Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Vantron HCAM26 WiFi HaLow IP camera offers up to 1km range

Vantron HCAM26 is an IP camera based on the company’s VT-MOB-AH-L sub-GHz 802.11ah WiFi HaLow module itself equipped with Morse Micro MM6108 RISC-V SoC and offering up to 1km range and better wall penetration than WiFi security cameras operating at 2.4 GHz or 5GHz frequencies. The Linux camera comes with 1GB RAM and 8GB eMMC flash, features a 5MP (2592 x 1944) camera sensor, supports AI features through a 2.0 TOPS NPU integrated into the main SoC, and is also fitted with a speaker and microphone for two-way audio, and a micro HDMI port to monitor the camera output. A 2,600mAh Li-ion battery powers the camera. Vantron HCAM26 specifications: SoC – Unname, but most likely Rockchip RV1126 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 32-bit vision processor with RISC-V core ISP – 14MP ISP VPU H.265/H.264 codecs Frame rate – 3840 x 2160 @30 fps + 1080p @30 fps encoding supported ; […]

August 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

AAEON RICO-MX8P fanless Pico-ITX Plus SBC is powered by NXP i.MX 8M Plus AI processor

AAEON has launched another Pico-ITX Plus SBC with the RICO-MX8P single board computer powered by an NXP i.MX 8M Plus SoC with a 2.3 TOPS AI accelerator and equipped with up to 8GB LPDDR4 and a 16GB eMMC flash. The fanless 100x80mm board offers a range of interfaces such as HDMI 2.0 video output, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (one Type-C OTG, one Type-A), RS-232/422/485 DB9 connector, and a 40-pin FPC connector for optional daughter boards. All these features make the RICO-MX8P SBC suitable for digital signage, retail kiosks, and industrial control systems such as PLCs and telemetry. AAEON RICO-MX8P specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus AI SoC CPU Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.6 GHz Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 800 MHz GPU – Vivante GC7000UL 3D GPU, Vivante GC520L 2D GPU VPU – 720p60 H.265/H.264 video decoder & encoder Optional AI accelerator […]

August 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Maker Go RA4M1-R4 core board is a cheap Arduino UNO R4 Minima clone taking up to 50V DC input

The Maker Go RA4M1-R4 core board is another Arduino UNO R4 Minima clone but offered at a price point much lower than the original and the Waveshare R7FA4 Plus A (another clone) since it shows up for only $0.99 on AliExpress with free shipping. Note that the ultra-low price is because of a “Welcome deal” on AliExpress, and the regular price is $7.76, so not everyone may get it for $1. About $8 is still cheap compared to the $20 (18 Euros) asked for the official Arduino UNO R4 Minima board. Let’s look at the clone in more detail to find out if they’ve made any changes to the board. Maker Go RA4M1-R4 core board specifications: Microcontroller – Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ 48 MHz with 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash USB – 1 x USB Type-C port for power and programming Expansions – Arduino UNO female + male headers […]

August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments

NanoPi R3S – A low-cost Rockchip RK3566 SBC and dual gigabit Ethernet router

FriendlyELEC NanoPi R3S is a low-cost Rockchip RK3566 SBC and router with two gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 host ports, a USB-C port for power and data, a microSD card slot, Reset and Mask buttons, and a few LEDs. It also features a MIPI DSI connector for people wanting to connect a display. Its design and size are similar to the NanoPi R5C dual 2.5GbE SBC and router, so it could be viewed as a low-cost alternative with dual GbE, no M.2 socket for WiFi & Bluetooth, only one USB 3.0 port, and no HDMI video output. The company promotes it as an inexpensive platform for IoT applications, basic NAS solutions, and so on. NanoPi R3S specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP2 GPU NPU – 0.8 TOPS AI accelerator VPU 4Kp60 H.265/H.264/VP9 video decoder 1080p60 […]

