We are planning to implement a Hypervisor-based architecture on i.MX8QuadMax (MCIMX8QM-CPU)

[Shivu_Guru_24]

hi Team,

I have some questions please respond

We are planning to implement a Hypervisor-based architecture on i.MX8QuadMax (MCIMX8QM-CPU).

Our target architecture:

- Hypervisor as the base layer
- Android running as one guest
- FreeRTOS running as another guest

We need official guidance from NXP on this setup.

Questions:

1. Which hypervisor is officially supported or recommended by NXP for i.MX8QM?
- Is Jailhouse supported?
- Is Xen supported?

2. Does NXP provide official documentation for enabling and configuring the hypervisor on this platform?
- Step-by-step enablement guide?
- Kernel patches?
- Reference configuration?

3. Which CPU cores should be used for:
- Running the Hypervisor?
- Running Android as a guest?
- Running FreeRTOS as a guest?

4. Are there any limitations or known issues when combining:
- Hypervisor
- Android
- FreeRTOS

5. Does NXP provide an official FreeRTOS SDK ?
- If yes, where can we download it?
-Is the FreeRTOS port for i.MX8QM officially supported and maintained by NXP?

[Manuel_Salas]

Hello @Shivu_Guru_24 

I hope you are doing very well.

1. Which hypervisor is officially supported or recommended by NXP for i.MX8QM?
- Please take a look to Jailhouse repo. There you can see i.MX8QM is supported for this hypervisor.

2. Does NXP provide official documentation for enabling and configuring the hypervisor on this platform?
- No. NXP has not any documentation for this specific chip. Please take a look to the chapter 17 Jailhouse and Xen Hypervisors of the i.MX Linux User's Guide. 

3. Which CPU cores should be used for:
- Running the Hypervisor?

Normally, Hypervisor runs in Cortex-A53 for power efficiency.

- Running Android as a guest?

Cortex-A72 and remaining Cortex-A53

- Running FreeRTOS as a guest?

While you can run FreeRTOS on an A cores via the hypervisor, the i.MX8QM is designed for Heterogeneous Multi-core Processing and it is highgly recommended to run io the Cortex-M4F.

4. Are there any limitations or known issues when combining:
At moment, there are not known issues for this specific environment.

5. Does NXP provide an official FreeRTOS SDK ?
For Cortex A, NXP does not provide an FreeRTOS SDK.

Best regards,

Salas.