Digi ConnectCore 8X Quick user guide

ConnectCore 8X
System-on-module
Hardware Reference Manual

ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 2
Revision history—90002295
Revision Date Description
4P March 2020 Added North American certifications; added power consumption section;
updated frequency value, variants information, and some graphics;
updated MCA to trademarked name.
5P May 2020 Added operating temperature statement.
A August
2020
Added Canada, Europe, and Japan certifications; FCC notices; RF table;
and antenna port section.
B December
2020
Added ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM features; added power rails distribution
note; modified power interfaces; replaced electrical characteristics table;
added pin name for LGA pad B6; removed incorrect image from external
voltage reference section; added new Keypad and LEDcontroller
chapters to MCA section; removed KS3 power consumption use case;
revised Transmit power section.
C June 2021 Added MTBF section; expanded Keypad and LEDcontroller sections;
added mechanical specifications reference; designated pads C3 and C27
as reserved; updated AH13; added RTC mode power consumption use
case; fix error in Japan radio marking label; combined pinout tables;
clarified power domains; comment pad F2.
Trademarks and copyright
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their respective owners.
© 2021 Digi International Inc. All rights reserved.
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merchantability for a particular purpose. Digi may make improvements and/or changes in this manual
or in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this manual at any time.
Warranty
To view product warranty information, go to the following website:
www.digi.com/howtobuy/terms
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information:
Product name and model

ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 3
Product serial number (s)
Firmware version
Operating system/browser (if applicable)
Logs (from time of reported issue)
Trace (if possible)
Description of issue
Steps to reproduce
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Contents
About the ConnectCore® 8X
Features and functionality 6
Module variants 9
Block diagrams 9
ConnectCore 8X module 10
NXP i.MX 8X application processor 11
SOM revisions 11
Identify the SOC revision of your SOM 11
The ConnectCore 8X System-on-module
Power interfaces 13
Reference power architecture scheme 13
System-on-module power rails distribution 14
Electrical characteristics 17
System power-up sequence 19
RTC power and coin cell charger 19
Bootstrap 20
Wireless interfaces 21
WLAN IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 21
Bluetooth 28
PCI Express 28
Antenna ports 30
CryptoAuthentication device 31
The Digi Microcontroller Assist™ hardware 31
Reset control 32
MCA IOs 33
Watchdog 36
Real-time clock 36
Pulse width modulation 36
Keypad 37
LED controller 38
Power management 38
MCA firmware update 41
IOMUX
Module pinout 43
External signals and pin multiplexing 44
Castellated pad signals and multiplexing 44
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 4

ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 5
LGA signals and multiplexing 61
Module specifications
Power consumption 98
Power consumption use cases 98
Complex power consumption use cases 98
Results 99
Environmental specifications 100
Mechanical specifications 100
MTBF 100
Assembly instructions
Moisture sensitivity and shelf life 103
Mounting 103
Coplanarity 103
Solder paste print 103
Stencil 103
SMT pick and place 104
SMT process parameter reference 104
Reflow profile 104
Regulatory information and certifications
United States FCC 107
Labeling requirements 107
Maximum power and frequency specifications (FCC) 107
FCC notices 108
FCC-approved antennas 108
RF exposure 110
Operating frequency 111
Europe 111
CE mark 111
OEM labeling requirements 111
CE labeling requirements 111
Declarations of Conformity 112
Approved antennas 112
Canada (IC) 113
Canadian Notice 113
Labeling requirements 113
Transmitters with detachable antennas 114
RF exposure 114
Approved antennas 115
Japan 115
Approval Label (MIC Marking) 115

About the ConnectCore® 8X Features and functionality
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 6
About the ConnectCore® 8X
The ConnectCore 8X is a secure and extremely cost-effective connected System-on-Module platform.
Its innovative Digi SMTplus™ (patent-pending) surface mount form factor allows you to choose
simplified design integration leveraging proven and easy-to-use edge-castellated SMT technology, or a
versatile LGA option for ultimate design flexibility with access to virtually all interfaces.
Built on the NXP i.MX 8X application processor, the module is the intelligent communication engine
for today’s secure connected devices. It integrates dual-Ethernet and pre-certified dual-band Wi-Fi
(802.11a/b/g/n/ac) with dual mode Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.
Features and functionality
The ConnectCore 8X System-on-module is based on the i.MX 8X processor from NXP. This processor
offers a number of interfaces, some of them multiplexed and not available simultaneously. The
module has the following features:
ni.MX 8X dual/quad Arm Cortex-A35 and single Cortex-M4F cores:
lCortex-A35 cores operate up to 1.0 GHz and support Arm virtualization extensions.
lCortex-M4F core operates up to 266 MHz.
Note The ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM does not support Cortex-M4F core.
lAArch64 for 64-bit support.
lAArch32 for backward compatibility with Armv7.
nSystem Control Unit (SCU):
lPower control, clocks, and reset.
lBoot ROMs.
lPMIC interface.
lResource Domain Controller.
nGraphics Processing Unit (GPU):
l4x Vec4 shaders with 16 execution units.
Note The ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM only supports 2x shaders running at 250 MHz.
lSupports OpenGL 3.0, 2.0; OpenGL EX 3.1, 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1: OpenCL 1.2 FP and 1.1; OpenVG
1.1; and Vulkan.
lHigh-performance 2D Blit Engine.
nVideo Processing Unit (VPU):
lH.265 decode (4Kp30).
lH.264 decode (1080p60).
lVP6/VP8 decode (1080p60).
lMPEG-2 decode (1080p60).

