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

January 31, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Femto Mega 3D depth camera review – OrbbecViewer and Orbbec SDK in Ubuntu 22.04, body tracking in Windows 11

We had a quick look at the Orbbec Femto Mega 3D depth and 4K RGB camera at the end of last year with a look at the hardware and a quick try with the OrbbecViewer program in Ubuntu 22.04. I’ve now had the time to test the OrbbecViewer in more detail, check out the Orbbec SDK in Linux and various samples, and finally test the Femto Mega with a body tracking application using Unity in Windows 11. A closer look at OrbbecViewer program and settings As noted in the first part of the review, the OrbbecViewer program provides color, depth, and IR views for the camera. Let’s go into details for each. The Color mode would be the same as your standard USB color camera. The Femto Mega supports resolution from 1280×720 at 30 fps to 3840×2160 at 25 fps using MJPG, H.264, H.265, or RGB (converted from MJPG). We […]

January 31, 2024January 31, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NXP launches MCX A14x and MCX A15x Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs along with FRDM-MCXA153 development board

NXP has just announced the launch of the MCX A series Arm Cortex-M33 microcontrollers with the MCX A14x running up to 48 MHz and the MCX A15x running up to 96 MHz. The devices support up to 128KB flash and 32KB SRAM, offer I2C, I3C, and SPI sensor interfaces, and integrate support for BLDC/PMSM motor control. NXP first unveiled the NXP MCX general-purpose Arm MCU family with 30 times faster machine learning at Embedded World 2022, but at the time we had limited information although four series were planned with the MCX N Advanced series up to 250 MHz, the MCX A essential series up to 96 MHz, the MCX W Wireless series with Bluetooth LE, and the MCX L Low-power series. The MCX A series has just been launched, and the high-end MCX N also has its own product page with the N94x and N54x variants. We’ll focus on […]

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 31 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-M7 – A thin Rockchip RK3588 SBC with dual 2.5GbE, M.2 NVMe storage, HDMI 2.1, and more

Banana Pi BPI-M7 SBC is powered by a Rockchip RK3588 SoC and comes with a low profile design that reminds me of boards from Khadas such as the Khadas Edge2 or VIM4 SBCs but with a few extra ports thanks to the larger form factor. The Banana Pi BPI-M7 single board computer is equipped with up to 32GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash and features an M.2 2280 socket for one NVMe SSD, three display interfaces (HDMI, USB-C, MIPI DSI), two camera connectors, dual 2.5GbE, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, a few USB ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header for expansion. Banana Pi BPI-M7 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with CPU – 4x Cortex‑A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex‑A55 core @ 1.8 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G610 MP4 “Odin” GPU Video decoder – 8Kp60 H.265, VP9, AVS2, 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC, 4Kp60 AV1, 1080p60 MPEG-2/-1, VC-1, […]

January 29, 2024July 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

SunFounder GalaxyRVR review – An Arduino programmable Mars Rover-like robot for education

SunFounder sent us a GalaxyRVR 6-wheel robot for review. It looks like NASA’s Mars Rover robots but targets the education market with an Arduino UNO R3 compatible board and an ESP32-CAM board for WiFi connectivity and video capture. The GalaxyRVR robot kit can transmit video signals over WiFi to explore planet Earth with your mobile device or tablet and the camera can be adjusted up and down thanks to a servo motor. The robot gets its power from a solar panel coupled with a battery and features sensors such as obstacle avoidance and ultrasonic modules. NASA’s Mars Rover exploration robots NASA is currently using the Perseverance rover, also known as Percy, as the latest planetary exploration robot to land on Mars. It is designed to explore the Jezero Crater as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. In addition to its scientific instruments, Perseverance also carries Ingenuity, a small experimental Martian […]

January 29, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Lichee Console 4A RISC-V devkit testing – Part 2: benchmarks and features in Debian 12

Sipeed Lichee Console 4A RISC-V devkit review

When checking out the hardware of the Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V development terminal in the first part of the review, I noted that I had some troubles with the display that did not work properly. I did a little massage to “fix” the display, but unsurprisingly it ended up not being a long-term solution. So I had to open a case a few times and ended up breaking the wires to the fan… Each time I reassembled the device, the display only worked for a few seconds or minutes if at all. So I decided to test the system by keeping it open, as the display is working reliably that way. So I won’t be able to do a proper review testing the device on the go, but I still tested all features and benchmarked the T-Head TH1520 mini laptop with Debian 12, and will report my findings in […]

January 27, 2024February 15, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Arducam PiNSIGHT – A 4 TOPS AI camera board for the Raspberry Pi 5

Arducam PiNSIGHT Raspberry Pi 5 AI Camera module

Arducam PiNSIGHT is an AI camera board designed for the Raspberry Pi 5 equipped with a 12.3MP auto-focus module and an Intel Movidius Myriad X-powered SoM delivering up to 4 TOPS and supporting Intel OpenVINO deep learning models. The PiNSIGHT “AI Mate” is mounted underneath the Raspberry Pi 5 to which it is connected through a 15-cm USB-A to USB-C cable. The case is made of metal and acts as a heatsink, and Arducam told CNX Software it dissipates heat enough to cool down the Raspberry Pi 5, and they don’t think the active cooler is needed anymore. In other words, it also acts as a fanless enclosure albeit it’s not in contact with the CPU, so whether it’s enough probably depends on your use case… Arducam PiNSIGHT “AI Mate” specifications: AI accelerator – Luxonis OAK-SoM based on Intel Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit delivering up to 4 TOPS […]

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Entry-level Industrial Shields ESP32 PLC 14 sells for 100 Euros

Boot & Work Corp has just introduced an entry-level PLC based on ESP32 wireless microcontroller with the “Industrial Shields ESP32 PLC 14” that comes with seven inputs and five outputs, as well as I2C, RS485, Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth communication interfaces. We first covered “Industrial Shields” automation devices in 2017 when the company introduced panel PCs based on Banana Pi, Raspberry Pi, and Hummingboard (NXP i.MX 6) SBCs, as well as a few Arduino and Raspberry Pi PLCs. Boot & Work Corp then launched a Raspberry Pi 4-based PLC in 2021, and now the company has introduced the ESP32 PLC 14 part of a larger family of PLC devices as we’ll see further below. ESP32 PLC 14 specifications: Wireless module – ESP-WROOM-32U with ESP32 dual-core wireless microcontroller @ 240 MHz with 4MB SRAM, 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM I/Os through terminal blocks 4x Digital Outputs 12/24 V DC (can also act […]

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Rockchip RK3528 Android 13 TV Box doubles as a Bluetooth speaker

H96 Max M7 Android 13 TV Box Bluetooth speaker

The H96 Max M7 is a Rockchip RK3528 TV box running Android 13.0 that mostly differentiates itself from competitors with the integration of two speakers allowing the box to be used as a Bluetooth speaker. The rest of the specifications are pretty standard with up to 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 4Kp60 HDMI video output, video playback up to 4K at 60 fps or 8K at 23 fps, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, and a single USB port for extension. H96 Max M7 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3528 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor GPU – Arm Mali-450 GPU VPU H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC up to 4Kp60 or 8Kp23 AVS2 up to 4Kp60 VC1, MPEG-1 MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVS up to 1080p60 System Memory – 2GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash; microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 Audio Dual-speaker home theatre system […]