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Using BeagleBone Black with SYS/BIOS for Real-Time processing

Hi,

I asked my questions on the CCS forum and was redirected here.

My background is in real-time signal processing using C6000 DSPs (10+ years).  For a course on embedded systems I wish to adopt Beagle Bone Black as the target hardware. My plan is:

  1. Use BBB with Linux (this is easy),
  2. Use BBB with TI OS for Real-Time processing (here's the problem),
  3. Use BBB without any OS (looks achieveable too), just directly programming it in C. We will use XDS100V2 for that.
  4. For RT processing I would like to avoid using any RT version of Linux and leverage on my experience with TI DSPs and SYS/BIOS.
  5. I would like to be able to perform multichannel signal processing with a microphone array as the input.

And here are my, quite a few :), questions:

  1. Does SYS/BIOS support instrumentation on Sitara?
  2. SYS/BIOS is a kernel, so I would need to have drivers for the Sitara peripherals. I got this answer on the CCS forum: "we don't provide TI-RTOS drivers for Sitara peripherals. Starterware contains drivers for the Sitara peripherals and even though it's non-OS API's you can use them in TI-RTOS tasks, Hwi's and use other kernel modules for synchronization." Is there any tutorial or examples that show how to use SYS/BIOS with StarterWare drivers?
  3. Is there any tutorial or examples that show how to use SYS/BIOS with RT processing on PRU-ICSS?
  4. Does StarterWare in itself allow for the development of an interrupt-driven system for RT signal processing, i.e. is the framework interruptible?
  5. Can I use C6713 DSK compatible daughterboards like this one: http://www.educationaldsp.com/stockproduct_dsk_audio4.htm with BBB? Is there any cape that I could use for that purpose? If not, some sort of adaptor would be necessary, but is it possible and does it make sense to do it? Will the interfacing be straightforward, or it will be rather painful?
  6. I was looking for some low-cost microphone array I could interface to BBB. I was unable to find any cape with more than 2 microphones (I need at least 4) and many people use Sony Playstation Eye, which includes a camera and 4 microphones. However all the examples were for Linux, but I would like to perform RT processing, preferably with SYS/BIOS instead of some RT patched Linux distribution. Is that viable? If not, could you suggest multichannel audio input HW I could use to interface multiple microphones into a BBB?
  7. Does using an RTOS on Sitara make sense at all? My impression is that the Sitara is more like an application processor with PRU-ICSS destined to do the RT work, and they use no RTOS. Please keep in mind that I am coming from classic C6000 DSP field.
  8. Does TI offer teaching materials for BBB (students guide, slides)? I have been using TIs workshop materials for my DSP courses and they were excellent.

I will very much welcome any suggestions on how to go about RT processing using BBB.

Thank you very much

Best regards

Adam