NavQ+ Companion Computer

NavQ Linux companion computer platform with Vision for Mobile Robotics based on NXP i.MX 8M Mini SOC

What is this board?

NavQPlus is a reference design for a mission computer, AKA companion computer, for use in mobile robotics using ROS2 and similar applications such as groundstations and smart cameras. It has a SOM identical to the i.MX 8M plus EVK but is an intermediate “solution board” step between the EVK and a fully custom chip down design. It features a small form factor with Linux Foundation Dronecode connectors, dual USB, dual CAN, dual MIPI-CSI camera interfaces, IX-Industrial Ethernet connector, 100BaseT1 Two-wire ethernet, 9-20V input power management using USB-C PD, industrial real time clock (RTC) with tamper/timestamping and onboard SE050 Secure element with NFC.

Software supporting Ubuntu POC, Python, eIQ and ROS2 has been prepared to support robotics development for low power machine learning, vision, compute, path planning and navigation. Additionally, because of the HDMI, LVDS, MIPI DSI display interfaces, NavQPLus is also suitable for use in digital signage, ground stations, industrial remote controllers and other display applications needing connectivity.

List of Technologies & Specifications

• Open reference design, NXP EVK SOM, with customization also available from 3rd party.

• Machine Learning using 2.3TOPS NPU accelerator, eIQ ML Software development environment w/TFLite, ArmNN, ONNX

• Yocto Linux, Ubuntu POC** and ROS2 enablement.

• Vision – Dual MIPI camera w/ ISPs, hardware codec accelerators

• WiFi 5 / BTLE 5.0

• 100BaseT1 “2-Wire” Automotive Ethernet

• 1000BaseTX Ethernet + IX industrial connector (*not populated on -XE version)

• 2x USB-C with up to 20V power input + external power input

• SE050 EdgeLock secure element with NFC interface

• RTC with tamper timestamping

• PCIe expansion

• Supports up to three displays simultaneously MIPI, LVDS, HDMI (w/CEC)

• Other uses include as a QGC ground station or smart remote controller, or machine interface terminal.

Links

• NXP link to the product webpage:

NavQPlus AIML Companion Computer EVK for Mobile Robotics ROS Ground Stations and Camera HeadsNXP

• Design Files link:

NavQPlus AIML Companion Computer EVK for Mobile Robotics ROS Ground Stations and Camera HeadsNXP

• GitBook link:

NavQPlus | NXP 8MPNAVQ: NavQPlus Companion Computernxp.gitbook.io