Geniatech GTW410 – An ultra compact IoT gateway based on Snapdragon 410E SoC

After writing about Azulle Ally Snapdragon 450 mini PC, I was reminded there are other small form factor Snapdragon devices such as Geniatech GTW410 based on the earlier Snapdragon 410E quad-core processor.

While the GTW410 is marketed as an “Embedded IoT Gateway”, it could also serve as an entry-level industrial mini PC with up to 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, as well as HDMI, Ethernet, and USB ports.

Geniatech GTW410 specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E (APQ8016) quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 GPU
• System Memory – 1 or 2 GB LPDDR3 @ 533MHz
• Storage – 8 or 16 GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD 3.0 (UHS-I) slot
• Video Output – HDMI 1.3 up to 1080p @ 30 Hz
• Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Integrated 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with on-board antenna, optional Zigbee
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB port (device only).
• Misc – RTC
• Power Supply – 6.5 – 18V DC input
• Dimensions – 122x70x22 mm
• Temperature Range – -10°C to +85°C

If the specs look familiar, it’s because the mini PC appears to be based on Geniatech Developer Board IV introduced in 2016, and the gateway seems to have been launched a few years ago. Geniatech lists Android 6.0, Linux based on Debian, and Windows 10 IoT core.

Since it’s been around for a while, it might be good to look at what people may have done with the GTW410 gateway, and general software support for the Snapdragon 410E processor, especially it’s integrated into the 96Boards compliant Dragonboard 410c board, and as an embedded processor, it should have long term support.

First, I noticed one practical use case for the Geniatech GTW410 with a paper from the CNR-ISTI, a research institution from Italy, explaining how the IoT gateway was used with OpenHAB to gather data from various hubs and sensors to remotely monitor end-user created automations in Internet of Things scenarios.

Software support for Snapdragon 410E in 2021 is a mixed bag. If we look at software documentation on Qualcomm website, the Android release notes were last updated in November 2016, which explains why the platform is still stuck to Android 6.0 and Linux in April 2018, while the last release for Windows 10 IoT core I could find was in April 2017. So it basically looks like an abandoned platform, but are some more research I found out Linaro is still working on images for the Dragonboard 410c with the latest release in August 2021 with:

• Debian-based Linaro 21.08 release for Dragonboard 410c
• Linaro OpenEmbedded RPB 21.08 release for Dragonboard 410c

Both are based on Linux 5.13.9 kernel.

That means if you care about running recent OS versions, for instance for improved security, Android and Windows 10 IoT Core should probably be avoided on Snapdragon 410E platforms like Geniatech GTW410, but Debian or OpenEmbedded should be pretty much up-to-date, although I have no idea if Qualcomm/Linaro have long term plans for software support, although we know Snapdragon 410E will be manufactured at least until 2025 due to Qualcomm long term supply commitments.

You’ll find more details about Geniatech GTW410 gateway on the product page. Note it’s not to be confused with GTW410-L, another Snapdragon 410E gateway with LoRaWAN connectivity and quite larger.

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