Embedded Technology
Choosing the right embedded Linux platform for your industrial application
By Graeme Wintle, director of ByteSnap Design
N
early half of all
embedded systems today, approximately 44 per cent to 46 per cent (1)
Linux, a testament to its
reliability, scalability, and flexibility across industries. Whether enabling real-time control systems on a production line or powering secure edge Internet of Things (IoT) deployments, choosing the optimal embedded platform can profoundly influence product performance, development cadence, and long-term maintenance strategy. Among the most prominent embedded ARM CPU names are NXP, NVIDIA, Broadcom, TI, Qualcomm, Rockchip, Renesas, and many others. These brands offer a number of distinct strengths and drawbacks
42 October 2025 , run embedded
in their CPUs, and choosing between them requires more than comparing specs. At ByteSnap Design, our experience has shown how CPU decisions directly influence project success.
Why NXP is the go-to for many industrial applications
NXP have a strong automotive background, they have a wide number of chip offerings that have commercial, industrial and automotive grade silicon, meaning, high reliability and harsh environments are not a problem for these devices. Automotive applications take a huge number of chips for their projects, teams working on these projects have in-depth experience with the silicon devices, they work hand in hand
Components in Electronics
with NXP directly and may even be key to NXP designing the chip around their project needs. These projects then drive the industrial chip offerings for the wider industrial user base. NXP have very complete documentation for both hardware and software offerings for their chip and both direct and community support. A policy of open source BSP code and the ability to purchase devices easily and cheaply through distribution channels make it a strong choice to use for your next embedded design. NXP devices can be easily used for a wide range of purposes from security sectors, video work, medical devices, general industrial devices, oil and gas sectors and many more.
NXP from their automotive background
have a longevity of supply from 10-15 years for all their chips, ideal for customers wanting to supply their product for many years into the future.
Why NVIDIA Jetson excels in AI but demands engineering depth NVIDIA’s Jetson platform is a powerful tool for edge AI applications. Its combination of ARM-based CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs makes it ideal for machine learning, computer vision, and robotics. Jetson’s integrated SDK, JetPack, includes everything from the Linux kernel to CUDA libraries, which accelerates development for GPU-intensive workloads. However, this power comes with complexity. Jetson’s build environment requires significant resources: at least 16GB
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