Xplorer CM5 are a familly of products. They can be used when reliability is not an option for IIoT, AIoT & Edge Gateways or Controllers for Smart, Connected Automation and Supervision but also as Embedded Mission Computers for Sea, Air & Land Intelligent Mobility in harsh environment.
Q1 2025 novelty : Enter in the world of rugged connected intelligence from only 290$/267€ (*)
(*) For 100 units.
Ready for Matter, Starlink Direct To Cell, Starlink IoT, 3GPP NTN, 5G NR, New AI modules…
Benefit from an uncompromising design :
- SWaP-C Optimization: Cost-effective, industrial, rugged, waterproof and dustproof IP67, wide temperature range, miniaturized, very lightweight, very low power consumption, fanless…
- Industrial, Marine, Vehicle, Drone field connectivity:
– M12 connectors compatible with cost-effective off-the-shelf cables (Industrial GbE, NMEA2000, CANopen, DeviceNet…)
– Industrial Gigabit LAN Ready for IP Camera, Modbus TCP, Profinet, ETherNet/IP, BACnet, OPC-UA, MQTT, DDS, Websocket, ZMQ, UDP, TCP, NMEA OneNet…
– Multiples CANbus FD, RS232, RS485, Modbus, some with galvanic isolation, Digital and Analog I/O.
– And more connectivity using internal M.2 expansions or external industrial interfaces :- IO-Link Master Profinet interface : IFM AL1100 + CODESYS
- EtherCAT : Beckhoff BK1120 Bus Coupler + CODESYS
- Best in class wireless connectivity capability: 2G, 3G, 3GPP NTN, 4G, 5G, 5GNR, Sub 6G, A-GPS, ANT+, BDS, Beidou, BLE, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Mesh, CAT-M1, CAT-NB2, DC-HSPA+, EDGE, EGNOS, GAGAN, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, GPS XTRA, GPRS, GSM, HSDPA, HSPA+, HSUPA, IoT-NTN, LoRa, LoRaWAN, LTE, NB-IoT, NGFF, Matter, MSAS, QZSS, RFID, RTK, SDR, SigFox, SouthPAN, Thread, UMTS, WAAS, WiGig, WiFi, Wifi Halow, Zigbee
Ready for upcoming Satellite communication using a small antenna : Non-Terrestrial Network Skylo 3GPP NTN , Direct To Cell Starlink DTC, Starlink IoT. - Best in class flexibility: Versatile and scalable through various M.2 modules, you can use a single hardware and software base for multiple projects.
- Best in class community support: Software support, OS and frameworks compatibility…
- Best in class AI Power Efficiency: 3 TOPS/W with the Hailo 8 TPU now and 11.4 TOPS/W expected with the Hailo-10H TPU
- Cybersecurity : Your data are protected with a TMP2.0 secure cryptoprocessor.
One product line, A huge versatility, Ulimited Possibilities
Installed near antennas, sensors and actuators, in a noisy or hostile environment or in an unmanned platform, Xplorer products are intented for a Web, Remote or voice HMI and can be used with or without AI, Storage, Wireless or Positioning options. Its powerfull AI can analyze tirelessly several IP normal, thermal or depth cameras, LIDARs, Radars or Sonars imaging at the same time. It is design to Professional, Scientific, Defence industry, Academic project, Sailor and AI Geek in in two main areas:
1) Smart, Connected Automation and Supervision :
- Industry 4.0, Energy, Mining, Oil & Gas: Machine Automation, PLC/Cloud Gateway, Overall Equipement Effectiveness, Predictive Maintenance, Smart Quality control….
