DEV KIT WEEKLY: Digi International ConnectCore 8M Mini Development Kit
July 09, 2021
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Take the Digi International ConnectCore 8M Mini Development Kit, for example. The development 40 mm x 45 mm module is designed around NXP’s i.MX 8M SoC, which integrates four 1.6 GHz Arm Cortex-A53 cores for application processing, a Cortex-M4 for low-power, real-time tasks, a 2D/3D GPU, and a video processing unit (VPU) that supports full HD streaming video.
Why would you need all of that performance in an industrial edge device? Well, machine vision and AI are a couple of answers.
On the kit baseboard you’ll find an RJ-45 connector that carries 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, two USB Type A hosts, CAN-FD and RS-485 interfaces, as well as two u.FL antenna connectors from Hirose and two surface-mount antenna (SMA) connectors from Bobbintron.
Those SMA connectors, as well as the 2.4 and 5 GHz whip antenna included with the kit, also reveal the platform’s wireless capabilities. Thanks to these components, the ConnectCore 8M Mini is pre-certified for Bluetooth 5 and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity. In addition, the board includes two Digi XBee connectors that provide access to a variety of plugin RF modules and cellular modems that can transform the ConnectCore 8M Mini kit from a powerful edge computing node to a full-blown IoT gateway.
To secure the device and connections coming off of it, the kit comes bundled with Digi TrustFence. TrustFence is a security framework that provides end-to-end building blocks for embedded security, ranging from secure boot and hardened ports to data authentication, device identity management, and over-the-air update capabilities, all secured with modern encryption protocols. TrustFence pairs with the aforementioned Digi Remote Manager device monitoring, management, and deployment platform to generate robust, secure end-to-end IoT systems in no time.
A free 90-day trial of Remote Manager can be accessed at www.digi.com/products/iot-software-services/digi-remote-manager.
So, didn’t I tell you that things have certainly changed from the early days of industrial electronics? The kit, complete with the module, development board, antenna, and 5V power supply costs $499 if you’re looking to get your hands on one.
Or you can fill out the form to enter this week’s raffle and buy yourself a chance to win this one for free.
Win or lose it’s no cost to you whatsoever, and will ship the winner a kit anywhere in the world.
That’s all for this week’s Dev Kit Weekly. Good luck in the raffle and we’ll see you next week.
