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

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.

POE HAT

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

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

Configure Hardware Settings:


sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

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

sudo reboot

Update Raspberry Pi Kernel and Install Kernel Headers:


sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

sudo apt install rpi-update

sudo rpi-update
sudo reboot

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

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

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

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

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

Verify Driver and Device:
```
sudo lspci -v
ls /dev/apex_0
      
```

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

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

Expected output:
Poecile atricapillus (Black-capped Chickadee)
Score :  0.44140625

Poecile carolinensis (Carolina Chickadee)
Score :  0.29296875