--- updatedAt: 2026-09-25T20:34:49.000Z agentTools: projectIndex: https://docs.sixfab.com/llms.txt --- # Quickstart Set up the ALPON X5 AI edge computer with this step-by-step quick start guide. Learn how to install hardware and configure the system for edge AI deployment. {`
Quickstart

Bring an ALPON X5 AI online in 5 steps

Register the device in Sixfab Connect, connect power, plug in a network, verify the LEDs, then open a browser-based remote terminal from ALPON Cloud. Five steps, one device, no local toolchain. Intelligented by DEEPX. Built on Raspberry Pi.

25 TOPS at INT8 DEEPX DX-M1 Raspberry Pi CM5 LTE Cat 4 + eSIM Wi-Fi 5
~5 min
ALPON X5 AI · Quickstart · Updated 2026-09-17 · Intelligented by DEEPX · Built on Raspberry Pi
How do I set up an ALPON X5 AI?

Five steps, about 5 minutes. Register the device in Sixfab Connect using its QR code or serial number, connect power via the included 27 W USB-C PD adapter (or the 12–24 V DC screw terminal, or PoE+), plug in Ethernet for first-time provisioning, watch the front-panel LEDs settle, then open a browser-based remote terminal from ALPON Cloud. The NPU is reachable as soon as the device shows Online.

Before you start

Have these on hand before powering on. Everything except an ALPON Cloud account ships in the box: the device, four external antennas (2× LTE, 1× GNSS, 1× Wi-Fi) labeled L, L, G, and W, and the 27 W USB-C PD adapter with four interchangeable plug heads (US / EU / UK / AU). The antennas screw onto the matching connectors on the back panel and must be attached before applying power.

In the box 3 items
Included
ALPON X5 AI device Enclosure with the DEEPX DX-M1 NPU and Raspberry Pi CM5 integrated; nothing to assemble inside. Four external SMA connectors on the back panel are labeled L, L, G, and W for the matching antennas.
Included
4 external antennas — 2× LTE, 1× GNSS, 1× Wi-Fi Each antenna is labeled to match the connector it screws onto: two L for LTE Main and LTE Diversity, one G for GNSS/GPS, one W for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth. Hand-tighten only — no tools required. Attach all four before applying power.
Included
27 W USB-C PD adapter Four interchangeable plug heads (US / EU / UK / AU). Slide the regional head onto the adapter body before use.
You'll also need 2 items
Required
ALPON Cloud account Free signup at connect.sixfab.com. Required to register the device and open the browser-based remote terminal.
Recommended
Ethernet cable Strongly recommended for first boot. The integrated eSIM (LTE Cat 4) activates in parallel and takes over if Ethernet is removed; wired is faster on day one.

The procedure

Five steps. The first registers the device to your account; the next three bring it up on power and the network; the fifth opens the remote terminal and confirms the DEEPX NPU is reachable. Each step's commands are self-contained, so copy them in order.

1

Register the device in Sixfab Connect

Registering links the device's serial number to your account so ALPON Cloud can reach it the moment it comes online. There are two paths to the same result — scanning the QR code is faster, but manual registration works just as well if you only have the device in front of you.

Registering an ALPON X5 AI in Sixfab Connect via QR scan or manual serial-number entry
Fig. 1 Registration paths: scan the QR code on the bottom label, or enter the serial number manually in Sixfab Connect.
Scan QR code Recommended
  1. Find the QR code on the device's bottom label.
  2. Scan it with your phone camera.
  3. Sixfab Connect opens; log in.
  4. The device auto-registers to your account.
Manual registration Alternative
  1. Open Sixfab Connect.
  2. Go to Assets, click Register Asset.
  3. Enter the serial number from the bottom label.
  4. Confirm to register.
Register before powering on is fine

Registering before applying power is fully supported. The device finishes the handshake automatically once it reaches the network in Step 3.

2

Connect power

Attach the four antennas before applying power

Screw the two LTE antennas onto the L connectors, the GNSS antenna onto the G connector, and the Wi-Fi antenna onto the W connector on the back panel. Hand-tighten only — no tools required. The cellular and GNSS radios will not register a network or fix without their antennas connected, and running the device unpowered through this step is the safest order.

The ALPON X5 AI accepts three power inputs. The included 27 W USB-C PD adapter (15 V / 1.8 A, a supported configuration) is the fastest path for first boot; a 45 W USB-C PD adapter is recommended for sustained AI load. Slide the correct regional plug head onto the adapter body before use; the screw terminal (12–24 V DC, 27 W minimum) and PoE+ inputs remain available for industrial wiring and single-cable installs.

USB-C PD adapter with interchangeable regional plug heads connecting to the ALPON X5 AI
Fig. 2 The included 27 W USB-C PD adapter with four interchangeable plug heads. Slide the regional head onto the adapter body until it clicks.
Quick start

USB-C PD

Included 27 W adapter (15 V × 1.8 A) · 12 V or 15 V PD · 45 W recommended for sustained AI load

Screw terminal

12–24 V DC, 27 W minimum, for industrial wiring

PoE+ (optional)

IEEE 802.3at, up to 25 W, single-cable install

  1. Slide the regional plug head onto the USB-C PD adapter until it clicks.
  2. Connect the adapter cable to the device's USB-C port.
  3. Plug the adapter into mains power.
  4. The Power LED turns solid white.
Use the included adapter, or a 12–24 V DC supply

Standard USB-C phone chargers may not negotiate the required voltage and can trigger under-voltage warnings. If the Power LED does not turn on, confirm you are using the included 27 W USB-C PD adapter, or wire a 12–24 V DC supply into the screw terminal.

