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

June 23, 2024June 25, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Radxa Fogwise Airbox AI box review – Part 2: Llama3, Stable Diffusion, imgSearch, Python SDK, YOLOv8

After checking out Radxa Fogwise Airbox hardware in the first part of the review last month, I’ve now had time to test the SOPHGO SG2300x-powered AI box with an Ubuntu 20.04 Server image preloaded with CasaOS as well as Stable Diffusion and Llama3 containers. I’ll start the second part of the review by checking out the pre-installed Stable Diffusion text-to-image generator and Llama3 AI chatbot, then manually install imgSearch AI-powered image search engine in CasaOS web dashboard, test the Python SDK in the command line, and run some AI vision models, namely Resnet50 and YOLOv8. Radxa Fogwise Airbox OS installation Radxa only provided an Ubuntu Server 20.04 image last month with only the basics pre-installated. The company has now improved the documentation and also made two images available for the Radxa Fogwise Airbox: Base image (1.2GB) – Based on Ubuntu Server 20.04; contains only Sophon base SDK and backend. Full […]

June 21, 2024June 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

AIC8800-based WiFi 6 AX300 USB adapter sells for less than $3

Adding networking capabilities to a computer or SBC has never been cheaper, as we’ve just written about a $12 M.2 RTL8126 5GbE module, and now I’ve come across a WiFi 6 USB adapter based on AIC8800 chipset that sells for under $3 on Aliexpress. I found out about it after we published an article about the Luckfox Pico Ultra W SBC that comes with a 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module that happens to be based on an AIC8800DC module. Upon further investigation, I discovered some ultra-cheap WiFi 6 USB dongles were available, but with some caveats such as the lack of 5 GHz support and a speed limited to 300 Mbps. But it can still be interesting, so let’s find out. Specifications: Chipset – AICSemi AIC8800 WiFi – 2.4 GHz 802.11ax WiFi 6 up to 286.8 Mbps Tx power – 20dBm Features – MU-MIMO, OFDMA Operating modes […]

June 21, 2024July 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Nuvoton NuMicro M2L31 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU embeds up to 512KB high-durability ReRAM, 168KB SRAM

Nuvoton NuMaker-M2L31KI development board

Nuvoton NuMicro M2L31 is a family of Arm Cortex-M23 microcontrollers clocked up to 72 MHz, equipped with 64KB to 512KB high-durability ReRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) with fast write speeds, 40KB to 168KB SRAM. The microcontroller supports 1.71V to 3.6V operating voltage, can operate in the -40°C to 105°C temperature range, and offers a wide range of interfaces available through packages as small as WLCSP 25 (2.5 x 2.5 mm) and up to LQFP128 (14 x 14 mm). Arm introduced the Cortex-M23 core in 2016 together with the Arm Cortex-M33 core, but while the latter is widely integrated in a large range of designs, we’ve seen fewer Cortex-M23 microcontrollers with some examples being Microchip SAML10/L11 (2018) and more recently, the Renesas RA0 family. Nuvoton adds another option with the Numicro M2L31 that also happens to integrates ReRAM non-volatile memory. Key Features: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M23 core running up to 72 […]

June 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DFI X6-MTH-ORN fanless Edge AI Box computer combines 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra SoC with NVIDIA Jetson Orin AI module

DFI X6-MTH-ORN is a fanless Edge AI Box Computer that combines an NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX/Nano AI module with a 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake-U” 15W processor for AI-driven applications leveraging GPU computing, machine learning, and image processing. It’s a fully modular computer with an Intel COM Express Type 6 or Type 10 module, an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module, and five M.2 sockets for expansion. The fanless embedded system takes up to 64GB DDR5 RAM, supports M.2 NVMe and 2.5-inch SATA storage, offers seven video outputs (3x HDMI, 3x DP+, VGA), and six Gigabit Ethernet ports. The X6-MTH-ORN is designed for industrial applications and environments with serial interfaces, wide 9V-36V DC input, and an extended -20°C to 60°C temperature range. DFI X6-MTH-ORN specifications: Meteor Lake-U SoC (one of the other) Intel Core Ultra 7 165U 12-core (2P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 1.7 / 4.9 GHz with 12MB cache, Intel 4Xe […]

June 20, 2024June 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Orange Pi KunPeng Pro SBC features a quad-core Huawei CPU with an 8 TOPS AI accelerator