About the ConnectCore® 8X Features and functionality
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 7
lMPEG4, H263, Sorenson Spark decode (1080p).
lRealVideo decode (1080p).
lJPEG dec (64Kx64K image size).
lH.264 encode (1080p30).
Note The ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM doesn’t support a VPU.
nUp to 4 GB, 32-bit LPDDR4-1200 memory (16-bit LPDDR4-1200 for ConnectCore 8X Dual SOMs).
n16 GB, 8-bit eMMC memory. Higher density available depending on product variant.
nNXP PF8100 Power Management IC (PMIC):
l7x DC/DC buck converters.
l4x LDO regulators.
lOTP (one-time-programmable) memory.
lCoin cell charger.
nCryptoAuthentication device.
nSecurity accelerators:
lEnhanced High Assurance Boot (HAB) secure and encrypted boot.
lRandom Number Generator with a high-quality entropy source generator and NIST
certifiable HMAC-based DRBG.
lRSA up to 4096, Elliptic Curve up to 1023.
lAES-128/192/256, DES, 3DES, ARC4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-224/256/384/512.
lDedicated Security Controller for Flashless SHE and HSM support, Trustzone, RTIC.
lBuilt-in ECDSA/DSA protocol support.
l10x tamper pins: up to 5 active or 10 passive.
lVoltage and temperature tamper detection to help prevent against side-channel style
attacks.
l64 kB Secure RAM (can be erased via tamper detection).
n2x2 MIMO IEEE802.11 a/b/g/n/ac.
nBluetooth 5.0.
nDebug interfaces:
lSystem JTAG controller.
lSingle Wired Debug (SWD) interface for the MCA.
ni.MX 8X interfaces:
Note The ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM doesn’t support USBOTG 3.0, but has 2x USBOTG 2.0
ports with PHY.
The ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM doesn’t support 2xGb Ethernet with AVB, but has 1x Gb
Ethernet and 1x10/100M Ethernet interface.
lPCIe 3.0 with L1 substate support. In wireless modules, this interface is used by the
Wireless MAC and is not available for general purposes.

About the ConnectCore® 8X Features and functionality
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 8
l1x USBOTG 3.0 with PHY - USB 3.0 can be used as USB 2.0.
l1x USBOTG 2.0 (with PHY).
l2x Gb Ethernet with AVB.
l3x CAN/CAN-FD.
lMedia Local Bus (MLB25/50).
l6x UARTs:
o4x UARTs, three of which support hardware flow control. (One of the UARTs with
hardware flow control is used by the Bluetooth and is not available for general purposes
in wireless variants.)
o1x UART tightly coupled with Cortex-M4F cores.
o1x SCU (not available for general use).
l10x I2C. Note that I2C ports associated with a specific PHY (e.g. MIPI DSI) can be used
generally but require the PHY to be powered on even if the PHY itself is not used:
o4x I2C: High Speed, DMA support. One of them (I2C0) is used internally in the SOM and is
not available for general purposes.
o4x I2C: Low Speed, no DMA support.
o1x I2C: PMIC control (dedicated).
o1x I2C: Cortex M4F (dedicated).
l4x SAI:
oSAI0 and SAI1 are transmit/receive.
oSAI2 and SAI3 are receive-only.
l2x Quad SPI or 1x Octal SPI (FlexSPI).
l1x SD 3.0 card interface.
lDisplays:
o2x MIPI-DSI/LDVS. For LVDS, VESA and JEIDA standards supported.
oThe ConnectCore 8X Dual SOM only supports 1x MIPI-DSI/LVDS interface.
o1x 24-bit parallel display up to WVGA.
lCameras:
o1x MIPI-CSI camera with 4 lanes.
o1x 8-bit parallel CSI.
l1x Enhanced Serial Audio Interface (ESAI).
l2x ASRC (Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter).
l1x SPDIF.
lMPEG-2 Transport Stream.
l1x 12-bit, 6 channel ADC converter.
l3.3 V/1.8 V GPIO.
l4x PWM channels.
l1x 4x4 KPP (Key Pad Port).
l1x MQS (Medium Quality Sound).
l4x SPI.

About the ConnectCore® 8X Module variants
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 9
nArm Cortex-M0+ Digi Microcontroller AssistTM (MCA) subsystem:
lCortex-M0+ core operates up to 48MHz.
lPower and reset control.
lReal time clock (RTC).
l19 general purpose IOs (GPIOs), all IRQ capable with debouncing configuration.
l9 analog to digital converters (ADCs), all with comparator capabilities.
lWatchdog.
lTamper detection, both digital and analog.
l8 bytes of non volatile storage (NVRAM).
l3 UARTs, with optional hardware handshake.
l10 pulse width modulators (PWMs).
Module variants
See the ConnectCore 8X product page for information on available variants.
Block diagrams
The following figures show block diagrams of the ConnectCore 8X module and of the NXP i.MX 8X
application processor.

About the ConnectCore® 8X Block diagrams
ConnectCore® 8X System-on-Module Hardware Reference Manual 10
ConnectCore 8X module