Release Notes v1.8.0

Introduction

Astra™ is Synaptics’ new compute platform designed for the IoT market. It features a series of high-performance, AI-native, multi-modal SoCs optimized for consumer, enterprise, and industrial IoT workloads. These SoCs are equipped with hardware accelerators for edge inferencing, security, graphics, vision, and audio, and offer out-of-the-box functionality with Synaptics’ connectivity solutions.

Astra (v1.8.0) GA Release is a unified software development kit supporting the SL-Series of MPUs.

The high-level components included in this SDK are described below:

  • Upstream Linux Kernel and device tree.

  • Low-level Linux device drivers (U-BOOT) for peripheral devices.

  • Open source code for Multimedia pipelines.

  • Synaptics proprietary security approach.

  • Related SDK Documents

All of these items can be found through Synaptics’ and third parties open source Git repositories on GitHub.

Yocto SDK

The Yocto Project is an open-source collaboration project that provides templates, tools and methods for custom Linux-based systems for embedded and IoT products. By leveraging the power of the open-source development community, Synaptics hopes to provide its customers with a wider array of compatible software packages to build their products faster, with more features, while at the same time having the stability and support of a large open-source development project. Additionally, the SDK enables customers who already use a Yocto-based development environment to migrate to Synaptics class-leading silicon solutions for improved performance and additional functionality. The Yocto Project offers a vast number of software packages that provide many options.

Reference Board Supported Scope

Below table lists the supported ASTRA reference board (Machina) and supported scope.

SOC / Reference Board

Test Validation and Support Scope

SL1680 Core board + IO board

GA

SL1640 Core board + IO board

GA

SL1620 Core board + IO board

GA

License

Using the Astra Software Developer Kit and BSP requires complying with the ASTRA EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT LICENSE AGREEMENT –.

Synaptics Proprietary TAs

The following Trusted Applications (TAs) are Synaptics proprietary TAs which run in the OP-TEE Trusted Execution Environment. They are provided in binary format. Synaptics will migrate them into REE and open source the code to the public in a near future releases.

Package

Notes

SyNAP

TA

SL1680 / SL1640 / SL1620

Note

The Vmeta TA was open sourced in release v1.6. Source code can be found at https://github.com/synaptics-astra/tee-optee_dev/tree/kirkstone_5.15_v1.8.0/ta/vpu.

Note

FastLogo and DHUB TAs were open sourced in release v1.7.

Where to get the SDK from GitHub

Images and Toolchains

https://github.com/synaptics-astra/sdk/releases/

SDK

https://github.com/synaptics-astra/sdk/tree/kirkstone_5.15_v1.8.0

Documentation

Getting Started

Astra Machina Eval Platform

Astra Yocto Linux Developer Guide

Astra Yocto Linux User Guide

For other collaterals please refer to the Synaptics Customer Portal.

New Features

Common New Features

Feature

SoC

Description

MPEG-DASH

All

Add support for the MPEG-DASH standard with Gstreamer.

Text Overlay

All

Add support for Text Overlay with Gstreamer.

Image Overlay

All

Add support for Image Overlay with Gstreamer.

Boot Logo with DTBO

All

Support bootlogo when using devicetree overlays.

SWUpdate Rescue Mode

All

Implement initramfs to support rescue mode using SWUpdate.

Update Multiple DDR Types

All

Support different DDR types with the Astra Update tool.

Building with Dash Shell

All

Update build scripts work with Dash.

SL1620 New Features

Feature

SoC

Description

Zigbee Support

SL1620

Support Zigbee using the SYN4381 module.

Dual Display with X11

SL1620

Support screen replication using the Matchbox Window Manager.

SL1640 New Features

Feature

SoC

Description

ADC Functionality

SL1640 and SL1680

Support for ADC functionality.

SL1680 New Features

Feature

SoC

Description

ISP Dwarp

SL1680

Enable dewarp using the ISP for a single sensor.

5GB rootfs

SL1680

Enlarge the default rootfs size to 5GB.

