Hardware interfaces

This page introduces the Cubie A7S hardware interfaces.

Block diagram

Interface overview

No.	Description	No.	Description	No.	Description
1	Gigabit Ethernet	2	15‑pin GPIO header	3	Wi‑Fi 6 & BT 5.4 module
4	Antenna connector	5	USB 2.0 Type‑A	6	FPC connector - PCIe 3.0 x1, NVMe SSD expansion
7	USB BOOT button	8	30‑pin GPIO header	9	Onboard eMMC
10	MIPI CSI camera connector	11	Fan header	12	microSD slot
13	Allwinner A733	14	LPDDR5	15	USB‑C 2 - USB 3.2, DP Alt Mode and OTG
16	USB‑C 1 - 5V power input and OTG

Onboard eMMC

If you purchased a Cubie A7S variant without onboard eMMC, the eMMC footprint on the board will be unpopulated.

Gigabit Ethernet

Cubie A7S has one Gigabit Ethernet port for wired networking, supporting 10/100/1000 Mbps auto-negotiation.

LED	State	Description
Orange	On	Link up (connected)
Green	Blinking	Data activity
Off	-	No link (cable unplugged or network issue)

WiFi & BT

Cubie A7S includes one Wi‑Fi 6 & BT 5.4 module, supporting dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth 5.4.

Antenna connector

Cubie A7S includes one antenna connector for an external antenna to improve wireless signal strength.

USB

Cubie A7S includes one USB 2.0 Type‑A port, one USB 2.0 Type‑C port (USB‑C1), and one USB 3.2 Type‑C port (USB‑C2).

• USB 2.0 Type‑A: connect USB 2.0 devices such as mouse, keyboard, or USB flash drive.
• USB 2.0 Type‑C (USB‑C1): supports 5V power input and OTG.
• USB 3.2 Type‑C (USB‑C2): supports DisplayPort Alt Mode and OTG.

30-pin GPIO header

FUNC9	FUNC8	FUNC7	FUNC6	FUNC5	FUNC4	FUNC3	FUNC2	FUNC1	Pin#	Pin#	FUNC1	FUNC2	FUNC3	FUNC4	FUNC5	FUNC6	FUNC7	FUNC8	FUNC9
								+3.3V	1	2	+5.0V
		TWI11-SDA	TWI3-SDA	TWI7-SDA	UART2-CTS	UART3-RX	PWM1-5	PJ23	3	4	+5.0V
		TWI11-SCK	TWI3-SCK	TWI7-SCK	UART2-RTS	UART3-TX	PWM1-4	PJ22	5	6	GND
		PB-EINT0	JTAG-MS	LCD0-D0	DSI-TRIG-LCD-TE1	UART0-TX	UART2-TX	PB0	7	8	PB9	UART0-TX	PWM1-1	WATCHDOG-SIG	LCD0-D16	TWI8-SCK	TWI0-SCK	PB-EINT9
								GND	9	10	PB10	UART0-RX	PWM1-2	PLL-LOCK-DBG	LCD0-D17	TWI8-SDA	TWI0-SDA	PB-EINT10
		PB-EINT1	JTAG-CK	LCD0-D1	UART0-RX	UART2-RX		PB1	11	12	PB5	PWM0-1	LCD0-D17	TRACE-DATA0	PB-EINT5
		PL-EINT6	S-PWM0-4	S-IR-RX	S-UART0-TX	S-JTAG-DO		PL6	13	14	GND
		PL-EINT7	S-PWM0-5	S-UART0-RX	S-JTAG-DI			PL7	15	16	PJ24	PWM1-6	UART4-TX	TWI4-SCK	PJ-EINT24
								+3.3V	17	18	PJ25	PWM1-7	UART4-RX	TWI4-SDA	PJ-EINT25
		LVDS1-D1P	DSI1-D1P	EINK-D12	SPI1-MOSI <DBI-SDO>	PWM1-2	PD-EINT12	PD12	19	20	GND
		LVDS1-D1N	DSI1-D1N	EINK-D13	SPI1-MISO <DBI-SDI/DBI-TE/DBI-DCX>	PWM1-3	PD-EINT13	PD13	21	22	PL5	S-JTAG-CK	S-PWM0-3	PL-EINT5
		LVDS1-D0N	DSI1-D0N	EINK-D11	SPI1-CLK <DBI-SCLK>	PWM1-1	PD-EINT11	PD11	23	24	PD10	LCD0-D14	LVDS1-D0P	DSI1-D0P	EINK-D10	SPI1-CS0<DBI-CSX>	PWM1-0	PD-EINT10
								GND	25	26	PD14	LCD0-D20	EINK-D14	SPI1-HOLD<DBI-DCX/DBI-WRX>	UART3-RTS	PD-EINT14
		LVDS1-CKN	DSI1-D2N	EINK-LEH	TWI2-SDA	UART3-RX	PD-EINT17	PD17	27	28	PD16	LCD0-D22	LVDS1-CKP	DSI1-D2P	EINK-OEH	TWI2-SCK	UART3-TX	PD-EINT16
		UART2-RTS	HDMI-SCL	LCD0-D8	JTAG-DO	TWI0-SCK	PB-EINT2	PB2	29	30	GND

