Radxa has introduced the approaching launch of the NX5, a high-performance eight-core 260-pin SODIMM system-on-module (SOM) with built-in AI acceleration and as much as 16GB of RAM, promising as much as six tera-operations per second (TOPS) of devoted compute for on-device edge synthetic intelligence (edge AI).

Designed for embedded tasks which want to mix excessive efficiency and a small type issue, the Radxa NX5 — dropped at our consideration by Linux Gizmos — is constructed across the Rockchip RK35488S system-on-chip (SOC). That provides it some spectacular specs: 4 Arm Cortex-A76 cores operating at as much as 2.4GHz, with adequate cooling, alongside 4 Cortex-A55 cores operating at 1.8GHz, an Arm Mali-G610 MP4 graphics processor, and a neural processing unit (NPU) providing INT4, INT8, INT16, FP16, BF16, and TF32 precision help and as much as a claimed six tera-operations per second (TOPS) of compute for edge AI workloads.

To this, Radxa has added 1GB, 4GB, 8GB, or a beneficiant 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM, relying on mannequin bought, and 4GB to 512GB of optionally available eMMC storage. There’s an on-board gigabit Ethernet PHY, MIPI Digicam Serial Interface (CSI) configurable as two two-lane or one four-lane connection, a two-lane MIPI D/C PHY obtain and a four-lane D/C-PHY obtain connection, as much as two I2S, two PDM, and two S/PDIF transmit audio alerts, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, and a further USB 3.0 On-The-Go (OTG) port, and two SATA ports — although these include a proviso hooked up.

One of many module’s two SATA ports is shared with the module’s solely free PCI Specific Gen. 2 lane, that means that if you wish to join a PCIe gadget you will lose one of many two SATA ports; the second, in the meantime, is shared with the USB 3.0 port — or you’ll be able to disable each the USB 3.0 and SATA ports and achieve a second PCIe 2.0 lane. For shows, there is a single HDMI output supporting 8k60 shows, an embedded DisplayPort (eDP) supporting 4k60, a DisplayPort on the USB OTG port supporting 8k30, and a two-lane MIPI D/C PHY transmit connection.

On the general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) entrance, the module gives a spread of pins together with as much as 15 GPIO pins with pulse-width modulation (PWM) help, as much as 10 UART, 5 SPI, seven I2C, and three CAN buses. There’s additionally help for on-board SPI flash — although this, Radxa explains, is an after-market add-on which can must be soldered in place by the customer if required.

Whereas Radxa’s product web page nonetheless lists the gadget as coming quickly, although, reseller Arace Tech has listed the naked module at $70 for a 4GB/32GB mannequin, $100 for 8GB/64GB, and $140 for 16GB/128GB; a passive heatsink is out there for $5 further. The corporate has additionally introduced a equipment which bundles a 4GB/32GB module with a provider board, heatsink, and small cooling fan for $99.