The multipurpose Intel Joule platform is ideal for a wide variety of potential applications in computer vision, robotics, drones, industrial IoT, virtual reality, micro-servers, and other uses that require high-end edge computing such as industrial safety glasses with augmented reality, social robots, and application-specific custom carrier boards.
The Intel Joule platform is based around a high-end compute system-on-module (SOM) featuring Intel HD graphics capable of 4K video capture and display, and large memory in a tiny, low-power package. The platform offers a vast software and hardware ecosystem, which provides developers with a choice of operating system and off-the-shelf libraries and sensors. This allows developers to rapidly prototype and start manufacturing quicker and at a lower cost. Based on an Intel Atom processor, the Intel Joule module provides low-cost scalability from initial concept design to high-volume production.
The Intel Joule platform is available in two main compute module configurations and two associated developer kits. The Intel Joule 550x compute module features a 64-bit 1.5GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor T5500, plus 3 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 8 GB eMMC memory. The higher-performance Intel Joule 570x compute module features a 64-bit 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor T5700 with Intel Burst Technology allowing operation at 2.4GHz, plus 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and 16GB eMMC memory. The developer kits include an expansion board, micro-SD card, two Wi-Fi antennas, and heatsink and fastener, in addition to the Intel Joule 550x or 570x compute module.
Both compute modules offer a wide variety of high-speed physical interfaces including USB 3.0, multiple GPIO, I2C and UART interfaces. They also offer Wi-Fi (dual-band MIMO) and Bluetooth 4.1 for extended range and bandwidth. The platform includes support for Intel RealSense depth-sensing camera technology, enabling developers to build devices suited to systems requiring advanced computer vision.
The software ecosystem supporting the Intel Joule module runs the open-source Reference Linux OS, which has been designed specifically with security features required by IoT applications. Other options include Ubuntu/Ubuntu Core (Snappy) or Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Core with further off-the-shelf libraries and peripherals available to help accelerate development.
The Intel Joule modules and developer kits are shipping now from RS.