NVIDIA announces world’s smallest supercomputer for AI at the edge

Source: NVIDIA. The Jetson Xavier NX.

NVIDIA has introduced Jetson Xavier NX, the world’s smallest, most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer for robotic and embedded computing devices at the edge.

Smaller than a credit card, the energy-efficient Jetson Xavier NX module delivers server-class performance up to 21 TOPS for running AI workloads, and consumes as little as 10 watts of power. Jetson Xavier NX opens the door for embedded edge computing devices that demand increased performance but are constrained by size, weight, power budgets or cost. These include small commercial robots, drones, intelligent high-resolution sensors for factory logistics and production lines, optical inspection, network video recorders, portable medical devices, and other industrial Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

“AI has become the enabling technology for modern robotics and embedded devices that will transform industries,” said Deepu Talla, VP and GM of Edge Computing at NVIDIA.

 “Many of these devices, based on small form factors and lower power, were constrained from adding more AI features. Jetson Xavier NX lets our customers and partners dramatically increase AI capabilities without increasing the size or power consumption of the device.”

 Jetson Xavier NX delivers up to 14 TOPS (at 10W) or 21 TOPS (at 15W), running multiple neural networks in parallel and processing data from multiple high-resolution sensors simultaneously in a Nano form factor (70 x 45 mm). For companies already building embedded machines, Jetson Xavier NX runs on the same CUDA-X AI software architecture as all Jetson offerings, ensuring rapid time to market and low development costs. As part of NVIDIA’s one software architecture approach, Jetson Xavier NX is supported by NVIDIA JetPack software development kit, which is a complete AI software stack that can run modern and complex AI networks, accelerated libraries for deep learning as well as computer vision, computer graphics, multimedia and more.

Jetson Xavier NX is receiving strong support from the robotics and embedded devices ecosystem. “NVIDIA’s embedded Jetson products have been accelerating the research, development and deployment of embedded AI solutions on Lockheed Martin’s platforms,” said Lee Ritholtz, Director and Chief Architect of Applied Artificial Intelligence at Lockheed Martin.

“With Jetson Xavier NX’s exceptional performance, small form factor and low power, we will be able to do more processing in real time at the edge than ever before.”

“Our goal is to dramatically increase the quality and accuracy of our optical inspection system and accelerate our move towards industry 4.0,” said Otsuka Hiroshi, CEO of Musashi Seimitsu, a manufacturer of transportation equipment.

 “NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX gives us the compute capabilities to improve our visual inspection capabilities without increasing the size and power of our optical inspection system.”

Jetson Xavier NX is the latest addition to the Jetson family, which includes Jetson Nano, the Jetson AGX Xavier series and the Jetson TX2 series. Jetson Xavier NX offers a rich set of input-output connections, from high-speed CSI and PCIe to low-speed I2Cs and general-purpose input/outputs (GPIOs). Compatibility with many peripherals and sensors, together with its small form factor and big performance, are expected to bring new capabilities to embedded AI and industrial IoT systems.

Jetson Xavier NX is also pin-compatible with Jetson Nano, allowing shared hardware designs and those with Jetson Nano carrier boards and systems to upgrade to Jetson Xavier NX. It also supports all major AI frameworks, including TensorFlow, PyTorch, MxNet, Caffe and others.

Details:

Jetson Xavier NX module specifications:

 • GPU: NVIDIA Volta with 384 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 48 Tensor Cores, plus 2x NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerators (NVDLA)

• CPU: six-core Carmel Arm 64-bit CPU, 6 MB L2 + 4 MB L3

 • Video: 2x 4K30 Encode and 2x 4K60 Decode

 • Camera: Up to six camera serial interface (CSI)  cameras (36 via virtual channels); 12 lanes (3 x 4 or 6 x 2) MIPI CSI-2

• Memory: 8 GB 128-bit LPDDR4x; 51.2 GBps

• Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet

• Operating system support: Ubuntu-based Linux

• Module size: 70 x 45 mm

Priced at US$399, the Jetson Xavier NX module will be available in March 2020 from NVIDIA’s distribution channels for companies looking to create high-volume production edge systems. Developers can begin application development today using the Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit with a software patch to emulate the Jetson Xavier NX.