Milk-V Mars CM driven by StarFive RISC-V processor

Milk-V Mars CM driven by StarFive RISC-V processor

Sep 30, 2023 — by Giorgio Mendoza

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The Milk-V Mars Computer Module is a new System-on-Module powered by the StarFive JH7110 RISC-V processor. This SoM can be pre-ordered with 8GB RAM, 32GB eMMC and offers support for Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi5/BT.5.2.

This SoM is also built around the same JH7110 RISC-V processor seen recently on the Milk-V Mars SBC and the FET7110 SoM by Forlinx: 

• JH7110 – 64-bit RISC-V, up to 1.5GHz (quad SiFive U74-RV64GC, up to 5.09 CoreMark/MHz)

Milk-V Mars CM block diagram
(click image to enlarge)

Customers can select between 2GB, 4GB or 8GB of LPDDR4 memory and 8GB, 16GB or 32GB eMMC for storage. Additionally, the device includes 16M NOR flash for storage and SDIO 2.0 support.

 Milk-V Mars CM connectivity(click image to enlarge)

For multimedia, the Milk-V Mars boasts 1x HDMI 2.0 and 1x MIPI DSI (4-lanes) interfaces and includes a 2-channel audio output for sound. Its video processing capabilities are robust, handling H.264 and H.265 decoding at 4K@60fps, H.265 encoding at 1080p@30fps, and providing JPEG encoding/decoding support.

Milk-V Mars CM bottom and top view
(click images to enlarge)

The Milk-V Mars CM offers extensive I/O capabilities for interfacing with sensors, actuators, and other external devices, including up to 28x GPIOs (3.3V), 6x UART ports, 7x I2C interfaces, 1x SPI interface, and 8 PWM channels. Additionally, it features 1x I2S interface for audio applications..

The product page indicates that the Milk-V will support OSes such as Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu. More technical details may be found on the Milk-V GitHub repository and the Wiki pages.

Specifications listed for the Milk-V Mars CM include:

• Memory/Storage:
  • Up to 8GB LPDDR4
  • 1x SDIO 2.0
  • 16M NOR flash 
• Display/Audio:
  • 1x HDMI 2.0
  • 1x MIPI DSI (4-lanes)
  • 1x 2-channel audio out
• Camera:
  • 1x MIPI CSI (2x 2-lanes or 1×4-lanes)
• Expansion:
  • 1x PCIe 2.0 1-lane Host, Gen 2 (5Gbps)
• Connectivity:
  • 1x Onboard Gigabit Ethernet PHY
  • Wi-Fi 5/BT 5.2 (AP6256)
• I/O Interfaces:
  • Up to 28x GPIOs
• USB:
  • 1x USB 2.0
• Power:
  • 5V DC in
  • AXP15060 PMU
• Mechanical:
  • 55 x 40mm
  • 2x 100-pin B2B connectors

Further information

The least expensive Milk-V Mars CM variant costs $29.00 and it comes with 2GB RAM and no Wi-Fi. The most expensive variant is priced at $84.00 which comes with 8GB RAM + 32GB eMMC and the Wi-Fi 5/BT.5.2 module. Visit the Arace Tech online store to see more variants.