SBC to GPU( Orin NX) USB communication - feasibility

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Orin NX
1

HI,

We have a requirement where we need to communicate between Intel based SBC( OS is Ubuntu 20.04) and Jetson Orin NX overs USB lines.

  1. Is it possible?
  2. I want Orin NX to act as both Host or Device mode depending on the need. Does this require any device tree changes or is it Configured as OTG mode by default?
  3. If I want to transfer data from Orin NX to SBC, then how to configure SBC in to device mode. Any challenges here in hardware connection or in software implementation.

Please provide your inputs on these.

Thanks,
Nagesh R

3

Hi,

Your question seems really not quite clear that I would suggest you could discuss with someone who is familiar with USB on your side first…

If NV devkit type C port can do that, then what you are asking would work.

We don’t know if anything is special to Intel based SBC. If it is just a x86 host, then our Jetson usb device mode will launch interface (usb based network) and you could use IP based method to transfer data. Just as how Jetpack is installed to the board when using sdkmanager.

Generally you should not ask us how to configure SBC into device mode. You should ask Intel…

And generally it is Jetson that would be device mode in such scenario… I don’t know why you have to let it be host mode here.

4

Thanks for the updates.

There are no such people here, thats why I am trying to gather as much information as possible here,

we have our own customized carrier board where Jetson Orin NX is mounted. You mean we need to use USB type C cable only for SBC to Orin NX USB communication?

  1. Are there any changes in device tree needed to make Jetson enter in to Device mode, when connected to Intel SBC , for USB communication?
  2. By default the OTG mode is enough so that Jetson changes dynamically to device mode (when USB data is written to Orin NX from SBC) or host mode( when data is written to SBC from Jetson Orin NX side) , depending on the need. Please explain this working

Ok, thanks. I will check with there support team.

Oh ok. HW team told USB communication, so I though of both way communcation and raised this query.

5

we have our own customized carrier board where Jetson Orin NX is mounted. You mean we need to use USB type C cable only for SBC to Orin NX USB communication?

It is just if NV devkit can do that, then your custom board could do that too unless your custom board has wrong hardware design that does not support device mode.

  1. Are there any changes in device tree needed to make Jetson enter in to Device mode, when connected to Intel SBC , for USB communication?

Yes, it depends on your custom board design.
And document is over here.
https://docs.nvidia.com/jetson/archives/r36.4.3/DeveloperGuide/HR/JetsonModuleAdaptationAndBringUp/JetsonAgxOrinSeries.html?highlight=universal%20bus#porting-the-universal-serial-bus

  1. By default the OTG mode is enough so that Jetson changes dynamically to device mode (when USB data is written to Orin NX from SBC) or host mode( when data is written to SBC from Jetson Orin NX side) , depending on the need. Please explain this working

It is sufficient to let Jetson in usb device mode and then start the data transfer.