Board Support Package
The Board Support Package (BSP) is the collection of low-level software that brings a SiMa.ai board up from power-on to a usable Linux userspace. It is the foundation every higher-level workload — perception pipelines, ROS 2 nodes, custom C/C++ applications — runs on top of.
A SiMa.ai BSP contains:
- Bootloader (U-Boot) — initializes DRAM, reads boot media, loads the kernel.
- Kernel — Linux kernel with SiMa.ai drivers for the MLA, CVU, ISP, PCIe, networking, and storage IP on the SoC.
- Device trees — describe board-specific peripherals (MIPI cameras, GMSL2 deserializers, GPIO headers, M.2 slots) so the kernel can probe them at boot.
- Root filesystem — userspace tools, system services, and the SiMa.ai runtime libraries that talk to the on-chip accelerators.
- Firmware blobs — for the security processor (tRoot) and other co-processors.
Modalix BSP
The Modalix BSP targets the Modalix DevKit, Modalix Early Access kits, and the Modalix PCIe card. It is built on eLxr, a Debian-derived distribution. Userspace is managed with apt, so customizing Modalix images is closer to packaging Debian software than to writing Yocto recipes. For users converting an existing Yocto DevKit to eLxr, see Convert to eLxr.
Source layer: swsoc-simaai-elxr-doc
What you can do with the BSP sources
The repository above is useful when you need to:
- Add a custom peripheral — write a device-tree overlay for a new MIPI camera, GMSL2 sensor, or HAT board.
- Enable kernel features — turn on a kernel option (e.g., a filesystem, network protocol, or USB gadget driver) that isn't in the stock image.
- Replace or extend the rootfs — bake in your own application, library, or system service.
- Reproduce a release locally — rebuild the exact image that ships on a DevKit for auditing or modification.
Once a custom image is built, flash it onto a DevKit using one of the methods in Firmware Update.