Variscite Unveils the High-Performance Pin2Pin-Compatible DART-MX95 System-on-Module
Designed to drop into many Pin2Pin-based carrier board designs, the new module includes up to six CPU cores, a 2D/3D GPU, and NPU.
Embedded computing specialist Variscite has announced a new entry in its DART Pin2Pin line of systems-on-modules (SOMs), built around the NXP i.MX 95 and offering six primary CPU cores and a neural processing unit (NPU) for edge artificial intelligence (edge AI) and machine learning (ML) workloads: the DART-MX95.
"Variscite is proud to consistently release new System on Module solutions year after year at the embedded industry's most important annual event. This year Variscite will showcase the new DART-MX95 and demonstrate its powerful capabilities at NXP’s booth," says Variscite's Ofer Austerlitz of the new board, unveiled today at the Embedded World conference. "As a Platinum-level NXP partner we are privileged to have early access to their state-of-the-art processors and to launch the DART-MX95 in parallel with their i.MX 95 SoC, so our customers can start developing advanced embedded devices with the latest technology on the market."
The DART-MX95 is built around NXP's i.MX 95 system-on-chip, delivering up to six Arm Cortex-A55 CPU cores running at up to 2GHz, a single Cortex-M7 core running at 800MHz, and a single Cortex-M33 core running at 333MHz, plus an eIQ Neutron neural processing unit (NPU) accelerator for machine learning workloads, alongside up to 16GB of LPDDR5 memory. There's a graphics processor for 3D and 2D acceleration, with MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) output up to 4kp30 or 3840×1440p60 plus two LVDS outputs at 1080p60 resolution.
Elsewhere on the module is an eMMC chip offering up to 128GB of storage, expandable via micro-SD Card, one 10-gigabit Ethernet and two gigabit Ethernet ports, Wi-Fi 6 plus optional Bluetooth 5.3 with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and IEEE 802.15.4 radios, seven I2C and one I3C buses, eight SPI buses, five CAN buses, eight UART buses, and one each of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG) ports. There's digital and analog audio support, five I2S buses, S/PDIF, eight channel PDM, and MQS support. For high-speed peripheral expansion, the module also includes dual PCI Express Gen. 3 lanes, plus dual camera support for machine vision projects.
At the same time as announcing the DART-MX95, Variscite has also detailed its SOM roadmap for the year — to include models built around the i.MX 91 and i.MX 93 chips from NXP, the latter offering dedicated AI and ML acceleration capabilities at what the company claims will be an "attractive price."
The new SOMs are being demonstrated at Variscite's Embedded World booth, 4A-342, during the conference; more information on the DART-MX95 is available on the company website.