The Portenta X8 is a two-in-one System-on-Module for Edge AI and Real-Time Industrial Jobs. It's like an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi wrapped into one industrial-grade gumstick.
As part of the Arduino Week 2022 festivities, Arduino has launched the Portenta X8, a high-performance system-on-module (SOM) for edge AI and real-time applications that runs a pre-loaded Linux-based operating system and packs a total of nine computing cores across CPU and microcontroller.
The Portenta X8 is the newest addition to the expanding Portenta family of Arduino Pro devices, and it is by far the most powerful: The small, gumstick-shaped board combines Arduino's typical focus on real-time microcontroller capabilities with a powerful Linux-compatible quad-core Arm CPU with performance comparable to a Raspberry Pi.
The NXP i.MX 8M Mini, a Linux-capable system-on-chip with four Arm Cortex-A53 processors operating at up to 1.8GHz and a single Arm Cortex-M4 real-time core working at up to 400MHz, is at the heart of the board. In addition, an STMicro STM32H747XI microcontroller with two Cortex-M7 cores operating at up to 480MHz and a single Cortex-M4 core working at up to 240MHz has been introduced by Arduino. The tiny board, in total, has nine compute cores, 2GB of LPDDR4 memory, 16GB of eMMC storage, a gigabit Ethernet PHY, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity, and a gigabit Ethernet PHY.
Portenta X8 Tech Specifications
| PROCESSOR | NXP® i.MX 8M Mini - 4x ARM® Cortex® -A53 core up to 1.8GHz, 1x ARM Cortex -M4 core up to 400 MHz |
| MICROCONTROLLER | STM32H747AII6 Dual ARM® Cortex® M7/M4 IC - 1x ARM Cortex -M7 core up to 480 MHz 1x ARM Cortex -M4 core up to 240 MHz |
| EXTERNAL MEMORY | 2 GByte Low Power DDR4 DRAM; 16 GByte eMMC |
| USB-C | USB-C High Speed; Host and Device operation; Power Delivery support |
| CONNECTIVITY | 1Gbit Ethernet interface (PHY); Wi-Fi; Bluetooth® Low Energy |
| SECURITY | NXP® SE050C2 Crypto on a separate secure bus |
| DIMENSIONS | 66,04 mm x 25,40 mm |
| CERTIFICATIONS | PSA from ARM®; Arm® SystemReady IR (multiple distributions) |
| INTERFACES | CAN; PCIe; SAI; MIPI; DSI; SPI; I2S; I2C; UART; PDM |
| OPERATING TEMPERATURE | -40° C to +85° C (-22° F to 185°F) |
The Portenta X8 is pre-loaded with an open source Linux microPlatform OS that offers a virtualization system, which separates applications running in containers atop a virtualization layer from the secure underlying operating system. It's designed to work with Foundries.io's cloud-based developer operations (DevOps) platform.
Arduino's newest board is clearly aimed at a broad industry audience: The business has implemented an NXP SE050C2 hardware security element, as well as PSA certification, Arm SystemReady certification, and Parsec services integration, making it one of the first devices to match Arm's Project Cassini criteria.
Despite the fact that Arduino is ready to announce the board, it is not yet ready to ship: The first Portenta X8 devices will be available in mid-April for $239 each, according to the business. The Arduino Store has further information and a sign-up sheet to be alerted when orders go live.
Portenta X8 Source Page
