NXP FRDM-IMX95-PRO Development Board Brings 8 eTOPS AI and 10GbE Connectivity

FRDM-IMX95-PRO i.MX 95 Development Board

NXP recently unveiled the FRDM i.MX 95 Pro, an inconspicuous development board intended for the evaluation of the company’s i.MX 95 applications processor for edge AI, industrial networking, robotics, vision processing as well as advanced HMI applications. The dev board is based on the 19 × 19mm i.MX 95 processor, which combines up to six Arm Cortex-A55 application cores with Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M33 cores for real-time and minimal-power computation.

The eIQ Neutron NPU offers up to 8 eTOPS of AI acceleration. The development board comprises a 10GbE interface, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 and 802.15.4 tri-radio connectivity and two M.2 Key-M slots for AI accelerator cards or SSDs. The board also includes 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 memory, a 32 GB eMMC flash and NXP’s GoPoint demo interface for robotics, industrial networking and vision-based processing applications.

FRDM i.MX 95 Pro development board

NXP FRDM-IMX95-PRO Specifications:

• Processor: NXP i.MX 95 applications processor
  • Application CPU: Up to six Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at 1.8/2.0 GHz
    • 32KB instruction cache and 32KB data cache per core
    • 64KB L2 cache
    • 512KB L3 cache
  • Real-Time CPU: Arm Cortex-M7 core operating at up to 800 MHz
  • Safety CPU: Arm Cortex-M33 core operating at up to 333 MHz
  • GPU: Arm Mali-G310 V2 with 2D/3D graphics acceleration
    • OpenGL ES 3.2
    • OpenCL 3.0
  • Video Processing: Hardware acceleration for H.264/H.265, VP8, and VP9 codecs
    • Up to 4Kp30 or 1080p60 video encoding and decoding
    • JPEG encoding and decoding
  • AI Acceleration: NXP eIQ Neutron NPU delivering up to 8 eTOPS of AI processing performance
• Memory: 16GB 32-bit LPDDR5 running at up to 6400 MT/s
• Storage:
  • 32GB onboard eMMC 5.1
  • 512Mbit QSPI Flash
  • MicroSD 3.0 card slot
  • Two M.2 Key-M slots for NVMe SSDs or AI accelerator cards
• Display and Camera:
  • HDMI output through a 4-lane LVDS-to-HDMI interface
  • MIPI-DSI display connector
  • Two MIPI-CSI camera connectors
  • MIPI-DSI interface multiplexed with one MIPI-CSI interface
• Audio:
  • 3.5mm audio jack with MQS support
  • Two onboard PDM microphones
• Networking:
  • 10Gbps Ethernet via SlimSAS connector
  • Two Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports
  • Optional wireless connectivity through the M.2 Key-E socket
    • Wi-Fi 6
    • Bluetooth 5.4
    • IEEE 802.15.4
• USB Connectivity:
  • One USB 3.0 Type-C port
  • One USB 2.0 Type-A port
  • One USB 2.0 Type-C UART debug port
  • Dedicated USB Type-C Power Delivery input
• Industrial and Serial Interfaces:
  • Two 3-pin CAN headers
  • 4-pin header providing I²C, ADC, and tamper interfaces
• Expansion:
  • Two M.2 Key-M connectors supporting SSDs and AI accelerators such as the Ara240 DNPU
  • M.2 Key-E socket for optional NXP IW612 wireless module
  • Two 20-pin expansion I/O headers
• Board Controls and Monitoring:
  • Boot configuration DIP switch
  • Dedicated reset and boot buttons
  • Main power switch
  • Three fan headers
  • RTC with support for an external coin-cell battery
  • Four rear-side status LEDs
• Power:
  • USB Type-C PD input
  • Requires a compatible 20V/5A power adapter
  • Onboard PF09 and PF53 power-management ICs
  • Two 5-pin auxiliary power headers
• Mechanical:
  • Dimensions: 100 × 90 mm
  • 10-layer HDI PCB
• Regulatory Compliance: FCC Part 15

NXP FRDM-IMX95-PRO Hardware Overview (Top and Bottom)

On the software front, the board is accompanied by i.MX Linux BSP, which contains the files and source code required to boot Linux from eMMC or SD card. You may additionally utilize NXP’s pre-built Linux images or build a custom Yocto-based BSP. NXP has additionally announced the Application Code Hub (ACH) with software examples and the GoPoint GUI to run pre-built demos and explore the Edge AI capabilities of the SoC.  

NXP FRDM-IMX95 PRO dev board block diagram

The FRDM-IMX95-PRO development board is available from NXP’s store for $300.00, but continues to be listed as “Pending Stock”. Additional documentation (including user manuals, design files and software-related information) can be found on the product age. 

Images used courtesy of NXP