Part 1: The Foundation – Preparing the Jetson Nano

This first post focuses on the essential hardware and OS setup required to build a robust Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) testbench.

The Hardware Leap: NVMe SSD & SDK Manager

While the Jetson comes with a microSD slot, it is a significant bottleneck for robotics development.

• The Setup: Use the NVIDIA SDK Manager to flash your Jetson Orin Nano.
• The SSD Advantage: A 1TB NVMe SSD is highly recommended. It provides the necessary storage for large Docker images (often 10GB+) and ensures the I/O speed required for high-bandwidth sensor data from Isaac Sim.
• Boot Drive: Confirm the SSD is the boot drive by running lsblk. Your root directory (/) should be mounted on the main NVMe partition (e.g., nvme0n1p1).

Decoding the Partition “Mystery”

The Jetson Orin uses a complex partition structure because it lacks a traditional BIOS.

• Main OS (nvme0n1p1): This is where Ubuntu and your 1TB of space reside.
• EFI (nvme0n1p10): This contains the bootloader.
• Redundancy (p2–p13): These are internal NVIDIA partitions for firmware and “A/B Slots” for redundant booting—do not touch these.

Memory Optimization: The “OOM” Lifesaver

The Jetson Orin Nano has 8GB of physical RAM shared between the CPU and GPU. Running a ROS2 stack plus simulation data will quickly lead to Out-of-Memory (OOM) errors unless optimized.

• Disable ZRAM: Turn off the default compressed RAM drives to free up resources.
• Physical Swap: Create an 8GB Swap file on your fast NVMe SSD. This acts as “emergency RAM,” allowing the system to offload background tasks and keep the physical 8GB free for high-performance GPU tasks.

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Implementation: Storage and Memory Setup

To prepare your Jetson, run the following commands.

1. Disable NVIDIA’s default ZRAM and reboot: ```bash sudo systemctl disable nvzramconfig sudo reboot

2. Create a physical 8GB Swap file on the NVMe SSD: ```bash sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile sudo chmod 600 /swapfile sudo mkswap /swapfile sudo swapon /swapfile

3. Make the swap permanent by adding it to /etc/fstab: ```bash echo ‘/swapfile none swap sw 0 0’ | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab