Innovation with AMD’s Kria K24 SOM
The most recent additions to the Kria lineup of adaptive System-on-Modules (SOMs) and development kits are the AMD Kria K24 System-on-Module (SOM) and KD240 Drives Starter Kit. The AMD Kria K24 SOM is aimed for cost-concerned industrial and commercial edge applications and provides power-efficient computation in a compact form factor. The K24 uses half the power1 of the bigger, connector-compatible Kria K26 SOM despite being half the size of a credit card thanks to advanced InFO (Integrated Fan-Out) packaging.
For powering electric motors and motor controllers used in compute-intensive digital signal processing (DSP) applications at the edge, the K24 SOM offers excellent determinism and low latency. Electric motor systems, robotics for industrial automation, power generation, elevators and trains, surgical robots, medical equipment like MRI beds, and EV charging stations are a few examples of important uses.
The products provide a smooth route to production deployment with the K24 SOM when used in conjunction with the KD240 Drives Starter Kit, a motor control-based development platform that is ready to use right out of the box. Users don’t need to be experts in FPGA programming to rapidly get up and running, accelerating time to market for motor control and DSP applications.
“The AMD Kria K24 SOM and KD240 development platform build on the breakthrough design experience introduced by the Kria SOM portfolio, offering solutions for robotics, control, vision AI, and DSP applications,” stated Hanneke Krekels, corporate vice president, Core Vertical Markets, AMD. “System developers must balance cutting costs with addressing the rising expectations for performance and power efficiency. For a quick time to market, the K24 SOM contains the essential parts of an embedded processing system on a single production-ready board while yet delivering outstanding performance per watt.
In many companies, robotic equipment that powers assembly lines and other machinery is powered by hundreds of motors. According to estimates, electric motors and motor-driven systems account for over 70% of all the electrical energy used globally by the industrial sector. Therefore, even a 1% increase in a drive system’s efficiency may have a big influence on operating costs and the environment.
Greg Needel, CEO of Rev Robotics, said: “The AMD Kria SOM portfolio has helped make reliable hardware for robotics and industrial edge applications accessible to the masses and we’re excited to see the portfolio extended with the new K24 SOM and KD240 Starter Kit.” “With Kria SOMs, we’re able to adapt to changing software and hardware requirements, simplify the development of even advanced control loop algorithms, and build really cool things for both commercial and STEM educational customers.”
Accelerated Design Cycles and Simplicated DSP Development
The K24 SOM has a specially created Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC chip, and the accompanying KD240 starting kit is an FPGA-based motor control kit that costs less than $400. In contrast to previous processor-based control kits, the KD240 offers simple access for entry-level developers, allowing them to start at a more advanced stage in the design cycle.
The K24 SOM supports more design processes than any previous version and is certified for usage in industrial applications. Included in this are well-known design tools like Matlab Simulink and programming languages like Python, which has a broad ecosystem that supports the PYNQ framework. Additionally supported are Docker and Ubuntu. The AMD Vitis motor control libraries are also available to software developers, preserving compatibility for conventional development processes.
AMD launched the first App Store for edge apps with the Kria K26 SOM launch. With the release of the KD240 Starter Kit, AMD becomes the first company to provide pre-built motor control software, enabling customers to develop industrial solutions that are dependable, accessible, and equipped with cutting-edge security features.
For an improved ramp-up experience for developers, the KD240 is supported by an optional Motor Accessory Pack (MACCP), with more motor kits coming out in the future that may be ordered separately.
A Family of Scalable SOMs is available
By using Kria SOMs, developers may concentrate on offering unique, value-added functionality rather than spending time and resources on extensive design work around the chosen silicon device.
System architects may easily switch between the K24 and K26 SOM without changing boards thanks to connector compatibility, which allows power, performance, space, and cost to be balanced for systems that are energy-efficient.
K24 SOMs are designed for 10-year industrial lifecycles and are available in both commercial and industrial variants. The industrial-grade SOM incorporates ECC-protected LPDDR4 memory for high-reliability systems in addition to compatibility for wider temperature ranges.
Orders for the K24 SOM (commercial and industrial variants) and KD240 Drives Starter Kit may be made directly via the manufacturers’ website or through distributors all around the globe. The K24 industrial version is anticipated to launch in Q4, while the commercial version is already shipping.
