RK3566 and RK3568 are the latest AIoT processors from Rockchip equipped with four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, a Mali-G52 GPU, and an impressive range of peripherals that make them suitable for all sorts of applications including AI edge computing and network video recorder (NVR).
We already know Pine64 is working on Quartz64 SBC based on Rockchip RK3566, but I’ve just noticed Geniatech’s “RK3568 development board” that should offer even more features since the processor comes with extra I/Os compared to its little brother. Let’s have a look.
- SoC – Rockchip RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1, 0.8 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration
- System Memory – Up to 4 GB LPDDR4
- Storage – Up to 128 GB eMMC 5.1 flash, 1x SATA 3.0 port, MicroSD card slot, M.2 socket for NVMe SSD (See expansion section)
- Video Output
- 1x HDMI2.1 up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz
- 1x dual-channel 24-bits LVDS / MIPI DSI
- 1x eDP 1.3
- Note: the processor supports triple independent display setups
- Video Input
- 1x HDMI IN up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz likely via Rockchip RK628D chip
- 1x 4-lane MIPI CSI
- Connectivity
- 1x Gigabit Ethernet
- 802.11ac WiFI 5 or 802.11ax WiFI 6, and Bluetooth 5.0 with 2x antenna connectors
- “GTIoT” header/connector? for optional Z-Wave, Zigbee, LoRa, 4G LTE, or GPS
- 1x Tuner RF In with ATSC by default, but DVB-T/DVB-T2, ISDB-T/DMBT are available as options
- USB – 1x USB3.0 Type-A port, 1x USB2.0 Type-Aport , 3x USB2.0 via headers
- Expansion
- M.2 slot with 1x PCIe 3.0 (8Gbps)
- I/O headers with 12x GPIO, 3x serial interfaces (2x 2-wire UART1x 2-wire UART/Debug), and more.
- Misc – Watchdog and RTC, IR receiver
- Power Supply – 12V DC/2A, optional PoE
- Dimensions – TBD
The hardware specifications do not appear to be complete, as for example, the USB-C port and what looks like a 3.5mm AV jack are not listed in the specifications. The new Rockchip RK3566/RK3568 will not really offer extra performance compared to existing Cortex-A53/A55 processors, but that’s really the mix of I/Os that make those stands out as it’s hard to find a cost-effective Arm SBC with native PCIe 3.0, SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0 ports.
The company also has a similar RK3566 development board with almost exactly the same specifications, apart from the processor, so the only added benefits of the RK3568 SBC should be triple display support and PCIe 3.0, while the RK3566 board is limited to dual display support and PCIe 2.1 according to our RK3566 vs RK3568 comparison. The undocumented USB-C port might also support USB 3.0 OTG on the RK3568 board while being limited to USB 2.0 OTG on the other board.
Geniatech says the boards support Android 11.0 and Linux (Buildroot/Debian/Yocto), but since they only work with other businesses, there’s typically no public documentation/software for their development board, nor the pricing is made public. More details about Geniatech RK3566 and RK3568 development boards can be found on the respective product pages here and there.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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waiting for 3588
Facts.
This application doesn’t need as much CPU power though.
It’s using ‘little’ cores, so workloads are expected to be offloaded to hardware codecs and the GPU.
Presence of a tuner and HDMI-in indicate a dev board for a smart TV.
Who’s stepping on the 3588 garden-hose?
Do FOSS drivers exist for the HDMI in port ?