Single-board computers (SBCs) are becoming increasingly popular for their low cost and versatility.
Two of the most popular SBCs are the Nvidia Jetson Nano and the Raspberry Pi.
While both boards have their own strengths and weaknesses, they are often compared against each other due to their similar form factor and price point.
In this article, we’ll discuss in great detail about each board, their benefits, limitations, advantages, disadvantages, and the kind of projects for which they are suitable for.
Why wait? Let’s jump straight in and compare one with the other.
What is Nvidia Jetson Nano
The Jetson Nano is a single-board computer designed specifically for AI applications.
It is much more performant than a Raspberry Pi and is powered by a 1.4-GHz quad-core ARM A57 CPU, 128-core Nvidia Maxwell GPU and 4 GB of RAM.
It has four USB type-A ports, including one that is USB 3.0, both HDMI and DisplayPort out for video and a gigabit Ethernet connector.
The Jetson Nano is your best choice if you’re looking for an AI-based single-board computer.
However, Raspberry Pi does have its strong points that can make it a solid choice in many scenarios.
For instance, despite its power and AI capabilities, the Jetson Nano lacks wireless LAN.
In contrast, Raspberry Pi features a built-in Wi-Fi.
Jetson Nano Features
Here are some of the features of Jetson Nano:
- High-performance NVIDIA Maxwell™ GPU
- Quad-core ARM® A57 CPU
- 4 GB 64-bit LPDDR4
- 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
- GPIO, I2C, I2S, SPI, UART interfaces
- USB 3.0 Type A x 1 USB 2.0 Type A x 3
- HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs
- MIPI CSI-2 camera connector
Benefits of using Jetson Nano:
- High performance for AI applications: Jetson Nano is designed specifically for AI applications and is much more performant than a Raspberry Pi.
- Low power consumption: Jetson Nano has a low power consumption of 5W to 10W.
- Small form factor: Jetson Nano is small in size and can fit into small spaces.
Use cases for Jetson Nano:
- Robotics: Jetson Nano can be used in robotics for object detection, tracking and classification.
- Drones: Jetson Nano can be used in drones for object detection and tracking.
- Intelligent video analytics (IVA): Jetson Nano can be used in IVA for real-time video analytics.
- Smart cameras: Jetson Nano can be used in smart cameras for object detection and tracking.
Advantages of Jetson Nano over Raspberry Pi:
- More powerful GPU and CPU: Jetson Nano has a 128-core Nvidia Maxwell GPU and a 1.4-GHz quad-core ARM A57 CPU which makes it more powerful than Raspberry Pi.
- Better performance for AI applications: Jetson Nano is designed specifically for AI applications and is much more performant than a Raspberry Pi.
Disadvantages of Jetson Nano over Raspberry Pi:
- More expensive than Raspberry Pi: The Jetson Nano is more expensive than the Raspberry Pi.
- Lacks wireless LAN: The Jetson Nano lacks wireless LAN which is available on the Raspberry Pi.
Here are some AI application examples that work and run on Jetson Nano:
- Image classification
- Object detection
- Segmentation
- Speech processing
Jetson Nano is compatible with open-source computer vision software and machine learning libraries like OpenCV .
You can also check out the NVIDIA JetBot which is a new open-source autonomous robotics kit that provides all the software needed to build a JetBot.
What is Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is a compact pocket-sized single-board computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation from the UK. It can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing, programminng, games and it can also play high definition video.
The most popular board specifications are:
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B:
Here are some of the features of Raspberry Pi 4 Model B:
- 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 CPU,
- 2GB/4GB/8GB RAM options,
- dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN,
- Bluetooth 5.0/BLE,
- Gigabit Ethernet,
- two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports,
- dual monitor support (up to 4Kp60),
- hardware video decode at up to 4Kp60,
- up to 8GB of RAM
Raspberry Pi Zero:
Here are some of the features of Raspberry Pi Zero:
- Single-core ARM11 at 1GHz,
- 512MB RAM,
- mini-HDMI port,
- micro-USB On-The-Go port,
- micro-USB power
Advantages of Raspberry Pi
The advantages of Raspberry Pi are its low cost (~$35), huge processing power in a compact board, many interfaces (HDMI, multiple USB, Ethernet, onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, many GPIOs), supports Linux and Python (making it easy to build applications), readily available examples with community support.
