Developers may be interested in a new Mobile open hardware development kit called Precursor which will soon be available to purchase from the Crowd Supply website. Precursor is an open hardware development platform for secure, mobile computation and communication.
Precursor features a built-in display, physical keyboard and internal battery, and has been specifically built for everyday use but compromises nothing as a development platform. Powered by an FPGA-hosted, soft-core System-on-Chip (SoC), it gives developers the freedom to customize nearly every aspect of the platform.
“Precursor was designed from the ground up to provide security by justifying trust in an increasingly hostile world. Its transparent, minimalistic design invites inspection and mitigates supply chain attacks; its embedded cryptographic primitives simplify the implementation of computationally-intensive protocols, such as the Double Ratchet that has brought end-to-end encrypted communication into the mainstream; and its sealing primitives facilitate the creation and storage of cryptographic keys.
Despite a tightly integrated mobile form factor, Precursor also provides hooks for hardware mods. Its keyboard is a separate, I²C-provisioned PCB that opens the door to novel layouts and innovative sensors; and its battery cavity exposes GPIOs that allow developers to trade battery life for additional hardware functionality.”
Features and Specifications of Precursor :
- User-customizable CPUs
- Xilinx XC7S50 primary System on Chip (SoC) FPGA
- -L1 speed grade for longer battery life
- Tested with 100 MHz VexRISC-V, RV32IMAC + MMU, 4k L1 I/D cache
- iCE40UP5K secondary Embedded Controller (EC) FPGA
- Manages power, standby, and charging functions
- Tested with 18 MHz VexRISC-V, RV32I, no cache
- Xilinx XC7S50 primary System on Chip (SoC) FPGA
- 16 MB external SRAM
- 128 MB FLASH
- 100 MHz DDR 8-bit wide bus for fast XIP code performance
- Dual hardware TRNG
- External discrete noise generator
- In-SoC ring oscillator based TRNG
- Inspectable I/O
- Physical keyboard with changeable layout overlays
- 200ppi black and white LCD (336×536 resolution), 100% inspectable with standard optical microscope
- Both keyboard and LCD are backlit for night-time use
- Modular keyboard PCB – customize layouts, add sensors or swap in a touch surface
- Audio with safe defaults
- Integrated 0.7 W speaker for notifications
- Vibration motor
- 3.5 mm headset jack
- No integrated microphone – audio surveillance is not possible when headset is unplugged
- Integrated wifi
- Sandboxed in a hardware-delineated untrusted domain
- Silicon Labs WF200C chipset
- USB type C port
- Supports charging at 5 V; OVP tolerant to 20 V
- Power negotiation to 5 V @ 1.5 A (source and sink)
- Supports legacy USB 2.0 full-speed PHY
- Basic DRP negotiation hardware support
- 1100 mAh Li-Ion battery
- Integrated gas gauge for more accurate battery life estimate
- Full charge in about 3 hours
- Runtime depends on user application
- Approx. 100 hours standby with wifi+EC+static display enabled
- Approx. 700 mW “on-state” (most features enabled and active, backlight off) power draw or 5.5 hours continuous use
- Anti-tamper features
- User-sealable metal can for trusted components
- Dedicated RTC with basic clock integrity monitoring
- Power monitors trip reset in case of power glitches
- Always-on accelerometer/gyro to detect movement in standby
- Support for instant secure erase via battery-backed AES key and self-destruct circuit
- Slim and light mobile form factor
- 69 mm x 138 mm x 7.2 mm
- 96 grams reference weight
- Compare to iPhone X at 70.9 mm x 143.6 mm x 7.7 mm and 174 grams
- Accessible mechanical design
- 6063 alloy aluminum case – 3D files provided, so you can mill your own case!
- FR-4 front bezel – PCB source provided
- ABS+PC polymer antenna radome – 3D printable
- Made for developers
- Easy-access developer’s cable
- Low-level debugging (GDB + Chipscope) and firmware flashing via developer’s cable plugged into a custom Raspberry Pi hat
- Middleware debugging via USB cable via wishbone tunnel
- Open-source to the core
- Inspect, modify and compile your SoC and EC from source
- All source files hosted on GitHub for convenient fork, pull request and issue tracking
- Open source PCB and case design
- Extendable and modifiable
- No adhesives holding the bezels in place – just one screw driver is all it takes
- Want to add hardware? Maybe a cellular modem? No problem!
- Battery compartment is a blank check for your peripherals
- Install a smaller battery for more space
- Flex PCB breakout for 8x FPGA GPIO into the battery compartment
- Bezel is made out of FR-4, and can be user-customized to hold additional components
Source : Crowd Supply
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