NXP i.MX 8M Plus Evaluation Kit

Current Status

Supported	SDK	Provisioning
🟢 Target actively maintained	🟢 x86-64 and aarch64 container images	🟡 eMMC storage

The i.MX 8M Plus Evaluation Kit is a powerful and flexible platform for edge AI development. With a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and an integrated neural processing unit (NPU), it enables real-time ML inference without overloading the CPU—ideal for vision, voice, and industrial applications.

Combined with Avocado OS, teams can deploy complex workloads quickly using a consistent, production-ready Linux environment.

🛠 Technical Specifications

Component	Details
CPU	Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz)
MCU	Single Arm Cortex-M7 (800 MHz)
NPU	i.MX 8M Plus SoC integrated NPU
AI Performance	Up to 2.3 TOPS (INT8)
Memory	6GB 32-bit LPDDR4
Memory Bandwidth	12.8 GB/s
Storage	32GB eMMC
Connectivity	Single M.2 Key E wireless module with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Power Modes	1.7W / 2W / 4W / 6W

🚀 Getting Started

Get up and running with the Avocado Linux SDK in minutes.

Prerequisites

• A Mac (macOS 10.12+) or Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 39+) development machine
• Docker installed
• 3GB+ available disk space

Installing and running the SDK

1. Install the Avocado CLI and append the location of the avocado executable to your PATH environmant variable.

2. Create your project workspace:

mkdir avocado-imx8mp

3. Initialize a new project:

cd avocado-imx8mp
avocado init

4. Replace qemux86-64 with imx8mp-evk as target in avocado.toml:

[runtime.dev]
target = "imx8mp-evk"

5. Install all components (SDK, extensions, and runtime dependencies):

avocado install -f

⚙️ Provisioning

We are actively working on a provisioning guide for the i.MX 8M Plus Evaluation Kit.

🧰 Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL)

We are actively working on Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) development for the i.MX 8M Plus Evaluation Kit.

🧭 Target Roadmap/Known Limitations

🟡 NPU-accelerated ML inference is under development
🟡 NPU-accelerated video pipelines are under development
🟡 eMMC provisioning is under development
🟡 Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) debugging is under development
🟠 Secure boot is not yet supported
🟠 Full disk encryption is not yet supported