Tiny i.MX8M Mini SBC serves up mini-PCIe with PoE-enabled GbE

Tiny i.MX8M Mini SBC serves up mini-PCIe with PoE-enabled GbE

Jun 30, 2021 — by Eric Brown

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Gateworks’ 100 x 35mm “Venice GW7100” SBC combines a Linux-driven i.MX8M Mini with up to 4GB LPDDR4 and 64GB MMC plus GbE with PoE, USB Type-C, mini-PCIe with nano-SIM, -40 to 85°C support, and optional GPS.

Gateworks has announced the smallest member of its family of i.MX8M based Venice SBCs, following the 105 x 100mm Venice GW7300 and 100 x 70mm GW7200. Unlike the earlier two models, the 100 x 35mm Venice GW7100 is limited to single GbE and mini-PCIe slots. Standard SKUs include 1GB RAM/8GB eMMC and 4GB/64GB.

Venice GW7100 and block diagram
(click images to enlarge)

Gateworks is offering its usual Ubuntu Linux BSP for NXP’s i.MX8M Mini, which supplies 4x 1.6GHz Cortex-A53 cores and a 400MHz Cortex-M4 MCU. Unlike the other Venice boards, the headless GW7100 makes no use of the SoC’s Vivante GPUs. The GW7100 similarly supplies the CPU and memories on a compute module.

The Venice GW7100 has a mini-PCIe slot with nano-SIM slot that support a choice of several Gateworks WiFi/BT and cellular modules up to 5G. In April, Gateworks announced a 5G Cellular M.2 Adapter that supports M.2-based 5G modules. The GW7100 also offers an option for a u-blox ZOE-M8 GPS receiver with MMCX antenna connector, which does not appear to use the mini-PCIe slot..

Venice GW7100, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

The GbE port supports passive PoE, and there are also several mentions of active PoE support, which may be optional. Other highlights include a USB 2.0 OTG Type-C port plus a 3-axis accelerometer, watchdog, RTC, and wide-range power input. As usual, -40 to 85°C support is standard.

Specifications listed for the Venice GW7100 include:

• Processor — NXP i.MX8M Mini Quad (4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.6GHz); Cortex-M4F @ 400MHz; GCNanoUltra for 3D, GC320 for 2D GPUs; 1080p60 H.264, VP8/1080p60 H.265, H.264, VP8, VP9 video
• Memory/storage — 1GB LPDDR4 with 8GB eMMC or 4GB with 64GB
• Networking/wireless:
  • GbE port with passive and possibly active PoE (802.3af/at)
  • WiFi and cellular available via mini-PCIe (see expansion)
  • Optional u-blox ZOE-M8 GPS receiver with MMCX ant. connector
• Other I/O:
  • USB 2.0 OTG Type-C port with 5V input support
  • Connector for serial TTL, I2C, SPI, DIO, ADC
• Expansion:
  • Mini-PCIe slot for WiFi and cellular
  • Nano-SIM slot
  • Optional mini-PCIe cards including LTE CATM1/4, 802.11ac, sub-1GHz, Iridium, M.2 adapter for 5G, etc.
• Other features — digital 3-axis MEMS accelerometer; user pushbutton; LED; JTAG; Gateworks System Controller (GSC) with RTC with coincell, watchdog, serial EEPROM, monitoring, secure key storage, etc.; optional dev kit with JTAG programmer, cables, power supply, BSP, etc.
• Power — 8-60V DC input header or via USB Type-C or PoE; 6W@25°C typical consumption; reverse voltage protection; PMIC with remote management; power supply with Dev Kit bundle; 15W power to mini-PCIe
• Operating temperature — -40 to 85°C with 20% to 90% non-condensing humidity
• Dimensions — 100 x 35 x 21mm
• Operating system — Ubuntu BSP with U-Boot with dev kit version

Further information

The Venice GW7100 is available for order at an undisclosed price. More information may be found in Gateworks’ announcement, product page, and Venice wiki.