Quad-core Allwinner A31 SoM sets price/performance benchmark

High-performance, low-cost, low-power module uses tablet SoC

Oxfordshire, UK. November 4th 2015: With a quad-core Allwinner A31 processor, usually found in high-end tablets, the A31-μQ7 is a high-performance industrial system-on-module which breaks the mould, setting a new ultra-competitive price point, starting at under £50.

The new module measures 70mm x 40mm and is based on the 230-pin Qseven pinout standard, comes with a comprehensive Linux BSP and is provided with a full implementation of Debian 8 “Jessie” to accelerate customer designs. Providing 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores, with up to 2GB of DDR3 RAM, the system automatically scales the processor clock frequency up to a maximum of 1.2GHz according to application requirements and thermal capacity, bringing handheld applications within the new module’s remit. Suspend power consumption down to 25mW is feasible, while typical operating power consumption is around 2W. Standard interfaces include a Gigabit Ethernet port, which offers high-throughput using a DMA-capable architecture, dual-channel LVDS and a HDMI 1.4 port. Up to 8 USB ports are available as well as SD Card, SATA II, UART, I²S, I²C, SMBus and SPI. A separate on-module ARM Cortex-M0 processor subsystem provides an offloaded CAN bus solution.

An on-board eMMC Flash memory provides 4 or 8GB in standard configurations – and up to 64GB in custom configurations – of persistent storage, and a state-of-the-art security module meets the requirements of emerging IoT applications such as Smart Metering. An on-module SPI NOR Flash provides an additional 16MB of non-volatile memory.

The A31-μQ7 module and a complete development kit, which runs Debian GNU/Linux out of the box, is available from Direct Insight from stock.