ASUS Tinker Edge R Mini PC Designed For AI Machine Learning Applications

     ASUS as announced the launch of a new single board computer designed specifically for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. The ASUS Tinker Edge R mini PC is powered by a Rockchip RK3399Pro NPU, a “machine-learning (ML) accelerator that speeds up processing efficiency, lowers power demands and makes it easier to build connected devices and intelligent applications” says ASUS.

     The Tinker Edge R mini PC is equipped with a wide variety of connectivity including a full-size HDMI port, USB Type-A, USB Type-C, Gigabit LAN and WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as a mini PCI Express Mini slot capable of accepting a 4G/LTE extension card if required. Tinker Edge R also comes equipped with an onboard 16 GB eMMC and SD 3.0 interface.

     The Tinker Edge R mini PC has been fitted with a unique power design combining both DC jack input and a 4-pin header, delivering up to 65 watts of power. Allowing the Tinker Edge R to offer stable operation and full I/O performance even with multiple connected devices.

     “With its powerful and modern hex-core Rockchip RK3399Pro processor powered by Arm big. LITTLE A72+A53 technology, Tinker Edge R offers a powerful solution for graphics, machine vision, video, audio, voice and safety-critical applications. Tinker Edge R features 4 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 system memory, the 4th generation of low-power DDR DRAM technology, offering faster speeds and even lower power consumption for improved system performance and efficiency. It also boasts 2 GB of standalone memory for the NPU, delivering faster speeds, improved stability and high efficiency for ML inference. ASUS provides a robust API and SDK that enables users to deploy ML models to Tinker Edge R easily for applications such as image classification and object detection. It also supports model conversion from Caffe, TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, ONNX, Darknet and more.”

Specifications of the Tinker Edge R mini PC

     SoC RockchipRK3399Pro– CPU Dual-core Arm® Cortex®-A72 @ 1.8 GHz + Quad-core Arm® Cortex®-A53 @ 1.4 GHz– GPU Arm® Mali™-T860 MP4 GPU @ 800 MHz– NN Processor Rockchip NPU– Memory Dual-CH LPDDR4 4GB (SYSTEM) + LPDDR3 2GB (NPU)– Storage 16GB eMMC 1 x Micro SD (TF) card slot (push & pull)– Display 1 x HDMI with CEC hardware ready 1 x Type-C (DP) 1 x 22-pin MIPI DSI (4 lane)– USB 3 xUSB3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports 1 x USB3.2 Gen1 Type-C OTG port– Camera interface 1 x 22-pin MIPI CSI-2 (4 lane) 1 x 22-pin MIPI CSI-2/DSI (4 lane)– Connectivity 1 x RTL8211F-CGGbELAN 1 x 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac & Bluetooth 5.0(2T2R)– Expansions 1 x Mini PCIe slot (Full-Length, nano-SIM socket, for 4G/LTE)– Audio 1 x 3.5mm audio jack (with Mic & plug-in detection)Internal I/O 1 x 40-pin header includes:– up to 2 x SPI bus– up to 2 x I2C bus– up to 2 x UART– up to 3 x PWM– up to 1 x S/PDIF TX– 2 x 5V power pins– 2 x 3.3V power pins– 8 x ground pins1 x 2-pin Recovery header1 x 2-pin Power-on header1 x 2-pin Reset header1 x 2-pin DC Fan header1 x 2-pin RTC Battery header1 x 2-pin NPU UART header– Non-operation temperature -40–85°C– Relative humidity 0%–85%– Operating system support Debian 9 / Android 8.1– Form factor Pico-ITX, 3.9″ x 2.8″ (100 × 72 mm)