Arduino Portenta H7 Lite

The Portenta H7 Lite comes  as a cost-effective method, designed explicitly for complex environments where radio communication is not possible. This is the ideal solution for developers who want to leverage the computational power of the Portenta H7, without the necessity for video output or advanced security measures. The Portenta H7 Lite designed as the updated member of the Portenta family. These comes as a great application for the industrial use cases but with the traditional Arduino openness and ready for the most demanding Pro applications. Arduino Portenta H7 Lite Development Board operates simultaneously in  high-level code together with real-time tasks with two processors

The Portenta H7 Lite follows the Arduino MKR form factor, but enhanced with the Portenta family 80 pin high-density connector. Programming this Portenta H7 Lite development board with high-level languages and AI while performing in low-latency operations applicable on its customizable hardware.

Key benefits include:

• Dual Core: Two best-in-class processors in one, running parallel tasks in different languages
• AI on the edge: So powerful it can run AI state machines
• Onboard wireless module: Simultaneously manage WiFi and Bluetooth® connectivity
• High-level programming language support (Micropython)
• Security: Onboard secure element for certificates storage and management
• Select Encryption:  Choose between two vendors for the crypto-chip that better suits your case
• USB-C:  Power your board, connect it to a display, or get it to work in OTG mode
• Memory Range: Select the right amount and type of memory for your application

The Portenta H7 Lite designed with two processors that operates the tasks in parallel. It utilizes a dual core STM32H747 processor including a Cortex® M7 running at 480 MHz and a Cortex® M4 running at 240 MHz. The 2 cores in the development board communicate via a far off Procedure Call mechanism that enables calling functions on the opposite processor seamlessly for real multitasking. These The Portenta H7 Lite ensures computational power of both Portenta H7’s cores for AI application, machine learning algorithms can run simultaneously alongside with  low latency sensor/actuator interaction.

Applications:

1. High-end industrial machinery
2. Laboratory equipment
3. Computer vision
4. PLCs
5. Industry-ready user interfaces, etc
6. Robotics controller
7. Mission-critical devices
8. Dedicated stationary computer
9. High-speed booting computation (ms)

The Portenta H7 Lite offers twofold functionality: it can run either like any other embedded microcontroller board, or as the main processor of an embedded computer. 

For example, use the Portenta Vision Shield to transform your H7 Lite into an industrial camera capable of performing real-time machine learning algorithms on live video feeds. As the H7 Lite can easily run processes created with TensorFlow™ Lite, you could have one of the cores computing a computer vision algorithm on the fly, while the other carries out low-level operations like controlling a motor or acting as a user interface. 

Two Parallel Cores

The Portenta H7 Lite Connected’s function with th main processor as the STM32H747 dual core including a Cortex® M7 running at 480 MHz and a Cortex® M4 running at 240 MHz. The two cores communicate via a Remote Procedure Call mechanism that allows calling functions on the other processor seamlessly. Both processors share all the in-chip peripherals and can run: 

• Arduino sketches on top of the Arm® Mbed™ OS
• Native Mbed™ applications
• MicroPython / JavaScript via an interpreter
• TensorFlow™ Lite

 Wireless Module: 

The on board wireless module in the system allows simultaneous management of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The WiFi interface function as an Access Point, as a Station or as a dual mode simultaneous AP/STA and can handle up to 65 Mbps transfer rate. Bluetooth interface supports Bluetooth Classic and BLE.

External Memories: 

Portenta H7 Lite Comes with additional external SDRAM and QSPI Flash memories. External SDRAM provides up to 64 MByte directly mapped in CPU addressing space and allows code execution. External QSPI flash can provide up to 128MByte of storage and can be either memory mapped for code execution (read only) or used as a QSPI peripheral for data storage.

USB-C Multipurpose Connector:

The module’s programming connector is a USB-C port that can also be used for power, as a USB Hub, or to deliver power to OTG connected devices. USB-C connector supports multiple use case scenarios and provides the following functions:

•  Provide board power supply in both DFP and DRP mode 
• Source power to external peripherals when board is powered through VIN expose 
• High Speed (480Mbps) or Full Speed (12 Mbps) USB Host/Device interfac.

Ethernet Phy: 

The optional 10/100 Ethernet physical interface is directly connected to the internal Ethernet MAC and provides full duplex communication with automatic MDIX support. The Wake On Lan functionality allows reducing power consumption when in sleep mode. 4.7 High Speed USB Phy The optional High Speed USB Phy is one of the two USB interfaces available on the high speed connectors and is also available on the USB-C connector.