Our Fastest, Most Connected Module Ever
At NetBurner, we’re always working to help our customers deliver products on time, under budget, with ample headroom to grow. For years, our ColdFire MOD5441X and ARM MODM7AE70 modules have been the dependable workhorses behind thousands of industrial controllers, gateways, and networked instruments. Today we’re proud to introduce their flagship successor, the MODRT1171: our fastest, most capable, and most connected system-on-module to date.
Built around the 800 MHz NXP i.MX RT1171 Arm® Cortex®-M7 crossover MCU and equipped with dual gigabit Ethernet ports, the MODRT1171 brings real microprocessor-class throughput to the real-time embedded world our customers depend on, without needing Linux, an external switch, separate carrier board, or fine-pitched soldering.
Finally, since it drops into the familiar NetBurner Module socket (two 50-pin 0.1″ dual-row headers) with pin compatibility, it offers a clean upgrade path for existing designs already built on the NetBurner ecosystem.
Why Dual Gigabit Matters
Modern industrial and IoT applications don’t just need more networking, they also often need networking that’s flexible, secure, fault-tolerant, with realtime precision. The MODRT1171’s two onboard 1 Gbps Ethernet interfaces, each with their own MAC address, can be configured three ways straight out of the box:
- Two-port switch: daisy-chain devices on the plant floor without an external switch.
- Two independent interfaces: place the MODRT1171 between an isolated control network and a corporate or cloud-facing network, with the module acting as a secure gateway.
- Redundant uplinks: connect both interfaces to the same network to keep critical communications alive when one cable, switch, or PHY goes down.
All three Ethernet ports (including a 10/100 MAC available on the header pins) support IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol, making the MODRT1171 a strong fit for time-sensitive industrial automation, motion control, and audio/video networking applications.
How it Stacks Up
Unlike competitors’ modules, the MODRT1171 continues NetBurner’s 28-year commitment to delivering “Networking In One Day” by providing the full dual-gigabit experience out of the box, including both RJ-45 connectors. The MODRT1171 has tons of onboard RAM, even more onboard flash storage, and NetBurner’s battle-tested RTOS with built-in OTA firmware flashing and network discovery functionality. Simply drop the module into a socket made from inexpensive, hand-solderable 0.1″ headers, route your design to the pins you want, and you’re done. You could even bring up the board with a handful of jumper wires and the Minimum Connections for Operation section of our Quick Start Guide if you don’t have a dev kit handy.
Of course we also provide the complete modern NetBurner NNDK software platform, with TCP/IP, SSL/TLS 1.3, SSH, HTTP/HTTPS, MQTT, FTP, email, an Embedded Flash File System (EFFS), the NetBurner RTOS itself, and our NBEclipse IDE. If you prefer VSCode or command-line workflows, we support that too: on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Our goal is not to get bogged down with customization or lock customers into support contracts: when you ship successful products, we’re successful. That means putting maximum power in your hands with minimal fuss, from start to finish.
Key Features
- NXP i.MX RT1171 Cortex-M7, 800 MHz, industrial temperature (–40 °C to 85 °C)
- Two 1 Gbps Ethernet ports with onboard RJ-45s, configurable as a switch or independent interfaces
- Additional 10/100 Mbps MAC on header pins (third interface)
- IEEE 1588 PTP on all Ethernet ports
- 128 MB SPI NAND Flash, 64 MB 32-bit SDRAM (200 MHz), 2 MB internal SRAM
- External SDHC flash card support
- 11 UARTs (up to 20 Mbps), 6 I²C, 3 CAN, 4 SPI (3 QSPI), 2 I²S, 2 USB HS OTG w/ PHY
- Up to 88 GPIO, 20 ADC channels (12-bit, 4 Msps), 1 DAC, 4 FlexPWM modules
- 4-channel PDM mic input, 2-channel MQS audio output, S/PDIF
- FlexIO programmable I/O (UART/I²C/SPI/I²S/68K/8080/PWM)
- True RNG, watchdog, quadrature decoder, keypad port
- Standard NetBurner Module form factor — 2.95″ × 2.00″, two 50-pin 0.1″ dual-row headers
- Supports i.MX RT1172/1176 stuffing options for graphics, plus optional FFC connectors for display and camera
Use Cases
- Industrial gateways and protocol bridges (Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, J1939, CANopen)
- Two-port edge nodes that need to sit between a control network and the cloud
- Real-time motion, motor, and PWM control with networked telemetry
- High-throughput data acquisition (20 ADC channels, gigabit upstream)
- Secure machine-to-machine communications over TLS 1.3, MQTT, WebSockets, HTTPS
- Audio-capable IoT devices using PDM mics and MQS output
- Drop-in performance upgrades for existing MOD5441X or MODM7AE70 designs
Get Started with the MODRT1171 Today
The fastest way to start building is the MODRT1171 Development Kit, which pairs the production module with a fully-featured development board and everything you need to compile, deploy, and debug your first networked application in an afternoon.
Whether you’re a seasoned NetBurner customer planning a refresh, or you’re picking up a NetBurner module for the very first time, our engineering support team in San Diego is here to help. As always, dev kits come with one year of free support and updates. Visit the MODRT1171 product page for full specs, the datasheet and our pin configuration tool. You can order modules there, or reach NetBurner Sales at sales@netburner.com or 1-800-695-6828.
MODRT1171 Part Numbers
- MODRT1171 Dual Ethernet Core Module
with RJ-45 jacks:MODRT1171-100IR
with 10-pin headers:MODRT1171-200IR - MODRT1171 Development Kit —
NNDK-MODRT1171LC-KIT(includes development board, production module, and all software and development tools)