Oxfordshire, UK, March 2025: Direct Insight, the UK-based technical systems integrator & reseller of system-on-module (SoM) & other embedded systems, has created a QNX 8 BSP (board support package) for Ka-Ro’s QS93 solder-down module with NXP’s i.MX93 processor. The combination of a feature-rich real-time OS allied to a powerful processor with dual ARM Cortex-A55 cores suits high-reliability IoT and embedded systems applications including industrial automation, smart homes & cities, building control & energy, automotive & mass transportation, medical devices, robotics, and more – including safety-critical applications requiring IEC 61508 or IEC 62304 certification.
Ka-Ro Electronics’ QS93 is a 27mm x 27mm QFN-style solder-down SoM (system-on-module) featuring NXP’s new i.MX93 low power, high performance processor. Dual ARM Cortex-A55 cores running at 1.7GHz deliver performance comparable with earlier quad-core processors. The energy-efficient processor uses less than 1W under normal load conditions – and its optional low-drive mode can reduce that to sub-500mW. An industrial operating temperature range of -25°C to +85°C is supported, and the solder-down SoM format offers low cost and provides both excellent EMI performance and highly efficient thermal characteristics, meaning that usually no heatsink is required – ideal for space-constrained applications.
QNX board support packages (BSPs) provide an abstraction layer of hardware-specific software that facilitates implementing QNX software in your system. Architecture- and board-specific, BSPs look after initializations and other hardware-specific tasks needed to prepare an environment in which your embedded system can run, serving as a delivery mechanism for the components that define startup behaviours. Comments David Pashley, founder & Managing Director at Direct Insight: “Our in-house developed BSP unlocks the full benefits of the QNX OS for the power-efficient Ka-Ro QS93 modules. QNX is ideal for real-time mission-critical, cybersecurity-conscious and safety-certified applications – and the BSP created by Direct Insight provides an ideal starting point for designing secure, high-availability industrial or medical embedded systems, lowering project risk and shortening time-to-market.”
Direct Insight’s QNX 8 board support package (BSP) for Ka-Ro’s QS93 i.MX93 solder-down SoM provides a complete platform that allows you to use the module in your QNX embedded design project. Included are drivers for various connectivity interfaces including dual Ethernet, watchdog timer, I2C, SPI, USB, SD card, UART and GPIO. A display driver is also in development. The BSP is free to download as a demo system, and the source code can be licensed on a per-project basis at an affordable fee. Direct Insight also offers enhancements to the BSP, including additional drivers and production-hardening and testing, on an additional services engagement basis.
Learn more and download the BSP at: https://www.directinsight.co.
About Direct Insight
The increasing complexity of electronics hardware & software has the potential to increase project timescales, yet at the same time, most development teams are faced with ever more demanding time-to-market pressures. Founded in 1992, UK value-added reseller, systems integrator & compliance specialist, Direct Insight has helped hundreds of development teams to upgrade to the latest SoC, FPGA and OS technology by choosing the right off-the-shelf hardware, software & tools, by providing the required support & services to fill the gaps, and by allowing customer development teams to focus on their differentiating core skills to deliver excellent products. Key partners include: OS supplier, QNX; Ka-Ro Electronics, the German designer & manufacturer of embedded modules; ITTIA high performance data management; and most recently, German SoM producer, MicroSys Electronics.
