Canaan RISC-V based development board targets AI applications

Canaan RISC-V based development board targets AI applications

May 10, 2022 — by Giorgio Mendoza

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Canaan launched an AI development board based on their own SoC (System on Chip) Kendryte 510 dual core RISC-V64 processor. The Canaan Kendryte 510 CRB development board seems specialized for machine learning and computing vision applications.

The Canaan Kendryte K510 SoC is composed of two RISC-V64 processors (up to 800MHz) and a RISC-V DSP (up to 3 TOP AI performance). The development board has 512MB of RAM available, 16GB of eMMC, and a MicroSD slot for additional storage. 

The display interface consists of a built-in LCD display, a HDMI port, two MIPI CSI ports, one DVP and an on-board camera with two sensors. 

Kendryte K510 CRB (left) and K510 SoC block diagram (right)
(click images to enlarge) 

The Kendryte K510 offers standard data interfaces including a USB OTG 2.0 port, a GbE port, a module which supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and a JTAG header for debugging. As in similar development boards, there is a GPIO expansion header available with support for common protocols as SPI, I2C, etc. 

Kendryte K510 CRB interfaces
(click image to enlarge) 

The company provides a GitHub with documentation regarding software, however most of it is in Chinese for now. There is also a technical reference manual translated to English available in PDF format. The company has some demos in their social media account demonstrating the capabilities of the Kendryte 510 dev board. 

Kendryte K510 CRB block diagram (right)
(click image to enlarge) 

Specifications listed for the Kendryte 510 CRB development board include:

• Processor System:
  • Canaan Kendryte K510 dual-core RISC-V64 processor (up to 800MHz) 
  • Double precision FPU extension
  • 1x RISC-V DSP (up to 800MHz) for up to 3 TOPS AI performance
  • 512-point FFT
  • Ultra-low-power wake-up VAD (Voice Activity Detection)
• Memory/Storage
  • 512 MB LPDDR3 (up to 1600 MHz)
  • 16GB eMMC 5.1 
  • MicroSD card slot
• Display/Audio:
  • 1x HDMI 
  • LCD display onboard
  • 3.5mm audio jack 
• Camera:
  • 1x high-definition triple camera
  • 2x MIPI CSI
  • 1x DVP interface
• Connectivity:
  • 1x GbE RJ45 port
  • 1x Wireless/BT module
• Other Features:
  • 1x Micro USB OTG 2.0 port
  • JTAG header
  • USB-C to UART interface
  • GPIOs header expansion 
• Power:
  • 5V (via USB type C)

 Further information 

The Canaan 510 CRB development board ships for $199 and they can be found on Analoglamb’s website.