ADC Functionality

SL1640 and SL1680

Support for ADC functionality.

SoC Core Feature Summary

This section summarizes the hardware features of Astra Machina SoCs.

Feature

SoC

2D and 3D Graphics with GPU

SL1620, SL1640, and SL1680

DRM-KMS

SL1620, SL1640, and SL1680

Multi-standard Video Encoding/Decoding

SL1640 and SL1680

Cortex-M core boot

SL1620, SL1640, and SL1680

HIFI4 DSP

SL1640

NPU

SL1640 and SL1680

Security for CPU, BOOT, and DRM engine

SL1620, SL1640, and SL1680

MIPI CSI & ISP

SL1680

Specific Modules and Features

Feature Modules

Feature Items

SL1620

SL1640

SL1680

Comment

GST Audio Pipeline

GST Audio Pipeline

Y

Y

Y

BT A2DP Audio

Y

Y

Y

PDM MIC Support

Y

N/A

N/A

SW Decoding Capability

Y

Y

Y

  • Supported formats: AAC, MP2, MP3, Vobis, AC3, OPUS

File Playback

Y

Y

Y

  • Supported formats: TS, MP3, MP4, Webm

GST Sample Rate Conversion & Mixing

Y

Y

Y

  • Limitation on SL1620 audio mixing. Sample Rate conversion is fine.

HDMI-RX (Audio)

N/A

N/A

Y

Volume Control for USB audio devices

Y

Y

Y

Supports volume control of USB audio devices using GPIOs

GST Video Pipeline

KMS SINK with IOMMU

N/A

Y

Y

  • MultiView: Camera + Video OR multi Video

  • Dual display means the output simultaneously

  • Dual display for SL1680 means HDMI-TX + MIPI-DSI

  • Dual display for SL1620 means MIPI-DSI + RGB

HDMI Rx Video Path to Display Sink

N/A

N/A

Y

RTSP stream with V4L2 playback

N/A

Y

Y

Multiview RTSP Playback

N/A

N/A

Y

Support Wayland Sink Window Dragging with mouse

Y

Y

Y

Multi View

N/A

N/A

Y

Video Decode with 2K Wayland Sink

Y

Y

Y

FFMPEG Decode

Y

Y

Y

MPEG-DASH

Y

Y

Y

V4L2 Decode

N/A

Y

Y

Text Overlay

Y

Y

Y

Image Overlay

N/A

Y

Y

Dual Display

Y

N/A

Y

Video Decode with QT Applications

Y

Y

Y

Multi-playback only on SL1680

GST AI

OpenCV Support

Y

Y

Y

Multistream AI with RTSP

N/A

N/A

Y

AI support for ISP Camera

N/A

N/A

Y

GST AI Support for GPU models

Y

N/A

N/A

Pose Estimation

Y

Y

Y

Image Classification

Y

Y

Y

Single View AI use case

Y

Y

Y

Multi View AI user case

N/A

N/A

Y

  • SL680 supports multi-view AI case

  • SL1640/1620 only supports single view AI case

Super Resolution AI use case

N/A

N/A

Y

Face Recognition use case

N/A

N/A

Y

SR Slideshow

N/A

N/A

Y

Audio Classification AI use case

Y

Y

Y

SyNAP

Y

Y

Y

  • supports SyNAP pre-process and sink

HDMI-RX

HDMI-RX 4K

N/A

N/A

Y

DHUB TA in OP-TEE

N/A

N/A

Y

HDIM-Rx Video 2K all formats support

N/A

N/A

Y

GST Pipeline Support

N/A

N/A

Y

HDMI-Rx Driver for Video – 2K60

N/A

N/A

Y

YUYV and NV12 formats as VIP output

N/A

N/A

Y

EDID Support

N/A

N/A

Y

VIP Scalar

N/A

N/A

Y

RGB, YUV444/422/420 – 12/10/8 bit input

N/A

N/A

Y

Gstreamer v4l2src pipeline to Display

N/A

N/A

Y

DRM-KMS

Fastlogo with OP-TEE

Y

Y

Y

Supports both HDMI and MIPI

HDMI Hot Plug Detect and Dynamic Resolution Change

N/A

Y

Y

EDID parsing

N/A

Y

Y

MIPI, HDMI on Astra Machina boards

Y

Y

Y

  • SL1620 /SL1640 supports either HDMI or MIPI output.

