eIQ Neutron NPU Setup Guide

This guide provides the steps to set up the eIQ Neutron SDK and deploy a model on an NXP SoC with an integrated eIQ Neutron NPU. Unlike a discrete accelerator module, the Neutron NPU is embedded directly in the SoC (for example, i.MX 95), so there is no add-on hardware to install — the workflow centers on preparing a model on the host machine and deploying it to the target board.

The examples in this guide use the MR-NavQ95 board, which is based on the i.MX 95 SoC and its integrated Neutron NPU.

This guide covers:

  • Prerequisites and host-side setup

  • Obtaining the eIQ Neutron SDK (SDK download or pip install)

  • Converting a model for the Neutron NPU with the neutron-converter

  • Deploying and benchmarking the model on the target

Prerequisites

Hardware:

  • A target board with an integrated Neutron NPU. This guide uses the MR-NavQ95 board (based on the i.MX 95 SoC) as the example.

  • Internet access on the host machine to download and install the SDK

  • 4 GB RAM or more, and a multi-core CPU on the host (recommended for reasonable conversion times)

Software:

  • Host development machine running Linux or Windows

  • Python 3.8 or newer, with pip

  • NXP Yocto BSP flashed to the target board, matching the Neutron SDK version (see the compatibility tables in the Neutron SDK User Guide)

Obtain the eIQ Neutron SDK

The eIQ Neutron SDK can be obtained in one of two ways. Use whichever fits the workflow.

Option A — Download the SDK archive from nxp.com

  1. Download the eIQ Neutron SDK from the NXP eIQ AI Development Environment page:

    https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/software/eiq-ai-development-environment/eiq-toolkit-for-end-to-end-model-development-and-deployment:EIQ-TOOLKIT

  2. Extract the downloaded SDK archive. The archive includes a docs/ folder containing the full documentation set. The most relevant document for this workflow is the Neutron Converter User Guide (docs/NeutronConverterUserGuide.md), which details the neutron-converter tool, its conversion stages, and all command-line options.

    Tip: For the best experience with tables and links, read the .md files in a Markdown viewer such as the built-in preview in Visual Studio Code (Ctrl+Shift+V), or directly on the Git server where they render automatically.

Option B — Install via pip (alternative)

Alternatively, instead of downloading the SDK archive from nxp.com, the eIQ Neutron SDK can be installed directly from the NXP eIQ package repository with pip (see Host-Side Setup). This is convenient for CI or scripted host environments. Note that the documentation set shipped in the archive’s docs/ folder is only available with Option A; when installing via pip, refer to the online documentation for the same references.

Host-Side Setup

It is good practice to work inside a Python virtual environment.

Linux:

python3 -m venv neutron-env
source neutron-env/bin/activate

Windows (PowerShell):

python -m venv neutron-env
.\neutron-env\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Windows note: If activation is blocked by the execution policy, run PowerShell as Administrator once and execute: Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned

If Option B above was chosen (or to make the converter available on the PATH regardless of how the SDK was obtained), install the eIQ Neutron SDK from the NXP eIQ package repository:

pip install eiq-neutron-sdk --index-url https://eiq.nxp.com/repository/

Verify the converter is available:

neutron-converter --help

If the command is not found, ensure the virtual environment is activated and that the Python bin (Linux) or Scripts (Windows) directory is on the PATH.

Convert a Model for the Neutron NPU

The neutron-converter consumes a quantized (INT8) TFLite model and produces a custom TFLite model in which the operators supported by the NPU are grouped into NeutronGraph custom operators for on-NPU execution, while unsupported operators remain on the CPU.

  1. Check the available targets:

    neutron-converter --show-targets

  2. Convert the quantized TFLite model for the target SoC. For the MR-NavQ95 board (i.MX 95), use the imx95 target:

    neutron-converter \
  --input my_model_quantized.tflite \
  --output my_model_converted.tflite \
  --target imx95

    At minimum, the converter requires the target SoC and a quantized TFLite input model.

    Note: For full details on the conversion stages (optimize, extract, generate), minimum system requirements, and the complete list of command-line options, refer to the public eIQ Neutron SDK documentation.

Deploy and Benchmark on the Target

  1. Copy the converted model (my_model_converted.tflite) to the MR-NavQ95 board.

  2. Run the TensorFlow Lite benchmark_model application with the Neutron delegate. This utility is part of the TensorFlow package included in the NXP Yocto BSP:

    /usr/bin/tensorflow-lite-2.19.0/examples/benchmark_model \
  --graph=my_model_converted.tflite \
  --external_delegate_path=/usr/lib/libneutron_delegate.so \
  --enable_op_profiling=true \
  --num_threads=5

  3. In the output, operations executed via the NeutronDelegate node correspond to workloads offloaded to the Neutron NPU; all remaining nodes run on the CPU. A high percentage under the NeutronDelegate node means most of the computation is being offloaded to the NPU.

Keep the Runtime and Converter in Sync

Always keep the Neutron driver, firmware, and converter from the same Neutron SDK version. If the runtime binaries and the converted model are not aligned, a microcode version mismatch warning is printed and operation may be unreliable:

Microcode version mismatch! Neutron Driver is 3.1.0-0X359f358d but model converted with 3.0.1-0Xd5d7918e. Runtime (driver, firmware) should be aligned with converter

Refer to the SDK/BSP and SDK/MCUXpresso version compatibility tables in the Neutron SDK User Guide (docs/NeutronSDKUserGuide.md) to confirm the correct pairing, and to the same guide for the runtime update procedure if an upgrade is needed for the on-target driver, firmware, and delegate.

References and Downloads

Online references:

  1. eIQ Neutron SDK documentation (online): https://eiq.nxp.com/learning-hub/tools/neutronSdk/index.html — full reference for the neutron-converter tool, conversion stages, system requirements, deployment workflow, and version compatibility tables.

  2. eIQ AI Development Environment (SDK download): https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/software/eiq-ai-development-environment/eiq-toolkit-for-end-to-end-model-development-and-deployment:EIQ-TOOLKIT

The following documents are also located in the docs/ folder of the eIQ Neutron SDK archive (Option A):

  1. Quick Start Guide: docs/QuickStartGuide.md — how to navigate the docs and deploy a first model.

  2. Neutron SDK User Guide: docs/NeutronSDKUserGuide.md — end-to-end deployment workflow, runtime update procedure, and version compatibility tables.

  3. Neutron Converter User Guide: docs/NeutronConverterUserGuide.md — full reference for the neutron-converter tool.