Jetson Mate Cluster Box for 4 Jetson Nano/Xavier NX Modules

While we’ve seen plenty of cluster boards based on Raspberry Pi SBC or Compute Modules, I had never seen clusters of Jetson modules. Those already exist, and PicoCluster has a few, but what made me write this post today is Seeed Studio’s Jetson Mate cluster box equipped with a carrier board taking up to four NVIDIA Jetson Nano or Xavier NX modules, an enclosure covered with a largish cooling fan with RGB LED for good effect…

Jetson Mate Specifications:

• SoM compatibility – Jetson Nano or Jetson Xavier NX via four SO-DIMM sockets
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0
• Networking
  • Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) port
  • Microchip KSZ9896CTXC 6-port GigE Managed Switch for internal networking between the modules and to the outside world
• Camera – 2x MIPI CSI connectors
• USB – 4x USB 3.0 ports (one per module), 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB-C port for power
• Debugging – UART debug pins (4x pairs, one for each module)
• Misc – 12V fan, wake-up button
• Power supply requirements – 65W+ USB PD (Jetson Nano) or 90W+ USB PD (Jetson Xavier NX)
• Dimensions – 110 x 110mm (carrier board)

Seeed Studio says Jetson Mate “cooling kit” can be used as a GPU server, Homelab, and GPU cluster. The Wiki explains each module needs to be flashed with JetPack (Ubuntu-based) on the master node socket (left on the photo above) and can be moved on the “worker node” sockets afterward. The tutorial then carries on explaining how to setup Kubernetes on the cluster, and install Jupyter.

Seeed Studio is taking pre-orders for Jetson Mate for $199.00 plus shipping on their store. The cluster system is expected to be available in mid-January 2021, and you’d have to also purchase Jetson Nano or Jetson Xavier NX modules separately.

Source: CNX-Software