SoM with QuadSPI, dual ethernet and high-capacity storage

Technical Support
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1

Hi!

I am looking for a system-on-module supporting dual ethernet where at least one is Gigabit, Quad-SPI support and option for a high-capacity external SSD, such as a SATA interface.

I have seen the Colibri iMX7D which seems like a near perfect device for me, except that I can’t find any information about support for a high-capacity storage medium on the device. For instance, it has a single PCIe lane, but I can’t find any resources on other users using this for storage.

Has anyone in this community attached the Colibri iMX7D to a high-capacity storage (>128 GB), with sufficient bandwidth? (> 60 MB/s)

Best regards,
Kristian

2

Colibri modules have no PCIe support. You can use Apalis iMX6 module which has PCIe and SATA interfaces support. See more details here - Apalis iMX6 | Toradex Developer Center

3

Thanks for the reply. Although the Apalis iMX6 has SATA/PCIe, it does not have neither dual ethernet or support for QuadSPI.

So there is no Toradex-device that fills this niche?

An alternative to SATA is a high-speed memory card. Would you think it is feasible to expect 100 MB/s continuous throughput on the iMX7 and an external memory card?

4

It is possible to attach an external eMMC device to the Colibri iMX7 module. The iMX7 module features up to two SD card interfaces which can be both used for 8bit eMMC interface. There are currently eMMC devices available with up to 128 GByte of storage. Please keep in mind that on the Colibri iMX7, only 4bits of the first SD interface is capable of running with 1.8V voltage level. If you run the interface with 8bit width, it can only be used with 3.3V level. This reduces the maximum bus speed of the eMMC device.

We are currently working on a new module in the Apalis form factor, the Apalis iMX8. This module will have two gigabit Ethernet ports (one with on module PHY and a second one with an RGMII interface for a PHY on the carrier board), a QSPI interface, PCIe, USB 3.0, as well as SATA interface. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide you the exact release date since there are some delays from the SoC manufacturer.