Romanian company Zalmotek has recently introduced three new SoMs, the RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3UL, and a modular carrier board designed for embedded applications such as robotics, industrial control, and edge computing. There are a few things that I find interesting about this setup. The SoM comes in Adafruit Feather form factor and, as a result, supports various Adafruit FeatherWings. The modular carrier board supports the Dynamixel motor driver module, the Particle M-SoM breakout module, Ethernet, and CAN modules.
The RA6M1 Feather SoM is powered by a Renesas RA6M1 Arm Cortex-M4 CPU at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash and 96 KB SRAM while the RA8M1 Feather SoM features a Renesas RA8M1 64-bit Arm Cortex-M85 running at up to 360 MHz with 128 Mbit SPI flash, the RZ/A3UL Feather SoM is based on a Renesas RZ/A3UL 64-bit Arm Cortex-A55 CPU at up to 1 GHz, with 512 Mbit OctaFlash and 512 Mbit OctaRAM, plus a 4-lane MIPI CSI camera interface. All the modules come with standard Feather interfaces including GPIOs, I2C, SPI, UART, USB Type-C, and LiPo charging support.
Zalmotek RA6M1, RA8M1, and RZ/A3U SoM Specifications:
| Feature | RA6M1 SoM | RA8M1 SoM | RZ/A3UL SoM |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Arm Cortex-M4 (32-bit)​ | Arm Cortex-M85 (32-bit, with Helium DSP/MVE) | Arm Cortex-A55 (64-bit)​ |
| Max Clock | 120 MHz | 360 MHz | 1.0 GHz​ |
| Storage | 512 KB on-chip​ Flash | 128 Mbit SPI (16 MB) external + up to 2 MB on-chip​ | 512 Mbit (64 MB) OctaFlash external​ Flash |
| Memory | 96 KB on-chip SRAM | 1 MB total (896 KB user + 128 KB TCM) | 128 KB on-chip​+ 512 Mbit (64 MB) OctaRAM ext |
| Camera | - | - | 4-lane MIPI CSI (up to 5 MP @30 fps)​ |
| Ethernet | None on-module (10/100 Mb via carrier board) | None on-module (10/100 Mb via carrier board) | 10/100 Mb via carrier board (chip supports 2× 1 GbE) |
| USB | Micro‑USB (prog.) + USB‑C (power/debug) | Micro‑USB (prog.) + USB‑C (power/debug) | Micro‑USB (prog.) + USB‑C (power/debug) |
| Serial | UART (Feather pins) | UART (Feather pins) | UART (Feather pins) |
| CAN | on-module (MCU supports CAN 2.0B) | on-module (MCU supports CAN 2.0B) | 2× CAN-FD (on-chip |
| I/O | I²C, SPI, | I²C, SPI, | I²C, SPI, |
| Power | JST-PH LiPo Battery and USB-C | JST-PH LiPo Battery and USB-C | JST-PH LiPo Battery and USB-C |
| Dimensions | 22.86 × 50.8 mm (Feather form factor) | 22.86 × 50.8 mm (Feather form factor) | 22.86 × 50.8 mm (Feather form factor) |
At the time of writing, detailed specifications for the product are limited, so the information here is based on what’s currently available on their product pages.
The Feather Carrier Board gives access to SPI, I2C, UART, GPIOs, and power rails (3.3V, 5V, VIN) across four ports. It has a built-in microSD card slot (works with RZ/A3UL and RA8M1 SoMs only), a rotary encoder with RGB feedback, a Qwiic I2C port, and a display header for GEN4-ULCD screens. The modular carrier board delivers power to the SoMs and modules through an XT30 connector, and there’s an on/off switch for simplicity. Modules like a W5500 Ethernet board, Dynamixel motor driver, CAN transceiver (NCV7344), and a breakout for the Particle M-SoM (nRF52840 + LTE) can plug right in.
The company mentions that the Renesas e² studio IDE can be used to code and debug all three MCUs. Other development resources include a getting started guide, plus C/C++ and Arduino code samples, schematics, and other docs available on Zalmotek’s GitHub account.
The boards are available now, but only in packs of 100. The RA6M1 Feather SoM costs $2,980 per pack, the RA8M1 Feather SoM is $4,260 per pack, and the RZ/A3UL Feather SoM is priced at $7,230 per pack. However, I couldn’t find any purchasing information about the carrier board.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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