  • SL1680 supports HDMI and MIPI simultaneously.

    Default is HDMI, can be changes to MIPI via DTS

Display

Wayland Display Server

Y

Y

Y

X11 Display Server

Y

Y

Y

V4L2 ISP

Dual / Single Sensor V4L2 ISP Driver

N/A

N/A

Y

  • ISP feature is only for SL1680

  • Known limitation of Downscaling of inputs: YUV420 SP 10bit and RGB 888

Support for 4K input and output

N/A

N/A

Y

Support for downscaling of the inputs

N/A

N/A

Y

Support cropping in ISP down scaler

N/A

N/A

Y

Supports Bayer and RGB formats

N/A

N/A

Y

Support Simultaneous Path Playback w/ Single Sensor

N/A

N/A

Y

Direct Sensor(MCM) output for ISP bypass

N/A

N/A

Y

U-Boot

EMMC HS400 support

Y

Y

Y

SL1620 1G DDR4 x 16 support

Y

N/A

N/A

DVFS Support

Y

Y

Y

VCPU DVFS can be supported on SL1620/SL1640/SL1680

VCORE DVFS is only supported on SL1640

U-BOOT v1.1.1

Y

Y

Y

Release Notes

General peripherals support

Y

Y

Y

  • Supports USB2.0 devices

  • Supports USB3.0 host

  • Supports Ethernet

  • Supports SPI Flash

Boot mode: from eMMC

Y

Y

Y

  • Support eMMC HS400 mode

Boot mode: from SD-CARD

Y

Y

Y

Image Upgrade

Y

Y

Y

  • Supports eMMC image upgrade with USB U-Boot,

    SPI U-Boot and SU-Boot

  • Supports SD card image upgrade with SPI U-Boot and

    SU-Boot

  • USB U-Boot: image via TFTP and USB target

    (connected to PC)

  • SPI U-Boot: image via TFTP and USB Host

    (connected to USB Disk)

  • SU-Boot: image via TFTP and USB Host

    (connected to USB Disk)

  • Supports sparse image slices (Yocto will generate

    sparse image automatically).

Suspend to RAM (S3) Power State

Y

N/A

N/A

Low Power Standby

N/A

Y

Y

OP-TEE

OP-TEE enabled

Y

Y

Y

WIFI

WIFI 6 & WIFI 6E

Y

Y

Y

wpa_supplicant 2.11

Host AP mode using hostapd

Y

Y

Y

Bluetooth

Supported

Y

Y

Y

General Modules, Peripherals, and Interfaces Supported

General

Kernel

Kernel Version 5.15.140

Yocto

Kirkstone: 4.0.17

U-Boot

SPI U-Boot version: v1.1.1

USB SU-Boot version: v1.7

USB Tool

astra-update: 1.0.5

OP-TEE

OP-TEE version: 4.5.0

Gstreamer (GST)

