Porting to New Platforms

Overview

This guide explains what is involved when porting the BCA reference design to new hardware. “Porting” covers two classes of work:

  • Re-targeting to a different SoC family (different vendor silicon).

  • Building for a different board that uses a supported SoC (a new carrier board or custom board design).

Supported SoCs and vendors

The hypervisor and meta-layers provide out-of-the-box support for a number of SoCs. Supported families include:

Note: vendor and board coverage evolves; check the platform guide index for the latest list.

What porting involves

  • Vendor BSP integration: integrate the vendor Board Support Package (BSP) into the Yocto layers and meta-layers. For supported vendors this is typically straightforward — we provide integration examples.

  • Hypervisor configuration: create a target-specific hypervisor configuration (device tree overlays, virtio/device assignment, MMIO regions, interrupt mappings). The hypervisor must explicitly support the SoC features.

  • OP-TEE and secure-boot backend: configure the TEE backend and secure boot flow for the target SoC (key provisioning, image formats, vendor signing tools). This includes adapting the secure bundle format (AHAB, bootgen, etc.) as required by the SoC.

  • Kernel, modules and recipes: provide kernel configuration, signed module pipeline and Yocto recipes for the target board. Ensure module signing and kernel-lockdown requirements are met for production.

  • Device tree and board layout: author or adapt device tree sources and board-specific device assignment rules.

Porting to a new SoC is substantial engineering work; porting to a different board that reuses a supported SoC is generally less work (mainly device tree, board layout and Yocto recipe adjustments).

Self-service vs. support

If you have in-house SoC/board engineering expertise and an active support agreement, you can perform many hypervisor and platform adaptations yourself: the hypervisor is configurable and our meta-layers are designed for extensibility. However, because secure boot, TEE integration and BSP nuances are platform-specific and security-sensitive, we recommend engaging Accelerat for porting to new SoC families or production-grade BSP integration.

Documentation & next steps

  • This document is a high-level guide. Platform-specific instructions, example meta-layer fragments, and provisioning steps are located in each platform guide and in the meta-layers reference section.

  • If you plan a porting project, open a support request with: scope (SoC and board), desired production features (secure boot, OP-TEE, encrypted bitstreams), and whether you need assistance integrating vendor BSPs or provisioning keys.

Contact

For porting engagements and platform support, contact: support@accelerat.eu