- City Infrastructure Management: Parking, Lighting, Occupancy Detection, Traffic control, Pedestrian Safety, Population Flow, Air/Water/Noise quality monitoring, Waste…
- Building, Ship: Automation, Voice Assistant, Energy, Safety, Security, Fire Control, Climate Control, HVAC, NAS…
- Wildfire Detection: Smart smoke or thermal surveillance
- Farming: Smart supervision & automation for Animals & Plants
- Store: Smart thief surveillance
- Medical, Independence Assistance: Smart supervision & automation for Hospital bed, Handicap, Physical or mental loss of autonomy…
- Sport: Electronic referee, Statistics
- Big Data Collection: Site survey, Data+Video Recorder for AI training, Ocean Science (Survey, Buoy…)
- DIY & Academic:
- Residential, Boat, RV: Smart surveillance and automation using Frigate AI/NVR + Home Assistant + Node-Red + a voice assistant
- Education: ROS2, Node-Red, TensorFlow, OpenPLC… learning
2) Sea, Air & land Intelligent Mobility :
Provide intelligence and connectivity to Boats, RVs, Unmanned Vehicles (UAV, USV, AUV), Robots, Buoys, Special Vehicles, Farming & Mining vehicles, Offshore Energy, Oil & Gaz systems…
- Boat Assistant, RV Assistant: Automation (Home Assistant), AI CAMs Intrusion Alarm/Parking/Docking/Automation (Frigate NVR)
- Mobile Router-Gateway: WIFI/4G/5G/Starlink DTC Router + Field bus & Wireless IoT Gateway
- Software-Defined Vehicle: AI Detection, Obstacle Avoidance, Navigation, ML Control-Command…
- Marine Mission Computer: True Wind Calculation, Sails automation, Obstacle Avoidance, Smart Autopilot, Foiler Flight Control System, MultiFunction Display gateway…
- Consumable Military Hardware: ITAR-free Training target, Decoy, Drone…
- Voyage/Flight Data Recorder for non IMO ship, unmanned vehicle, rental vehicle
- Tracking: Cloud gateway, Race tracker…
- Human Attentivness Control of Driver, Pilot, Skipper…
- DIY Marine Computer: Open Plotter platform for sailors
Non-Terrestrial Data. Your Data Here, There, Everywhere
Xplorer products are ready for upcoming new kind of satellite communication for IoT and AIoT, like Non-Terrestrial Network Skylo 3GPP NTN or Direct To Cell Starlink DTC.
Requiring only a small antenna and low energy, it will enable low-cost real-time communication with ships, planes, land vehicles, isolated installations and all kinds of unmanned systems.
Best in class wireless connectivity capability
Depending on the optional internal modules, the Xplorer product can support (or is ready) for some of the following communications: 2G, 3G, 3GPP NTN, 4G, 5G, 5GNR, Sub 6G, A-GPS, ANT+, BDS, Beidou, BLE, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Mesh, CAT-M1, CAT-NB2, DC-HSPA+, EDGE, EGNOS, GAGAN, GALILEO, GLONASS, GPS, GPS XTRA, GPRS, GSM, HSDPA, HSPA+, HSUPA, IoT-NTN, LoRa, LoRaWAN, LTE, NB-IoT, NGFF, Matter, MSAS, QZSS, RFID, RTK, SDR, SigFox, Skylo, SouthPAN, Starlink DTC, Starlink IoT, Thread, UMTS, WAAS, WiGig, WiFi, Wifi Halow, Zigbee
Click Here for details (Soldered & M.2 modules, Protocols, Bands, Performance, Testing status)
For the protocols below, we can help you connect to an internal off-the-shelf M.2 module, external antennas or develop an M.2 module with the chipset. Please contact us.
Localisation : RTLS, UWB
LPWAN: Z-wave, EC-GSM-IoT…
IoT NTN / 3GPP NTN: Iridium SDB, Orbcomm OG2, Astrocast, SateIOT, Globalstar, Myriota, Kineis Argos-2, CLS Argos, Hubble Network, Lacuna-space, PlanS…
Broadband SAT: Iridium, Turaya, Inmarsat BGAN, Inmarsat Fleetbroadband, Inmarsat mini-C…
Low-altitude constellations : Starlink (Mini), OneWeb, Kuiper, Qianfan…
Ready to shape the future with low power, low latency, offline generative AI
The M.2 Hailo 8 TPU outperform onchip TPU solutions (iMX95, RK3588…) in performance and upgradability and outperform NVIDIA solutions in power efficiency :
– CM4+Hailo_8 vs Orin Nano 1/2: Inference Time 13 times lower
– CM4+Hailo 8 vs Orin Nano 2/2: Double FPS and same inference time at 2/3 of the power
– Hailo 8 vs Xavier NX : “Similar performance at a fraction of power consumption and cost”
– Hailo 8 vs AGX Xavier : “NVIDIA solution is more flexible since you can also do training on the platform, while Hailo-8 is only made for low-power inference which it does at 20 times the power efficiency”.
The new Asic based M.2 Hailo-10H TPU, expected Q4 2024, outperforms NVIDIA GPU based solution and Intel’s Core Ultra “AI Boost” NPU.
“The Hailo-10 brings generative AI to the edge, it can run Llama2-7B with up to 10 tokens per second (TPS) at under 5W of power, while it can generate one image from text in under 5 seconds using Stable Diffusion 2.1 in the same power envelope. Like other many technologies, generative AI is moving from the cloud to the device itself enabling lower latency and offline support”.
