Implement support for Creator Ci40 (mips32)

[Jakub Jermář]

Implement support for Creator Ci40 single-board computer.

Details

Creator Ci40 is an extensible board meant for Internet-of-Things. It serves as a hub for sensors and actuators, connecting them to the network. It features dual-core, dual-threaded MIPS interAptiv CPU, 256MB of RAM, micro-SD card slot, ethernet and 6LoWPAN connectivity to the Clicker modules (e.g. thermometer). Basic support for Ci40 is within the reach of a single trimester work.

HelenOS supports the mips32 architecture, but so far has been ported only to MIPS R4000 and MIPS 4Kc CPUs. Creator Ci40 has a MIPS32 interAptive processor so this project will require some kernel code modifications.

What Gains and Benefits will this bring?

Creator Ci40 would be a good demonstrator for HelenOS to show that HelenOS could be deployed as the controller for IoT gadgets.

Difficulty

Medium to High

Required skills

A successful applicant will need to have very good skills in programming in the C language and the ability to learn how to drive hardware based on various information sources (official documentation, source code of other operating system projects). Experience with kernel-level programming is a plus.

Documentation

• ​Creator Ci40 Homepage
• ​interAptiv CPU documentation
• ​RFC 4944 IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4 (6LoWPAN)

Possible mentors

HelenOS Core Team, Jakub Jermar