SmartCow Apollo Audio/Video AI Engineering Kit User manual
Apollo Audio/Video AI
Engineering Kit
User's Manual
Copyright and legal statement
©2022 SmartCow AI Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced, translated, modified, published, distributed, transmitted, or displayed
in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission from SmartCow AI Technologies Ltd. SmartCow® is
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copyright law.
All other product names, brands, or logos used herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
owners. All such material is used with the permission of the owners. The content of this document is furnished
confidential, privileged and for informational and instructional use only. It is subject to change without notice, and
should not be construed as a commitment by SmartCow. SmartCow acts in good faith and attempts to ensure that
content is accurate, complete or reliable, but it does not represent it to be error-free. SmartCow, its subsidiaries, the
directors, employees, and agents assume no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies, omissions, or errors that may
appear in the content of this document.
Copyright and legal statement ii
Contents
Copyright and legal statement.............................................................................................................ii
Chapter 1: About the Apollo engineering kit.......................................................................................4
1.1 Features and key benefits..................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Specifications......................................................................................................................................................4
1.3 Programmable buttons...................................................................................................................................... 6
1.4 Apollo pin header layouts..................................................................................................................................7
1.5 About the OLED display.....................................................................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Setting up Apollo hardware..............................................................................................10
2.1 Setting up audio peripherals............................................................................................................................10
2.2 Configuring the camera....................................................................................................................................12
2.3 Enabling the I2S interface and installing and updating libraries..................................................................... 12
Chapter 3: Installing RIVA on Apollo.................................................................................................. 13
Appendix A: Apollo libraries............................................................................................................... 15
Pre-packaged and ready to use applications......................................................................................................... 15
Appendix B: Troubleshooting..............................................................................................................16
Hardware issues..................................................................................................................................................... 16
Software issues.......................................................................................................................................................17
iii
About the Apollo engineering kit 1
Topics:
•Features and key benefits
•Specifications
•Programmable buttons
•Apollo pin header layouts
•About the OLED display
Apollo is an audio/video AI engineering kit based around the NVIDIA® Jetson Xavier™ NX computing module, enabling
developers to build applications with image, conversational, and audio AI capabilities. It includes built-in microphones,
speaker terminals, a camera module, and an OLED display.
• Prepackaged with NVIDIA DeepStream and NVIDIA RIVA
• Preloaded with NLP examples and hardware usage examples.
• Two programmable buttons
1.1 Features and key benefits
Apollo is an engineering kit specialized in audio and video, which also includes the software necessary to provide an
end-to-end AI development platform.
At Apollo’s core is NVIDIA’s Jetson Xavier NX, an embedded Linux processor with an integrated GPU enabling the
deployment of multiple AI models. Apollo’s built-in hardware, in conjunction with RIVA and DeepStream, enables you to
configure and run various audio and vision models.
Apollo also includes two programmable buttons, Ethernet and USB ports, and a Mini DisplayPort. In case of additional
hardware needs, Apollo also provides a GPIO header.
CAUTION: Exercise caution while handling Apollo's pin header because it is sharp-pointed.
Table 1: What's inside the box?
Item Units Highlights
Apollo Engineering Kit 1 Onboard audio-visual sensors with the following
components:
• 4 microphones
• 2 speaker outputs
• An 8MP camera module
• An OLED display
• 2 programmable buttons
Power cord 1 Connects the kit to an external power source
Adaptor 1 Use A/C power from a standard wall output
Mounting frame 1 The kit is mounted upright for convenience of use.
1.2 Specifications
The following figure shows the Apollo audio/video engineering kit.
About the Apollo engineering kit 4
Figure 1: Apollo front side
Figure 2: Apollo input/output and expansion slots rear side
The following table lists some of the major parts in the Apollo device and their specifications.