Disadvantages of Raspberry Pi
The disadvantages are that it is not suitable for commercial products. It is also not suitable for AI or video processing usecases that require a very sophisticated onboard GPU.
Some use cases of Raspberry Pi are:
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Home automation: Raspberry Pi can be used to control smart home devices such as lights, thermostats, and security cameras. It can also be used to automate tasks such as watering plants or feeding pets.
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Media center: Raspberry Pi can be used as a media center by installing software such as Kodi or Plex. This allows you to stream movies, TV shows, and music from your home network.
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Retro gaming console: Raspberry Pi can be used to build a retro gaming console by installing software such as RetroPie. This allows you to play classic games from consoles such as NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis.
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Robotics: Raspberry Pi can be used to build robots by connecting it to sensors and motors. This allows you to build robots that can move around and interact with their environment.
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Smart mirror: Raspberry Pi can be used to build a smart mirror that displays information such as the weather, news, and calendar events. It can also be used to control smart home devices.
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Weather station: Raspberry Pi can be used to build a weather station that measures temperature, humidity, and air pressure. This data can then be displayed on a website or sent to your phone.
Raspberry Pi vs. Nvidia Jetson Nano:
The biggest difference between Raspberry Pi and Jetson Nano is that the Raspberry Pi has a low power VideoCore multimedia processor, and Jetson Nano contains higher performance, more powerful GPUs (graphics processors), which makes it support some functions that Raspberry Pi can’t do.
Another difference is that the Raspberry Pi has increased versatility in terms of memory. There are four different versions available, ranging from 1GB to 8GB. Generally, the Jetson Nano has 4GB of memory, though there is a 2GB version available.
Managing Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi at Scale:
Regardless of whether you use Nvidia Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi for your project, managing and keeping track of individual IoT devices becomes increasingly difficult over time as the number of devices increases.
An IoT management and remote access platform is a must have tool in your software arsenal to automate managing, updating and monitoring your IoT devices at scale.
SocketXP is a cloud based IoT Management and Remote Access Platform that provides features such as remote device management, remote access via SSH, VNC, RDP for remote debugging and remote configuration.
It also provides an OTA update tool to update the software in your IoT fleet with the click of a single button. You could automate your DevOps Workflow by integrating SocketXP OTA update APIs with your CI/CD pipeline, so that new versions of your IoT application software are continuously and automatically pushed to remote IoT devices in production.
SocketXP also offers remote device monitoring feature. As an IoT admin, you could offload monitoring your IoT devices to SocketXP. SocketXP will constantly monitor the normal functioning of your IoT devices and send an alert only when an anomoly is detected in a device. This helps IoT admins to focus on those devices that have a problem.
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Conclusion:
Both the Nvidia Jetson Nano and the Raspberry Pi have their own strengths and weaknesses.
The Raspberry Pi is a great choice for beginners, students and hobbyists who want to learn about programming and electronics for home automation project or DIY kind of projects.
It is also a good choice for projects that require low power consumption.
On the other hand, the Nvidia Jetson Nano is a more powerful board that is better suited for AI and machine learning projects. It is primarily designed for commercial applications and usecases.
It has a more capable GPU than the Raspberry Pi, making it ideal for applications that require high-performance computing.
While Raspberry Pi is cheaper, Jetson Nano is costlier because of the powerful GPU that it comes with.
Ultimately, the choice between these two boards depends on your specific use case and requirements.
Be it Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi, managing them manually at scale is cumbersome. An IoT management platform like SocketXP, automates managing, updating and monitoring your IoT devices at scale.