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1. NPU Driver

The SP7350 Linux includes the NPU driver by default, supporting three versions: 6.4.13.8, 6.4.15.9, and 6.4.18.5. By default, version 6.4.15.9 is selected.

1.1. Changing the Version

To switch to a different version, run the ‘make kconfig’ command in the project's top directory. When the Linux Kernel Configuration menu appears, move cursor to select the desired driver version. The path is:

Device Drivers ->
	Multimedia support ->
  	Media drivers ->
    	ML Inference Processor VIP9000_NPU

Refer to the snapshot of the NPU Version choice menu below:

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After selecting the desired driver version, complete the Linux compilation process by running the ‘make’ command.

1.2. Power Management

The NPU driver supports power management, allowing it to power . When loading the NPU driver with the ‘powerManagement=0’ parameter, the NPU power is turned on when the driver probes is probed and power turned off when the driver is removed. To enable this function, insert further save power, load the NPU driver with the ‘powerManagement=1’ parameter. Use . This ensures that the NPU power is only turned on when the NPU is actively running.

1.3. Loading the NPU driver

To load the NPU driver (module), use the ‘modprobe’ command as shown below:

modprobe galcore powerManagement=1

or:

modprobe galcore powerManagement=0

Here, 'galcore' is the module name of the NPU driver. The Linux kernel message when When the NPU driver is probing will look like thisbeing probed, the Linux kernel message will appear as follows:

[   29.498289] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU get power success
[   29.498971] galcore f8140000.galcore: galcore irq number is 44
[   29.499073] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU clock: 900000000
[   29.503967] Galcore version 6.4.15.9.700103
[   29.509197] galcore f8140000.galcore: _SetPower 0 0 enable
[   29.518719] galcore f8140000.galcore: regulator enable success
[   29.519415] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU ISO disable
[   29.524477] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU HW reset SMS
[   29.529566] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU HW reset deassert
[   29.535127] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU HW clock enable
[   29.540803] galcore f8140000.galcore: _SetPower enable ret=0
[   29.546162] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU clock enable success
[   29.559172] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU clock disable success
[   29.559227] galcore f8140000.galcore: _SetPower 0 0 disable
[   29.563427] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU HW clock disabled
[   29.568980] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU HW reset assert
[   29.574355] galcore f8140000.galcore: NPU ISO enable
[   29.579308] galcore f8140000.galcore: regulator disable success
[   29.585206] galcore f8140000.galcore: _SetPower disable ret=0

Otherwise, use the ‘modprobe’ command as shown below:

modprobe galcore

Upon successful NPU driver probing, the NPU device ('galcore') will appear in the Linux device directory '/dev'.

~ # ls -l /dev/galcore
crw-rw----    1 root     root      199,   0 Jan  1 00:00 /dev/galcore

2. NN Shared Libraries

Neural network (NN) applications cannot directly interact with the NPU but instead rely on the NPU driver and prebuilt NN shared libraries. These libraries, along with relevant header files, are stored in the project directory of the SP7350 for different versions.

wells@wells-linux:~/Q654$ ll linux/rootfs/initramfs/prebuilt/vip9000sdk
total 20
drwxrwxr-x 7 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 ./
drwxrwxr-x 9 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 ../
drwxrwxr-x 4 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 6.4.13.8/
drwxrwxr-x 4 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 6.4.15.9/
drwxrwxr-x 4 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 6.4.18.5/

The

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‘include’

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subdirectory

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includes

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the

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relevant

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header

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files:

wells@wells-linux:~/Q654$ ll linux/rootfs/initramfs/prebuilt/vip9000sdk/6.4.15.9/include/
total 28
drwxrwxr-x  7 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 ./
drwxrwxr-x  4 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 ../
drwxrwxr-x  2 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 CL/
drwxrwxr-x  3 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 HAL/
drwxrwxr-x  2 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 jpeg/
drwxrwxr-x 12 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 ovxlib/
drwxrwxr-x  2 wells wells 4096 Jun 12 21:31 VX/

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Upon selecting a version of the NPU driver, the corresponding NN shared libraries are automatically copied to the '/lib' or '/lib64' directory of the root file system on the target SP7350 system. This ensures that the required libraries are readily accessible for NN applications.

3. NN Applications

Neural network (NN) applications leverage the NPU to execute complex neural network operations by invoking functions within NN shared libraries.

3.1. Compiling NN Applications

When compiling NN applications, users must include the appropriate header files and shared libraries, as demonstrated below:

INCLUDES+=-I$(VIVANTENN_SDK_DIR)/include/HAL \
          -I$(VIVANTENN_SDK_DIR)/include/CL \
          -I$(VIVANTENN_SDK_DIR)/include/VX \
          -I$(VIVANTENN_SDK_DIR)/include/ovxlib \
          -I$(VIVANTENN_SDK_DIR)/include/jpeg

LIBS+=-lOpenVX -lOpenVXU -lCLC -lVSC -lGAL -ljpeg -lovxlib

3.2. Running NN Application

During runtime, ensure that the NN shared libraries are accessible by setting the library path accordingly:

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