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  • Author Author: spannerspencer
  • Date Created: Date Created
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Your Thoughts on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3

spannerspencer

So, I don't know if you've seen, but there's a brand new Raspberry Pi Compute module launching today!

 

As you guys know, having been around the Raspberry Pi block quite a few times, the Compute module isn't really aimed at the makers among us -- this is more for a commercial, or industrial market, where the brains of a Pi need to be embedded inside a prototype, platform, or some other manner of professionally-built project.

 

But we'd still be interested in hearing your thoughts on this new iteration of the device, which offers a very different form factor from the Raspberry Pi SBC (this being a SOM, instead (System on Module)) along with a significantly extended GPIO interface.

 

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 & Compute Module 3 Lite

The original Compute module was built around the BCM2835 processor, which was also found on the RPi B+. Although the Raspberry Pi SBC has seen a couple of iterations since then, this is the first update to the Compute platform that's been released (nope, there's no Compute Module 2 -- you didn't miss something!).

 

It contains the BCM2837 process, the same as the Raspberry Pi 3, and its RAM has been doubled to 1GB. The Compute Module 3, just like its predecessor, has 4GB of eMMC flash memory in lieu of needing an SD card for the OS and storage. Though if you're wanting to slim things down, the Compute Module 3 Lite dispenses with the eMMC flash memory, and exposes the pins via the edge connector instead.

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Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 Development Kit

As with the original Compute Module, there's an IO breakout board available that's very similar to its older brother. One of the primary purposes of the Compute Module itself is for prototyping, and this board allows you to prepare your Compute Module 3 for that function.

 

It offers easy pin access to all those many, many, lovely GPIOs, and now includes a microSD port for the Compute Module 3 Lite (on account of it not having the built-in eMMC flash memory).

image

 

So, there's your brief overview of the Compute Module 3, with a more in-depth look at the three boards over here, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on this latest addition to the Raspberry Pi family in the comments below!

  • in reply to pettitda

    Hello David, by a bare commercial point of view I agree with you; instead if we think to a industrial dev kit to prepare the prototype (taking a lot of care to the test board image ) planning to produce the final circuits to host the industrial module maybe the entire kit has a logic.

    Indeed it is a fact that the bare dimm form-factor PI module 3 has a price very similar to the traditional Pi same model; in this case it sounds me a bit expensive thinking to make a product based on this embedded device.

    Then I have another thought. Until we develop a prototype the module has a sense but then why should be implement a circuit around this board obliged to setup a so designed connector in our project? Maybe there was a more practice method I suppose.

     

    Enrico

  • Very interesting a capable board.

     

    I could easily see this setup being used for instrumentation designs.

    The camera interfaces could do either stereoscopic or multispectral imaging with analysis on board for control applications.

     

    Opening the IO pins provides you with a lot of options for event triggers and control.

     

    One thing I did note, was the heat limitation issues.  Evidently they have made compromises with the board design such that the heat dissipation could be an issue.  You would probably want to mount a heat sync or provide active ventilation options for the board in a confined space.

     

    The Quadcore version would open up a lot of options for distributed and parallel processing tasks.

     

    Overall, I could see a lot of very neat applications using this device set.

     

    DAB

  • At $200, the dev kit seems a bit pricey.  The two compute modules it comes with only account for $55, so I'm not sure where the rest of the cost is coming from.  Is it just the expected volumes which are driving the cost? 

  • I like very much the idea too. I followed this modules by the first one but for my projects I see a series of problems, like the need to assemble them - just for my case - using the development kit. The total amount of the cost arises to more than 200 Euro, this means that it does not replace a couple of traditional Raspberry Pi. Instead in my opinion and agreeing with after a prototype has been done it is the worth to use it in a production environment for the better features and the dramatically reduced size. I hope that a project I am working on can go on the market as this will become reasonable to use a module 3 after the prototype has been developed.

     

    Enrico

  • I like the concept of the compute module. If I was designing an embedded product that needed this sort of level of computing power but I wanted my main board to be simple and quick and I not have to worry about layout and routing of high speed memory interfaces then this sort of module is great, and from a software development perspective there is so much out there in the way of resources for the Pi it'll be pretty quick to get a prototype system up and running.

     

    I was looking at the original compute module a few weeks ago and thinking it was looking a bit dated in the lineup and had been neglected for any refreshes previously, so I am very happy with this new version being released.