SBC1656

i.MX5 ARM® Cortex®-A8 Computer with Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging



  • ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 800MHz
  • Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA for vision processing
  • Stack-on FLIR® Lepton Infrared Sensor
  • Develop with OpenCV and GStreamer
  • TFT/LVDS 24-bit, with backlight and touchscreen
  • Dual CAN bus interface
  • Up to 64 differential DIO from FPGA
  • 512MB SDRAM, 4GB Flash, 2 SD/MMC
  • Dual 10/100 Ethernet
  • PC/104 Form Factor


The SBC1656 is ideal for mid-range embedded vision applications deployed in harsh, rugged, environment with limited access to power. Freescale’s i.MX515 ARM Cortex-A8 CPU provides a NEON™ GPU which processes video input from the stack-on Lepton Infrared sensor, while the Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA is available for additional video processing computations for this multimedia-rich board.

The SBC1656 ships with a factory-installed Linux image in NAND flash plus an SD card with a full build of Linux, including a broad suite of development tools. There is a vision development layer included with the Development Kit that provides access to OpenCV and GStreamer. Users can use Eclipse for development and program directly from the command line.

The SBC1656 includes the features listed above plus dual CAN, real-time clock, watchdog timer, audio, SATA HDD, and 1-Wire interface. Industrial I/O includes up to 64 differential DIO, two PWM, DAC and/or ADC available through StackableUSB™. The SBC1656 uses minimal power and operates at extended temperatures (-40 to +85) on a 3.5” x 3.5” (PC/104) footprint.

Processor: » NXP Freescale i.MX5
» ARM Cortex-A8
» 800MHz (600MHz, Extended Temp)
FPGA: » Xilinx Spartan-6
» Program with Xilinx MPLAB tools
» SLX16 standard size (SLX9, SLX25, SLX45 available)
Memory: » 512MB DDR2
» 4MB NOR Flash
» 4GB NAND Flash
» 2 SD/MMC Card Slots
COM: » 7 RS232/RS485 Configurable Serial Ports
» 3 USB 2.0
» SPI
» I2C
» CAN
Networking: » Dual 10/100 Ethernet
DIO: » Up to 64 TTL programmable bi-directional signals
» 1-Wire interface
Audio/Video: » Microphone/Headphone In/Out
» TFT LCD Interface
» LVDS LCD Interface (Option)
Vision: » Multiple Camera Interfaces available
Power: » 5v Supply
» Battery
Timers: » Real Time Clock
» Watchdog Timer
Operating System: » Linux
» Android
» WinCE
Mechanical: » PC/104
See datasheet for complete specs
Development Platforms: » Standalone FPGA
» FPGA to iMX5 via WEIM Memory Bus
» MicroBlaze for Distributed Control
» Simultaneous MicroBlaze and IP Cores via Memory IRQs
» See more details about Development Platform options
Available IP Cores: » Factory installed IP Cores (see Ordering for available IP Cores)
» Customer installed open source cores
» Customer installed proprietary cores
» Customer installed 3rd party cores
Development Kits: Ready-to-Run FPGA Development Kits Available (see Ordering for more details)
FLIR® Lepton Infrared: » FLIR® Lepton® infrared sensor
» Longwave infrared (LWIR) 8µm to 14µm
» Thermal sensitivitiy < 50mK
» Data via SPI and command via I2C
» 9 frames per second
Linux Vision BSP: » Write and compile applications on target hardware out of hte box
» Access to GStreamer from the command line
» Ready to use OpenCV library functions in application program
» Find CMOS camera drivers in our growing library
Vision Processing Add-Ons: » User programmable Spartan-6 FPGA
» Add Xilinx Vision Processing cores using ISE tools
» Use your own IP cores
» Adapt open-source cores
Development Kits: Ready-to-Run Vision Development Kits Available (see Ordering for more details)

» Datasheet

» User's Manual

» Cable Set

» FLIR® Lepton Datasheet



» NXP Freescale i.MX515 Resources

» Xilinx Spartan-6 Resources

» About StackableUSB

» Samtec StackableUSB Connector Specification

» FLIR® Lepton Thermal Imaging

» Customizable Yocto BSP



SBC1656-xxx i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 800MHz with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging on PC/104
SBC1656-ET-xxx i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 600MHz with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging, Extended Temp on PC/104
  • 1656OPT6
  • 1656OPT7
  • 1656OPT8-2
  • 1656OPT8-4
  • 1656OPT22
  • 1656OPT22-1
  • 1656OPT24
  • 1656OPT45
  • 1656OPT60-1
  • 1656OPT63
  • Upgrade to 2GB Flash
  • Upgrade to 4GB Flash
  • Configurable RS485
  • Configurable RS485
  • CAN Bus Interface
  • Dual CAN Bus Interface
  • SATA Interface¹
  • Audio Interface
  • StackableUSB Host
  • Type A USB Header²
  • * Add "-ET" to 1656OPTxx for Extended Temp options
  • ¹ 1656OPT24 not available in Extended Temp
  • ² 1656OPT24 & 1652OPT63 not available together


DK Contents Standard Development Kit
  • SBC1656
  • CS1656
  • Sample Software
  • Configured i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • Complete Cable Set for SBC1656
  • Licensed for use with SBC1656
DKF Contents FPGA Development Kit
  • SBC1656
  • Yocto FPGA Layer
  • FPGA Cable
  • CS1656
  • Sample Software
  • Configured i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • FPGA Firmware for Immediate Development
  • Xilinx FPGA Platform Cable
  • Complete Cable Set for SBC1656
  • Licensed for use with SBC1656
See more FPGA Development Kit products
DKV Contents Vision Development Kit
  • SBC1656
  • Yocto Vision Layer
  • CAMStack™ Camera
  • CS1656
  • Sample Software
  • Configured i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • Vision Firmware for Immediate Development
  • CAMStack™ for FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • Complete Cable Set for SBC1656
  • Licensed for use with SBC1656
See more Vision Development Kit products
DKC Contents FPGA & Vision Development Kit
  • SBC1656
  • Yocto FPGA Layer
  • Yocto Vision Layer
  • CAMStack™ Camera
  • FPGA Cable
  • CS1656
  • Sample Software
  • Configured i.MX5 ARM Cortex-A8 with Spartan-6 FPGA & FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • FPGA Firmware for Immediate Development
  • Vision Firmware for Immediate Development
  • CAMStack™ for FLIR® Thermal Imaging
  • Xilinx FPGA Platform Cable
  • Complete Cable Set for SBC1656
  • Licensed for use with SBC1656


S6F-GPIO General Purpose I/O IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA
S6F-SPI SPI IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA
S6F-UART UART IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA
S6F-FIFO FIFO IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA
S6F-LVDS LVDS IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA
S6F-PWM PWM IP core for Spartan-6 FPGA


BA2020 20-Pin High Density Breakout Assembly
BA4040 40-Pin High Density Breakout Assembly
BA4052 50-Pin High Density Breakout Assembly
CA4136 Mini-AB USB Cable
CA4133 RJ45 Ethernet Cable


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I2C1610 Environmental I2C Sensor More details
*Expansion modules require 1656OPT60-1


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