NXP Semiconductors FRDM i.MX 8M Plus Development Board

NXP Semiconductors FRDM i.MX 8M Plus Development Board (FRDM-IMX8MPLUS) is a compact, feature-rich platform designed to evaluate and prototype with the i.MX 8M Plus applications processor. Built around a quad-core Arm^® Cortex^®-A53 and a Cortex-M7 core, the NXP board supports advanced multimedia, machine learning, and industrial applications. FRDM-IMX8MPLUS includes a wide range of connectivity options such as USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and Wi-Fi^®/BLUETOOTH^® via an M.2 slot. The board also integrates 2GB LPDDR4 memory, 16GB eMMC storage, and a microSD slot, ideal for edge computing and AI vision use cases. The compact form factor makes the board a versatile tool for developers and engineers working on next-generation embedded systems.

Features

i.MX 8M Plus applications processor featuring a quad Arm^® Cortex^®-A53 up to 1.8GHz and an Arm Cortex-M7 core up to 800MHz, includes a neural processing unit (NPU) of 2.3 Tera operations per second (TOPS)
1x USB 3.0 Type-C^® connector and 1x USB 3.0 Type-A connector
4GB LPDDR4 memory
32GB eMMC5.1 and MicroSD card connector (SD3.0 supported)
Default boot mode is single-boot from the eMMC device; the board also supports SD card boot
2x MIPI-CSI (4x data lane) camera interface and an FPC cable connector (J13, J14)
Display interface
- 1x MIPI-DSI (4x data lanes) interface and an FPC cable connector (J15)
- 1x HDMI 2.0 interface with Type A connector (J16)
- 2x LVDS (4x data lanes) interface with 2x 40-pin headers (J8 and J9)
2x 10/100/1000Mbit/s RGMII Ethernet RJ45 connectors (J5 and J7) with external PHY, YT8521
1x 10-pin 2x5 2.54mm connector J27
- 1x high-speed CAN transceiver, TJA1051T/3 connection
- 3-pin header for I²C expansion
- System reset and on/off
U-blox MAYA-W276-00B tri-radio module supporting Wi-Fi^® 6, BLUETOOTH^® 5.4, and IEEE 802.15.4

M.2 interfaces
- 1x M.2/NGFF Key E 2230 connector, J24, supporting USB, SDIO, SAI, UART, I²C, and vendor-defined SPI interfaces
- 1x M.2/NGFF Key M 2280 connector, J23, supporting the PCIE interface, which can be connected to an M.2 SSD
Onboard audio codec WM8962 with a headphone jack and a 4-pin speaker header
Debug interfaces
- USB-to-UART device, CH342F
- 1x USB 2.0 Type-C connector (J19) of CH342F provides 2x COM ports
  - COM port 1 is used for the Cortex A53 system debug
  - COM port 2 is used for the Cortex M7 system debug
  - JTAG 10-pin header, J20
1x 40-pin dual-row pin header (J18) for I²S, UART, I²C, and GPIO expansion
Power
- 1x USB 2.0 Type-C connector for power delivery only
- PCA9450CHN PMIC
- Discrete DCDC/LDO
130mm x 120mm, 6-layer PCB

Applications

Machine learning and AI at the edge
- Real-time object detection and classification
- Face recognition and tracking
- Voice recognition and natural language processing
Industrial automation
- Human-machine interfaces (HMI)
- Predictive maintenance using sensor data
- Smart gateways and edge computing nodes
Smart home and building automation
- Voice-controlled assistants
- Smart security systems (e.g., facial recognition doorbells)
- Environmental monitoring (temperature, humidity, air quality)
Multimedia
- Audio/video streaming and processing
- Smart displays and digital signage
- Video conferencing systems

Healthcare devices
- Patient monitoring systems
- Portable diagnostic tools
- AI-assisted imaging analysis
Robotics
- Autonomous navigation and SLAM
- Sensor fusion and control systems
- AI-based decision-making at the edge
Internet of Things (IoT) gateways
- Secure data aggregation and processing
- Edge analytics before cloud transmission
- Protocol translation (e.g., MQTT, Modbus, BLE)