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

October 16, 2024February 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Qualcomm introduces IQ9, IQ8, and IQ6 “Dragonwing” industrial IoT SoC families with up to 100 TOPS of AI performance

Qualcomm IQ9 IQ8 IQ6 industrial IoT processors

Qualcomm Technologies has introduced the new industrial-grade IQ chipset family with the IQ9, IQ8, and IQ6 series offering on-device AI performance of up to 100 TOPS, industrial temperature range, and built-in safety features such as SIL-3 (safety and integrity level). [Update February 26: Qualcomm’s marketing tam has been hard at work and has now come up with a product name for the family: ” Dragonwing”] Qualcomm IQ series of chipsets target a range of premium (IQ9), mid-tier (IQ8), and entry-level (IQ6) applications such as industrial and agricultural robots, drones, industrial inspection and automation, edge AI boxes with computer vision capabilities, edge gateway analytics solutions, and more. Qualcomm IQ9 Series – IQ-9100, IQ-9075 Key features and specifications: CPU IQ-9075 – Octa-core Kryo Gen 6 scaling from 1.632 to 2.55 GHz IQ-9100 – Octa-core Kryo Gold Prime @ 2.36 GHz (CNXSoft: The specs are not clear for the CPU part…, both SKUs […]

October 14, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

iKOOLCORE R2 Max Alder Lake-N mini PC/server features two 10GbE and two 2.5GbE ports

The iKOOLCORE R2 Max is an Alder Lake-N-powered firewall/gateway/server/mini PC that is offered with either an Intel Processor N100 or Core i3-N305 CPU, and equipped with two 10GbE ports and two 2.5GbE ports. It builds upon the iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC and router which we reviewed with Promox VE, Ubuntu 22.04, and pfSense and features four 2.5GbE ports in a smaller form factor. The new R2 Max model uses the N100/Core i3-N305 CPU instead of the N95/Core i3-N300, supports up to 48GB SO-DIMM memory, features a wider yet thinner design, and provides support for both 10GbE and 2.5GbE networking. iKOOCORE R2 Max specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 15W System Memory – 8GB, […]

October 12, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Arduino Nicla Sense Env module features temperature, humidity, and gas sensors from Renesas

Arduino Nicla Sense Env is a new sensor module with temperature, humidity, and gas (TVOC, NO2, O3) sensing that follows the launch of the Arduino Nicla Sense ME (Motion & Environment) module over three years ago (2021). The implementation of the new module is quite different since the ME module relies on Nordic Semi nRF52832 Cortex-M4 microcontroller and Bosch SensorTech motion and environmental sensor, but the new Nicla Sense Env module is made of parts from Renesas namely the RA2E1 Cortex-M23 microcontroller, the HS4001 humidity and temperature sensor, the ZMOD4410 gas sensor for TVOC and indoor air quality, and the ZMOD4510 gas sensor for NO2, O3, and outdoor air quality. Arduino Nicla Sense Env (ABX00089) specifications: MCU – Renesas RA2E1 Arm Cortex-M23 entry-line microcontroller (not accessible or programmable by the user) CPU core – Arm Cortex-M23 core up to 48 MHz Memory – 16KB SRAM Storage – 128KB flash Sensors […]

October 11, 2024October 15, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MINIX NEO Z300-0dB fanless mini PC features Intel Core i3-N300 8-core CPU

MINIX NEO Z300-0dB is a fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core Alder Lake-N CPU with 16GB DDR4 and up to a 512GB NVMe SSD. It built upon the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB that we reviewed with both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 and performed well albeit not quite as fast as some actively-cooled models. The NEO Z300-0dB brings a faster Core i3-N300 octa-core processor and from what I can see from the specs below, the other features remain the same. MINIX NEO Z300-0dB specifications: SoC – Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 7W System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB DDDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory, upgradable to 32GB Storage 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB M.2 SSD (PCIe Gen3 x4), upgradable up to 4TB (compatible with SATA SSD too) MicroSD card slot Video Output 2x HDMI […]

