Pineboards announces Raspberry Pi AI HAT bundle combining both NPU and M.2 NVMe storage

Pineboards, formerly known as Pineberry Pi, has released several HAT modules (including the HatDrive! Nano) since the Raspberry Pi 5 came out in late 2023. Most of these modules come with a PCIe connector, introduced on the new Raspberry Pi flagship. For its latest offering is the Pineboards Ai Bundle with Hailo-8L. This HAT enables you to run an AI accelerator chip while still having the ability to plug in (and boot from) an M.2 NVMe SSD.

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The Hailo-8L included on the Pineboards Ai bundle is the same neural processing unit (NPU) found in the official Raspberry Pi 5 AI Kit. That means it will work perfectly with software already available to perform AI tasks on a Raspberry Pi 5. This includes the rpicam-apps bundle along with any other Hailo-8L management software available in the hailo-all apt package.

The difference is that Pineboards also gives you access to a second PCIe device on the same board. While the Hailo-8L chip is preloaded into the HAT’s M.2 2230 A/E-key connector, it has a second M.2 socket. The second one is an M-key connector compatible with M.2 2230, 2242, and 2280 modules. Controlling the PCIe interface is the ASM1182e PCIe switch. Essentially providing a PCIe Gen 2 speed interface for two devices. This is the same switch as used in the Pimoroni NVMe Base Duo. We lose a little speed over PCIe Gen 3, but the opportunity to have multiple devices on the PCIe connection is much more useful.

The additional M.2 socket gives you bootable NVMe storage, faster and available in larger capacities than the best micro SD cards. This takes much better advantage of the Raspberry Pi 5’s PCIe  connector than a single-purpose HAT would.

Pineboards has also applied a thermal pad to the Hailo-8L to help keep it running cool. The company says any of your existing AI projects will work just fine with the Ai Bundle since it uses the same AI accelerator. The chip drives AI tasks at up to 13 TOPS, good for a variety of object detection and other AI tasks.

The Pineboards Ai Bundle is a bottom-mounted HAT and includes a PCIe FPC cable as well as all-metal screws and spacers for mounting the card. The Ai Bundle retails for 90 euros ($97.47) on Pineboard’s website. US readers can also pickup a board directly from Amazon. The company is also working with its European and South Korean distributors, The Pi Hut (U.K.), Welectron (Germany), Botland (Poland, Germany, Czech Republic) and Devicemart (South Korea).