When Ubiquity and scalability meet miniaturization
With its exceptional modularity (3x M.2 modules, 1x CPU module, 2x LPWAN multiprotocol modules), you can tailor the hardware to your needs with two PCB variants :
The Model M includes M.2 modules of 2 types: 1xB and 2xM :
- Type M 2230 is reserved for an SSD
- Type B will be used preferably for cellular communication or advanced positionning.
- Type M 2242 for Hailo 8(L) or Hailo10H TPU, or more SSD
The Model E includes M.2 modules of 3 types 1xB, 1xE, 1xM :
- Type M 2230 is reserved for SSD.
- Type B will be used preferably for cellular communication but can be use also more SSD or advanced positionning.
- Type E is Wireless-Oriented, but it includes a 2-lane PCIE to take full advantage of TPU performance.
Preliminary Hardware Specifications
XPLORER CM5-E Wireless-oriented | XPLORER CM5-M AI-oriented | |
Available | Q1 2025 | Q1 2025 |
CPU | ARM Cortex A76 Quad-core, 64 bits, 2.4Ghz, Cryptographic Extension HPL: 30.2 Gflops, 2.75 Gflops/W | ARM Cortex A76 Quad-core, 64 bits, 2.4Ghz, Cryptographic Extension HPL: 30.2 Gflops, 2.75 Gflops/W |
GPU | VideoCore VII | VideoCore VII |
eMMC | Up to 32 GB (May be read Only) | Up to 32 GB (May be read Only) |
RAM | Up to 16 GB | Up to 16 GB |
LAN | 1x GbE | 1x GbE |
WLAN / BT | Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 External SMA Antenna | Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 External SMA Antenna |
Optional LPWAN | – 868/915 Mhz +15/22dBm Multiprotocol : LoRa, SigFox LSM100A/LSM110A Module – 2.4 Ghz +20dBm Multiprotocol : Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth 5.3 LE/Mesh, AoA, AoD Firmware Bootloader MGM240PB32VNA3 module External SMA Antennas | – 868/915 Mhz +15/22dBm Multiprotocol : LoRa, SigFox LSM100A/LSM110A Module – 2.4 Ghz +20dBm Multiprotocol : Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth 5.3 LE/Mesh, AoA, AoD Firmware Bootloader MGM240PB32VNA3 module External SMA Antennas |
Expansions | – 1x M.2 Type M – 2230 – PCIe 2.0 x1 – 1x M.2 Type B/B+M – 2230 to 3042- PCIe 2.0 x1 + USB 2.0 – 1x M.2 Type E/A+E – 2230 to 3042 – PCIe 2.0 x2 + USB 2.0 + I2C | – 1x M.2 Type M – 2230 – PCIe 2.0 x1 – 1x M.2 Type B/B+M – 2230 to 3042- PCIe 2.0 x1 + USB 2.0 – 1x M.2 Type M – 2230 to 3042 – PCIe 2.0 x2 |
Optional NPUs | M.2 Modules : – Google Coral Edge (4 TOPS, 2 TOPS/W) – Google Coral Dual Edge (8 TOPS, 2 TOPS/W) – Hailo-8L (13 TOPS, 3 TOPS/W) – Hailo-8 (26 TOPS, 3 TOPS/W) NPU Capability : – M.2 Type E : 4, 8, 13, 26 TOPS – M.2 Type B : 4, 13, 26 TOPS The Coral Dual Module require a PCIe with 2 lanes : Only on E key Slot | M.2 Modules : – Google Coral Edge (4 TOPS, 2 TOPS/W) – Hailo-8L (13 TOPS, 3 TOPS/W) – Hailo-8 (26 TOPS, 3 TOPS/W) – Hailo-10H (40 TOPS, 11.4 TOPS/W) NPU Capability : – M.2 Type M 42mm : 40 TOPS – M.2 Type B : 4, 13, 26 TOPS Warning : !!! The New Hailo-10H solution has not yet been tested !!! |
Removable Storage | µSD Card (No boot) External USB-C 3.0 Key/Disk HDParm Disk Read 359 MB/sec DD Disk Write 254 MB/s | µSD Card (No boot) External USB-C 3.0 Key/Disk HDParm Disk Read 359 MB/sec DD Disk Write 254 MB/s |
Optional NVMe SSDs | – M.2 Type M : Up to 2 TB and to 4280 TBW – M.2 Type B : Up to 2 TB and 24000 TBW – M.2 Type E : Up to 512 GB HDParm Disk Read 784 MB/sec DD Disk Write 377 MB/s | – M.2 Type M 32mm : Up to 2 TB and to 4280 TBW – M.2 Type B : Up to 2 TB and 24000 TBW M.2 Type M 42mm : Up to 2 TB and to 4280 TBW HDParm Disk Read 784 MB/sec DD Disk Write 377 MB/s |
