Tachyon: Powerful 5G single-board computer w/ AI accelerator

Building an edge device with compute, connectivity and fleet management usually means DIY integration: a dev board plus a cellular module plus a cloud platform, with compatibility left to you. Particle, with a decade of IoT infrastructure behind it, solders all three onto one board. Tachyon is a credit-card-sized 5G single-board computer. The Qualcomm QCM6490 — the IoT variant of the chip inside Fairphone 5 and Nothing Phone (1) — brings an octa-core Kryo CPU and Adreno 643 GPU, while a Hexagon 770 DSP delivers 12 TOPS for on-device AI: driving 4K displays, processing dual camera streams, detecting objects, classifying audio. 5G runs up to 2.5Gbps with built-in antennas and a pre-loaded EtherSIM offering free telemetry and cheap data plans; Wi-Fi 6E covers local networks. Upstream Linux and a 10-year longevity guarantee make it viable from hobby project to large deployment. Launched in July 2024, it drew 2,267 backers and $523,100, about 5,231% funded.