US What a custom carrier board is
A custom carrier board is a baseboard designed for a single product, built around a standard computer-on-module. The module holds the processor, memory, boot storage and power management. The carrier takes the module’s high-speed lanes and signals and turns them into real connectors: Ethernet jacks, camera inputs, serial ports, M.2 slots, a power input and the mounting holes that match the enclosure.
An off-the-shelf carrier is designed once and sold to many customers, so it carries a general mix of I/O. A custom carrier is drawn for one application, so it has the exact connectors, board outline and power input that product needs, and nothing else.
The module stays a standard, replaceable part. That is what makes a custom carrier far less risky than a chip-down design, where the processor and memory are soldered onto your own board. The difficult work of routing memory and validating the processor has already been done by the module maker, so the carrier design concentrates on interfaces, power and mechanics.
Off-the-shelf, semi-custom or fully custom
There are three broad routes from a module to a product. An off-the-shelf carrier is used as it comes. A semi-custom carrier starts from an existing, proven design and changes what is needed: a different connector, an extra serial port, a new board outline or a wider power input. A fully custom carrier is a new schematic and layout, often reusing proven circuit blocks.
Our guide to choosing the right Jetson carrier board compares these routes against developer kits. For most projects an off-the-shelf board from our NVIDIA Jetson carrier boards or COM Express carrier boards is the right answer. The sections below cover the cases where it is not.
When a custom carrier board makes sense
A custom carrier earns its design cost when one or more of these conditions apply.
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Volume. Design, prototypes and compliance testing are a one-off cost. Spread over a large enough production run, a carrier with no unused connectors can cost less per system than a general-purpose board.
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Mechanical fit. The board must match an existing enclosure, a vehicle bay or a sensor housing, with connectors on a particular edge or at a particular height.
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An unusual I/O mix. Many camera inputs, isolated CAN or digital I/O, extra serial ports or a specialist interface that no standard carrier offers in one place.
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Power and environment. A wide DC input for vehicles, protection against load dump and reverse polarity, conformal coating or a wider temperature range than standard boards offer.
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Control of the design. Your own revision control, bill of materials and lifecycle planning, which matters for regulated or long-life products.
How a custom carrier board is designed
Module makers publish design guides that set the rules. NVIDIA provides product design guides and reference carrier design files for each Jetson module, and PICMG publishes carrier design guides for COM Express and COM-HPC. A typical project follows the same stages whichever module is used.
| Stage | What happens | Main output |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements | Agree the I/O list, power input, environment, size and target certifications | Signed hardware specification |
| Schematic | Map module pins to connectors, design power rails and protection, choose parts with long availability | Schematic and bill of materials |
| PCB layout | Route high-speed pairs such as PCIe, USB 3.2, MIPI CSI-2 and 10GbE with controlled impedance | Layout and fabrication files |
| Prototype bring-up | Build first boards, check power sequencing, boot the module and test every interface | Working prototype and fault list |
| Software | Adapt the board support package to the carrier’s wiring | Bootable image for the carrier |
| Validation | Thermal, environmental and EMC testing of the finished system | Test reports and compliance file |
| Production | Freeze the revision, set up test fixtures and plan component lifecycles | Released design |
Layout is where most of the risk sits. A camera link or PCIe lane routed with the wrong impedance may work on the bench and fail at temperature, which is why prototypes are tested across the full operating range before release.
The software side of a custom carrier
A new carrier needs software that knows what is on it. For NVIDIA Jetson, the Jetson Linux board support package has to be adapted: the pin multiplexing, the device tree that lists each interface, the camera drivers and the flashing configuration all change with the carrier’s wiring. That port has to be repeated, or at least checked, for each JetPack release you adopt.
On x86 COM Express designs the module’s BIOS handles most of the hardware, so the carrier work is lighter. It still covers anything the carrier adds, such as a serial controller, GPIO expander, watchdog or board management parts, plus the drivers for them.
Plan for this from the start. A carrier is only finished when the operating system boots on it with every interface working, and when there is a clear owner for its software as module software moves on.
Quick answers on custom carrier boards
Custom carrier boards: common questions
How long does a custom carrier board take?
Months rather than weeks. A first prototype can take around two months when the design reuses proven circuit blocks. Validation, compliance testing and production preparation follow.
Can one custom carrier take different modules?
Within a pin-compatible family, often yes. Jetson Orin Nano and Orin NX modules share a 260-pin connector, and COM Express Type 6 modules from different makers share a pinout. Check power and thermal limits for each module.
Is a custom carrier board the same as a chip-down design?
No. A carrier takes a ready-made module. Chip-down puts the processor and memory directly on your board, which needs far more design and validation work.
Does a custom carrier need its own certification?
The finished product does. EMC and safety approvals such as CE, UKCA or FCC apply to the complete system, and a new carrier changes its emissions, so it is tested as part of that system.
Who owns the design?
That is agreed at the start. The contract sets out who holds the schematics, layout and software, and who manages revisions over the product’s life.
Our in-house design centre designs semi-custom and fully custom carriers for COM Express modules and Jetson SOMs, as in this fanless GPU computer built on a custom Jetson carrier board. Through our system design and integration service, every carrier is built into a complete system with storage, enclosure and operating system image as standard.