Adeneo announced Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) BSPs for the TI Sitara AM335x and Sitara AM437x development platforms and the AM335x-based BeagleBone Black SBC.

Adeneo Embedded is a Platinum Member of the TI Design Network, and has previously released a number of Linux and Android BSPs (board support packages) for Texas Instruments processors and development boards. In Feb. 2013, for example, Adeneo announced an Android BSP for the TI OMAP 5 family of system-on-chips.

Now it’s focusing its attention on TI’s well-traveled, Cortex-A8 Sitara AM335x and newer, Cortex-A9 AM437x SoCs. Both SoCs are aimed at home/industrial automation, medical devices, personal/enterprise navigation, portable data terminals, and more, says Adeneo Embedded. Adeneo’s BSPs use the latest Android 4.4.4 “KitKat” release prior to the new Android 5.0 (“Lollipop”) stack now appearing on mobile devices.

TI Sitara block diagrams: AM335x (left) and AM437x
(click images to enlarge)

Linux is still the primary OS used with Sitara chips, but the Adeneo release suggests that demand is growing for Android on Sitara. Of course, developers can port open source AOSP KitKat code on their own for free. In fact, earlier this week, Android 5.0 was released on AOSP. However, the process of tuning the builds for specific Sitara SoCs can be time-consuming.


BeagleBone Black Rev C
(click image to enlarge)

Specifically, the Adeneo BSPs target TI’s AM335x EVM and AM335x Starter Kit, as well as BeagleBoard.org’s AM335x-based BeagleBone Black single board computer. Another BSP supports TI’s AM437x EVM, called the TMDXEVM437X.

TI TMDXEVM437X

In addition to porting Android builds to TI chips, Adeneo offers a variety of Linux and Android development services. The company can also “develop and debug libraries by adding additional code to bring up Android: on OEM devices such as handhelds and tablets, says the company.

Value-added services include optimizing any BSPs with boot-time improvement, as well as providing help with APIs and the Android SDK. In addition, if customers desire, “we can migrate only a part of Android KitKat to an older version of Android such as Jelly Bean or Ice Cream Sandwich and use the NDK-JNI technologies to merge existent useful software into new Android systems,” says Adeneo.

Adeneo KitKat build on AM335x-based BeagleBone Black

”The support from Adeneo Embedded gives TI developers the opportunity to use the latest operating systems from Android and focus on optimizing their designs,” stated Carlos Betancourt, Texas Instruments.

Adeneo KitKat on AM437x, showing embedded access menu

 
Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for Adeneo Embedded’s Android 4.4.4 BSPs for TI Sitara SoCs. More information may eventually appear on Adeneo’s BSP product page.