Boundary Devices Unveils First NXP i.MX 8M-Based SBC with Nitrogen8M_Mini

Boundary Devices is set to release the first i.MX 8M-based SBC with their Nitrogen8M_Mini geared towards IoT applications.

According to NXP, “The i.MX 8M Mini family of processors brings together high-performance computing, power efficiency, enhanced system reliability and embedded security needed to drive the growth of fast-growing edge node computing, streaming multimedia, and machine learning applications.” The board is notable for its ability to sip power, rather than gulp it, as it’s designed to scale back clock speeds to match application demand, which is accomplished by switching between high and low-powered processors.

Boundary’s new board is a stripped-down version of the company’s Nitrogen8M but still packs a punch with an NXP i.MX 8M Mini SoC that sports four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, a Cortex-M4F MCU, a Vivante GCNanoUltra 3D GPU, Vivante GC320 2D GPU, up to 4Gb of LPDDR4, and 8Gb of eMMC (expandable up to 128Gb via UHS SD card slot).

A 4-lane MIPI DSI interface handles the video spectrum at 1080p, with audio backed by a 3.5mm headphone jack, along with an analog MIC jack, 2W audio amplifier, and L&R speaker headers. The board also boasts a 4-lane MIPI-CSI camera interface, 10/100 Ethernet port (with optional PoE daughter card), a USB 2.0 port, micro USB 2.0 OTG port, PCIe slot, 3X I2C, SPI, and GPIO. Wireless is handled by an optional add-on module packed with 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1.

On the software end, the Nitrogen8M_Mini supports Android, Linux (Yocto, Ubuntu, Buildroot, and Debian), as well as FreeRTOS. There is no word yet on pricing or availability from Boundary Devices, however, they have uploaded the user manual and block diagram for those interested in getting a more detailed look at the new board.