Dev Kit Weekly: ICOP NX8MM-D168 SoM
July 21, 2023
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With recent industry-wide component shortages wreaking havoc on electronics production worldwide, many companies in the embedded space turned to the use of SOMs, or system-on-modules rather than continue sourcing individual components for their products. Now, there are plenty of SOM options available that provide all the necessary mainboard features in one package that remains powerful, efficient, and versatile – like the NX8MM-D168 from ICOP Technology.
The NX8MM-D168 SOM is built around NXP’s i.MX 8M Mini, a quadcore embedded applications processor that makes use of 14LPC FinFET process technology to enhance speed and efficiency in harsh environments. The processor also includes both 2D and 3D GPUs — the latter of which features a shader and OpenGL ES 2.0 — as well as both camera and display interfaces, I/O options for video playback and audio, and much more.
Back to the SOM itself, in addition to the CPU and GPUs onboard, there’s also a video processing unit that enables 1080p60 encode and decode, as well as a Cortex-M4 co-CPU. The module features up to 2GB of onboard LPDDR4 RAM, with an additional 4 to 64GB of onboard eMMC storage.
As we touched on earlier, this module features MIPI-CSI and -DSI interfaces for camera and display, with four data lanes available on each. It also includes options for Gigabit Ethernet connection, Gen 2.1 PCIe, USB 2.0, UART, SPI, and I2C, as well as containing 168 pins for further configuration. The SOM requires just 5V of input power to operate and can withstand temperatures between 0º and 60ºC, or with an optional modification, -40º to 85ºC. The NX8MM-D168 supports Yocto Linux and Android 9 operating systems.
The versatility of this SOM and its processor allows it to be implemented in a really extensive range of applications, from audio and video to AI and machine learning, and lots of others in between — and the availability of compatible software for the NXP processor reflects that. Plenty of design files can be found on NXP’s website if you’d like to take a closer look for yourself.
So, if you’re looking for a powerful, compact, and flexible module to begin development of your application, the NX8MM-D168 may likely be a great starting point. If you’d like to get your own, you can purchase one of the modules from ICOP starting at $134 — or, you can send an inquiry through the device’s product page on ICOP’s website.