GST version: 1.22.8

ISP Firmware

version: 6.5.1

Memory

Memory - DDR

SL1620

DDR3

1GB 1866 Mbps

2GB 1866 Mbps

4GB 1866 Mbps

DDR4

1GB 2133 Mbps

2GB 2133 Mbps

4GB 2133 Mbps

DDR4x16

1GB 2133 Mbps

2GB 2133 Mbps

SL1640

DDR4

1GB 3200 Mbps

2GB 2400 / 2666 / 3200 Mbps

4GB 3200 Mbps

DDRx16

1GB 3200 Mbps

2GB 3200 Mbps

LPDDR4

2GB 3733 Mbps

3GB 3733 Mbps

4GB 3733 Mbps

LPDDR4x

3733 Mbps

3GB 3733 Mbps

4GB 3733 Mbps

SL1680

LPDDR4

2GB 3733 Mbps

3GB 3733 Mbps

4GB 3733 Mbps

LPDDR4x

2GB 3200 / 3733 Mbps

3GB 3200 / 3733 Mbps

4GB 3733 Mbps

Memory - eMMC

up to 32GB

General Peripherals

Interrupt

GIC

Clock

Controls the system frequency and clock tree distribution

Timer

GPIO

GPIO is initialized in earlier phase according to hardware design

SDMA

Conforms to the DMA engine framework

UART

USB 2.0 (OTG)

USB 3.0 (Host)

I2C

SPI

Network

Ethernet

SL1620: 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps

SL1640: 10 / 100 Mbps

SL1680: 10 /100 / 1000 Mbps

Wireless Connectivity

Supports WIFI & BT

GPU and Display

GPU

  • DDK 24.2@6643903

  • OpenGL ES 3.2

  • Mesa 22.3.5

  • libdrm 2.4.110

  • Weston 10.0.2

Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)

Display

RGB Parallel Output

Supported on SL1620

HDMI-TX

Supported on SL1620/SL1640/SL1680

HDMI-RX

Supported on SL1680

MIPI-DSI

SL1680/SL1640/SL1620. On SL1640 it needs to be enabled via DTS

Camera

MIPI-CSI

SL1680

ISP

SL1680

Audio Interfaces

PDM

SL1620

SPDIF

None

I2S

SL1620, SL1640, SL1680

Supported Camera Modules

Known Issues and Limitations

Note

Versions of U-Boot included in the Astra SDK v0.9.0 release are not compatible with Astra SDK releases v1.0 or later. Please ensure that you are using USB Tool v1.0 or later when flashing using USB. Or U-Boot v1.0.0 or later when updating with internal SPI flash. See Updating Internal SPI Flash Images using U-Boot for instructions on updating the internal SPI flash.

Note

U-Boot version v1.1.0 improves emmc flash times significantly. We recommend updating to U-Boot v1.1.0 to benefit from these improvements.

Note

SD Boot with release v1.3 and later requires updating to U-Boot v1.1.1 or later. See Updating Internal SPI Flash Images using U-Boot for instructions on updating the internal SPI flash.

Note

In Astra v1.3, the default display output for the SL1620 is set to HDMI via a DSI-to-HDMI conversion. Starting with Astra v1.4, the onboard DSI-to-HDMI converter for the SL1620 Rev D core module has been enabled. For older core modules, an external DSI-to-HDMI adapter board is required. The default display output can be switched to MIPI by following the instructions provided in the User Guides. Haier Panel Configuration Guide and Waveshare Panel Configuration Guide.

Note

In Astra v1.4, the default MIPI display on SL1680 was changed to the Waveshare 7” Panel.

Note

In Astra v1.4, ISP IOMMU only supports the NV12 format. When using RGB888 format, set the v4l2src parameters extra-controls="c,mmu_enable=0" to disable IOMMU.

Note

In Astra v1.5, the rootfs partition sizes increased to accommodate the extra packages in the OOBE images. This interferes with OTA since SWUpdate expects the rootfs partition size to be the same. To perform OTA on a system with v1.4 installed, please build an image using v1.4’s partition sizes. (See eMMC Partition Customization on Astra Machina)

Note

Network Manager can be supported in Astra 1.7, but it’s disabled by default as there are some stability issues found. If needed, Network Manager can be enabled. Please, contact the Synaptics Astra support team for more information.

Known Issues

SL1620

SL1640

SL1680

Module

ID

Summary

Y

N/A

N/A

Display (X11)

35738

UI stuck at Astra Logo on 7” Waveshare panel.

Y

N/A

N/A

Gstreamer Pipeline

35737

Observed stutter issue while playing A/V Decoder h265 content.

Y

N/A

N/A

Gstreamer Pipeline

35748

Observed No audio output while playing Gstreamer Pipeline A/V decoder content.

