AMD releases Innovation with Kria K24 SOM and Starter Kit for Industries

AMD has launched its latest additions to the Kria portfolio of adaptive System-on-Modules (SOMs) and developer kits, the AMD Kria K24 SOM and KD240 Drives Starter Kit. The K24 SOM is designed for cost-sensitive industrial and commercial edge applications, offering power-efficient compute in a small form factor. It is half the size of a credit card and uses half the power of the larger Kria K26 SOM. The K24 SOM provides high determinism and low Latency for compute-intensive digital signal processing (DSP) applications at the edge, making it suitable for various industries such as robotics, power generation, and medical equipment.

The KD240 Drives Starter Kit complements the K24 SOM by providing an out-of-the-box-ready motor control-based development platform. This allows users to quickly deploy motor control and DSP applications without requiring FPGA programming expertise, speeding up time to market.

Hanneke Krekels, Corporate Vice President of Core Vertical Markets at AMD, stated that the K24 SOM and KD240 development platform offer solutions for robotics, control, vision AI, and DSP applications. The K24 SOM delivers high performance-per-watt in a small form factor, making it an ideal choice for system architects looking to meet performance and power efficiency demands while minimizing expenses.

The industrial sector heavily relies on electric motors and motor-driven systems, with around 70% of its total global electrical use tied to these systems. Even a small improvement in efficiency can have a significant positive impact on operational expenses and the environment. Greg Needel, CEO of Rev Robotics, praised the AMD Kria SOM portfolio for making robust hardware accessible to the masses and expressed excitement about the new additions.

The K24 SOM features a custom-built Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC device, while the KD240 starter kit is a sub-$400 FPGA-based motor control kit. The KD240 provides an entry point for developers, simplifying the development of control loop algorithms and adapting to changing software and hardware requirements.

The K24 SOM is qualified for use in industrial environments and supports various design flows, including popular tools like Matlab Simulink and languages like Python. It also supports Ubuntu and Docker, and software developers can utilize the AMD Vitis motor control libraries.

AMD’s Kria SOMs offer a family of scalable SOMs, allowing developers to focus on providing differentiated, value-added features without the need for extensive design efforts. The K24 SOM and K26 SOM are connector-compatible, enabling easy migration between the two without changing boards. This flexibility allows system architects to balance power, performance, size, and cost for energy-efficient systems.

The K24 SOM is available in both commercial and industrial versions, built for 10-year industrial lifecycles. The commercial version is shipping now, while the industrial version is expected to ship in Q4. The K24 SOM and KD240 Drives Starter Kit can be ordered directly or through worldwide channel distributors. Optional Motor Accessory Packs (MACCP) and additional motor kits will be available separately to enhance the development experience for users.

Background Information

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About AMD: AMD, a large player in the semiconductor industry is known for its powerful processors and graphic solutions, AMD has consistently pushed the boundaries of performance, efficiency, and user experience. With a customer-centric approach, the company has cultivated a reputation for delivering high-performance solutions that cater to the needs of gamers, professionals, and general users. AMD's Ryzen series of processors have redefined the landscape of desktop and laptop computing, offering impressive multi-core performance and competitive pricing that has challenged the dominance of its competitors. Complementing its processor expertise, AMD's Radeon graphics cards have also earned accolades for their efficiency and exceptional graphical capabilities, making them a favored choice among gamers and content creators. The company's commitment to innovation and technology continues to shape the client computing landscape, providing users with powerful tools to fuel their digital endeavors.

  

Technology Explained

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FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are a type of technology used in the computer industry. They are integrated circuits that can be programmed to perform specific tasks. FPGAs are used in a variety of applications, including digital signal processing, networking, and embedded systems. They are also used in the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. FPGAs are advantageous because they can be reprogrammed to perform different tasks, allowing for greater flexibility and faster development times. Additionally, FPGAs are more energy efficient than traditional processors, making them ideal for applications that require low power consumption.

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Latency: Technology latency is the time it takes for a computer system to respond to a request. It is an important factor in the performance of computer systems, as it affects the speed and efficiency of data processing. In the computer industry, latency is a major factor in the performance of computer networks, storage systems, and other computer systems. Low latency is essential for applications that require fast response times, such as online gaming, streaming media, and real-time data processing. High latency can cause delays in data processing, resulting in slow response times and poor performance. To reduce latency, computer systems use various techniques such as caching, load balancing, and parallel processing. By reducing latency, computer systems can provide faster response times and improved performance.