QFN-Style SOM Empowers Intelligent Edge Processing
Direct Insight's QNX 8 BSP (board support package) for Ka-Ro’s QS93 solder-down module with NXP’s i.MX93 processor provides a real-time OS. Based on a powerful processor with dual ARM Cortex-A55 cores, the BSP brings high reliability to IoT and embedded systems applications. It also addresses safety-critical applications requiring IEC 61508 or IEC 62304 certification.
Ka-Ro Electronics’s QS93 is a 27- × 27-mm, QFN-style, solder-down SOM (system-on-module) using the latest MX93 low-power, high-performance processor. The dual Cortex-A55 cores run at 1.7 GHz for performance comparable with earlier quad-core processors.
The processor uses under 1 W under normal load conditions, with an optional low-drive mode reducing that to sub-500 mW. With an operating temperature range from –25 to +85°C, the solder-down SOM format also provides excellent EMI performance along with its efficient thermal characteristics.
QNX BSPs offer an abstraction layer of hardware-specific software that enables using QNX software, and manage initializations and other hardware-specific tasks to support the embedded system in question. They serve as a delivery mechanism for the components that define startup behaviors.
Unlocking the full functionality of the QNX OS for the power-efficient Ka-Ro QS93 modules, the solutions suit real-time mission-critical, cybersecurity-conscious, and safety-certified applications. Drivers are provided for various connectivity interfaces, including dual Ethernet, watchdog timer, I2C, SPI, USB, SD card, UART and GPIO. A display driver is in development.
The BSP is free to download as a demo system, and the source code can be licensed on a per-project basis. Among the available enhancements are additional drivers and production-hardening and testing.