Y

N/A

N/A

X11

35732

Password is wrong while connecting through ui.

Y

N/A

N/A

Audio

32139

24bit and 32bit are not available for all sample rates when recording using USB headphones and cameras.

Y

N/A

N/A

Audio

32156

Observed corrupted file when recording from DMIC with 32bit pcm for AAC and

ffmpeg-mp2 formats.

Y

N/A

N/A

Audio

32157

Error displayed when using gstreamer to record DMIC input with sample rate 8000

Y

N/A

N/A

Display

32400

Observed garbage on HDMI Output during suspend and resume.

Y

N/A

N/A

Audio

32555

File recorded using avenc_mp2 does not contain metadata.

Y

N/A

N/A

Graphics

33037

GFX Demo app UI goes to background when opened (OOBE image only).

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE Demo

33048

FingerPaint GFX Demo is not working (OOBE image only).

Y

N/A

N/A

Gstreamer Pipeline

33062

Video playback output is not scaled on TFT panel when using vximagesink (X11 image only).

Y

Y

N/A

Display (X11)

33603

White rectangle observed around cursor during video playback.

Y

N/A

N/A

Gstreamer Pipeline

33976

Labels not being displayed during ffmpeg image classification.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE

33998

No Wi-fi observed during browse to Wifi and Turn on Wifi search for SynaExplorer.

Y

Y

Y

Display (X11)

34496

Observed video with horizontal shaking when testing

“Getting Started/Video Player/Camera” cases in the “synaexplorer”

Y

Y

N/A

Display (X11)

34502

Graphics example in SynaExplorer is inconsistent with other Window Managers.

Y

N/A

N/A

Display

35455

Observed corrupted output when checking Mode_Test

“while Push frame to both GFX1 and PIP plane@AR24”

Y

N/A

N/A

Zigbee

35483

Zigbee cordinator fails with error “fw file BCM4381A1 could not be opened, error 2”

Y

N/A

N/A

WebRTC Demo

35491

Met video freeze when do WebRTC_audio-and-video Test with QT.

Y

Y

Y

OOBE

35569

Video not output unless you move mouse after clicking play when testing

SynaExplorer -> Getting Started /video playback

Y

N/A

N/A

Display

35676

No HDMI Output is observed when stop weston service and then start weston service.

Y

N/A

N/A

X11

35684

Image classification stream playback doesnt start on X11.

Y

N/A

N/A

X11

35687

Flickering observed in hdmi ui while playing streams.

Y

N/A

N/A

Display (X11)

35688

Display is coming vertically in tft panel.

Y

N/A

N/A

Display (X11)

35689

HDMI UI randomly becomes white / gray.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE

35697

Astra logo in synaexplorer is not showing properly in astra video playback section.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE

35699

Haier panel orientation is wrong after changing DTBO.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE (X11)

35700

Stutter while playing video in synaexplorer.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE (X11)

35701

There is no symbol which indicate the open network for connect open WiFi.

N/A

Y

N/A

OOBE (X11)

35729

Choose “Reset to Default” in the “Display” option, the video still outputs from Waveshare panel.

N/A

Y

Y

Linux Kernel

35717

Clock Gating HW encoder results in adnormal behavior.

N/A

Y

Y

Gstreamer Pipeline

30385

Last frame is retained after playback stopped when using KMS sink.

N/A

Y

Y

Display

30691

Green flash occurs at the beginning of playback on some streams when using kmssink.

N/A

Y

Y

Linux Kernel

32944

Suspend to RAM fails to work.

N/A

Y

N/A

SynAP

33745

SyNAP NNAPI offline testcase failed with latest models.

N/A

Y

N/A

Gstreamer Pipeline

35266

Video stutters when used glvideomixerelement to play multiple streams.

N/A

Y

Y

Display (KMS sink)

35450

Looping playback fails to work with KMS sink.

