The i.MX93 VERSA SOM Evaluation Kit from Calixto Systems is a robust, highly capable platform designed to help engineers and developers rapidly prototype, test, and deploy embedded applications, especially those requiring AI/ML processing, real-time control, and rich connectivity.
At the heart of the system lies the NXP i.MX93, a modern, dual-core Arm architecture combining a 1.7 GHz dual Cortex-A55 main processor with a 250 MHz Cortex-M33 co-processor for real-time tasks, along with an integrated micro-NPU (Neural Processing Unit) delivering around 0.5 TOPS of AI/ML acceleration.
This hardware mix offers an excellent balance of performance and power efficiency, making the kit suitable for edge devices that need both compute muscle and low energy consumption. According to Calixto, it is optimised for “responsive embedded computing, real-time control, and rich user interfaces while maintaining power efficiency.”
Connectivity, I/O and Multimedia
A wide range of peripheral interfaces and connectivity touches is also one of the strengths of the i.MX93 VERSA Evaluation Kit. The board includes a Gigabit Ethernet port, USB Host and USB OTG, CAN-FD, RS485, SD card interface, and RTC with backup on the connectivity side.
To provide multimedia, display, and vision support, it supports MIPI DSI, LVDS, MIPI CSI (camera) and expandable connectors like UART, SPI, I²C, PWM, GPIOs, and audio (SAI), allowing unrestricted custom I/O, display interfaces (parallel-RGB), sensor interfaces, or camera modules.
Also available on the board is the JTAG and the individual debug UARTs (of A55 and M33 cores), and this aids developers to debug any application level as well as real-time code.
Software Support and Use Cases
From a software perspective, the Evaluation Kit is supported by a solid ecosystem. Calixto provides builds based on the Yocto Project (Scarthgap release) with a Linux 6.6-series kernel, as well as support for a full Debian distribution (Bookworm).
This means developers can choose between a custom embedded Linux using Yocto or a more conventional Debian-based system, depending on their needs, whether it is a highly optimised edge application or a more general-purpose embedded system.
Given those capabilities, real-time co-processor, NPU-driven AI/ML support, wide connectivity, display and camera interfaces, the i.MX93 VERSA Evaluation Kit is especially well-suited for applications such as edge-AI devices, industrial automation controllers, robotics platforms, computer vision systems, IoT gateways, or smart embedded HMI systems.
Why It Matters?
In an era where edge computing and AI are rapidly penetrating industries like automation, healthcare, retail, and IoT, having a development kit that marries powerful processing, energy efficiency, flexible I/O, and easy software support is a big advantage. The i.MX93 VERSA Evaluation Kit does precisely that, providing developers with a convenient hardware and software base, which is standardised and ready to work with.
This kit can easily help kickstart embedded design and deployment, both by hobbyists and professionals, by reducing time-to-market and simplifying prototype-to-production processes, and providing modern AI and vision functionality.
Price and Availability
The i.MX93 VERSA SOM Evaluation Kit is currently offered by Calixto Systems, but no prices are provided, and it will have to be quoted by the sales team. The kit is prematurely shipping to be tried, and one of the resellers already sells it at approximately ₹88,187.69, which gives a rough approximation of the price expected. In order to have realistic prices and stock information, it will be good to call Calixto.