NXP Semiconductors UM11483 User manual

UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M

Quad EVK Running Linux OS

Rev. 2 — 21 January 2021 User manual

Document information

Information Content

Keywords i.MX 8M Quad Evaluation Kit (EVK), 88W8987-based wireless module,

88W8997-based wireless module

Abstract Details the bring-up of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on NXP-based wirelesss modules

connected with i.MX 8M Quad EVK running on Linux OS

NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

Rev Date Description

v.1 20201015 Initial version

v.2 20210121 Modifications

•Extended the scope to 88W8987- and 88W8997-based wireless modules

•Updated the document title and overall document structure

Revision history

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

1 About this document

1.1 Purpose and scope

This document details the enabling of wireless solutions on i.MX 8M Quad evaluation

kit. The i.MX 8M Quad EVK is powered by Linux and the NXP Linux drivers are used for

NXP-based wireless modules. The manual covers the bring-up of i.MX 8M Quad EVK,

the configurations for the BSP image and the hardware connection with NXP-based

wireless modules. The later chapters describe how to bring up the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

interfaces.

This document specifies the hardware interconnection and software support for the i.MX

8M Quad evaluation kit and AzureWave AW-CM358-uSD, AW-CM358MA, and AW-

CM276MA modules to enable Wi-Fi/Bluetooth functionality. Note that the Azurewave

module AW-CM358-uSD only supports Wi-Fi with the i.MX 8M Quad EVK.

Once you have enabled the Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth interfaces, refer to the user manual

UM11490 that details the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features and configurations for i.MX 8M

Quad EVK.

Note: This document does not provide a detailed description of the i.MX 8M Quad BSP

nor how to generate an image and rootfs as these are covered in i.MX Yocto Project

User's Guide.

1.2 References

Reference type Description

Datasheet NXP - DS - 88W8987 - 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band 1x1 Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5 Solution (link)

Datasheet AzureWave - AW-CM358SM - IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN with Bluetooth 5 Combo Stamp LGA

Module (link)

Datasheet AzureWave - AW-CM276MA-PUR - IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wireless LAN 2T2R and Bluetooth 5.0

Combo Module (M.2 2230) (link)

Fact sheet NXP - FS - 88W8997-802.11ac wave 2 2x2 Wi-Fi Dual-band with Bluetooth 5 SoC (link)

Fact sheet NXP - Evaluation Kit Based on i.MX 8M Quad Application Processors (link)

User guide AzureWave - AW-CM358-uSD - uSD-1212 Adapter Board for AW-AM281-uSD and AW-CM358-uSD

(link)

User manual NXP - UM - i.MX Yocto Project User's Guide (link).

User manual NXP - UM - i.MX Linux® User's Guide (link).

User manual NXP - UM11490 - Feature Configuration Guide for NXP-based Modules with i.MX 8M Quad EVK (link)

Web page NXP - 88W8987: 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band 1x1 Wi-Fi® 5 (802.11ac) + Bluetooth® 5 Solution (link)

Web page NXP - 88W8997: 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band 2x2 Wi-Fi® 5 (802.11ac) + Bluetooth® 5 Solution (link)

Table 1. References

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

2 i.MX 8M Quad evaluation kit (EVK)

2.1 I.MX 8M Quad EVK overview

NXP i.MX 8M Quad Evaluation Kit (EVK) provides a platform for rapid evaluation of the

i.MX 8MQuad, i.MX 8MDual and i.MX 8MQuadLite application processors, utilizing dual

to quad Arm Cortex-A53s and single Cortex-M4 cores.

The EVK includes the hardware design files, tools and board support packages (BSPs)

for Linux where:

•The i.MX 8M Quad Linux Board Support Package (BSP) supports the Linux Operating

System (OS) on the i.MX 8M Quad application processors. The purpose of this

software package is to enable Linux support on the i.MX 8M Quad family of Integrated

Circuits (ICs) and their associated platforms. It provides the necessary software to

interface the standard open-source Linux kernel to the i.MX 8M Quad hardware.

•The i.MX 8M Quad BSP is based on the latest long-term stable (LTS) version of

the Linux kernel, which is enhanced with the features provided by NXP and can be

accommodate customized Linux kernel configurations.

