By Eric Brown
Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 660 appeared on Intrinsyc’s Open-Q 660 HDK Mini-ITX dev kit back in 2017 and also showed up on an Inforce 6560 Pico-ITX SBC announced in February. Now Intrinsyc has returned with a tiny compute module implementation. The $225 Open-Q 660 µSOM (micro System on Module) measures only 50 mm x 25mm.
Open-Q 660 μSOM, front and back
(click images to enlarge)
The module runs Android 9.0 on the Snapdragon 660 (Qualcomm SDA660), which is claimed to offer up to 20 percent higher CPU performance and 30 percent higher graphics performance compared to the similarly octa-core Snapdragon 653. The Snapdragon 660 is also faster than the octa-core Snapdragon 625 and almost identical Snapdragon 626 thanks to its use of Cortex-A73-like “Kryo” cores.
The 14nm fabricated SoC has 4x Kryo cores clocked to 2.2 GHz and 4x clocked to 1.84 GHz, as well as a 650 MHz Adreno 512 GPU. The module’s AI potentiality is unlocked via dual Spectra 160 ISPs and a Hexagon 680 DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), which supports Caffe2 and Tensorflow for machine learning and image processing.
Open-Q 660 μSOM
(click image to enlarge)
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The module integrates a 2.4/5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MU-MIMO WiFi radio via a Qualcomm WCN3990 module supported with 5GHz external PA and U.FL antenna connectors. Bluetooth 5.x is also on board.
The Open-Q 660 μSOM is equipped with 2x 4-lane MIPI-DSI interfaces for up to 2560 x 1600 displays plus DP 1.4 for up to 4K@30 or 2K@60. The up to 24-megapixel camera support is derived from 3x 4-lane MIPI-CSI connections with I2C controllers for each camera port plus 2x camera flash control signals.
Audio features include a SLIMBus interface for external Qualcomm codecs plus optional Qualcomm Fluence support. You also get 4- and 2-lane MI2S interfaces for external audio devices, a Soundwire link for digital amps, and 2x PDM-based digital mic interfaces.
The Open-Q 660 μSOM supports single USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C and USB 2.0 host ports plus 4-bit SD 3.0, 8x BLSP (UART, I2C, SPI), and configurable GPIOs. The module provides a PMIC and battery charging circuitry and offers a 3.6V to 4.2V input and a -10 to 70°C operating range.
Further information
The Open-Q 660 µSOM is available for pre-order at $225 in single quantities, with shipments due in April. More information may be found in Intrinsyc’s Open-Q 660 µSOM announcement, product page, and shopping page
This article originally appeared on LinuxGizmos.com on March 25.
Intrinsyc | www.intrinsyc.com
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