Category: Hardware

Posted on by Debashis Das - 3 Comments on Sony AS-DT1 tiny industrial LiDAR depth sensor can operate under bright conditions (up to 100,000 lux)

Sony AS-DT1 tiny industrial LiDAR depth sensor can operate under bright conditions (up to 100,000 lux)

Sony AS DT1 LiDAR sensor

Sony AS-DT1 is a tiny and precise LiDAR depth sensor, which the company claims is the world’s smallest at just 31 x 29 x 29mm and the world’s lightest at 50 grams compared to other solutions with a range of 10 meters or more. It is designed for applications such as drones for inspections and surveys, autonomous mobile robots, food service robots, and warehouse automation. The LiDAR module uses Direct Time of Flight (dToF) LiDAR technology with a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor to deliver fast, accurate three-dimensional distance measurements both indoors and outdoors. According to the company, the sensor can measure a range of up to 40 meters indoors and 20 meters outdoors, even in bright light, with ±0.2-inch (+/-0.5mm) accuracy at 10 meters, and a distance resolution of 0.98 inches (2.5cm). Featuring a rugged yet lightweight aluminum alloy housing, two USB-C ports, and connectors for external power, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Pine64 StarPro64 is a RISC-V SBC with ESWin EIC7700X AI SoC, 32 GB LPDDR5

Pine64 StarPro64 is a RISC-V SBC with ESWin EIC7700X AI SoC, 32 GB LPDDR5

StarPro64 SBC

Pine64 StarPro64 is a single board computer (SBC) powered by an ESWin EIC7700X quad-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC with a 19.95 TOPS AI accelerator and equipped with up to 32GB LPDDR5 RAM. It has a similar design to the Star64 SBC powered by a StarFive JH7110 RISC-V SoC, and features HDMI video output, MIPI DSI and CSI display/camera interfaces, two gigabit Ethernet ports, four USB ports, a 40-pin GPIO header, and a PCIe Gen3 x4 slot. The OS can boot from a microSD card or an eMMC flash module. StarPro64 specifications: SoC – ESWIN EIC7700X CPU 4x SiFive Performance P550 RV64GC RISC-V cores @ up to 1.4GHz or 1.8GHz with Cortex-A75-class performance 32KB(I) + 32KB(D) L1 Cache 256KB L2 Cache 4MB shared L3 Cache Cache supports ECC (supports SECDED) NPU – Up to 19.95 TOPS in INT8, 9.975 TOPS in INT16, and 9.975 FTOPS in FP16 Vision Engine HAE (2D Blit, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on SPARK Microsystems SR1120 UWB ultra-low-power transceiver delivers up to 41 Mbps throughput

SPARK Microsystems SR1120 UWB ultra-low-power transceiver delivers up to 41 Mbps throughput

SPARK SR1120 UWB transceiver

SPARK Microsystems SR1120 is the company’s second-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless transceiver capable of up to 41 Mbps throughput at ultra-low power and up to 100 times lower power ranging than UWB competitors. The Canadian company also highlights the outperformance of their UWB solution over Bluetooth with the new SR1120 offering 40 times higher data rates than Bluetooth chips, while consuming 25 times less power than Bluetooth and offering 60 times lower latency. However, readers should note that Bluetooth LE is supposed to support up to 2 Mbps, so it should (only) be up to about 20 times faster, and Bluetooth HDT is coming soon with data rates of up to 7.5 Mbps to further narrow the gap. SPARK SR1120 key features and specifications: Compliant with the upcoming IEEE 802.15.4ab low-energy UWB PHY standard Dynamically reconfigurable UWB spectrum 6.2–9.5 GHz band Up to 3 dBm TX power RX sensitivity of -81 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Zimaboard 2 – An Intel N150 micro server and mini PC with dual SATA, dual 2.5GbE, PCIe slot, miniDP (Crowdfunding)

Zimaboard 2 – An Intel N150 micro server and mini PC with dual SATA, dual 2.5GbE, PCIe slot, miniDP (Crowdfunding)

ZImaboard 2

ZimaBoard 2 is a compact Intel Processor N150 “Twin Lake” mini PC and micro server with two 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, two SATA ports, two USB 3.1 ports, and a 4K-capable miniDP video output. It built upon the company’s ZimaBoard introduced in 2021 with an Apollo Lake processor, but offers a much faster Intel N150 CPU, LPDDR5x memory, 2.5GbE networking instead of gigabit Ethernet, and a PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 slot as opposed to a PCIe Gen 2.0 x4 slot. Two variants are offered: one with 8GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash and the other in a 16GB/64GB configuration. Zimaboard 2 specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N150 quad-core “Twin Lake” processor  @ up to 3.6 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1000 MHz; PBP: 6W (but set to 10W here) System Memory and Storage ZimaBoard 2 832 – 8GB LPDDR5X 4800MHz; 32GB eMMC flash ZimaBoard 2 1664 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Renesas RA0E2 low-cost, low-power Arm Cortex-M23 MCU operates in extended temperature range (-40°C to +125°C)

