Expansion

BeagleBadge does not use the BeagleBone cape headers. Instead it expands through three types of industry-standard ecosystem connectors, so that off-the-shelf modules can be attached without designing a custom board. BeagleBadge has two QWIIC connectors, one Grove connector and one mikroBUS socket. A row of 1.8V GPIO and ADC pads along the top edge covers everything else, and two FPC connectors carry the ePaper panel and a MIPI DSI display.

Note

The pin order of each connector is fixed by its ecosystem. What varies between boards is which SoC peripheral lands on each pin. Both are given below, read from the schematic. Anything still unconfirmed is marked.

Pinout diagrams

Todo

Add pinout diagrams for the QWIIC, Grove, mikroBUS and GPIO expansion headers in the style of the Expansion diagrams, marking pin 1 of each.

QWIIC connectors

BeagleBadge has two QWIIC connectors (WY-4539), 4-pin 1.0mm pitch JST-SH style, right-angle. QWIIC is a 3.3V I2C-only ecosystem, which means devices can be daisy-chained and hot-plugged without soldering.

Table 46 QWIIC connector pinout (standard)

Pin	Signal	Cable colour	Notes
1	GND	Black	Ground
2	3.3V	Red	Supply, VDD_3V3
3	SDA	Blue	I2C data
4	SCL	Yellow	I2C clock

The two connectors are on separate buses: QWIIC 1 (J6) is on I2C1, shared with the mikroBUS socket, the Grove connector and the ePaper touch option. QWIIC 2 (J7) is on I2C2 by itself. That means a module with a fixed I2C address can be used on both connectors at the same time. Both are filtered with ferrite beads and ESD diodes.

Both buses are pulled up to VDD_3V3 with 4.7kΩ resistors beside the SoC, on schematic sheet 15, so a module does not need pull-ups of its own. Many QWIIC modules fit them anyway. With several such modules on one bus, disable the extra pull-ups, usually with a solder jumper on the module.

The 3.3V pin is VDD_3V3 through a ferrite bead rated 1.3A, with no current limit or fuse of its own. The same rail supplies the SoC I/O, the ePaper panel and the other expansion connectors, so the practical budget is set by the battery. See Powering expansion hardware.

Grove connector

BeagleBadge has one Grove connector (PHS-4A), 4-pin 2.0mm pitch, right-angle.

Table 47 Grove connector pinout (standard I2C variant)

Pin	Signal	Cable colour	Notes
1	SCL	Yellow	I2C clock on an I2C Grove port
2	SDA	White	I2C data on an I2C Grove port
3	VCC	Red	Supply
4	GND	Black	Ground

Important

This is an I2C Grove port at 3.3V, on I2C1. Grove modules that expect a 5V supply, or that use the UART, analog or digital Grove variants, will not work here without an adapter.

mikroBUS socket

BeagleBadge has one mikroBUS socket, built from a pair of 1x8, 2.54mm pitch vertical female headers (ST-FH-254-0144-1*8P-B). mikroBUS is a MikroElektronika standard that gives access to SPI, I2C, UART, PWM, analog and interrupt lines from a single socket, and there are well over a thousand Click boards available for it.

Table 48 mikroBUS socket pinout

Pin	Signal	BeagleBadge function	Pin	Signal	BeagleBadge function
1	AN	ADC0_AIN1, scaled	16	PWM	GPIO0_33
2	RST	SPI1 group	15	INT	GPIO0_44
3	CS	SPI1 chip select	14	RX	UART5_RXD
4	SCK	SPI1 clock	13	TX	UART5_TXD
5	MISO	SPI1 data out	12	SCL	I2C1_SCL
6	MOSI	SPI1 data in	11	SDA	I2C1_SDA
7	+3.3V	VDD_3V3	10	+5V	Boost converter, 0.1A max
8	GND	Ground	9	GND	Ground

SPI1 is shared with the 7-segment display expander, and I2C1 with QWIIC connector 1 and the Grove connector. Every pin carries an ESD diode.

Warning

The 5V pin is fed from the on-board boost converter through a diode and is limited to 0.1A. Click boards that draw more than that from 5V will not work reliably on battery power.

GPIO expansion header

Two 15-pin headers, J28 on the left and J27 on the right, sit side by side across the front of the board just below the lanyard slot. No connector is fitted. Instead of sitting in a straight line, the plated holes zig-zag, they alternate slightly above and below the centre line of a standard header footprint. A pin header pushed into the row is gripped by the staggered holes, so it makes contact without soldering.

The silkscreen prints the AM62L32 ball name beside each hole rather than a GPIO number. BeagleBadge fits no Ethernet PHY, so both RGMII ports and the MDIO0 pair are free for use as general-purpose I/O. Pins are numbered left to right as you look at the front of the board: 1-15 on J28 and 16-30 on J27.

Warning

Signal pins are 1.8V. Connecting 3.3V or 5V logic directly risks damaging the SoC, so use a level translator.

