Configure Raspberry Pi 5 with Coral TPU and POE HAT

Date: May 2024 - June 1st

Overview

This guide will help you set up a Raspberry Pi 5 with a Google Coral TPU and a POE HAT for Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality.

Hardware Requirements

Raspberry Pi 5

• 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU
• Dual 4Kp60 HDMI® display output
• 4Kp60 HEVC decoder
• Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth 5.0 / Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
• High-speed microSD card interface with SDR104 mode support
• 2 × USB 3.0 ports, supporting simultaneous 5Gbps operation
• 2 × USB 2.0 ports
• Gigabit Ethernet, with PoE+ support

Coral TPU

• Compatibility: Supports the Coral TPU in M.2 format with an E-key interface.
• PCIe x1 Interface Support: Maintains compatibility with PCIe x1 interface, supporting both Gen2 and Gen3 standards.

Additional Hardware

• SSD 256GB
• POE HAT
• Coral TPU HAT

Review

Hardware

1. Raspberry Pi 5
   • Improved performance with upgraded CPU, GPU, and memory.
   • Accelerates machine learning inference tasks on edge devices.
   • Enhances efficiency and versatility in AI and IoT applications.
   • Performs machine learning tasks with high energy efficiency.
   • Ideal for deployment in resource-constrained environments.
   • Simplifies development with access to pre-trained models and tools.
   • Compatible with TensorFlow Lite framework for easy integration.

2. POE HAT
   • Provides power over Ethernet.
   • Includes a cooling system with a metal heatsink.
   • Supports 802.3af/at network standard.

3. Coral TPU HAT
   • Google Coral Edge TPU designed for Raspberry Pi 5.
   • Coral TPU in M.2 format with E-key interface.
   • PCIe x1 interface support, integrable with Raspberry Pi 5 using PCI FPC.

Prerequisites

• Basic Linux commands
• Raspberry Pi 5 with RPi desktop / no desktop OS
• All the hardware mentioned above

Configuration Steps

1. Configure Hardware Settings:

   • Edit the Raspberry Pi configuration file:

     sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
     

   • Add the following lines:

     [all]
     # Enable the PCIe External connector.
     dtparam=pciex1
     kernel=kernel8.img
     # Enable Pineboards Hat Ai
     dtoverlay=pineboards-hat-ai
     

   • Save and close the file, then reboot your Raspberry Pi:

     sudo reboot
     

2. Update Raspberry Pi Kernel and Install Kernel Headers:

   • Update the system:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt full-upgrade
     

   • Install rpi-update:

     sudo apt install rpi-update
     

   • Update the kernel:

     sudo rpi-update
     

   • Reboot your Raspberry Pi:

     sudo reboot
     

   • Install rpi-source to fetch kernel headers:

     sudo apt install git bc bison flex libssl-dev make libncurses5-dev
     sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jgartrel/rpi-source/master/rpi-source -O /usr/bin/rpi-source
     sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/rpi-source
     rpi-source --tag-update
     

   • Fetch the kernel headers:

     rpi-source --default-config
     uname -a
     

     Expected output:

     Linux coralpi 6.6.30-v8+ #1761 SMP PREEMPT Thu May  2 16:54:52 BST 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux
     

3. Install PCIe Driver and Edge TPU Runtime:

   sudo apt update
   echo "deb https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt coral-edgetpu-stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/coral-edgetpu.list
   curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
   sudo apt-get update
   curl -sS https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/google.gpg
   echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt coral-edgetpu-stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/coral-edgetpu.list
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install cmake libedgetpu1-std devscripts debhelper dkms dh-dkms
   

4. Install Gasket Driver:

   git clone https://github.com/google/gasket-driver.git
   cd gasket-driver
   sudo debuild -us -uc -tc -b
   cd ..
   sudo dpkg -i gasket-dkms_1.0-18_all.deb
   

5. Set Up udev Rule:

   sudo sh -c "echo 'SUBSYSTEM==\"apex\", MODE=\"0660\", GROUP=\"apex\"' >> /etc/udev/rules.d/65-apex.rules"
   sudo groupadd apex
   sudo adduser $USER apex
   sudo reboot
   

6. Verify Driver and Device:

   • After rebooting, verify if the driver is loaded and the device is detected:

     sudo lspci -v
     ls /dev/apex_0
     

7. Install Docker:

   sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg
   sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
   curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
   sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
   echo "deb [arch=\"\$(dpkg --print-architecture)\" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \$(. /etc/os-release && echo \"\$VERSION_CODENAME\") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
   

8. Build a Docker Image for Coral Testing:

   • Create a Dockerfile:

     FROM debian:10
     
     WORKDIR /home
     ENV HOME /home
     
     RUN cd ~ \
         && apt-get update \
         && apt-get install -y git nano python3-pip python-dev pkg-config wget usbutils curl \
         && echo "deb https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt coral-edgetpu-stable main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/coral-edgetpu.list \
         && curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | apt-key add - \
         && apt-get update \
         && apt-get install -y edgetpu-examples
     

   • Build the Docker image:

     sudo docker build -t "coral" .
     

   • Run the Docker image:

     sudo docker run -it --device /dev/apex_0:/dev/apex_0 coral /bin/bash
     

   • In the container, run an Edge TPU example:

     python3 /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/classify_image.py --model /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/models/mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite --label /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/models/inat_bird_labels.txt --image /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/images/bird.bmp
     

   This should output classification results.

   root@7bb44c28f378:~# python3 /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/classify_image.py –model /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/models/mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite –label /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/models/inat_bird_labels.txt –image /usr/share/edgetpu/examples/images/bird.bmp

   ---

   Poecile atricapillus (Black-capped Chickadee) Score : 0.44140625

   ---

   Poecile carolinensis (Carolina Chickadee) Score : 0.29296875