provided with feature improvements on this package. Penguin Solutions 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.
25. Is root access possible on Penguin Solutions boards? 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
26. Is fastboot supported? How to enter fastboot?
Yes. To go to fastboot mode, keep the Vol- button pressed before powering on the board and release it after the board has powered on.
27. 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.
28. Is the Hexagon DSP available on the IFC6503 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 IFC6503 micro SoM comes with the Hexagon™ 680 DSP with dual-Hexagon vector processor (HVX-512) designed for 787MHz 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.
29. 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 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.
