Open source baseboard targets latest Nvidia Orin module
Antmicro in Stockholm, Sweden, has developed an open source design of a baseboard for the latest Nvidia Jetson Orin NX module.
The compact size of the open hardware boards is a key enabler for designers, and the Jetson Orin Baseboard adds of Power over Ethernet (PoE) able to transmit up to 60W of power over the SoM’s native Gigabit Ethernet interface. This allows the board ot be powered from the Ethernet connection, a USB-C power delivery (PD) or a DC connector.
The baseboard measures 120 x 60 mm with a maximum height of 36 mm with the SO-DIMM SoM, up slightly from the 110 x 55 mm of the previous baseboard.
- First wave of Nvidia Jetson Orin boards and systems
- Nvidia launches Orin Jetson Nano board for robotics
- Nvidia boosts safety critical design with Jetson Orin AGX
For video processing the board includes two 50pin CSI camera connectors marked with J7 and J8. Each connector provides a CSI interface with up to 2 cameras each (4 in total). The CSI connectors also provide cameras with power, I2C data and synchronization signals. Each CSI data lane exposed from the Jetson Orin NX has a peak bandwidth of 2.5 Gbps. The Jetson Orin Baseboard supports 4 possible configurations of CSI lane mapping selectable via assembly variants.
The open hardware Jetson Orin Baseboard exposes three USB-C connectors. A USB 3.2 10 Gbit/s connector with DisplayPort alternate mode and USB PD 30 W sink / 15 W source capabilities is managed by the TPS65988 controller, while there is also another 10Gbit/s USB 3.2 port. A USB 2.0 interface connects to an FTDI controller for debugging purposes with USB PD 30 W sink / 15 W source capabilities, again managed by the TPS65988 controller.
A micro HDMI connector is also available. However this uses the same signals as the USB PD DisplayPort alternate mode, so only one can function at a time. The design allows for selection between HDMI and the USB-C DisplayPort alternate mode as display output (HDMI is default).
A very important upgrade from the original Nano board is the fact that the Orin Baseboard includes not one, but two M.2 expansion slots. A key E slot on the top side, under the SoM, is dedicated for wireless connectivity while a key M slot on the bottom is dedicated for storage media allowing to connect 4-lane PCIe Gen 4 devices and providing a 10 W power budget.
An expansion connector provides PCIe x2 gen 4 or 2x PCIe x1 gen 4 interfaces, GPIO signals, I2S, UARTs, 2x SPI, 2x I2C, CAN and 12V/5V/3.3V rails.
The additional M2 slot as well as an extension port with the range of interfaces exposed allows the Jetson Orin NX to be integrated with customized expansion modules for FPGA-based pre-processing or interfacing with sensors and industrial controllers.
Two user-programmable buttons and two user-programmable LEDs are available as well.
Antmicro is also planning variants for the Jetson Orin Nano as it is rolled out by Nvidia, as well as continuing to evolve the family of accessories such as the recently released SDI-MIPI Video Converter and the software library ecosystem such as Protoplaster or meta-antmicro.
The eopn source hardware design is at Github: github.com/antmicro/jetson-orin-baseboard
www.antmicro.com
