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

November 7, 2024November 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 238 Comments

Giveaway Week 2024 – Mixtile Core 3588E development kit with RK3588 SoM

Day 4 of Giveaway Week 2024 will be for a development kit comprised of the Mixtile Core 3588E SoM based on Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC and a Leetop A206 carrier board compatible with NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM modules. This development kit is mostly useful to evaluate the Mixtile Core 3588E system-on-module, but it can be used just like any Rockchip RK3588 SBC with the company providing a Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop image for the board. Since it relies on the same edge connector as the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 NX module, the Core 3588E module can also be connected to other compatible carrier boards. I reviewed the Mixtile Core 3588E development kit last December running Ubuntu 22.04. At the time, I found the Mixtile Core 3588E system-on-module performs well with the pre-loaded Ubuntu 22.04 image with a similar performance as on other Rockchip RK3588 hardware platforms. 3D graphics acceleration was working with […]

November 6, 2024November 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Andes QiLai quad-core AX45MP RISC-V SoC with NX27V vector processor powers micro-ATX Voyager Development Platform

Andes’ Voyager Development Platform is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the company’s QiLai SoC with four AX45MP 64-bit RISC-V cores and an NX27V vector processor optimized for AI workloads. The Voyager board supports up to 16GB of DDR4 via a UDIMM socket, features 16Mbit SPI Flash for boot code and an SD card socket, includes three PCIe Gen4 slots to connect external devices such as GPU card and SSD, as well as a JTAG debugger and USB to UART bridge for debugging during Linux software development. Andes QiLai RISC-V AI SoC Before looking at the board itself, let’s check the Andes QiLai SoC specifications: CPU cores Andes AX45MP-4C cluster 4x RV64GC 8-stage superscalar processors clocked at 1.6 GHz (worse) / 2.1 GHz (typ.) Support of MESI cache coherence protocol with Coherence Manager 32KB L1 Instruction and Date cache 2MB L2 cache I/O Coherence Port (IOCP) – Synchronous AXI4 (256 bits […]

November 6, 2024November 8, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 181 Comments

Giveaway Week 2024 – RAKwireless Blues.ONE LoRaWAN, LTE-M, and NB-IoT devkit

For the fourth year in a row, RAKwireless is participating in CNX Software’s Giveaway Week, and this year, the company is offering the Blues.ONE IoT development kit with LoRaWAN, LTE-M, and NB-IoT connectivity and 500MB of cellular data through the Blues NoteCard. The devkit can be used to prototype or develop IoT devices for industrial automation and asset-tracking applications and relies on the WisBlock modular IoT prototyping system with the RAK13102 WisBlock Blues Notecarrier, the Blues NoteCard, a WisBlock Base Board, and a WisBlock Core module. Blues.ONE kit content: RAK4631 WisBlock Core Module based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 64 MHz with 1 MB Flash, 256 KB RAM, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.0 protocol stack Semtech SX1262 LoRa Transceiver with LoRaWAN 1.0.2 protocol stack RAK19007 WisBlock Base Board with 4x sensor slots, 1x IO slot, a USB Type-C port, a rechargeable battery connector, and a solar panel connector […]

November 6, 2024November 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Waveshare ESP32-P4-NANO board offers Ethernet, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5, MIPI display and camera interfaces, GPIO headers

Waveshare ESP32-P4-NANO is the first third-party ESP32-P4 RISC-V board we’ve seen and it follows the launch of the Espressif Systems’ ESP32-P4-Function-EV-Board devkit introduced this summer. While the ESP32-P4 is a general-purpose microcontroller, the ESP32-P4-NANO board still implements wireless connectivity through an ESP32-C6 WiFI 6 and Bluetooth LE 5.4 module and offers a range of interfaces such as an Ethernet RJ45 port with optional PoE, MIPI DSI and CSI interfaces, a USB Type-A OTG port, and GPIO headers for expansion. ESP32-P4-NANO specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32-P4NRW32 MCU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and JPEG codecs support Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM, 32MB PSRAM Storage – 128 KB HP ROM, 16 KB LP ROM Wireless module – […]

November 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rikomagic RKM MK42 Intel N100 mini PC targets business applications such as digital signage

Rikomagic RKM MK42 is yet another Intel Processor N100 mini PC but geared towards business applications such as digital signage, retail kiosks, or IoT gateway rather than home use. The mini PC ships with 12GB RAM and a 512GB SSD, and offers dual GbE, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, dual 4K display setups through HDMI and DP++ ports, and five USB ports for expansion. Rikomaigc RKM MK42 specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 12GB RAM Storage – 512GB SSD Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 DisplayPort++ connector up to 4Kp60 Up to 2x independent 4K displays Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, digital audio output via HDMI and DP++ Networking 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 USB – […]

November 5, 2024November 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 148 Comments

Giveaway Week 2024 – Orbbec Femto mega 3D depth and 4K RGB camera

The second prize of Giveaway Week 2024 is the Orbbec Femto Mega 3D depth and 4K RGB camera powered by an NVIDIA Jetson Nano module and featuring Microsoft ToF technology found in Hololens and Azure Kinect DevKit. The camera connects to Windows or Linux host computers through USB or Ethernet and is supported by the Orbbec SDK with the NVIDIA Jetson Nano running depth vision algorithms to convert raw data to precise depth images. I first reviewed the Orbbec Femto Mega using the Orbbec Viewer for a quick test connected to an Ubuntu laptop (as shown above) before switching to a more complex demo using the Orbbec SDK for body tracking in Windows 11. Although it was satisfying once it worked, I struggled quite a lot to run the body tracking demo in Windows 11, so there’s a learning curve, and after you have this working, you’d still need to […]

November 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Maximizing Connectivity with LTE-M in Asset Trackers

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Dana Cohen, Product Marketing Manager at Sony Semiconductor Israel, discussing LTE-M in asset trackers and comparing it to LTE Cat1.bis, another LPWAN technology. Connectivity has been a game changer in the asset-tracking landscape. Personal devices, pets, vehicles, international packages, or any kind of asset can all easily be tracked through the cloud. This has opened the door to innovative use cases that have transformed global shipping, automotive loans, retail management, construction, and other industries. Using asset trackers allows shippers to track the temperature and condition of products and raw materials as they move on ships, planes, and trucks through the supply chain. Families have a better chance of recovering beloved pets that are lost. Even banks are more willing to approve high-risk car loans, knowing that they can locate and recover a vehicle if its owner falls behind on payments. While there is […]

November 4, 2024November 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 with 1280×720 resolution, thinner design launched for $60

Raspberry Pi has launched the Touch Display 2, a 7-inch touchscreen RGB TFT display with 1280×720 designed to be connected to Raspberry Pi single board computers. It improves on the original Raspberry Pi Touch Display with a higher resolution (1280×720 vs 800×480) and a slimmer form factor thanks to the integration of the display driver PCB into the display enclosure itself. Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 specifications Display Type – 7-inch 24-bit RGB TFT display Resolution 1280 x 720 resolution Touch panel – 5-point multi-touch capacitive touch panel Active area – 155 x 88 mm Backlight type – LED B/L Surface treatment – anti-glare Host interface – MIPI CSI connector with ribbon cable compatible with all Raspberry Pi boards except the Raspberry Pi Zero line Power Supply – 5V DC via 2-wire, 3-pin connected inserted into the 40-pin GPIO header Dimensions – 189.32 x 120.24mm The back of the display […]