Optional Wireless | M.2 Type E & B : – GNSS+4G LTE / 5G / CAT-M1, NB-IoT / Starlink DTC Ready Skylo 3GPP NTN Ready (E) – LoRa (E) – WIFI HaLow, WiGig – RF ID UHF – SDR, RF Modem External SMA Antennas | M.2 Type B : – GNSS+4G LTE / 5G / CAT-M1, NB-IoT / Starlink DTC Ready – WIFI HaLow – RF ID UHF – SDR External SMA Antennas |
Optional Positioning | M.2 Type E & B : – GNSS UDR – GNSS RTK – GNSS/INS dual antenna, True heading External SMA Antennas | M.2 Type B : – GNSS RTK External SMA Antenna |
Optional Industrial | – Ethercat – Profinet – FPGA | |
CANbus | 1x CANFD 1x Isolated CANFD | 1x CANFD 1x Isolated CANFD |
RS232/RS485/Modbus RTU | 2x RS232 1x Isolated RS232/RS485/Modbus 1x Isolated RS485/Modbus Up to 4x RS232 Rx only (Share with Analog IN) | 2x RS232 1x Isolated RS232/RS485/Modbus 1x Isolated RS485/Modbus Up to 4x RS232 Rx only (Share with Analog IN) |
DAQ | 2x Open Drain digital Output 2x 12 bits Analog/Digital Output 4x 12 bits Analog/Digital Input (share with RS232 Rx Only) AD5592R chip | 2x Open Drain digital Output 2x 12 bits Analog/Digital Output 4x 12 bits Analog/Digital Input (share with RS232 Rx Only) AD5592R chip |
USB-C Host | 1x USB-C Host, USB 2.0 & 3.0 | 1x USB-C Host, USB 2.0 & 3.0 |
USB-C Expansion | – Camera – KNX – LongWorks – Z-wave | – Camera – KNX – LongWorks – Z-wave |
OEM Board Version | – 1x 4 lane MIPI CSI-2 – 1x Fan connector | – 1x 4 lane MIPI CSI-2 – 1x Fan connector |
RTC | TBD PPM, 3V bat | TBD PPM, 3V bat |
Synchro | 1x PPS Input | 1x PPS Input |
Watchdog | Internal | Internal |
Cybersecurity | TMP 2.0 SLB9673 Chip | TMP 2.0 SLB9673 Chip |
Development/Debug | 1x µHDMI 4K (Under a cap) 1x USB-C Host 3.0 Docking Station Ready 1x µSD Card 1x EMMc USB-C Boot switch | 1x µHDMI 4K (Under a cap) 1x USB-C Host 3.0 Docking Station Ready 1x µSD Card 1x EMMc USB-C Boot switch |
Power Supply | 8 to 33V 6-15 W depending on CPU/TPU/Cellular Load | 8 to 33V 7-16 W depending on CPU/TPU/Cellular Load |
Dimension / Weight | PCB : 93x67mm Overall size : 114x104x28 mm, 230-260 g | PCB : 93x67mm Overall size : 114x104x28 mm, 230-260 g |
Assembly | Wall-mounted or DIN Rail | Wall-mounted or DIN Rail |
Enclosure Base | Anodized Aluminium | Anodized Aluminium |
Protection / Enclosure | IP67, Fanless, CNC Anodized Aluminium + Carbon µSD Card and Nano SIM card under a cap | IP67, Fanless, CNC Anodized Aluminium + Carbon µSD Card and Nano SIM card under a cap |
Operation Temperature | -20° to +60/65°C depending on CPU/TPU/Cellular Load | -20° to +60/65°C depending on CPU/TPU/Cellular Load |
M12 / SMA Cables | Available on distributor shelves (1m, 2m, 3m, 5m…) | Available on distributor shelves (1m, 2m, 3m, 5m…) |
OS and framework Compatibility
OS | Debian 12.5 Headless/Desktop PREEMPT-RT Ubuntu 24.04 Core/Desktop PREEMPT-RT On request : Buildroot, Yocto, Vxworks, Redpesk Marine Grade Linux, Victron Energy Venus OS, Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), Automotive EB corbos Linux, Over-the-air (OTA) update |
Robotic | ROS2, MOOS-IvP… |
PLC | CoDeSys, OpenPLC… |
Home/building Automation | Frigate NVR, Home Assistant, Jeedom, ioBrooker… |
IIoT | Node-Red, InfluxDB, Grafana… |
AIoT | Hailo, Keras, TensorFlow (Lite), YOLOv8, PyCoral, PyTorch, ONNX… |
Marine | Austral: NMEA2000, Wind-calculation, Autopilot, Flight Control System |
Software support
Configure your product
Xplorer CM5 standard products features and price list :
Configuration | Essential | LoRa | Matter | Essential+ | Matter+ | Edge | IIoT | RTK | Frigate | AIoT | AIoT+ | VDR / NAS |
