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.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress. We also use affiliate links in articles to earn commissions if you make a purchase after clicking on those links.
“40-pin & 44-pin female headers for ArmSoM CM1 Compute Module”
So not compatible with Raspi CM4 nor CM5 interface?
Why is that? Too expensive? Would not work at all? Manufacturer doesn’t care? Manufacturer wants to do market segmentation?
It would not make a lot of sense to have a Raspberry Pi CM4/5 compatible module with Rockchip RK3506J, because it lacks gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, PCIe, USB 3.0, found on the CM4/CM5, while others found in RK3506J are not exposed on the high-density connector on Pi Compute Modules.
Not everything has to work with RPi you know, it’s not as if it’s some kind of universal platform that everyone uses.
Besides, as pointed out already, not all chips have the same interfaces, so it’s a terrible idea to make certain things compatible with each other.
With this board and the BPI Forge1 they have not included the RMIO gpio to GPIO pin-out mapping. LuckFox Lyra have this, so i still need to compare to find the missing detail
The same could be asked of Raspberry Pi. CM3 to CM4 went to completely new physical interface. Even CM5 is not 100 percent electrically compatible with CM4 such that some previous carrier boards can not be updated to the latest module without some type of hardware mod.
Actually seems like a nice hybrid approach. There is a lot of IoT you can do with 512gig ram and flash and three A7 cores. Should be using very little power.
Just add a base board with a couple of 4/5g modules and an enclosure and you’ve got a nice little platform to work from. A lot cheaper than imx or raspberry pi 3.
I would have wanted yocto, but you can’t have it all