NVIDIA Announces the Jetson TX2 IoT System

Nvidia has unveiled the new Jetson TX2 system which is an impressive credit card-sized platform that delivers AI computing. It is designed to be used in intelligent factory robots, commercial drones and smart cameras for AI cities.

The new Jetson TX2 has two run modes. It can either offers twice the performance of its predecessor or it can run at more than twice the power efficiency. In power efficiency mode, it draws less than 7.5 watts of power. This allows Jetson TX2 to run larger, deeper neural networks on edge devices. The result: smarter devices with higher accuracy and faster response times for tasks like image classification, navigation, and speech recognition.

“Jetson TX2 brings powerful AI capabilities at the edge, making possible a new class of intelligent machines,” said Deepu Talla, vice president and general manager of the Tegra business at NVIDIA. “These devices will enable intelligent video analytics that keep our cities smarter and safer, new kinds of robots that optimize manufacturing, and new collaboration that makes long-distance work more efficient.”

The Jetson TX2 isn’t as much a replacement, but an addition and it joins the Jetson TX1 and TK1 products. Best of all, it isn’t a device designed for enterprise use only, it’s just as accessible to startups, researchers, and high school students.

Nvidia also joined partnerships such as the one with Cisco. It enables Cisco to add AI features such as facial and speech recognition to its Cisco Spark products that connect everyone everywhere.

“For years, NVIDIA has demonstrated its commitment to FIRST through multifaceted support by providing Jetson developer kits for robot builds, online training resources, and team and event funding,” said Donald E. Bossi, president of FIRST, an international K-12 nonprofit focused on science and technology. “Through these efforts, NVIDIA is helping to inspire more young students to become innovators and inventors.”

A setup with features like the Jetson TX2 isn’t as cheap as let’s say a Raspberry Pi, but that’s almost a given. This is a whole other calibre of a device. The Developer Kit, which includes the carrier board and Jetson TX2 module, can be preordered now for $599 in the United States and Europe. The kits will start shipping March 14.

Other regions will become available too, shortly. The Jetson TX2 module will be available in Q2 for $399 (in quantities of 1,000 or more) from NVIDIA directly and its distributors around the world. The price of the Jetson TX1 Developer Kit has been reduced to $499.

Key features of Jetson TX2

• GPU: 256-core NVIDIA Pascal architecture-based GPU offering best-in-class performance
• CPU: Dual 64-bit NVIDIA Denver 2, Quad ARM A57
• Video: 4K x 2K 60fps encode and decode
• Camera: 12 CSI lanes supporting up to 6 cameras; 2.5 gigabytes/second/lane
• Memory: 8GB LPDDR4; 58.3 gigabytes/second
• Storage: 32GB eMMC
• Connectivity: 802.11ac WLAN, Bluetooth
• Networking: 1GB Ethernet
• OS Support: Linux for Tegra
• Size: 50mm x 87mm

The Jetson family is supported by the most comprehensive SDK for AI computing, JetPack 3.0, which makes it easy to integrate AI into a wide variety of applications and supports the following

• TensorRT 1.0, a high-performance neural network inference engine for production deployment of deep learning applications
• cuDNN 5.1, a GPU-accelerated library of primitives for deep neural networks
• VisionWorks 1.6, a software development package for computer vision and image processing
• The latest graphics drivers and APIs, including OpenGL 4.5, OpenGL ES 3.2, EGL 1.4 and Vulkan 1.0
• CUDA 8, which turns the GPU into a general purpose massively parallel processor, giving developers access to tremendous performance and power-efficiency