Arduino Pro PORTENTA H7

Description of Arduino Pro PORTENTA H7

This powerful board serves both as an integrated microcontroller or as the main processor, and you can quickly develop robust hardware suitable for industrial applications. This powerful dual-core board incorporates wireless hardware (WiFi + BT) and the ability to run Python and JavaScript.

Portenta can easily run processes created with TensorFlow ™ Lite, for example it could have one of the cores calculating a computer vision algorithm, while the other could perform low-level operations such as controlling an engine or acting as a user interface. Or for example, one core might be running interpreted Python while the other might be running code compiled from the Arduino IDE. When they need to work together, the kernels can communicate with each other through a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism.

The board also comes with a cryptographic module, WiFi module (required for IoT applications) and Bluetooth that enables communication in LoRa and LTE Cat-M standards.

The dimensions and shape of the board are adjusted to the MKR standard so that it is compatible with most shields for MKR. However, shields are not the only way to expand the board's possibilities because it also has two more connectors that extend the number of available pins up to 80.

This board is ideal for multiple applications:

• High-end industrial machinery
• Laboratory equipment
• Robotics controller
• Computer vision
• PLC
• Industry-Ready User Interfaces
• Dedicated stationary computer
• High speed start calculation (ms)
• Mission-critical devices

Features of Arduino Pro PORTENTA H7:

Implemented connectivity 

The integrated wireless module allows simultaneous management of WiFi and Bluetooth® connectivity. The WiFi interface can be operated as an access point, as a station or as a simultaneous dual-mode AP/STA and can handle a transfer rate of up to 65 Mbps.

The Bluetooth® interface is compatible with Bluetooth Classic and BLE. It is also possible to expose a number of different wired interfaces such as UART, SPI, Ethernet or I2C, both through some of the MKR-style connectors and through the new Arduino pair of industrial 80-pin connectors.

Two parallel cores

As mentioned above, H7's main processor is a dual-core processor, the STM32H747, which includes a Cortex® M7 running at 480 MHz and a Cortex® M4 running at 240 MHz. The two cores communicate via a remote procedure call mechanism that allows functions to be called on the other processor without any problems. Both processors share all on-chip peripherals and can run: 

• Arduino Sketches on top of the Arm® Mbed operating system ™
• Native Mbed applications ™
• MicroPython / JavaScript through an interpreter
• TensorFlow ™ Lite

A new standard for multiple pins

The Portenta family adds two high-density 80-pin connectors to the bottom of the board. This ensures scalability for a wide range of applications by simply upgrading your Portenta board to the one that fits your needs.

Graphics Accelerator

Probably one of the most interesting features of the Portenta H7 is the possibility of connecting an external monitor to build your own dedicated embedded computer with a user interface. This is possible thanks to the STM32H747 processor's GPU on chip, the Chrom-ART Accelerator ™. In addition to the GPU, the chip includes a dedicated JPEG encoder and decoder.

Vision Shield Carrier

Within the Portenta family we also find the "Portenta Vision Shield" which offers high industry classified features to its powerful Arduino Portenta plate. This hardware add-on will allow you to run integrated computer vision applications, connect wirelessly or via Ethernet to the Arduino cloud or your own infrastructure, and activate your system when sound events are detected.

Arduino Pro PORTENTA H7 Specifications

• STM32H747 dual-core processor with graphics engine
• 8 MB of SDRAM
• 16 MB NOR flash
• Phy Ethernet 10/100
• USB HS
• NXP SE050C2 cryptography
• WiFi / BT module
• External antenna
• DisplayPort via USB-C

Pinout:

Links:

• Official Arduino Forum
• Portenta's tutorial section
• Guarantee
• OpenMV for Arduino Editorr