1.4 Supported Hardware
RDK Studio currently supports three RDK-series development boards released by D-Robotics. This section provides key hardware specifications and BPU architecture differences among these three boards, along with how these differences impact the development workflow.
Comparison of the Three Boards
| Item | RDK X3 | RDK X5 | RDK S100/S100P |
|---|---|---|---|
| SoC | Sunrise 3 | Sunrise 5 | Sunrise S100E/S100P |
| CPU | Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz | Octa-core ARM Cortex-A55 @1.5 GHz | Hexa-core ARM Cortex-A78AE @1.5 GHz (S100P: 2.0 GHz) |
| MCU | — | — | Quad-core ARM Cortex-R52+ @1.2 GHz |
| BPU Performance (INT8 equivalent) | 5 TOPS | 10 TOPS | 80 TOPS (S100) / 128 TOPS (S100P) |
| BPU Architecture | Bernoulli2 | Bayes | Nash |
| GPU | — | 32 GFLOPS (Mali) | 100 GFLOPS (Mali-G78AE) |
| Memory | 2 GB / 4 GB LPDDR4 | 4 GB / 8 GB LPDDR4 | 12 GB (S100) / 24 GB (S100P) LPDDR5 |
| Storage | Micro SD | Micro SD (some versions include eMMC) | 64 GB eMMC + M.2 Key M SSD interface |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet (PoE) + Wi-Fi 6 + BT 5.4 | Varies by configuration |
| USB | USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 | 4× USB 3.0 Type-A + 1× USB-C | Varies by configuration |
| Camera Interfaces | 2× MIPI CSI | 2× 4-lane MIPI CSI | Varies by configuration |
| Typical Use Cases | Entry-level AI, low-cost robotics | Primary development platform, ROS/TROS, vision applications | Embodied intelligence, Transformer inference, multi-sensor fusion |
Source: RDK X3 Official Page, RDK X5 Official Page, RDK S100 Official Page, and official D-Robotics hardware documentation. Refer to official pages for exact specifications.
The RDK X5 is currently the flagship development board, offering a balanced performance-to-power ratio and supporting Type-C Flash Connect (5-second connection). The RDK X3 is an entry-level board commonly used for learning and lightweight inference tasks. The RDK S100 targets high-compute scenarios such as embodied intelligence; its Nash BPU architecture offers significantly better support for Transformer-family operators compared to previous generations and introduces LPDDR5 memory and NVMe storage.
Impact of BPU Architecture Differences on Development
The three boards use three different generations of BPU architectures:
| Generation | Architecture | Board Model | Equivalent Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bernoulli2 | RDK X3 | 5 TOPS |
| 2nd | Bayes | RDK X5 | 10 TOPS |
| 3rd | Nash | RDK S100 / S100P | 80 / 128 TOPS |
HBM model files compiled by D-Robotics’ model conversion tool hb_mapper cannot be used across different BPU architectures:
- An HBM compiled on RDK X3 cannot run directly on RDK X5.
- An HBM compiled on RDK X5 cannot run directly on RDK S100.
To deploy the same model across different boards, you must recompile it using the corresponding board-specific toolchain. Errors such as hbm version mismatch or model incompatible during runtime typically indicate that a model compiled for the wrong board type is being used. For detailed troubleshooting steps, see 5.5 HBM Model Fails to Load.
RDK Studio automatically detects the currently active device’s board type in AI conversations and loads the corresponding hardware knowledge. If a user issues a command or performs an operation incompatible with the current board type, the AI will proactively alert them—for example, if a developer connected to an RDK X3 requests to “use an RDK X5 Bayes-architecture HBM,” the AI will first point out the board-type mismatch.
Feature Availability Across Different Boards
Most RDK Studio features offer consistent experiences across all three boards. The following capabilities differ:
| Feature | RDK X3 | RDK X5 | RDK S100 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type-C Flash Connect | Not supported | Supported | Not supported |
| TF Card Flashing | Supported | Supported | Not supported (no TF card slot) |
| eMMC Flashing | Not supported | Supported (requires eMMC version) | N/A (xburn only) |
| xburn Flashing | Not supported | Not supported | Supported (only method available) |
| Serial Console Access | Via UART2 on GPIO | Via onboard micro-USB | Via onboard USB-UART |
All other features not listed in the table—including remote terminal, AI conversation, file management, IDE, remote desktop, Wi-Fi configuration, device management, OpenClaw, etc.—function identically across all three boards.
Recommended Initial Connection Methods
| Board Model | Recommended Initial Connection Method |
|---|---|
| RDK X5 | Type-C Flash Connect (fastest, no network setup required) |
| RDK X3 | SSH over network (connect the board to a router first and obtain its IP from the router’s admin interface) |
| RDK S100 | SSH over network |
| Any board with boot failure | Serial console access (for recovery; allows reading boot logs) |
For detailed instructions, see 2.3 Connecting to Your Device.