October 10, 2024October 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Intel Processor N50 or N97 touch Panel PCs feature 7-inch or 10-inch TFT color display

Intel N50 or N97 Panel PC 10-inch display

AAEON ACP-2106 and ACP-2076 are two fanless touch panel PCs powered by an Intel N50 or N97 Alder Lake-N processor with respectively 10-inch (1280 x 800) and 7-inch (1024×600) color TFT LCD displays with capacitive multi-touch support. Both models share the same key specifications with support for up to 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory and a mPCIe socket for storage. They feature an HDMI 1.4 for dual display configuration for kiosks or other similar applications, two 2.5GbE ports, M.2 sockets for WiFi and 4G LTE/5G cellular connectivity, and more. AAEON ACP-2106 and ACP-2076 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 12W Note: Turbo Mode is disabled by default. If enabling it, please ensure the system […]

October 8, 2024October 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

NXP RW612 Arm Cortex-M33 Wireless MCU offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 radios

The NXP RW612 is an Arm Cortex-M33 SoC with three radios, namely WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and 802.15.4 for Thread and Matter connectivity. It also has a small sibling called the RW610 without the 802.15.4 radio. I first came across RW61x chips, when Debashis wrote about the Trimension SR250 UWB chip mentioning it can work with “host processors like NXP’s i.MX, RW61x, and MCX families”. I initially thought it was a typo for the iW612 tri-radio solution introduced in 2022, and the RW612 is indeed similar, but it’s a complete wireless microcontroller/SoC with an Arm Cortex-M33 application core so it can be used independently as a host instead of a companion chip. NXP RW612 and RW610 specifications: MCU sub-system Core – 260 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 with TrustZone-M Memory On-chip 1.2 MB SRAM PSRAM interface for memory expansion Storage – Quad FlexSPI Flash XIP with on-the-fly decryption Peripheral interfaces Up to […]

October 7, 2024October 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

DigiPort is an HDMI computer dongle powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 (Crowdfunding)

Shivam Goyal, going under the Geeky Tronics name, has developed the DigiPort HDMI computer dongle powered by a Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-module and designed to be connected directly to the back of an HDMI or through an HDMI cable. Since it does not support MHL, the DigiPort also needs a USB-C power source. You can add a keyboard and a mouse through its two USB 2.0 ports or via Bluetooth and network connectivity is managed through WiFi 5 making it a portable computer ready to use out of the box. DigiPort specifications: Supported System-on-Module – Raspberry Pi CM4 SoC – Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz System Memory – 1GB to 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM Storage – 0GB (CM4 Lite), or 8GB to 32GB eMMC flash Wireless – Dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 Storage – MicroSD card for OS when using a CM4 Lite module Video Output – […]

October 4, 2024October 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Upcoming Rockchip RK3688 Armv9.3 AIoT processor to feature a 16 TOPS NPU, UFS 4.0 interface

Rockchip has unveiled the RK3688 AIoT SoC with Armv9.3 Cortex-A7xx cores delivering up to 250K DMIPS (RK3588 delivers 93K DMIPS), a 1 TFLOPS GPU, and a 16 TOPS NPU. The new processor succeeds the Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 first announced in 2019, and also features a 128-bit LPDDR4/4x/5 memory interface, and a UFS 4.0 storage interface. That’s about all we know about the RK3688 right now, but we can also deduct it’s probably based on a new, yet-to-be-announced Arm Cortex-A7xx core, possibly named Cortex-A730 or Cortex-A735, because no Arm cores have been announced with the Armv9.3 architectures. The Arm Cortex-A725 CPU core unveiled last May still relies on Armv9.2, and I’d expect new Arm cores to be introduced within the next few months unless Rockchip made a mistake in the presentation slide above. Two other platforms were also announced at the same time starting with a new entry-level/mid-range RK35XX octa-core […]