J28 (Pin 1-15)

Table 49 J28, left header

Pin	Silkscreen	Signal
1	1V8	1.8V supply
2	Y8	RGMII1_RD0
3	AA6	RGMII1_RD1
4	AA8	RGMII1_RD2
5	W8	RGMII1_RD3
6	Y7	RGMII1_RXC
7	Y6	RGMII1_RX_CTL
8	AC10	RGMII1_TD0
9	W13	RGMII1_TD1
10	Y11	RGMII1_TD2
11	AA11	RGMII1_TD3
12	W11	RGMII1_TXC
13	AB11	RGMII1_TX_CTL
14	V21	ADC0_AIN3, analog input, 0 to 1.8V
15	GND	Ground

J27 (Pin 16-30)

The schematic numbers J27’s own pins 1-15, so pin 16 here is J27 pin 1.

Pin 16 carries Sensor_3V3, the switched 3.3V rail that also feeds the IMU, light sensor, RGB LED and 7-segment digits. It is on only while WKUP_GPIO0_1 enables it, so switch it on in software before powering anything from this pin.

Note

On schematic sheets 15 and 24 the net label for ball AC8 reads RGMII1_RX_CTL, but the SoC symbol names that ball RGMII2_RX_CTL, which is what the pinout above shows.

Todo

Add the Linux GPIO chip and line number for each signal pin, read back from a running board with gpioinfo (libgpiod), so the header can be driven without working back from ball names. The ball-to-signal mapping is on schematic sheet 15.

FPC connectors

Table 50 FPC connectors

Connector	Positions	Part	Purpose
ePaper	24+2, 0.5mm	FPC0.5K-DH-24AWB	4.2 inch 400x300 black-and-white ePaper panel, top contact
MIPI DSI	22, 0.5mm	130-221-220001-W3G	LCD panel, right-angle bottom contact

J9 ePaper (24+2 pin)

Table 51 J9 ePaper connector pinout

Pin	Signal	BeagleBadge connection
1	NC	NC_TOUCH_INT, touch interrupt option, link to GPIO0_123 not fitted
2	GDR	NMOS_GDR, gate drive for the VGH/VGL boost
3	RESE	Boost current sense
4	NC	Not connected
5	VSH2	Decoupled to ground
6	TSCL	Touch I2C clock, link to I2C1_SCL not fitted
7	TSDA	Touch I2C data, link to I2C1_SDA not fitted
8	BS1	Interface select, tied for 4-line SPI
9	BUSY	GPIO0_39
10	RES#	Panel reset, from GPIO0_24 gated by RESETSTATz
11	D/C#	SPI0_D0, used as the data/command GPIO GPIO0_90
12	CS#	SPI0_CS0
13	SCL	SPI0_CLK
14	SDA	SPI0_D1, data to the panel
15	VDDIO	EPD_VCC_3V3
16	VCI	EPD_VCC_3V3
17	VSS	Ground
18	VDD	Decoupled to ground
19	VPP	Not connected
20	VSH1	Decoupled to ground
21	VGH	Gate high voltage from the on-board boost
22	VSL	Decoupled to ground
23	VGL	Gate low voltage from the on-board boost
24	VCOM	Decoupled to ground
25, 26	Mounting	Ground

The signal names are the panel’s own.

J24 MIPI DSI (22 pin)

Table 52 J24 MIPI DSI connector pinout

Pin	Signal	BeagleBadge connection
1	GND	Ground
2	D0_N	DSI_D0_N
3	D0_P	DSI_D0_P
4	GND	Ground
5	D1_N	DSI_D1_N
6	D1_P	DSI_D1_P
7	GND	Ground
8	CLK_N	DSI_CLK_N
9	CLK_P	DSI_CLK_P
10	GND	Ground
11	D2_N	DSI_D2_N
12	D2_P	DSI_D2_P
13	GND	Ground
14	D3_N	DSI_D3_N
15	D3_P	DSI_D3_P
16	GND	Ground
17	GPIO	WKUP_GPIO0_3, shifted from 1.8V to 3.3V
18	GPIO	WKUP_GPIO0_0, shifted from 1.8V to 3.3V
19	GND	Ground
20	SCL	I2C1_SCL
21	SDA	I2C1_SDA
22	3.3V	VDD_3V3
23, 24	Mounting	Ground

All four DSI data lanes are routed, so the connector supports the SoC’s full DSI output of up to 1920x1080 at 60fps. Pins 17 and 18 go through BSS138 level shifters with 10kΩ pull-ups on both sides, and can be used for panel reset or backlight enable.

Todo

List LCD panels that have been tested on J24, with the device tree overlay each one needs.

Antenna connectors

Table 53 Antenna connectors

Connector	Type	Radio
Wi-Fi / BLE	IPEX Gen 4 (MHF4)	BeagleMod BM3301-1216 module (TI CC3301)
LoRa	u.FL	Wio-SX1262 module

Todo

List antennas known to work on the IPEX Gen 4 (Wi-Fi and BLE) and u.FL (LoRa) connectors. The BM3301-1216 module is certified with specific antennas. See the BeagleMod CC33 page.

Powering expansion hardware

The QWIIC, Grove and mikroBUS 3.3V pins are on VDD_3V3, which is ON whenever the board is ON and has no separate switch. The mikroBUS 5V pin comes from the boost converter and is limited to 0.1A. GPIO expansion header pin 16 is Sensor_3V3, which software must switch on. See Rails, converters and load switches.

Warning

On battery, every milliamp drawn by expansion hardware comes out of a single BL-5C cell. Budget carefully before attaching several modules at once.