FRDM-IMX93

FRDM-IMX93 is a small and compact board developed by NXP, which integrates the i.MX93 chip and offers the following hardware features [1]:

  • 2 x ARM Cortex-A55

  • 1 x ARM Cortex-M33

  • 3 x USB-C

  • 32GB eMMC

  • 2GB of RAM

  • 40-pin expansion header

A top view of the board is shown in Figure 1.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-TOP-VIEW.png

Figure 1 Top view of the FRDM-IMX93 board [2]

The USB-C ports

As previously mentioned, the development board is equiped with three USB-C ports, which are highlighted in Figure 2.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-USB-C-PORTS.png

Figure 2 FRDM-IMX93 USB-C ports

Each of the three USB-C ports serves a different purpose, as described below:

  1. BOOT USB: used to load the images required during the board’s boot process.

  2. POWER USB: used to supply power to the board.

  3. DEBUG USB: used for debugging and communicating with the bootloader [3].

The boot switch

Since the board supports multiple boot mediums, users will have to inform the boot ROM [4] where to get the bootloader image from. To do so, the board provides a series of mechanical switches, which shall be collectively known as the boot switch. Its location is highlighted in Figure 3 using yellow.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-BOOT-SWITCH.png

Figure 3 FRDM-IMX93 boot switch location

The boot switch consists of four switches, numbered from 1 to 4, each with two possible states: ON or OFF. The boot medium is chosen by placing these switches into the appropriate states.

The state of the boot switch can be encoded using a group of 4 bits, indexed from 1 to 4 (leftmost being index 1 and rightmost being index 4). Using this encoding, a value of 0/1 for bit i would correspond to switch i being OFF/ON. With this in mind, Table 2 provides the set of supported boot mediums and the corresponding state of the boot switch.

Table 2 List of supported boot mediums

Boot switch state

Boot medium

1000

USB

1100

SD

0100

eMMC

For example, if one wishes to boot the board over USB [5], according to Table 2, one would have to set switch 1 to ON, switch 2 to OFF, switch 3 to OFF, and switch 4 to OFF.

The expansion header

To allow communication with external modules, the board is equipped with a pin header made up of 40 pins. This is referred to as the expansion header and is highlighted in Figure 4.

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Figure 4 FRDM-IMX93 expansion header

Figure 5 showcases the schematic of the expansion header.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-EXPANSION-HDR-SCHEMATIC.png

Figure 5 FRDM-IMX93 expansion header schematic [6]

Looking at Figure 5, the pins of the expansion header are numbered from 1 to 40. To find the index of a pin on the physical board, first flip the board upside down and then look for the bottom part of the expansion header. This is highlighted in Figure 6.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-EXPANSION-HDR-BOTTOM.png

Figure 6 FRDM-IMX93 expansion header (bottom view) [7]

After locating the expansion header, look for the 3V3 label inscribed near the soldered pins. According to Figure 5, this corresponds to pin 1 [8]. Its location is shown in Figure 7.

../_images/FRDM-IMX93-EXPANSION-HDR-BOTTOM-PIN1.png

Figure 7 FRDM-IMX93 expansion header pin 1 location (bottom view)

The rest of the pins can be discovered based on the location of pin 1.

Useful resources

  1. FRDM-IMX93 home page

  2. FRDM-IMX93 design files

  3. FRDM-IMX93 quick start guide

  4. FRDM-IMX93 getting started guide

  5. i.MX93 home page

  6. i.MX93 technical reference manual

Footnotes