15-pin GPIO header

Pin#	FUNC1	FUNC2	FUNC3	FUNC4	FUNC5	FUNC6
1	PB3	HDMI-SDA	LCD0-D9	PB-EINT3
2	PM3	S-UART0-RX	S-UART1-RX	S-PWM0-5	PM-EINT3
3	PM4	S-UART0-TX	S-UART1-TX	S-PWM0-0	S-IR-RX	PM-EINT4
4	GND
5	PB6	PWM0-2	PWM0-8	TRACE-DATA1	PB-EINT6
6	PB4	PWM0-0	HDMI-CEC	LCD0-D16	TRACE-CLK	PB-EINT4
7	PB8	PWM1-0	OWA0-OUT	TRACE-DATA3	PB-EINT8
8	PB7	PWM0-9	OWA0-IN	TRACE-DATA2	PB-EINT7
9	GND
10	PG0	SDC1-CLK	LCD0-D0	PWM1-1	LPC-LAD0	PG-EINT0
11	PG1	SDC1-CMD	LCD0-D1	PWM1-2	LPC-LPME	PG-EINT1
12	PG2	SDC1-D0	LCD0-D8	PWM1-3	LPC-LPCPD	PG-EINT2
13	PG3	SDC1-D1	LCD0-D9	PWM1-4	LPC-LFRAME	PG-EINT3
14	PG4	SDC1-D2	LCD0-D16	PWM1-5	LPC-LSMI	PG-EINT4
15	PG5	SDC1-D3	LCD0-D17	PWM1-6	LPC-LCLK	PG-EINT5

FPC connector

Cubie A7S includes one FPC connector for high-speed expansion, supporting PCIe 3.0 x1 and NVMe SSD expansion.

Status LEDs

Cubie A7S includes one power LED and one status LED.

• Power LED: solid green indicates normal power.
• Status LED: blinking blue indicates the system is booting/running.

USB BOOT button

Cubie A7S includes a USB BOOT button used to enter FEL mode.

FEL mode

FEL is a low-level boot and flashing mode on Allwinner SoCs, mainly used for recovery or debugging when the device cannot boot from normal storage.

• Enter FEL mode

Before powering on, press and hold the Cubie A7S USB BOOT button. Power on the board, then release the button to enter FEL mode.

Fan header

Cubie A7S includes one 3‑Pin fan header for active cooling with PWM speed control.

Key specifications:

• Interface type: 3‑Pin female header, 0.8mm pin spacing
• Operating voltage: 5V (VCC5V0_SYS)
• Speed control: PWM (no tachometer feedback)
• PWM signal: PJ27_PWM1-9

For detailed pin definitions and usage instructions, see the Fan Interface tutorial (note: the triangle silkscreen marking points to pin 1).

MIPI camera connector

Cubie A7S includes one 4‑lane MIPI camera connector for connecting a MIPI camera module.

MIPI CSI connector specs:

• Connector type: 31‑pin 0.3 mm pitch SMD horizontal FPC connector
• Connection type: Flip type, bottom contact

microSD slot

Cubie A7S includes one microSD slot compatible with microSD / microSDHC / microSDXC cards, used for OS boot and/or storage expansion.

We recommend a 32GB or larger microSD card.

Onboard eMMC (optional)

If your board includes onboard eMMC, you can use it as a boot device or for additional storage.

Compared to microSD cards, eMMC typically offers higher read/write performance and can improve boot and system responsiveness.