Product of the Week: Advanced Products Corporation’s VEST i.MX8M Plus Development Kit

February 05, 2024

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Versatility among embedded applications is key. Especially today with the integration of critical and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning and edge computing, and capabilities like fast processing, reliable video graphics, power efficiency, and more.

The VEST i.MX8M Plus Dev Kit from Advanced Products Corporation Pte Ltd. is designed for multi-media and graphics processing, and AI workloads. The development kit includes the VEST E2I Plus Carrier Board and VEST E2I Plus system-on-module (SOM). The SOM leverages an NXP i.MX 8M Plus CPU, with either a Quad-core or Dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, and a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) operating at up to 2.3 TOPS.

The i.MX8M Plus Development Kit in Action

The four Arm Cortex-A53 cores operating at 1.8GHz provide a heterogeneous architecture for general-purpose computing, and the Cortex-M7 core operating at 800MHz supports real-time and low-power tasks.

For memory, the development kit offers 2GB to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM, operating on a 32-bit memory bus from 2133-10MHz, with a max memory bandwidth of 17GB/s for high-speed data transfer. For storage, the kit provides 8GB to 128GB of eMMC5.1, as well as a Micro SD 3.0 Socket push-push type.

The carrier board hosts most of the kit’s interfaces including two MIPI CSI with Dual Image signal processors enabling multi-media for cameras, and two display outputs, the MIPI-DSI supporting UWHD and WUXGA, as well as an HDMI 2.0a transmitter enabling up to 4k at 30 frames per second resolutions, and much more.

The graphics processing unit supports 16 GLOPS of high-precision performance, and graphics and compute APIs like OpenGL ES 3.1/3.0, Vulkan, Open CL 1.2 FP, and Open VG 1.1. Audio is provided by the Cadence Tensilica Hifi 4 DSP, operating at 800MHz.

For networking, the VEST i.MX8M Plus Dev Kit includes two Gigabit Ethernet with AVB, IEEE 1588, EEE, and one with time sensitive networking (TSN). The AI-ready development kit further supports display connections through LVDS with 4 or 8 lanes, with a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames per second, as well as an LCD display controller for resolutions up to WXGA (1366 x 768 pixels).

Getting Started with the i.MX8M Plus Development Kit

The i.MX8M Plus Dev Kit is equipped with the VEST i.MX8M Plus Development Board, a heat sink, power adapter, plug and socket, and two antennas. The development solution also supports the Linux Yocto, Ubuntu, and Android BSPs.

For more information, check out our most recent Dev Kit Weekly featuring the VEST i.MX8M Plus Development Kit:

Additional Resources:

• Product Page: https://shop.apc-vest.com/
• Data Sheet: https://apc-vest.com/wp-content/Documents