Mixtile Launches Compact, Expandable Edge 2 Kit for Edge Computing in the Internet of Things
Offering clever expansion through a U.2 slot at the side and with an optional 12-hour battery pack, this compact box packs in the features.
Fresh from the launch of its stackable Blade 3 cluster computers, Mixtile has announced a new single-board computer design built with the Internet of Things (IoT) firmly in mind: the Mixtile Edge 2 Kit.
"[The] Edge 2 Kit is built around the Edge 2 single-board computer, adding more capabilities such as a customizable enclosure and two external Wi-Fi antennas for rich wireless connectivity," the company explains of its latest design. "The edge computing device Edge 2 Kit provides a high-performance ready-to-run IoT edge computer with a 3.5-inch form factor, six reserved antenna ports, expandable with mini-PCIe and M.2 modules, and preload[ed] Android 11 and Linux container."
The single-board computer inside the chassis — technically a system-on-module held in a bundled carrier board — is powered by a Rockchip RK3568 system-on-chip, offering four Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 2GHz, a neural coprocessor unit with a claimed 0.8 TOPS of compute, and an Arm Mali-G52 EE graphics processor. There's a choice of 2GB or 4GB of LPDDR4 memory, sadly not taking advantage of the RK3568's support for ECC RAM, and a choice of 16 or 32GB of eMMC storage expandable via microSD.
The Mixtile Edge 2 Kit has been designed for ease of expansion: As well as three USB 3.0 ports, the board includes an RS485 port, a mini-PCIe slot, as well as a multi-functional U.2 expansion socket. There's an on-board radio with Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax and Bluetooth 5.0 support, with two antenna ports on top and more underneath, a gigabit Ethernet port, and support for an optional 4G/5G cellular modem.
Those looking to get the most out of the U.2 socket, meanwhile, have the option of a range of bolt-on accessories: The Hi-FI add-on, with 32-bit 768kHz DAC and S/PDIF input support; the Router add-on, with four-port gigabit Ethernet switch and two-bay SATA drive cage; and a battery pack with 20,000mAh capacity for a claimed 12-hour runtime. All modules simply connect at the side and screw into place, matching the height and depth of the main chassis.
"The compact size of the Arm SBC-based Edge 2 Kit makes it applicable for a wide variety of small-scale applications and diverse possibilities," the company claims of its creation. Additionally, it offers various interfaces supporting the expansion of dual hard drives, dual network ports, or Hi-Fi music decoding and other functions. It meets the needs of a variety of application scenarios at a low cost."
Mixtile has launched the kit at $249 for 2GB of RAM and 16GB eMMC or $279 for the 4GB and 32GB model, though a 15 per cent discount is available for those willing to wait 40 days for shipping. The Edge 2 single-board computer powering the kit, meanwhile, is priced at $229 or $249 for the same specifications and including the same carrier board but no chassis. All are now available to order from the company's website.