Orange Pi KunPeng Pro is a single board computer powered by an unnamed KunPeng quad-core processor from Huawei that features an 8 TOPS NPU for AI workloads. It’s not the first time Orange Pi has launched an SBC based on a Huawei SoC, as the company introduced the Orange Pi AIPro last year with another unnamed Huawei Ascend SoC with a 20 TOPS NPU. The new Orange Pi KunPeng Pro board has basically the same layout as the AIPro model, but with lower specs overall, although it still comes with 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4x memory. Orange Pi KunPeng Pro specifications: SoC – Unnamed Huawei Kunpeng quad-core 64-bit SoC with unnamed GPU, 8 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4X Storage 32MB SPI flash connector for 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB eMMC flash module MicroSD card slot M.2 2280 socket for SATA/NVMe drive Video Output 2x HDMI 2.0 […]

June 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Alif Semi Ensemble E1C is an entry-level Cortex-M55 MCU with a 46 GOPS Ethos-U55 AI/ML accelerator

Alif Ensemble E1C AI/ML Cortex-M55 microcontroller

Alif Semi Ensemble E1C is an entry-level addition to the company’s Ensemble Cortex-A32M35 processors and microcontrollers with Ethos-U55 microNPUs that targets the very edge with a 160 MHz Cortex-M55 microcontroller and a 46 GOPS Ethos-U55 NPU. The Ensemble E1C is virtually the same as the E1 microcontroller but with less memory (2MB SRAM) and storage (up to 1.9MB non-volatile MRAM), and offered in more compact packages with 64, 90, or 120 pins as small as 3.9 x 3.9mm. Alif Semi Ensemble E1C specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M55 core up to 160 MHz with Helium Vector Processing Extension, 16KB Instruction and Data caches, Armv8.1-M ISA with Arm TrustZone; 4.37 CoreMark/MHz GPU – Optional D/AVE 2D Graphics Processing Unit MicroNPU – 1x Arm Ethos-U55 Neural Processing Unit with 128 MAC; up to 46 GOPS On-chip application memory Up to 1.9 MB MRAM Non-Volatile Memory Up to 2MB Zero Wait-State SRAM with optional […]

June 19, 2024June 21, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$3.40 WeAct STM32WB55 board offers Bluetooth LE 5.4 and 802.15.4 (Thread/Zigbee/Matter) connectivity

WeAct STM32WB55 is an inexpensive development board based on STMicro STM32WB55 Arm Cortex-M4 wireless SoC with Bluetooth LE 5.4 and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter connectivity that sells for just $3.40 shipped. STMicro STM32WB55 wireless microcontroller was introduced in 2019, and we have covered a few development boards such as the official P-Nucleo-WB55 development pack, the STM32WB-Feather board, and the MRK-SharkyPro following the Arduino MRK form factor. All those boards would go for about $40, but thanks to China manufacturing and procurement “magic” and the cutting of a few features, the WeAct STM32WB55 board sells for just a fraction of the price making it even cheaper than the company’s ESP32-H2 board with similar connectivity options. WeAct STM32WB55 specifications: Wireless MCU – STMicro STM32WB55CGU6 CPU Arm Cortex-M4 application core @ 64 MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ Bluetooth co-processor @ 32 MHz Memory – 256 KB of SRAM Storage – 1 […]

June 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ESWIN EIC7700X quad-core RISC-V SoC embeds 19.95 TOPS NPU for Edge AI vision applications

Yesterday we noted Sipeed was working on the LM5A system-on-module powered by ESWIN EIC7700X quad-core RISC-V processor with a ~20 TOPS AI accelerator in order to integrate it into its Lichee Book laptop and other carrier boards. So today, I’ve decided to look into the EIC7700X SoC designed by “BEIJING ESWIN COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD”, or ESWIN for shorts. The EIC770X features four 64-bit RISC-V (RV64GC) cores clocked up to 1.8 GHz, unnamed 3D and 2D GPUs, a 19.95 TOPS NPU, H.265/H.264 video encoder/decoder capable of handling up to 32x 1080p30 videos, various video output (HDMI + DSI) and input interfaces, dual GbE, 4-lane PCIe Gen 3, and more. ESWIN EIC7700X specifications: CPU 4x SiFive Performance P550 RV64GC RISC-V cores @ 1.4GHz (up to 1.8GHz) with Cortex-A75-class performance 32KB(I) + 32KB(D) L1 Cache 256KB L2 Cache 4MB shared L3 Cache Cache supports ECC (support SECDED) DNN Accelerator – 19.95 […]