August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

T-Display-S3-AMOLED-1.43 – A 1.43-inch round AMOLED touchscreen display with an ESP32-S3 wireless MCU

We’ve already seen a few ESP32-S3 boards with an AMOLED display and plenty with round displays such as SB Components’ Dual Roundy, LILYGO T-RGB ESP32-S3, MaTouch ESP32-S3 Rotary IPS display among others, but I had yet to see an ESP32-S3 board with a round AMOLED display. That’s just what the LILYGO T-Display-S3-AMOLED-1.43 has to offer. The ESP32-S3 board features a 1.43-inch round AMOLED with 466×466 resolution and a capacitive touchscreen, a microSD card slot for storage, an RTC with backup battery, two 14-pin headers and a Qwiic UART connector for expansion, a USB-C port for power/charging and programming, and a 2-pin connector for a LiPo battery. T-Display-S3 AMOLED-1.43 specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S3R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration Memory – 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE + Mesh connectivity Storage – 16MB SPI flash, MicroSD […]

August 28, 2024August 27, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Android support for 16KB page size boosts performance by up to 10 percent

Most operating systems are set to use a 4KB page size since that’s what most CPUs support, but Android is often running on Arm CPUs that can support 16KB page size. So Google decided to enable 16 KB page size as a developer option in selected Android devices since it can deliver a 5 to 10% boost in performance, at the cost of using around 9% extra memory. Contrary to 32-bit/64-bit mode, a page size is not an Application Binary Interface (ABI), so once an application is fixed to be page size agnostic, it can run on both 4 KB and 16 KB devices without modifications. Apps written with Java or Kotlin don’t need modifications, but those that use native code (C/C++) or dependencies must be recompiled for compatibility with 16 KB page size devices. Google provides some details about the benefits of 16 KB page sizes on the developer […]

August 27, 2024August 28, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

platform-espressif32 fork to enable PlatformIO support for ESP32-C6, ESP32-C5, ESP32-H2, and ESP32-P4 SoCs

PlatformIO ESP32-C6 ESP32-C5 ESP32-P4 ESP32-H2

When Espressif Systems released Arduino ESP32 Core 3.0.0 we noted that PlatformIO support was in doubt due to business issues between Espressif and Platform IO developers. There has been no progress since then, and PlatformIO is not even reviewing or merging community contributions to their platform-espressif32 library. So if you want software that’s officially supported by Espressif, you should stick to the Arduino ESP32 Core. But if you are a fan of PlatformIO for ESP32, there’s hope even for the newer chips like ESP32-C6, ESP32-H2, and ESP32-P4 among others, as pioarduino community members have now forked the platform-espressif32 library to keep the project alive. Users can still rely on the official PlatformIO repository for existing ESP32 boards and microcontrollers, but new ESP32-C6, ESP32-H2, ESP32-C5, ESP32-H4, and ESP32-P4 SoC will only be supported by the fork. pioarduino which stands for “people initiated optimized arduino” will maintain the fork, and currently, Arduino […]

August 27, 2024August 27, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core 4.0 adds support for RP2350 boards

Earle F. Philhower, III has just released the Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core 4.0 with support for a range of Raspberry Pi RP2350 boards beside the official Raspberry Pi Pico 2. Shortly after the RP2040-based Raspberry Pi Pico board was released, we got two Arduino SDKs, the first being the community-supported Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core maintained by Earle, and the second being the official Arduino Core Mbed 2.0 for boards as such as Arduino Nano Connect RP2040. We are again likely to have two Arduino SDKs for the RP2350 starting with the Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core. Key changes in Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino core 4.0: Adds Raspberry Pi RP2350 support (Arm only; RISC-V cores are not supported at this stage) Migrates to Pico SDK 2.0 since it is required for RP2350 support and includes a new OpenOCD and Picotool. Tested features: SPI, I2C, LittleFS, EEPROM, PWMAudio, LWIP-based networking, […]