N/A

Y

Y

Fastlogo

35596

Fast logo appears twice during DUT boot up.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35739

IOMMU enabled output has a delay.

N/A

N/A

Y

OOBE (X11)

35726

Real time streaming is not working.

N/A

N/A

Y

Gstreamer Pipeline

35718

Randomly the second stream will fail during playback when testing

Audiomixer ->Sampling rate: 48.0 kHz & 44.1 kHz.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35740

Observed garbage colored output while checking DRM Display with NV12 IOMMU enabled

and disabled with -w 1920 -h 1080.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display (X11)

35725

Waveshare 13.3inch MIPI panel always output Astra logo.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35746

Observed corrupted dump file while checking HDMI2CSI via ISP for YUV444 dump.

N/A

N/A

Y

U-Boot

30036

SPI U-Boot fails for flash image to SD card.

N/A

N/A

Y

Video Player Demo

30437

Observed video shaking when playing back 4 streams with V4L2 decoding in

syna-video-player.

N/A

N/A

Y

Gstreamer Pipeline

32021

Observed random frame drops when decoding 4K60fps H.265 stream on 1080p TV.

N/A

N/A

Y

HDMI-RX

32022

No audio/video output on dual display configurations while doing HDMI-RX playback

and HDMI-TX hotplug.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

32959

OV5647 image contains color imbalance (too much green).

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

32960

Excessive noise is visible on screen when testing OV5647 with ports CSI-0 and CSI-1.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display (X11)

33083

Video tearing occurred when playing a local file stream with USB camera(720p/1080p).

(X11 image only).

N/A

Y

Y

Suspend / Resume

33696

SL1680 uses more power in low power standby then SL1640.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34028

There is no obvious changes observed while checking defect pixel cluster correction

in 6.1.5 PQ tuning tool.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34214

Video showed purple screen when testing OV5647 In low-light environment.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display (X11)

34424

Waveshare 7” panel in portrait mode when using Dual Display with X11.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34446

Observing Camera output lagging issue while checking DRM Display.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34447

Instead of full screen output obsering 1 quadrant while checking DRM Display for

NV12 IOMMU Enabled and Disabled with -w 1920 -h 1080.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34459

One stream fails to display input when doing multi-path streams simultaneously.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34475

IMX477 output has a blue tint.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34477

IMX477 output has a purple tint in low light environments.

N/A

N/A

Y

Gstreamer Pipeline

34494

Video stutter when doing downscaling and color conversion of three streams.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34751

ISP sends incorrect frames when sending initial frames.

N/A

N/A

Y

HDMI-RX

34806

Randomly video playback is not smooth when testing HDMI-RX with Laptop / QD980 / MURIDEO sources.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

34976

Observed tearing at top when using isp video test tool with IOMMU enabled.

N/A

N/A

Y

HDMI-RX

35138

Console keeps printing errors when testing HDMI-RX tests use KMS sink.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display

35356

Observed horizontal line pixel distortion on main plane during modetest.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display

35458

GFX and PIP planes fail to push complete frames in dual display configuration when

testing with 4K TV and 7.1” MIPI panel.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display

35580

Dual display when using KMS sink output did not work.

Y

N/A

N/A

OOBE

35593

SynaExplorer playback and taskbar fail to display correctly when playing the second time.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35626

Black appears purple when testing AWB with OV5647 sensor.

N/A

N/A

Y

HDMI-RX

35629

Randomly HDMI-RX video takes more time to display when starting gstreamer pipeline.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35630

Noise is visible when testing OV5647 with 1080P config with CSI-0 / CSI-1 port.

N/A

N/A

Y

ISP

35694

Video is not smooth when testing sr_qdeo_y_uv_1280x720_3840x2160

(4K USB Camera MJPEG) comepare with no super resolution command.

N/A

N/A

Y

OOBE (X11)

35695

Video stutters when playing MultiAi-RTSP IP Camera with “Syna AI Player”.

N/A

N/A

Y

Display

35716

No output when testing dual ISP sensor and 13.3” Waveshare panel DTBOs.