Jetson carrier board triples up on M.2
Sep 3, 2021 — by Eric Brown 3,467 viewsGeniatech announced an “NVJ100AI/AIX” carrier board for the Jetson Nano and Xavier NX with GbE, HDMI, 4x USB 3.0, and 3x M.2 sockets.
Geniatech, which just launched a $90 XPI-iMX8MM SBC based on the i.MX8M Mini, has posted a product page for an NVJ100AI/AIX carrier board for Nvidia’s Jetson Nano and Jetson Xavier NX modules. The NVJ100AI ships with a Jetson Nano module and the NVJ100AI with the higher end Jetson Xavier NX. Otherwise, the boards are identical.


NVJ100AIX with Xavier NX (left) NVJ100AI with Nano
(click images to enlarge)
Considering the lack of a public price and the numerous customizable interface numbers, the NVJ100AI/AIX appears to be aimed at volume buyers. Although the marketing materials mention edge AI applications including those that involve cameras, there is no MIPI-CSI interface. However, camera input is supported via USB 3.0 and GbE, and there are 3x M.2 slots that could support camera modules.
Jetson carriers with 3x M.2 slots include Forecr’s DSBoard-NX2 and Aetina’s AN810-XNX, both of which offer MIPI-CSI. Other Jetson carriers include D3’s DesignCore, Diamond’s Floyd, and CTI’s Quark Carrier, among others.
— ADVERTISEMENT —
Nvidia’s Jetson Xavier NX features 6x ARMv8.2 Carmel CPU cores, a 384-core Volta GPU, and 48 Tensor cores for up to 21 TOPS AI processing. The module also supplies 8GB LPDDR4x and 16GB eMMC 5.1. The Nano is on the low end with 4x -A57 cores, a 128-core Maxwell GPU, 4GB LPDDR4, and 16GB eMMC.
The Jetson Xavier NX cannot match the low power consumption of the Nano, which can run on as little as 5 Watts, but it can operate at 10W with up to 14 TOPS. Both modules are supported with Linux SDKs and Nvidia’s CUDA-X AI libraries for the GPU.


Detail view of NVJ100AI (with Nano) and rear view
(click images to enlarge)
The GbE port is among the NVJ100AI/AIX features listed as “up to.” Presumably, you could get by with a WiFi or cellular connection alone — there appears to be an unlisted full-sized SIM card slot on the back of the board near the M.2 slots. Other removable or reducible interfaces include the microSD slot, the USB 2.0 Type-C slot, and the 4x USB 3.0 host ports.
The NVJ100AI/AIX is further equipped with an HDMI port for up to 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz resolution. Although there are no other standard display or camera interfaces, the board is capable of 1x (Nano) or 2x (Xavier NX) 4K@60 encode and decode streams.
The NVJ100AI/AIX is further equipped with internal headers including fan, 4x RS232, and 4x RS485. No details were listed for the 3x M.2 sockets. The 170 x 97mm carrier has a 12V/1.5A terminal plug input, reset and recovery buttons, and an RTC with battery support.
Further information
No pricing or availability information was provided for the NVJ100AI/AIX. More information may be found on Geniatech’s product page.
Please comment here...