Renesas RA0E2 low-cost, low-power Arm Cortex-M23 MCU operates in extended temperature range (-40°C to +125°C)

Renesas RA0E2 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU

Renesas RA0E2 is a low-power, low-cost Arm Cortex-M23 microcontroller (MCU) Group part of the RA0 family introduced in 2024 that can operate in an extended temperature range (-40°C to +125°C) and offers a wide variety of peripheral functions and safety features. It follows the RA0E1 devices – the first member of the RA0 family – designed for consumer electronics, household appliances, power tools, industrial monitoring, and other applications, including battery-powered devices. The new RA0E2 MCUs offer both software and pin-to-pin compatibility (for 32-pin SKUs) with RA0E1 devices, but the new family adds more memory and storage with up to 16KB SRAM, 128KB code flash, and 2KB data flash. The RA0E2 also features more I/Os with 32-pin to 64-bit packages, instead of 16-pin to 32-pin packages. Renesas RA0E2 specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M23 Armv8-M Core up to 32MHz Memory and Storage 16KB SRAM Code Flash – Up to 128KB Data […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on 512GB ADATA Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card delivers up to 1600MB/s read speed

512GB ADATA Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card delivers up to 1600MB/s read speed

ADATA SD 8.0 SD Express card

ADATA Technology has launched the industry’s first SD 8.0 Express specification memory card with the Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express memory card delivering up to 1,600 and 1,200 MB/s read and write speeds using a PCIe Gen3 x2 interface and the NVMe transfer protocol. The SD 7.0 specification was introduced in 2018, adding the SD Express standard using PCIe and NVMe Interfaces for speeds of up to 985 MB/s. Since then, the SD 9.0 specification was ratified in 2023 upping the speed to 4GB/s with SD 8.0 Express. But while the specifications have evolved over the years, and some SD and microSD Express cards were unveiled, including 256GB and 512GB Samsung microSD Express cards, market adoption has been slow since hosts need to support the new format, but few manufacturers do. You’ll find SD Express or microSD Express card readers, high-end cameras with an SD Express slot, and the upcoming […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Banana Pi BPI-RV2 is a low-cost RISC-V router with a 2.5GbE port and five gigabit Ethernet ports

Banana Pi BPI-RV2 is a low-cost RISC-V router with a 2.5GbE port and five gigabit Ethernet ports

Banana Pi BPI-RV2 RISC-V router

We briefly mentioned the Banana Pi BPI-RV2 router in our article about the Siflower SF21H8898 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC designed for industrial gateways, routers, and controllers. But we now have more information about Banana Pi’s latest RISC-V router, and it’s available for purchase for $34.50 on AliExpress. So let’s have a closer look. The Banana Pi BPI-RV2 ships with 512MB DDR3 RAM, 128 MB SPI NAND, and 16 MB SPI NOR flash for storage redundancy. The router features one 2.5GbE port with optional PoE support, five gigabit Ethernet ports, an M.2 2242/2230 PCIe Gen 2 x1 interface for NVMe SSD storage, and a mini PCIe socket for a WiFi module. Banana Pi BPI-RV2 specifications: SoC – Siflower SF21H8898 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V @ 1.25GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage 128 MB SPI NAND Flash for U-Boot and Linux 16 MB SPI NOR flash for U-Boot and Linux; write protected by […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on ANAVI Miracle Emitter – A WiFi and BLE RGB LED controller compatible with Home Assistant, WLED firmware (Crowdfunding)

ANAVI Miracle Emitter – A WiFi and BLE RGB LED controller compatible with Home Assistant, WLED firmware (Crowdfunding)

ESP32-C3 RGB LED Strip Controller

ANAVI Miracle Emitter is an open-source hardware ESP32-C3 WiFi and BLE controller designed to control 5V addressable RGB LED strips, which works with Home Assistant over MQTT and also supports the popular WLED firmware to easily control the LED strip through a web interface. It also features four I2C expansion headers for sensors and a small OLED display, a UART header, and a GPIO header. It’s an update to Leon ANAVI’s Miracle Controller introduced in 2019 with an ESP8266. A lot of things have changed since then, and it’s gotten easier than ever to control RGB LED strips using open-source software and firmware. ANAVI Miracle Emitter specifications: Wireless Module – Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3 Wireless MCU –  Espressif Systems ESP32-C3 single-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 160 MHz with 400KB SRAM, 384KB ROM, 4MB flash, Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth LE 5.0 connectivity Antenna – External u.FL antenna USB – USB Type-C port […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC