• Building a cluster
  • Hardware Infrastructure
  • Hardware used by the project

Hardware used by the project

The hardware used by our cluster is:

  • 24 x UpBoard;
  • 24 x USB's;
  • 1 Switch;
  • 24 pen drives;
  • Power Supply Cables;
  • 24 Pimoroni LED strips;

Describing

The UpBoard is a Single Board Computer (SBC) that shares a similar layout to the Raspberry Pi. Our chosen UpBoard model is specifically from the Intel RealSense Robotic Development Kit, which features the Atom X5 UP Board and the Realsense R200 Depth Camera.

Our UpBoard Specifications:

  • SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz -(Burst frequency: 1.92 GHz) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics
  • System Memory – 4GB DDR3L-1600
  • Storage – 32 GB eMMC flash
  • Video Output / Display – HDMI 1.4b, MIPI DSI/eDP interface
  • Audio I/O – HDMI, I2S
  • Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet
  • USB – 4x USB 2.0 host ports, 2x USB 2.0 pin header, 1x micro USB 3.0 port
  • Camera – MIPI CSI up to 4MP
  • Expansion – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header
  • Misc – Power button, RTC
  • Power Supply – 5V/3A via 5.5/2.1mm jack
  • Dimensions – 85.60 x 56.50 mm

Intel RealSense Robotic Development Kit

Image source: cnx-software (2016)

Why we chose UpBoards?

Our selection of the UpBoard model was based on our intention to repurpose unused UpBoards from our inventory. These boards had previously been employed in robotics but were supplanted by the Raspberry Pi 4. Our chosen UpBoard boasts an x86 architecture, offering numerous resources, and is compatible with a wide range of software that necessitates this architecture.

Applications

We can use UpBoards for many different purposes, in the list below you can see three of them:

  • Exoplanet Hunter
  • Distributed Computing (MPI)
  • Black Hole Simulator