2.2 i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board

The i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board is based on the NXP i.MX 8M Quad application

processor. The i.MX 8M Quad processor features an advanced implementation of

the Quad Arm Cortex-A53+ ARM Cortex-M4 core which operates at speeds up to

1.5 GHz and 266 MHz respectively. The i.MX 8M Quad features an integrated power

management module that reduces the complexity of an external power supply and

simplifies the power sequencing. Each processor provides a 32-bit LVDDR3L/DDR4/

LPDDR4 memory interface and other interfaces to connect peripherals such as HDMI,

LCD, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and camera sensors.

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

Figure 1. i.MX 8M Quad EVK block diagram

For more information about the application processor, please refer to the data sheet and

reference manual on www.nxp.com.

Table 2 lists the features of i.MX 8M Quad EVK.

Features Features (continued)

i.MX 8M Quad applications processor with five cores (4×Arm

® Cortex ® -A53 and 1× Cortex-M4)

M.2 connector for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth (PCIe, USB, UART, I2C

and I2S)

3 GB, 32-bit LPDDR4 with 1.6 GHz clock USB3.0 Type-A connector

eMMC 5.0, 16 GB HDMI2.0a Type-A connector

32 MB Octal SPI NOR flash 1 Gbit/s Ethernet

Micro SD card connector Mini-SAS MIPI-DSI connector

USB3.0 Type-C connector with PD support 2x mini-SAS MIPI-CSI connectors for Camera

USB to serial converter for debug Infrared receiver LEDs for power indication and general-

purpose use

3.5 mm audio jack for amplified speakers JTAG 10-pin connector

Table 2. Features of i.MX 8M Quad

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

2.3 i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board interfaces

Figure 2 shows the front view of i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board with pointers to the

interfaces.

Figure 2. i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board interfaces - Front view

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

Figure 3 shows the back view of i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board with pointers to the

interfaces.

Figure 3. i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board interfaces - Back view

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

2.4 i.MX 8M Quad switch settings

Figure 4 shows the two switches on i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board. The Boot Device

Switch is used to select the boot drive while the Boot Mode Switch is used to set the boot

mode.

Figure 4. Boot device switch and boot mode switch on i.MX 8M Quad evaluation board

Table 3 shows the settings of the boot mode switch.

D1 D2 Boot mode

0 1 Serial downloader

1 0 Internal boot

Table 3. Boot mode switch settings

Table 4 shows the settings of the boot device switch to boot from eMMC.

D1 D2 D3 D4

OFF OFF ON OFF

Table 4. Switch settings to boot from eMMC

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

3 NXP-based wireless modules

This document revision addresses 88W8987-based and 88W8997-based wireless

modules.

• 88W8987: refer to 88W8987 short datasheet and 88W8987 product overview on NXP

website.

• 88W8997: refer to 88W8997 fact sheet and 88W8997 product overview on NXP

website.

3.1 Interface with i.MX 8M Quad application processor

Figure 5 shows the high-level block diagram of i.MX 8M Quad application processor with

the Wi-Fi (SDIO/PCIe) and Bluetooth (UART) hardware interfaces used to communicate

with NXP-based wireless module.

Figure 5. Interface between the i.MX 8M Quad application processor and NXP-based wireless module

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NXP Semiconductors UM11483

Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS

3.2 Wi-Fi layer interfaces

The wireless module requires a kernel driver loaded on the i.MX 8M Quad host system

and a firmware running on 88W8987/88W8997 SoC. The MLAN module downloads

the firmware binary to the SD8987/PCIE8997 adapter when the SDIO/PCIe bus driver

detects the SDIO/PCIe interface of the module. The kernel driver (SD8987/PCIE8997) is

loaded between the bus driver and the network stack from the cfg80211 subsystem in the

kernel. NXP kernel driver includes a set of controls and configurations to communicate

with the user space through one of the following interfaces:

•Input/output control (IOCTL)

•Wireless Extension (Wext)

•CFG80211

The IOCTL provides a path to the user space applications iwconfig and iwpriv

whereas cfg80211 interface provides a different path to the user space applications

wpa_supplicant, hostapd and iw.

Figure 6 illustrates the Wi-Fi layer interface.

Figure 6. Wi-Fi layer interface

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