Variscite Expands the DART Pin2Pin System-on-Module Range with the Edge AI-Capable DART-MX93
Now available to "alpha customers" starting at $39, this compact module includes a dedicated 0.5 TOPS NPU for AI and ML work.
Embedded computing specialist Variscite has announced a new DART Pin2Pin system-on-module (SOM) targeting machine learning at the edge: the NXP i.MX 93-based DART-MX93.
"At only 55×30 millimeters [around 2.17×1.18 inches] — about half the size of a bank card — Variscite's new DART-MX93 enables rich features to even the smallest devices," the company claims of the latest entry in its DART family. "It's another breakthrough for advanced processing power plus energy efficiency, with industrial-grade features at an extremely attractive price."
The DART-MX93 is built around the NXP i.MX 93 processor, giving it a pair of Arm Cortex-M55 cores running at up to 1.7GHz, a single Cortex-M33 core running at up to 250MHz, and an Ethos-U65 neural processing unit (NPU) accelerator delivering up to 0.5 tera-operations per second (TOPS) of compute for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI and ML) workloads. There's up to 2GB of LPDDR4 memory, plus a 2D acceleration engine for graphics output to an LVDS, parallel RGB, or MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) display at resolutions up to 1200p60.
Elsewhere on the module is up to 128GB of eMMC storage expandable via SD Card, two gigabit Ethernet connections, dual-band IEEE 802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3 and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and IEEE 802.15.4 radios, two USB 2.0 On-The-Go (OTG) ports, five I@c, three SPI, and two CAN buses, plus four UARTs running at up to 5Mbps, plus digital and analog audio support.
The launch comes a month after the company unveiled the DART-MX95, a higher-end model based around the NXP i.MX 95 and offering up to six Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 2GHz, a single Cortex-M7 core running at up to 800MHz, a single Cortex-M33 core running at up to 333MHz, and an eIQ Neutron neural processing unit to accelerate machine learning workloads. As Pin2Pin modules, the DART-MX95 and new DART-MX93 are designed to be pin-compatible — allowing either to be used in a given carrier board design.
The new DART-MX93 will, Variscite says, be in production for the next 15 years, and is currently available to "alpha customers" in production quantities starting at $39 per unit with general availability "coming soon." More information is available on the Variscite website.