California-based embedded electronic device manufacturer Gateworks had released a module to its long list of Venice family rugged and industrial SBCs based on ARM processors. Gateworks is known in this space due to their massive production of high-quality, ARM-based modules for embedded and industrial applications. Venice GW7200 rugged single board computer is powered by the NXP i.MX8M Mini ARM Cortex-A53 quad-core runs at 1.6 GHz frequency, which is NXP’s first embedded multicore applications processor designed for industrial and IoT applications.
The single-board computer is equipped with 1 GByte LPDDR4 with is relatively less when compared to other SBCs available in the market. However, the manufacturer has provided the option to upgrade (buy) the SBC to a 4GB version. With this, designers get 8GB of eMMC flash memory for their application that is expandable to up to 64GB which is more than enough for most industrial applications. But for a mission-critical application that requires more storage, you can use the MicroSD card slot to upgrade the storage. If you are disappointed with SDRAM, then one of the significant advantages is the 2x gigabit ethernet ports, which are not in Raspberry Pi 4B with only a 1x gigabit ethernet port.
Venice GW7200 single board computer is designed with a wide range of connectivity; other than the ethernet ports, you get an optional 802.11n/ac Wi-Fi 5/4, cellular (Cat M1, 4G, 5G), and even u-blox GPS receiver. These connectivity protocols allow users to take advantage of their wireless communication-based applications, like live video streaming through SBC. If you plan to interface with a camera or even a display, use the onboard MIPI-CSI and MIPI-DSI ports.
“The Gateworks System Controller provides embedded features such as real-time clock, voltage and temperature monitor, programmable pushbutton, and programmable board shut-down and wake-up for remote applications. A wide-range DC input power supply provides up to 15W of power. Power is applied through a dedicated barrel jack or an Ethernet port in an active 802.3af/at or passive Power over Ethernet (PoE) architecture.”
The hardware gets the support for the Linux Ubuntu Board Support Package that is currently available for sale on request. Even for the pricing details, you need to fill up the form on the Venice GW7200 rugged single board computer product page. If you plan to get in bulk, you might get additional discounts.
Abhishek Jadhav is an engineering student, RISC-V Ambassador, freelance tech writer, and leader of the Open Hardware Developer Community.