3

Connect to a network

The ALPON X5 AI offers two Gigabit Ethernet ports and built-in cellular (eSIM, eUICC). For first boot, plug an Ethernet cable into ETH 0. The integrated eSIM activates in parallel and takes over if Ethernet is removed — you can keep both paths live for failover, or rely on cellular alone in the field.

  1. Connect an Ethernet cable from your router or switch to ETH 0.
  2. The device requests an IP via DHCP. No further configuration is required.
  3. If Ethernet is unavailable, the eSIM negotiates an LTE Cat 4 connection automatically.
Antennas already attached? Outdoor upgrade option

You should have attached the four included antennas in Step 2 before applying power. For deployments with weak signal, an optional 3-metre outdoor IP67 combination antenna is available as an upgrade; see Antenna connectors.

4

Verify the device is online

Watch the front-panel LEDs to confirm power, network, and cloud reachability before opening the remote terminal. The full LED legend below covers the states you'll see during provisioning.

Power Solid white when power is applied.
Status Solid green: the device is online and reachable from ALPON Cloud.
Cellular Blue: strong LTE signal.
Cellular Yellow: moderate LTE signal. Device is still online.
Cellular Red: weak or no LTE signal. Reposition the device or use Ethernet.
Ready when

The Status LED is solid green and the device shows Online in your Sixfab Connect dashboard.

5

Access the device and confirm the NPU

Open Sixfab Connect and pick the device from your asset list. From here you can run commands, monitor health, and deploy container workloads — no local SSH client needed.

ALPON Cloud dashboard with the device shown Online and the browser-based remote terminal open
Fig. 5 ALPON Cloud dashboard with the device Online and the browser-based remote terminal open.

From the dashboard you can:

  • Open a browser-based remote terminal — no local SSH client needed.
  • Monitor device health: CPU, memory, temperature, network, container state.
  • Deploy ARM64 container workloads to the device or to your fleet.
  • Schedule OTA updates for firmware and applications.
  • Manage eSIM profiles and configure network failover.

Sanity check: the DEEPX NPU is reachable

From the remote terminal, run dxrt-cli -s to confirm the DEEPX DX-M1 NPU is enumerated and the runtime, driver, and on-NPU firmware are reporting cleanly. This is the same one-shot status command you'll rely on later for production diagnostics.

bash · alpon@alpon-x5-ai: ~
# Full NPU, driver, runtime, and firmware status report
dxrt-cli -s
Expected output NPU reachable 
DXRT v3.2.0
 * Device 0: DX-M1, Accelerator type
 * RT Driver version  : v2.1.0
 * PCIe Driver version: v2.0.1
 * FW version         : v2.5.0
 * PCIe   : Gen3 X1 [01:00:00]
NPU 0: voltage 750 mV, clock 1000 MHz, temperature 46 °C
NPU 1: voltage 750 mV, clock 1000 MHz, temperature 46 °C
NPU 2: voltage 750 mV, clock 1000 MHz, temperature 46 °C
The NPU answers. From here, AI Model Deployment takes it.

The hardware and runtime stack are healthy. The next chapter is AI Model Deployment: pick a pre-compiled model from the Sixfab Model Zoo, bring your own ONNX model through the Custom Models Deployment Workflow, or instrument the runtime for production with System Monitoring. The exit ramp below points to each.

Change the default password before deployment

For local SSH or HDMI console access, the default user is alpon with password sixfab. Change it on first login with passwd. See ALPON X5 AI OS for hardening guidance.

First-boot troubleshooting

Most setup issues resolve in under a minute. Open the question that matches what you see; for anything else, head to the full Troubleshooting guide.

The Power LED does not turn on

Confirm the adapter is the included 27 W USB-C PD unit. Standard USB-C phone chargers may not negotiate the required voltage. As a fallback, wire a 12–24 V DC supply into the screw terminal.

The Status LED never turns green

The device cannot reach ALPON Cloud. Confirm the Ethernet cable is seated, or move the device to a location with better cellular coverage.

The QR code does not scan

Use the Manual registration path in Step 1. Type the serial number from the bottom label into Sixfab Connect Assets → Register Asset.

The device shows Offline in Sixfab Connect after a few minutes

Confirm the Cellular LED is not red. If LTE signal is weak and you have not connected Ethernet, plug in a cable. The device only reports Offline when no network path is available.

dxrt-cli -s reports the NPU but versions do not match

Driver, runtime, and on-NPU firmware carry independent version numbers. A drift between any two can cause silent CPU fallback or model-load errors. See System Monitoring for the canonical version-alignment matrix.

I cannot find the activation code or serial number

Both are printed on the bottom label of the device, next to the QR code. If the label is missing or unreadable, contact Sixfab support with your order number.

AI Model Deployment

Where to next

The device is up, the LEDs are green, and the DEEPX DX-M1 NPU answers. The next chapter is AI Model Deployment: pick more pre-compiled models, bring your own trained model to the NPU, or instrument the deployment for production.

Next · Run more models Sixfab Model Zoo A library of pre-compiled DXNN models for detection, classification, segmentation, and pose, with per-model FPS on ALPON X5 AI and a deploy command for each. The shortest path beyond hello-world. Browse the Model Zoo →
Next · Bring your own model Deployment Workflow ONNX → DXNN compiler → ALPON X5 AI. The full path from a trained model on your development machine to a compiled artifact running on the NPU, including calibration and integration. Deployment Workflow →
Next · Operate in production System Monitoring NPU utilisation, per-core temperature, voltage, clock, and memory headroom via dxrt-cli and dxtop. Read NPU telemetry, surface it to dashboards, and watch deployments in real time. Monitor the NPU →
Troubleshooting Power, network, LED states, NPU detection, container runtime, and OTA failures.
FAQ Compatibility, supported models, eSIM activation, performance, custom firmware.
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