GSoC 2018 Proposal: Update PRU Python loader--Bill Morrisson

=Bill M. GSoC Proposal =

Student: Bill Morrisson Talla Mentors: Jason Kridner Kumar Abhishek Code: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux  https://github.com/beagleboard/pypruss Wiki: https://elinux.org/GSoC_2018_Proposal:_Update_PRU_Python_loader--Bill_Morrisson

=Status= This project is currently just a proposal.

=Proposal= This project will be done in 3 deliverables.

1 Implement remoteproc function calls in PyPRUSS. 2 Implement RPMsg functions. 3 Update PyPRUSS to newer images

About you
IRC: spiritus Github: https://github.com/spiritus72 School: Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Quebec Country: Canada Primary language (We have mentors who speak multiple languages): English Typical work hours (We have mentors in various time zones): 8:00 AM to 05:00 PM UTC Previous GSoC/Open Source participation: I helped with a little test here but nothing big: https://github.com/oppia/oppia/commits/master?author=spiritus72 Nevertheless I have no major experience but I'm excited to join the open source community.

About your project
Project name:   Update PRU Python loader Task Completion: A "Hello World" application has been created,cross-compiled using GCC-ARM tool chain and executed using QEMU.A Pull request has been generated for the same.Please find the link here.

Description
This project aims to enable the PRUs to be loaded with firmware using a Python API, move examples and show RPMsg functions and to add support for newer BeagleBone images to PyPRUSS. Previously PyPRUSS has been using the UIO interface to be able to load the firmware and it comes with its own problems due to the fact that it's very old and not very well supported.

This project motto is to implement an updated "Speak&Spell"using PocketBeagle for modern day preschoolers with improved games/Puzzles and better hardware interfaces like I2C gpio expander.Previously used VF display can be replaced with an OLED touchscreen display and an improved keypad can be used. Current Proposal for the project aims at building an Open Source reproducible Linux Application that can be implemented by downloading the code anywhere for its real time implementation so that it can be promoted for usage in commercial purposes. Since the current Speak&Spell's basic features are not sufficent for present day preschoolers,the updated puzzles will cater their present needs in improving their verbal skills.Puzzles will be implemented in python in 2 levels.For text to voice generation,a program called 'Flite' will be used.Flite is specially built for embedded systems and has an added advantage of changing to multiple accents and languages.For adding the speech recognition feature (instead of typing the words on keyboard),Pocketsphinx libraries will be used which are light and compatible for Pocketbeagle.

Experience and approach
I have done projects on Raspberry Pi before and therefore will be comfortable enough to implement this project on a Pocketbeagle.I am quite new to Speech recognition,so I have been doing required background work to implement these functionalities on Pocketbeagle and therefore can assure you that I will be able to complete the Phase-1 in planned time.I had only done some basic projects on python before and therefore planning to spend most of Phase-2 to build the games.Most of the time in phase-3 will be spent on documenting the whole project as it is very essential for it to be reproducible later.

Contingency
What will you do if you get stuck on your project and your mentor isn’t around? I will ensure that probability of this happening is less by planning things in advance.I will also check with the community whether they have a backup mentor provision.I will communicate the coding issues with the community or students working on similar projects to see if someone can help. Else I will contact the organisation administrator to talk about the issue and make sure the work is not delayed in the mean time by documenting the finished work.

Benefit
If successfully completed, what will its impact be on the BeagleBoard.org community? Include quotes from BeagleBoard.org community members who can be found on http://beagleboard.org/discuss and http://bbb.io/gsocchat. "Speak&Spell" was more than just a popular kids toy,it should be better described as a blueprint for the devices we use today.Until its invention, real time speech synthesis was defined to be impossible.Implementing and Updating its functionality for the present day kids is a perfect way to celebrate its importance in the development of Signal processing technology.

Suggestions
Is there anything else we should have asked you? I am currently pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communcation Engineering and I am good in C and Python programming.I have no other commitments this summer and can dedicate my entire time for the project.