TI SK-AM64B

Overview

The TI SK-AM64B is Texas Instruments' industrial evaluation platform for the AM64x Sitara processor family. It combines dual Arm Cortex-A53 application cores running at 1.0 GHz with four Cortex-R5F real-time cores, making it uniquely suited for industrial automation, motor control, and time-sensitive networking applications where deterministic behaviour is critical.

The board is equipped with 2 GB of DDR4 RAM, a microSD slot for flexible storage, and Gigabit Ethernet. Connectivity includes USB-C and USB 3.0, and the board is powered via a 5V USB-C supply. The AM64x SoC also integrates TI's PRU-ICSS (Programmable Real-time Unit Industrial Communication Subsystem) for implementing industrial protocols like EtherCAT, PROFINET, and EtherNet/IP directly in firmware.

Armbian provides mainline Linux support for the SK-AM64B, allowing developers to run a full Debian-based Linux userspace on the A53 cores while leveraging the R5F cores for real-time tasks. This makes it an ideal evaluation board for industrial edge computing, PLC replacement, and collaborative research into industrial Linux platforms.