Jetson Arena

The arena for whole model stacks on Jetson devices.

First targetJetson Orin Nano Super 8GBrealtime voice loop: VAD → STT → LLM → TTS

Jetson Arena answers one question: how does a given Jetson device handle a whole model stack? Not a single model in isolation — the whole pipeline, every stage running together on the device they all have to share.

Every published run will carry three things: its latency, end to end and per stage; its memory signature on unified memory; and an honest read of its quality — alongside the Docker recipe that reproduces it.

Nothing is measured yet. The first target is chosen, and the method is public before any number is — so that when results land, they can be held to it.

The first target

Jetson Orin Nano Super 8GB

A realtime voice loop, running whole on one small board: speak, and hear the reply.

  1. VADvoice activity detection
  2. STTspeech to text
  3. LLMlanguage model
  4. TTStext to speech

Four stages contending for one pool of unified memory, in a loop a person can feel. It is exactly the kind of stack that only makes sense measured whole — and none of it is measured yet.

What we measure

Three axes, stated before any number exists

  • Latency

    End to end, and per stage

    The wall-clock story of one turn: from the end of speech to the first audible reply, and where inside the pipeline that time goes. Every published run will carry the full breakdown, not a single headline figure.

  • Memory signature

    On unified memory

    CPU and GPU share one pool on a Jetson, so the stack's whole footprint is what matters. Runs will record what each stage holds resident, and what remains for everything else on the board.

  • Quality

    Honest, per stage

    A loop that replies fast but mishears the question has not won anything. Each stage will be scored against its own task, and every trade-off made to fit the device will be stated with the run.

Reproducible by design

Every run will ship its recipe

Every published run will come with the Docker recipe that reproduces it — the exact containers, models, and flags, building on the jetson-containers family. Own the device, rerun the arena: a result you cannot reproduce is a result you should not trust.