Forlinx Launches Three New SOM-Based Rockchip RK3506 Single-Board Computers

Forlinx Embedded has announced three new entries in its system-on-module-based single-board computer range, all powered by the Rockchip RK3506: the OK3506J-S, OK3506J-C, and the OK3506-S12 Mini, a model designed primarily for development and experimentation rather than direct deployment.

"The latest Rockchip RK3506 with its high performance, low power consumption, and rich interfaces has become a popular choice for scenarios such as industrial control, the Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing," the company says of the system-on-chip at the heart of its latest devices. "Against the backdrop of the versatile demands for efficient development platforms, Forlinx has released 3 different development board to feed the ever-increasing demands across industries. OK3506J-S/C offer cost-effective, low-power, industrial-grade solutions with rich I/O [Input/Output], long-term support, and rapid prototyping, while OK3506-S12 Mini is a budget-friendly platform for developers to test features and validate functions before scaling up."

All three models are built around the Rockchip RK3506, a low-power system-on-chip that includes three Cortex-A7 processor cores running at up to 1.5GHz plus a Cortex-M0+ microcontroller core running at 200MHz as a coprocessor for real-time workloads. There's a choice of 256MB or 512MB of DDR3 memory, depending on model, and the OK3506J-S and OK3506J-C include 256MB of NAND flash plus 8GB of on-board eMMC storage; the OK3506-S12, meanwhile, has no eMMC but the choice of 256MB of 512MB of NAND flash. All models include microSD Card support for storage expansion.

The S- and C-suffixed models include single-channel audio, two Fast Ethernet ports, RS485, two CAN FD, three SPI, and six touch key interfaces, plus on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, two USB 2.0 Host and one USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG) ports, 4G support, a real-time clock, and JTAG debugging. The S12-suffixed Mini variant drops the audio, RS485, CAN bus, SPI, and wireless connectivity, loses the USB OTG port and drops to one USB 2.0 Host port, moves to one Fast Ethernet port, and, unusually for a system targeting development, loses the JTAG debugging port — but gains a Raspberry Pi-format 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header, which uses the RK3506's "Matrix IO" to allow for flexible pin remapping.

More information on the OK3506J-C, OK3506J-S,and OK3506-S12 Mini is available on their respective product pages; pricing had not been publicly disclosed at the time of publication.