Building a high-performance ecosystem for Arm-based SMARC modules
congatec is pleased to announce that it is expanding its strategic solutions portfolio in the Arm processor sector to include Texas Instruments (TI) processors. The first solution platform is the conga-STDA4, a SMARC Computer-on-Module featuring the industrial-grade Arm® Cortex®-based TDA4VM processor. Using a system-on-chip architecture, TI incorporates accelerated vision, AI processing, real-time control, and functional safety capabilities into their TDA4VM processor. This Dual Arm Cortex-A72-based module is designed for mobile industrial machinery requiring near-field analytics, such as automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots, construction, and agricultural machinery. Further application areas are any vision-focused industrial or medical solution requiring powerful but energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI) processors at the edge. Integrating the powerful TI TDA4VM processor on a standardized Computer-on-Module simplifies the design-in process of this powerful processor technology, allowing designers in various embedded industries to focus on their core competencies. This is advantageous as companies save up-front costs and shorten the time to market compared to fully customized designs, mainly if they produce a lower quantity of their solutions.
“Collaborating with a computer-on-module provider like congatec on their application-ready modules is a key benefit to engineers working with our Arm Cortex-based processors like the TDA4VM. Industrial OEMs, especially those who don’t have the resources to invest in full custom designs, can benefit from innovative SMARC COMs that help streamline design while enabling high design security and low NRE costs,” said Srik Gurrapu, Industrial Business Lead, Processors, Texas Instruments.
“We see that autonomous driving based on AI and computer vision is one of the most important markets for embedded and edge computing technologies besides the second major growth accelerator, digitization. TI offers highly-integrated processors for such applications. Our value-adding Computer-on-Module approach will open new markets for edge-server-grade, AI-driven, high-throughput technology. With all the added values, we will make TI processors available on our credit-card-sized SMARC Computer-on-Module ecosystem. These include fast prototyping and application development, cost-effective carrier board designs, and ultra-reliable, responsive, and performant resources from design-in to series production of OEM systems,” explains Martin Danzer, Director of Product Management at congatec.