Last year, we wrote about Lichee Tang FPGA board powered by Anlogic EG4S20 FPGA and targeting RISC-V development for just under $15. The company, now called Sipeed, has made an even cheaper FPGA board with Tang Nano equipped with GOWIN Semi GW1N FPGA part of the company’s LittleBee family. Sipeed Tang Nano Sipeed Tang Nano specifications: FPGA – Gowin GW1N-1-LV FPGA with 1,152 LUT4, 864 Flip-Flops(FF), 72Kbit Block SRAM, 4x B-SRAM, 96Kbit user flash, 1x PLL, 4x I/O banks System Memory – 64Mbit (8MB) 3.3V PSRAM Display – Standard 40-pin RGB LCD interface with on-board screen backlight driver circuit (default normally open, EN pin can be connected to FPGA) USB – USB Type-C port for download and power supply Expansion – 34 I/O ports and power pins on headers (unpopulated), breadboard-compatible Misc – RGB LED, 2x user buttons, 24MHz crystal oscillator Power Supply – 5V via USB-C port (at least […]
Intel Denverton based Fanless Network Appliance Comes with 6x Ethernet Ports, 2x SFP Cages
Intel Atom C3000 “Denverton” processors were introduced in 2016 for low power servers and network appliances with four to sixteen cores, and in the following years, many products based on the SoC were launched including GIGABYTE MA10-ST0 server motherboard, AAEON FWS-2360 desktop network appliance, and Supermicro A2SDi-2C-HLN4F Mini-ITX motherboard among others. New Denverton platforms did not get much coverage on CNX Software in the last couple of years, and an article on LinuxGizmos reminded me those still existed, as US-based WIN Enterprises recently launched LP-82000 fanless network appliance powered by Intel Denverton C3338, C3558, or C3758 processor and featuring six Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as two SFP cages. LP-82000 specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Denverton C3338 dual-core processor @ 1.50 GHz / 2.20 GHz (Turbo); 4 MB cache; TDP: 8.5 W Intel Denverton C3558 quad-core processor @ 2.20 GHz; 8 MB cache; TDP: 16 W Intel Denverton […]
LPWAN Market Update – An Interview with RAK Wireless CEO
CNX Software interviews Ken Yu, RAK Wireless’ founder & CEO, to learn more about the company and the current & future state of the LPWAN (Low Power WAN) market especially with regards to NB-IoT and LoRaWAN. CNXSoft: We’ve already covered several products from RAK Wireless on CNX Software, starting with WiFi IoT boards several years ago, and more recently LPWAN products based on NB-IoT or LoRa. But for readers who may not be familiar with RAK Wireless yet, could you provide a short description of what the company does? Ken Yu: RAKwireless was founded in 2014. The core founder team consists of professionals coming from established leaders in the Networking industry as Qualcomm, H3C, etc. Because our engineers have more than 10 years of experience designing Wi-Fi solutions, this was the core of our business in the beginning. RAKwireless is working towards a vision of a connected world and In […]
PiPo Snapdragon 850 2-in-1 Laptop to Sell for around $400
Current Qualcomm based Windows 10 laptops are mostly interesting for people wanting all-day battery life and/or being always connected over 4G LTE, as they are still pretty expensive, and performance somewhat underwhelming, although Snapdragon 8cx processor should change that. Chinese-based PiPo, known for their tablets, mini PCs and Arm Android laptops, is working on solving affordability of Arm Windows 10 laptop with their Snapdragon 850 2-in-1 laptop, heavily inspired by Huawei MateBook E 2019, and expected to sell for half the price or around $400. PiPo 2-in-1 laptop preliminary specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 octa-core Kryo 385 Arm cores clocked @ up to 2.96 GHz with Adreno 630 Visual Processing Subsystem, Hexagon 685 DSP Systmem Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 256GB flash storage Display – 12.3″ IPS display with 3000×2000 resolution, 10-point touch Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, Connectivity – WiFi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n + 4G LTE Camera – […]
Rockchip RK2108 Smart Audio Dock Converts Tablets into Smart Displays
Last April, Rockchip published a roadmap to 2020 with processors such as RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 or RK3530 quad-core Cortex-A55 SoCs. Part of the roadmap was also Rockhip RK2108 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller with an Audio DSP which did not get as much coverage. The company has now announced RK2108 based smart docks that convert tablets into smart display / speakers so that they can be waken-up and controlled by voice commands. Rockchip RK2108 audio MCU supports A/D audio interface, MIPI DSI/MCU LCD interface and USB2.0 interface, and comes with the following key features: Built-in audio DSP for voice/audio signal processing Audio pre-processing, active noise reduction, AEC, etc… for improved voice recognition Customizable wake-up words and offline instructions Ultra-low power consumption in both standby and operating modes The RK2108 smart dock pictured above connects to compatible Android tablets over USB or Bluetooth, and turns those into smart display products that can handle voice […]
Olimex Launches NB-IoT DevKit Based on Quectel BC66 Module for 19 Euros
There are three LPWAN standards currently dominating the space LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Sigfox. In a recent presentation, Olimex explains NB-IoT (aka LTE Cat NB1) offers several advantages over LoRaWAN and Sigfox which include: Higher speeds of up to 25.5 kbps (UL/DL) Single GSM base station can handle up to 100 000 NB-IoT nodes Single GSM base station can cover up to 10-100km range in rural environments, and 1 to 10km in urban settings Lasts up to 10 years on a Lithium 3V battery if less than 200 bytes are sent per day The main disadvantage they listed was operator dependence, as you rely on the operator for coverage, and anything related to connectivity. In Bulgaria in particular, they found out it was not easy to get an NB-IoT SIM card activated, and the operator may shut you off without notice. For reference here in Thailand, last time I checked I […]
Ryzen Embedded Powered Tranquil PC Mini Multi Display PC Features 4x 4K DisplayPort Outputs
The Multi-Display Embedded AMD Ryzen Mini PC Tranquil’s mini multi-display PC (MMDPC) is a fanless workhorse housed in a full aluminum enclosure, running an embedded AMD Ryzen V1605B APU on the Sapphire Tech FS-FP5V motherboard announced in 2018. A Fanless Mini PC The durable housing for the MMDPC is a very artistically designed case that is quiet and functional, offering a back panel I/O that has 4x 4K capable DisplayPort outputs, 2x Ethernet ports, and USB a 3.1 Type C port. The barebone PC does require your own RAM, M.2 SSD, and operating system. The MMDPC Was Designed for Efficiency and Durability The PC is meant for an industrial environment and is fanless for efficient cooling and durability. Built to withstand the hazards of industry and the environment, the chassis’s fanless design cuts down on dust, debris, and moisture, which usually affect other industrial mini PCs. The removal of the […]
Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard is a Best-in-Class Bluetooth Protocol Analyzer
ARM TechCon is Arm’s premier industry event, where developers, analysts, and media gather from all around to hear the latest from the semiconductor giant. ARM TechCon 2019 has marked the 15th annual event hosted in San Jose. Arm TechCon 2019 showcased some of the industry’s best products and solutions in the market. Embedded Computing Design hosted a Best in Show Awards showing some of the most innovative solutions from the even. One of the notable award recipients is the Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard Protocol Analysis System. Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard Advanced All-in-One Bluetooth Analysis System is being regarded as the most advanced and comprehensive Bluetooth Protocol analyzer ever made mostly because it delivers new advances designed to ease the increasingly complex tasks of Bluetooth developers and many more. Building Bluetooth based applications can be a daunting challenge, especially when working with the wrong tools/equipment. Aside from Bluetooth wireless traffic debugging, other information […]