Ochin CM4 -Tiny Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4（CM4）

The Ochin CM4 is a tiny carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module equipped with the powerful Quad-core Cortex-A72 CPU and GPU, which features a big RAM size, the CODECs, and Graphic Accelerators. It's designed for a wide range of applications such as robotics, home automation, and IoT projects.

Features

• High-performance: Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz
• High Resolution Supported: H.265 (HEVC) (up to 4Kp60 decode), H.264 (up to 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode) and OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics
• Rich interfaces: 1×USB 2.0 port (highspeed);MIPI CSI-2: 1×2-lane MIPI CSI camera port, 1×4-lane MIPI CSI camera port; 1×USART, 3×UART, 1×I2C port, 1×SPI port, Analog Video Output
• Strong Compatibility: Compatible with raspberry pi 4 modules with faster eMMC flash with up to 100 MB/s transfer rate, 4x faster than CM3+
• Compact Design: Same size as CM4 module, 55mm × 40mm × 4.7mm

Here we are introducing this new öchìn CM4 carrier board and its story! Flavio Ansovini is an enthusiast of electronics, robotics, and programming, and in recent years he has applied his skills to the world of RC models and drones. To make the most of the Raspberry Pi CM4 module he decided to create a carrier board oriented to robotics, drones, IoT devices, and in general embedded devices.

The Ochin CM4 has been licensed to Seeed to manufacture and sell. Flavio will provide the tech support and Seeed will fulfill the order with hardware quality guaranteed.

The board is compatible with all Raspberry Pi CM4 modules equipped with eMMC. Depending on your needs, you can select a CM4 module with an SDRAM of 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB and the eMMC of 8GB, 16GB, or 32G, with or without the Wi-Fi / BT4 connection.

The Ochin board has also been tested to work with OpenHD open source software.  Thanks to OpenHD it is possible to transmit an HD video stream with low latency from a mobile station (rover, drone, plane, etc ..) to a ground station.  This was possible thanks to the enormous work of the OpenHd community which we thank very much.

There are rich interfaces available on board including 1×USB 2.0 port (highspeed), MIPI CSI-2: 1×2-lane MIPI CSI camera port, 1×4-lane MIPI CSI camera port,1×USART, 3×UART, 1×I2C port, 1×SPI port, and Analog Video Output, all of which enable the Ochin CM4 to connect to external hardware at lower abstraction layers, closer to the physical world.

In terms of external dimensions, it's the same as the CM4 module which adopts a completely new mechanical standard. The overall footprint is reduced, resulting in a smaller and more compact form factor suitable for integration into products.

In this repository, you can find the manual of the board, a quick start guide for flashing the CM4 module, and a guide with some tips on how to make the connections to the öchìn board.

It is important to read them both before turning on the Ochin CM4 board, to know its characteristics and above all the sequence in which the signals are present on the connectors.

It will be better to use this carrier board with the heatsink:

• Aluminum Alloy CNC Heat Sink without Fan for Raspberry Pi CM4 Module: It provides better heat dissipation through passive cooling while protecting the compute module
• Aluminum Alloy CNC Heat Sink with Fan for Raspberry Pi CM4 Module: It also provides faster cooling through active cooling using a PWM fan.

Here are some camera modules that you can use together:

• Raspberry Pi Camera Module V2: It carries an 8-megapixel Sony IMX219 image sensor with high resolution and great performance
• Raspberry Pi Wide Angle Camera Module: Raspberry Pi Wide Angle Camera Module is a low-cost Fisheye Lens, wider Field View, Camera module, designed for Raspberry Pi
• IMX219 M12/CS mount CMOS Camera Module: This IMX 219 CMOS camera module is based on the high-resolution Sony IMX 219 sensor and supports both M12 CS mount lenses.

Specification 

Application

• Audio/video manipulation and streaming
• Neural networks
• Machine learning
• Computer vision
• Robotics
• Drones
• Home automation
• IoT projects

Hardware Overview

Partlist

FAQ

1. Just wondering... which variety of the CM4 Module (with EMMc memory, with MicroSD card, with or without WiFi, with 2,4,8 GB RSM is presumably the best bet?

Answer: EMMc is mandatory, Ochin board doesn't have the sdcard header. The reasons why are: save space for other connectors (i wanted to keep the same size of the cm4), emmc is much faster and durable, and the interface is used for emmc OR sdcard (cm4 with EMMc doesn't work with sdcard). If you want to use OpenHD 16GB is enough (maybe 8GB but not sure). I'm also developing an sw, totally different in goal and type from OpenHD and it may need more space, I'll tell you more very soon. About the RAM, OpenHD guys say that 1GB is enough, with other sw you may need more, depending on what you want to do, for example for computer vision, machine learning, etc, more is better. In my opinion, 16GB EMMc 2GB RAM is a good option, but if you want to develop sw you better go to 32GB.

2. This model could be connected by USB to a mobile or tablet and have video and data in the Qgroundcontrol app or OpenHD App, right?

Answer:This is a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi CM4. If you fly with OpenHD you can connect the smartphone to the ground station

3. How do I remove the CM4 from the Ochin CM4?

Answer:Print and use the extractor for the CM4 module if you don't want to break the mezzanines, you can find the .stl in the "3d/Covers turrets and extractors" section of this repository.