Options | Din Rail | Din Rail EU or US | Din Rail | Din Rail | Din Rail | Din Rail | Din Rail | Din Rail | Din Rail, 26/40 TOPS | Din Rail, 40 TOPS | Din Rail,40 TOPS | Din Rail, Resin Potting, up 2x 2TB |
Typical Applications | Gateway, Automation | Gateway, Automation | Home Assistant | Gateway, Automation | Home Assistant | Mobile Router LTE, DiretcToCell | Mobile Router LTE, DirectToCell, Matter | Geophysics, Farming, Drones | Frigate NVR+HA | LTE, DTC, Matter, LoRa, AI | LTE, DTC, Matter, LoRa, AI | Voyage / Video Data Recorder, NAS |
Enclosure | Black | Black | Black | Black | Black | Black | Black | Red | Blue | Blue | Blue | Orange / Black |
RAM | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB |
eMMC | 16 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB |
M.2-M SSD | – | – | – | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 128GB | 1TB |
Matter/Zigbee | – | – | Yes | – | Yes | – | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | – |
LoRa/SigFox | – | Yes | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
M.2-B | – | – | – | – | – | 4G LTE+GNSS Worldwilde DTC Ready SIM7600G-H | 4G LTE+GNSS Worldwide DTC Ready SIM7600G-H | GNSS-RTK | – | 4G LTE+GNSS Worldwide DTC Ready SIM7600G-H | 4G LTE+GNSS Worldwide DTC Ready SIM7600G-H | – |
2nd M.2-M | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | NPU 13 TOPS Hailo-8L | NPU 13 TOPS Hailo-8L | NPU 26 TOPS Hailo-8 | – |
RS232 Rx Only | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Weight | 224g | 227g | 227g | 226g | 229g | 248g | 251g | TDB | 234g | 256g | 256g | 226g |
Available | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q4 2024 |
Unit Price ex-VAT | 499€ 543$ | 520€ 566$ | 511€ 556$ | 538€ 585$ | 550€ 598$ | 609€ 662$ | 622€ 676$ | TDB | 629€ 684$ | 701€ 762$ | 867€ 943$ | 610€ 663$ |
/10 Price ex-VAT | 399€ 434$ | 420€ 457$ | 411€ 446$ | 435€ 473$ | 447€ 486$ | 493€ 536$ | 505€ 548$ | TDB | 526€ 571$ | 584€ 634$ | 750€ 815$ | 510€ 555$ |
/100 Price ex-VAT | 267€ 290$ | 287€ 312$ | 279€ 303$ | 303€ 329$ | 315€ 342$ | 356€ 387$ | 368€ 400$ | TDB | <392€ <426$ TBD | <445€ <484$ TBD | <612€ <665$ TBD | <378€ <411$ TBD |
/1000 Price ex-VAT | 236€ 256$ | 253€ 275$ | 246€ 267$ | 272€ 295$ | 282€ 306$ | 322€ 350$ | 332€ 361$ | TDB | <359€ <390$ TBD | <409€ <445$ TBD | <576€ <626$ TBD | <347€ <377$ TBD |
This product can be sold for prototyping or in volume, board only and can be tailored to your needs (RAM, eMMC, SSD Size/endurance, Cellular type and region, LPWAN type and region, AI, GNSS…). We can also provide the cables and antennas.
Austral Electronics is a design office, if you have a series of products, we can:
- Adapt the enclosure to your brand or project : colors, CNC logo, silkscreen, mounting…
- Reduce costs by eliminating unnecessary functionalities
- Help you in software: Embedded computing, Control-command, Linux distribution, OTA update…
- Support you on your specific needs in electronics (connectors, new M.2 modules…)
Xplorer CM5 All Aluminum enclosure option :
Cables and Antennas
Backbone Drop Cable 1, 2, 5,10 m
Radiospare 208-0539 (1m) or Altech CBF12-S12N0-02BPUR (2m)
SERIALS Cable : Amphenol LTW M12A-12BMMM-PL8D01 (1m) or M12A-12BMMM-PL8D02 (2m)
M12 and SMA connectors are compatible with cost-effective off-the-shelf cables and antennas. We can supply them, please contact us.
Product Status
Model | — | Xplorer5 | |
Introduction | Q1 2025 | ||
Life Cycle Phase | Introduction | ||
Expected EOF | 2036 TBC |