The eSOMiMX6PLUS has been productized to meet higher graphics performance requirements. It uses NXP’s i.MX6 QuadPlus / DualPlus SoC. It also features a Dual band 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n Wi-Fi module with Bluetooth v4.2 support.
The goal of i.MX 6 Quad Plus / Dual Plus SoC is to significantly increase the overall memory bandwidth of GPU to provide better visual performance and higher frame rate for customer use cases like –
- Instrument cluster (OpenGL ES).
- Infotainment (HTML5, HMI).
- Enhanced multi-display support.
In order to allow customers to migrate from i.MX6 Solo/Dual/Quad seamlessly, e-con has maintained the following compatibility requirements on the new eSOMiMX6PLUS –
- No PINMUX changes.
- All features supported on i.MX 6Dual/6Quad are supported on i.MX 6DualPlus/6QuadPlus to the greatest extent possible.
- Software compatibility is maintained to the greatest extent possible.
eSOMiMX6PLUS Highlights
- Upgraded SoC for better experience.
- Upgraded Wi-Fi/BT module for higher throughput.
- On-board eMMC with faster access time.
- Supporting the latest Linux kernel (Linux Kernel Version 4.9.11).
SoC Change Highlights
Category | Feature | Changes/Improvements |
CPU | L2 Cache | A newer version of the PL310 Cache Controller. Improved memory access and performance efficiency |
BUS | Fabric | Optimized system performance. Increased bus width from 64 to 128-bit for GPU2D and GPU3D. |
Display | PRE/PRG | Used unresolved tile buffer from GPU for display to avoid resolve operation. |
IPU | Pixel pre-fetch to avoid IPU display FIFO underrun. | |
Graphics | GPU3D | Updated to GC2000+ for Graphics performance improvement and memory load optimization. Increased target frequency of the graphics engines up to 720Mhz. |
GPU2D | Updated GC320 with feature enhancements. GC320 is updated to support reading the GC2000 render targets to avoid resolve operations. Increased target frequency of the graphics engines up to 720Mhz. |
Wi-Fi/BT Module Highlights
- IEEE 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n Dual-Band Wi-Fi
- 20/40/80 MHz Channel Bandwidth
- Very high throughput up to 200 Mbps in 5GHz mode
- Support for Station/Client Mode, Access Point Mode, Wi-Fi Direct Mode and Simultaneous Station and Access point mode
- 802.11 Security
- 802.11 Open and Shared Authentication
- Auto Auth
- WEP Security (64/128 bit)
- WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK Security (TKIP and AES-CCMP Encryption)
- 802.1x EAP Authentication methods (TLS, TTLS, PEAP, SIM, AKA, AKA-PRIME, FAST, LEAP)
- Bluetooth 4.2, BLE (Dual-Mode/Smart-Ready)
i.MX6 Quad Plus vs i.MX6 Quad – Benchmark Comparison
The below table show the bench mark comparisons of eSOMiMX6PLUS and eSOMiMX6 SOMs.
Tool | i.MX6 Quad Score | i.MX6 Quad Plus Score |
GLMark2 | 67* | 147 |
Antutu | 15356 | 21173 |
Basemark OS Benchmark | 102 | 144 |
Skycastle 3D – Memory Profiling | 94% Memory Bus Usage | 63% Memory Bus Usage |
*Quad SOM reached Critical Temperature and due to that GPU is scaled down whereas Quad Plus doesn’t reach Critical Temperature.