Getting Started with the i.MX 8M Nano UltraLite EVK

Embedded Linux

MCUXpresso SDK

Security and Integrity

Tools and References

Security Reference Manual for i.MX 8M Nano Applications Processor

CAAM Module Example

The i.MX 8M Nano UL DDR3 EVK board includes the Cryptographic Acceleration and Assurance Module (CAAM) module that can be used through CryptoDev in order to accelerate by hardware the encryption and decryption process. It is recommended to use this module when working with large amounts of data or in any application where performance is important.

Checking the speed performance

OpenSSL is an open source project that defines the security protocols SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). It has a software library that can be used in applications that requires a secure information transmission in order to prevent eavesdropping.

OpenSSL includes a speed command that tests the encryption performance for a desired encryption algorithm. For this example the algorithm used is the aes-128-cbc that implements the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm, with a Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode of operation and 128 bits block.

The OpenSSL speed test can be seen using the following command:

            
              # openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc
  Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 16 size blocks: 43389139 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
  Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 64 size blocks: 28788614 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
  Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 256 size blocks: 11766741 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
  Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 1024 size blocks: 3674139 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
  Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 8192 size blocks: 495157 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
  OpenSSL 1.0.2p 14 Aug 2018
  built on: reproducible build, date unspecified
  options:bn(64,64) rc4(ptr,char) des(idx,cisc,16,int) aes(partial) idea(int) blowfish(ptr)
  compiler: arm-poky-linux-gnueabi-gcc -march=armv7ve -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -mcpu=cortex-a7 -DL_ENDIAN -DTERMIO -O2 -pipe -g -feliminate-unused-debug-types -Wall -Wa,--noexecstack -DHAVE_CRYPTODEV -DUSE_CRYPTODEV_DIGESTS
  The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed. type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes
Aes-128-cbc 193627.86k 513839.78k 837089.96k 1048974.64k 1130986.42k
Solution: 
In doc “AN12838 Strengthening Public Key Crptography using CAAM Secure Key” section 5.2.1 and 5.2.2. it describes details of the usage.

            
          

Wired Communications

With Linux running on the i.MX board, you can evaluate special features that i.MX SoCs provide. This tutorial shows the step-by-step instructions on how to connect to the Internet on Linux with i.MX 8M Nano UL DDR3 EVK:

1. Connect an Ethernet cable to the board RJ-45 connector.
2. Log in
3. Boot up the board and wait for the Linux prompt.
4. At the Linux prompt, enter the following command.
   # ifconfig eth0

5. Ping any site to corroborate functionality.

   
   # ping 8.8.8.8 PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data. 
   64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=119 time=4.81 ms 64 bytes 
   from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=119 time=4.87 ms 64 bytes 
   from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=119 time=4.94 ms 64 bytes 
   from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=119 time=4.61 ms
   

Wireless Connectivity

Power Management

The PCA9450 is a single chip Power Management IC optimized for i.MX 8M, i.MX 8M Nano and i.MX 8M Nano UltraLite.

Low Power Mode Suspension Example

With Linux running on the i.MX board, you can evaluate special features that i.MX SoCs provide. This example shows how to suspend to low-power modes and resuming to normal operation.

Enter the command below in order to enable serial TTY as a wake up source for the board:

# echo enabled > /sys/class/tty/ttymxc0/power/wakeup

Enter the command below to enter Suspend-To-RAM mode:

                
                  # echo mem > /sys/power/state
  PM: suspend entry (deep)
  PM: Syncing filesystems ... done.
  Freezing user space processes ... (elapsed 0.001 seconds) done.
  OOM killer disabled.
  Freezing remaining freezable tasks ... (elapsed 0.000 seconds) done.
  Suspending console(s) (use no_console_suspend to debug)
                
              

Press the SW901 switch to wake-up the board. The following messages should appear on terminal:

                
                  HIFsuspendwow TODO
  PM: suspend devices took 0.112 seconds
  Disabling non-boot CPUs ...
  CPU1: shutdown
  psci: CPU1 killed.
  CPU2: shutdown
  psci: CPU2 killed.
  CPU3: shutdown
  psci: Retrying again to check for CPU kill
  psci: CPU3 killed.
  Enabling non-boot CPUs ...
  Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU1
  GICv3: CPU1: found redistributor 1 region 0:0x00000000388a0000
  CPU1: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]
  cache: parent cpu1 should not be sleeping
  CPU1 is up
  Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU2
  GICv3: CPU2: found redistributor 2 region 0:0x00000000388c0000
  CPU2: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]
  cache: parent cpu2 should not be sleeping
  CPU2 is up
  Detected VIPT I-cache on CPU3
  GICv3: CPU3: found redistributor 3 region 0:0x00000000388e0000
  CPU3: Booted secondary processor [410fd034]
  cache: parent cpu3 should not be sleeping
  CPU3 is up
  PM: resume devices took 0.028 seconds
  OOM killer enabled.
  Restarting tasks ... done.
  PM: suspend exit
                
              

Audio

Tools and References

i.MX Audio Board Hardware User's Guide This manual includes system setup and configurations and provides detailed information on the usage of the i.MX Audio Board System from a hardware perspective.

