(5.5) kernel has basic support for the IR-receiver

CONFIG_MEDIA_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_MEDIA_RC_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_RC_CORE=y
CONFIG_RC_DEVICES=y
CONFIG_LIRC=y
CONFIG_IR_MTK=y
CONFIG_RC_DECODERS=y
CONFIG_IR_NEC_DECODER=m

to use the IR-receiver you can try this commands

apt install evtest                                                                                                                    
apt install v4l-utils                                                                                                                 
apt install ir-keytable                                                                                                               

root@bpi-r2:~# ir-ctl -r
root@bpi-r2:~# ir-keytable -s rc0 -p all -t
root@bpi-r2:~# evtest