Table 2: Specifications
Item Description Specification
CPU 6-core NVIDIA Carmel ARM®v8.2 64-bit CPU 6MB
L2 + 4MB L3 processor
GPU NVIDIA Volta™ architecture with 384 NVIDIA
CUDA® cores and 48 Tensor cores
NVIDIA® JetsonXavier™ NX
Memory 8GB 128-bit LPDDR4x @ 1600 MHz 51.2GB/s with
128G NVMeSSD M.2 SSD
About the Apollo engineering kit 5
Item Description Specification
16 GB 128-bit LPDDR4x @ 59.7GB/s with 128G
NVMeSSD M.2 SSD
Storage 16 GB eMMC 5.1
Display 1 x Mini DP
Ethernet 1 x RJ45 GbE (10/100/1000)
Tact Switch Recovery / reset / power / programmable buttons
x 2
USB 1 x USB3.2 Gen1 Type A
1 x USB2.0 Micro B (OTG only)
Line in 1 x 3.5mm phone jack
Physical I/O
Line out 1 x 3.5mm phone jack
Speaker out 2 x pin header (2-pin with pitch 2.54mm)
Mic in 4 x MEMS microphone
Camera 1 x 15-pin FPC for MIPI CSI-II 2 Lanes (equipped
with 8MP IMX179 MIPI camera)
2-pin header 1 x RTC with CR2032 battery
4-pin header 1 x Fan (equipped with Xavier NX Cooler)
7-pin header 1 x SPI for OLED (equipped with 2.08-inch OLED)
1 x UART (Debug only)
1 x Power LED
1 x Auto-power-on
1 x Reset
1 x Recovery
12-pin header with pitch
2.0mm
1 x Power
1 x UART
2 x I2C
40-pin header with pitch
2.0mm
1 x SPI
1x M.2 2280 Key M (equipped with 128G NVMe
SSD)
Internal Connector
Expansion slots
1 x M.2 2230 Key E
Power input 12V DC input with DC jack
Dimension PCBA with base frame: 81 x 69 x 125 mm
(L x W x H)
Operating temperature 0°C ~ 50°C
Storage temperature -25°C ~+80°C
Environment
Storage humidity 95% @ 40 °C (non-condensing)
1.3 Programmable buttons
Apollo has two programmable buttons for developers to add their applications and broaden the scope of building
potential projects.
About the Apollo engineering kit 6
1.4 Apollo pin header layouts
This section lists the sets of pin headers of Apollo.
Pin header to connect a speaker
SmartCow recommends that you use a 1Watt, 4Ohm speaker.
1x12 pin header
The following figure shows the 1X12 pin header of Apollo.
Table 3: 1x12 Pin define
Pin Pin Define
1 LED-
About the Apollo engineering kit 7
Pin Pin Define
2 LED+
3 DebugUART_RX
4 DebugUART_TX
5 Autopower setting, Off=Plug
6 Autopower setting, Off=Plug
7 ResetButton
8 ResetButton
9 ForceRecovery Button
10 ForceRecovery Button
11 PowerButton
12 PowerButton
2x20 pin headers
The following figure shows the 2x20 pin headers of Apollo.
Table 4:
Used by Board
Device
Pin Define Pin Pin Pin Define Used by Board
device
3.3V 1 2 5.0V
I2C1_SDA 3 4 5.0V
I2C1_SCL 5 6 GND
I2SCodec GPIO09 7 8 UART1_TXD
GND 9 10 UART1_RXD
UART1_RTS 11 12 I2S0_SCLK I2SCodec
OLED SPI1_SCK 13 14 GND
BTN01 GPIO12 15 16 SPI1_CS1
3.3V 17 18 SPI1_CS0 OLED
SPI0_MOSI 19 20 GND
SPI0_MISO 21 22 SPI1_MISO
SPI0_SCK 23 24 SPI0_CS0
About the Apollo engineering kit 8
Used by Board
Device
Pin Define Pin Pin Pin Define Used by Board
device
GND 25 26 SPI0_CS1
I2C0_SDA 27 28 I2C0_SCL
GPIO01 29 30 GND
OLED GPIO11 31 32 GPIO07 OLED
BTN02 GPIO13 33 34 GND
I2SCodec I2S0_FS 35 36 UART1_CTS
OLED SPI1_MOSI 37 38 I2S0_DIN I2SCodec
GND 39 40 I2S0_DOUT I2SCodec
1.5 About the OLED display
Apollo has an inbuilt 2.08 inch OLED screen with an SPI interface, and can display in white.
For more information about using the OLED display, including setting up, debugging, and customizing the screen with
Apollo, check the /opt/apollo/base/oled directory on Apollo.
When Apollo is switched on, the OLED displays the SmartCow logo by default.
Note: Do not disassemble the OLED model. Ensure that Apollo is used and stored away from bright lights,
extreme temperatures, and humidity.
About the Apollo engineering kit 9
Setting up Apollo hardware 2
Topics:
•Setting up audio peripherals
•Configuring the camera
•Enabling the I2S interface and installing and updating libraries
This section describes how to get started with setting up Apollo hardware.
To simplify the setup process, Apollo comes pre-flashed with a customized version of the Linux for Tegra BSP, which includes
the necessary drivers and libraries. This eliminates the need to install these yourself, allowing you to quickly get the onboard
peripherals and sensors up and running. You only need to configure the onboard microphones, camera, and external speaker
to get them to work.
Note: All tutorials are based on Python and use the same program structure and common libraries.
2.1 Setting up audio peripherals
Follow these steps to set up and test the speaker and microphone components of Apollo using your computer.
Before you begin
Ensure that you have the following items on hand.
• Computer
• Micro-USB cable
• Ethernet cable
• 1Watt, 4Ohm speaker
About this task
The inbuilt amplifier can accommodate a variety of speakers. However, we recommend using a 1Watt, 4Ohm speaker.
Procedure
1. Attach an external speaker to the speaker connector at the top left section of Apollo as shown in the following
figure.
Setting up Apollo hardware 10
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