Embedded+ brings together the capabilities of its Ryzen Embedded processors and its Versal AI Edge adaptive SoCs on one packaged board. AMD aims for crucial areas that need high computational power and low power consumption. This synergy allows Embedded+ to handle AI inferencing and manage complex sensor data in real-time, essential for applications in challenging and dynamic environments.
Having Ryzen Embedded and Versal SoCs on a single board is useful for industries that need fast response times between hardware and software, such as autonomous vehicles, diagnostic equipment in healthcare, and precision machinery in industrial automation. The AMD Embedded+ architecture can also support various workloads across different processor types, such as x86 and ARM, AI engines and FPGA fabric, which offers flexibility and scalability of embedded computing solutions within industries.
The Embedded+ platform from AMD offers a lot of compatibility with various sensor types and their interfaces. It enables direct connectivity with standard peripherals and industrial sensors through Ethernet, USB, and HDMI/DP interfaces. The AMD Ryzen Embedded processors within the architecture can handle inputs from traditional image sensors such as RGB, monochrome, and even advanced neuromorphic types while supporting industry-standard image sensor interfaces such as MIPI and LVDS.
To further boost its capability, the AMD Versal AI Edge adaptive SoCs on the Embedded+ motherboard offer adaptable I/O options for real-time sensor input and industrial networking. This includes interfacing with LiDAR, RADAR, and other sensitive and sophisticated sensors needed for modern embedded systems in the industrial, medical, and automotive sectors. The platform's support for various product-level sensor interfaces, such as GMSL and Ethernet-based vision protocols, means it is designed and ready for integration into complex, sensor-driven systems.
AMD has also announced a new pre-integrated solution, which will be available for ODMs starting today. The Sapphire Technology VPR-4616-MB platform is a compact, Mini-ITX form factor motherboard that uses the AMD Versal AI Edge 2302 SoC along with an AMD Ryzen Embedded R2314 processor, which is based on Zen+ and has 4C/4T with 6 Radeon Vega compute units.
Sapphire features a custom expansion connector for I/O boards, supporting a wide range of connectivity options, including dual DDR4 SO-DIMM slots with up to 64 GB capacity, one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot, and one SATA port for conventional HDDs and SSDs. The VPR-4616-MB also has a good array of networking capabilities including 2.5 Gb Ethernet and an M.2 Key E 2230 PCIe x1 slot for a wireless interface. Sapphire also supports the Linux-based Ubuntu 22.04 operating system.
Also announced is a series of expansion boards that significantly widen support for the Embedded+ architecture. The Octo GMSL Camera I/O board is particularly notable for its ability to interface with multiple cameras simultaneously. It is ideal for high bandwidth vision-based systems, vital for sectors such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated surveillance systems. These systems often need the integration of many image inputs for real-time processing and analysis, and the Octo GMSL board is explicitly built to meet this demand.
Additionally, a dual Ethernet I/O board is available, capable of supporting 10/100/1000 Mb connections, catering to environments that need high-speed network communications. The Dual 10 Gb SFP+ board has 16 GPIOs for even higher bandwidth requirements, providing ample data transfer rates for real-time video streaming and large-scale sensor data aggregation tasks. These expansion options widen the scope of what the Embedded+ architecture can do in an edge and industrial scenario.
The Sapphire VPR-4616-MB is available for customers to buy now and in a complete system configuration, including storage, memory, power supply, and chassis.
