2023-09-25 Libre Computer AML-A311D-CC Alta AI SBC Announcement (Pre)

News
1

Libre Computer AML-A311D-CC Alta, part of our Cottonwood family, is our latest performant AI-enabled single board computer designed for compute-intensive applications. With upstream AI and neuro-computing support, this board brings advanced hardware acceleration for the perfect mix of general purpose and specialized computing.

Compatible with SystemReady IR operating systems, Alta incorporates a advanced BIOS compatible with UEFI and supports standard Linux distributions out of the box. It offers seemly hardware migration for existing CC form factor applications that require advanced performance and new capabilities of the Cottonwood platform. It can boot any official Libre Computer image for any board since the BIOS abstracts the hardware behind UEFI.

The board offers industry-leading 1W idle power consumption and can be flexibly powered by USB Type-C, Power over Ethernet, or 5V header directly. For rich IO applications, the performance is similiar to our ROC-RK3328-CC Renegade platform with its Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0, although now four ports are exposed via USB 3.0 hub. System wake via UART, IR, button, and GPIO are supported for additional power optimization in constrained environments.

New to the Cottonwood family are MIPI CSI and DSI connectors not found on the Potato family. MIPI connectors follow the 22 pin layout found on the Raspberry Pi Zero W and Compute Module Base IO board for re-use with existing cameras and displays. Combined with the 5+TOPs NPU, Alta is ideal for realtime 4K+ video footage object detection and other modern AI workloads.

Features

  • 4 M Cores
  • 2 E Cores
  • 4 M GPU Cores
  • 5+ TOPs NPU Cores
  • Up to 4GB LPDDR4X
  • USB Type C Power + 2.0 Data Dual Role
  • HDMI 2.1
  • 3.5mm Jack with CVBS and Analog Stereo Audio Output
  • Gigabit Ethernet with WOL
  • 4 USB Type-A 3.0 Hub
  • PoE Connector
  • 40-Pin GPIO Connector
  • IR Receiver Sensor
  • DSI 4-Lane 22-Pin Connector up to 1080P
  • CSI 4-Lane 22-Pin Connector up to 8MP with 2 Cameras
  • 16MB Open Source UEFI BIOS
  • eMMC 5.x Slim Connector
  • MicroSD Card Slot with UHS SDR104 Support

The 40-pin header offers good pinmux coverage for existing peripherals in the Raspberry Pi and CC ecosystems. Additionally, it features numerous I2S, PDM, and TDM pin for support 16+ far field microphones making Alta a premier audio visual core board.

2

I appreciate the (pre)announcement and am looking forward to the Cottonwood SBCs.

From the libretech performance test results, it looks like the performance of the AML-A311D-CC is closer to (and perhaps better than) the ROC-RK3399-PC Renegade Elite, not the RK3328 Renegade.

I also think that you probably mean to use “It offers seamless hardware migration…” instead of “It offers seemly hardware migration…”.

Good luck!

3

ROC-RK3399-PC Renegade Elite and AML-A311D-CC Alta are two completely different platforms.

  1. The PC form factor was designed for high density with its low profile. The CC form factor was designed for compatibility with peripherals.
  2. RK3399 has many more IO and pinmux. It supports a multitude of camera, display, and other interfaces that A311D just does not have. So it’s really an apple to oranges comparison.
  3. We use Renegade Elite for our internal production line as it is geared more for high end commercial applications. Alta is more low end commercial and consumer applications.
4

This looks super promising. Pair it with a propsed camera, and offer a downliadable OS image that out of the box will do human detection with whatever model you think works best.

That kind of complete concept recipe is a powerful endorsement where people can assemble a known good functioning example.