Simple Audio Example

Connect your earphone to the Audio Jack on the i.MX 8M Nano UL DDR3 EVK board.

If your earphone includes a microphone feature (TRRS with four contacts), do not push the microphone jack to the end. Leave one contact ring outside.

            
              #aplay -1

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****

card 0: imxspdif [imx-spdif], device 0: S/PDIF PCM snd-soc-dummy-dai-0 [S/PDIF PCM snd-soc-dummy-dai-0] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
card 2: wm8524audio [wm8524-audio], device 0: HiFi wm8524-hifi-0 [] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
card 2: wm8524audio [wm8524-audio], device 1: HiFi-ASRC-FE (*) [] 
Subdevices: 1/1 
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 
# gst-launch-1.0 audiotestsrc ! alsasink device=plughw:2 
Setting pipeline to PAUSED ... 
Pipeline is PREROLLING ... 
Redistribute latency... 
Pipeline is PREROLLED ... 
Setting pipeline to PLAYING ... 

New clock: GetAudioSinkClock

            
          

You should be able to listen a tone on the earphone.

When you are done with the tone, finish the command line by pressing kbd:[Ctrl+C]

This example is very simple. It shows the link between audiotestsrc and alsasink.

Decoder Video Audio Example

This example explains how to decode just the audio from a video file. Copy a video file to your /home/root/ on your SD card rootfs partition, boot the board from the SD card and run the command below:

Note:You can obtain the file used in the example for free from the Big Buck Bunny site.

            
              # gplay-1.0 SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4
  FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
  Set VideoSink kmssink
  Set TextSink fakesink ====== AIUR: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:35. ======
  Core: AVI_PARSER_03.05.29 build on Aug 31 2017 09:15:57
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/parser/lib_avi_parser_arm_elinux.so.3.1
  Track 00 [video]: Disabled
  Codec: 4, SubCodec: 1
  -----------------------
  ------------------------ Track 01 [audio_0] Enabled
  Duration: 0:09:56.424000000
  Language: und
  Mime: audio/mpeg, mpegversion=(int)1, channels=(int)2, rate=(int)48000, bitrate=(int)0
  codec_data=(buffer)014d401fffe10017674d401fda014016ec0440000003004000000c83c60ca801000468ef3c80
  ------------------------
  ====== BEEP: 4.3.4 build on Mar 12 2018 11:47:45. ======
  Core: MP3 decoder Wrapper build on Jan 11 2018 10:20:25
  file: /usr/lib/imx-mm/audio-codec/wrap/lib_mp3d_wrap_arm_elinux.so.3
  CODEC: BLN_MAD-MMCODECS_MP3D_ARM_02.13.01_ARMV8 build on Jan 11 2018 10:05:45. [Stop (No Repeated)][Vol=1.0][00:00:00/00:09:56]=========== fsl_player_play()=========== FSL_GPLAY2_01.00_LINUX build on Mar 12 2018 11:48:19
  [h]display the operation Help
  [p]Play
  [s]Stop
  [e]Seek
  [a]Pause when playing, play when paused
  [v]Volume
  [m]Switch to mute or not
  [>]Play next file
  [ [r]Switch to repeated mode or not
  [u]Select the video track
  [d]Select the audio track
  [b]Select the subtitle track
  [f]Set full screen
  [z]resize the width and height
  [t]Rotate
  [c]Setting play rate
  [i]Display the metadata
  [x]eXit
  State changed: buffering
  State changed: playing
  [Playing (No Repeated)][Vol =1.0][00:00:13/00:00:13]EOS Found
  getNextItem No next item!
  No more media file, exit gplay!
  State changed: stopped
  Exit display thread
  FSL_PLAYER_UI_MSG_EXIT
  fsl_player_deinit
                    

            
          

Display and Graphics

Camera Interfaces

Machine Learning

Machine learning (ML) typically encompasses applications where classification, recognition, and prediction of man-made abstractions are desired. Examples include image recognition, gesture recognition, anomaly detection, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, ASR, scene recognition, and many more. This section will focus specifically on the NXP ML tools applied to image or video streams. The voice and audio sections may also reference the included examples.

Device Management and Secure OTA

Design Resources

Get Help

To learn what to do next, find your issue below. If you still need help, contact NXP Support.