ArmSoM CM1 is a system-on-module/compute module powered by the industrial-grade Rockchip RK3506K tri-core Arm Cortex-A7 SoC, coupled with 256MB or 512MB DDR3L, 256MB or 512MB NAND flash, and exposing I/Os through 2.54mm pitch headers.
The module is more of a SoM/SBC hybrid with a MIPI DSI display connector, a microSD card slot, a USB Type-C port, and 44-pin and 40-pin GPIO headers that allow the CM1 to be used as a standalone SBC or as a module connected to a baseboard like the company’s CM1-IO carrier board (aka ArmSoM-FORGE1-IO).
ArmSoM CM1 specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3506J
- CPU
- 3x Arm Cortex-A7 cores up to 1.5 GHz
- Arm Cortex-M0 real-time core
- GPU – 2D GPU only
- No VPU, no NPU
- CPU
- System Memory – 256MB or 512MB DDR3L
- Storage
- 256MB or 512MB SPI NAND flash
- MicroSD card slot
- Display Interface – 2-lane MIPI DSI connector up to 1280 x 1280 @ 60FPS
- USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming
- Expansion/Carrier board connectors – 40-pin + 44-pin 2.54mm pitch male headers
- Audio – Speaker, Mic, I2S
- Networking – 2x 100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 ports
- USB – 2.0 host port
- Serial Communication – RS485 and CAN Bus
- Low-speed I/Os – UART, SPI, I2C, PWM
- Power Signals
- Misc – MaskROM key
- Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port
- Dimensions – 70 x 42 mm
- Temperature Range – -40°C to 85°C
ArmSoM CM1-IO carrier board specifications:
- 40-pin & 44-pin female headers for ArmSoM CM1 Compute Module with RK3506J SoC, up to 512MB RAM, u pto 512MB NAND flash
- Audio – 3.5mm audio jack (Headphone/Mic)
- Networking
- 2x 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 jacks
- WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
- Expansion
- 40-pin (mostly) Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO header
- 14-pin header with RS485, CAN Bus, microphone input, speaker output
- Power Supply – 12V DC jack
- Dimensions – 100 x 70mm
- Temperature Range – -40°C to 85°C
ArmSoM provides pre-validated factory system images built with Buildroot, a cross-compilation toolchain, a Board Support Package (BSP), device tree configuration templates, and a peripheral driver development framework. You’ll find all that and further hardware details on the documentation website and GitHub. Software support should be about the same as for the ArmSoM/Banana Pi Forge1 RK3506J SBC.
The company explains that the Cortex-A7 cores manage GUIs and complex algorithms, while the Cortex-M0 core controls robotic arms or collects sensor data, and both work concurrently without interference. We have quite a wide range of RK3506J, RK3506B, and RK3506 boards and modules now, thanks to products from LuckFox, Forlinx, and others besides the ones from ArmSoM/Banana Pi.
The ArmSoM CM1 Rockchip RK3506J Compute Module is sold at a competitive price, since it goes for just $15 on the ArmSoM store. and a complete kit with the SoM and carrier board sells for $28.50. You could also add the 7-inch (1280×800) touchscreen display shown above for $51.
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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