Texas Instruments unveils AM62A, AM68A and AM69A Arm Cortex Vision processors and devkits

SK AM69 AM69A starter kit

Texas Instruments AM62A, AM8, and AM69A Arm Cortex-A53 or Cortex-A72 Vision processors come with 2 to  8 CPU cores and deep learning accelerators delivering from 1 TOPS to 32 TOPS for low-power vision and artificial intelligence (AI) processing in applications such as video doorbells, machine vision, and autonomous mobile robots. Three families and a total of 6 parts are available: AM62A3, AM62A3-Q1, AM62A7, and AM62A7-Q1 single to quad-core Cortex-A53 processors support one to two cameras at less than 2W in applications such as video doorbells and smart retail systems. Equipped with a 1TOPS vision processor, the AM62A3 is the cheapest model of the family going for US$12 in 1,000-unit quantities. AM68A dual-core Cortex-A72 processor can handle one to eight cameras in applications like machine vision, with up to 8 TOPS of AI processing for video analytics. AM69A octa-core Cortex-A72 SoC supports up to 12 cameras and achieves up to 32 […]

NVIDIA Jetson powered SmartCow Ultron controller targets Smart Cities and autonomous infrastructure deployments (Sponsored)

SmartCow Ultron

SmartCow, an AI engineering company specializing in video analytics, AIoT devices, and smart city solutions, and an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, has released a new version of the Ultron controller. Smartcow Ultron is an AI-enabled controller with sensor fusion capabilities that empowers industrial applications of vision AI at the edge. Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX system-on-module and compatible with Jetson Orin NX, Ultron is suitable for smart traffic and manufacturing that can leverage its high computing power and low latency for vision AI applications in various configurations. It is also applicable in smart factories, smart cities, smart buildings, and smart agriculture. Ultron takes automation a step further than traditional PLC solutions with vision analysis. Based on powerful NVIDIA Jetson modules, Ultron can handle demanding visual AI processing workloads, with model architecture such as image classification, object detection, and segmentation. The new version of Ultron enhances the flexibility of its […]

A first look at GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit with three nRF52840 Thread boards

GL-S200 Thread Border Router review with Thread Dev Boards

GL.iNet are better known for their routers, but the company is also offering IoT gateways and Smart Home hubs such as the GL-S10 BLE to MQTT IoT gateway. The company is now preparing to launch the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router in early April, and I’ve been asked to do some beta testing before launch, so GL.iNet have sent me a kit with the GL-S200 and three Thread development boards acting as IoT nodes. A Thread Border Router acts as a WiFi or/and Ethernet gateway connecting to battery-powered Thread sensor nodes equipped with a low-power 802.15.4 radio. In this first post, I’ll go through the hardware and specifications, before reporting my finding in a separate post next week. GL-200 Thread Border Router kit unboxing and specifications The development boards are all identical and they were each kept in an antistatic bag. But let’s open the GL-S200 package first. The Thread […]

Weibu N10 Core i3-N305 mini PC review with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04

Weibu N10 Alder Lake mini PC review

I’ve previously reviewed Weibu’s N10 mini PC, however, they have now extended the range of CPUs available to the N10 through the addition of Alder Lake-N processors. As a reminder, Weibu is a B2B company that offers total solutions and OEM/ODM services and they don’t sell directly to end users as their target clients are computer manufacturers like Acer and Hisense. Weibu have sent a pre-production sample of their latest N10 based on a Core i3-N305 Alder Lake N-Series processor to showcase its capabilities in this review. I will revisit the specification of the N10 and briefly look at the performance running both Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04. Weibu N10 product specifications Weibu list the N10 specifications on their website as: However this probably needs qualifying as ‘Memory Capacity’ states ‘2*SO-DIMM’ which is correct for many processors, but Intel’s Core i3-N305 processor in the mini PC sample I received […]

System76 Meerkat Alder Lake Linux mini PC ships with Ubuntu 22.04 or Pop!_OS 22.04

System76 Meerkat Ubuntu Pop_OS!

Most mini PCs ship with Windows, or no OS at all for barebone models, but Linux-hardware specialist System76 offers the Meerkat mini PC with either Pop!_OS 22.04 or Ubuntu 22.04 with a choice of processors from the 12th Gen Alder Lake, 11th Gen Tiger Lake, or 10th Gen Comet Lake families. All models support up to 64GB RAM, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, and are equipped with four HDMI/DisplayPort video outputs, Ethernet, and USB ports. There’s also a Tall version of the Meerkat that adds a 2.5-inch SATA bat, and the Alder Lake models, called Meer7, specifically supports the more recent USB4 and 2.5GbE interfaces. System76 Meerkat “Meer7” (Alder Lake) specifications: Alder Lake P-Series SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-1220P 10-core/12-thread (2P+8E) processor clocked at up to 4.4 GHz with 12 MB cache, 64EU Intel HD graphics; TDP: 28W Intel Core i5-1240P 12-core/16-thread (4P+8E) processor clocked at up to […]

Renesas introduces 100 MHz RA4E2 and 200 MHz RA6E2 Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs for wearables, sensors, appliances

Renesas RA4E2 RA6E2

Renesas Electronics has added two new groups to its 32-bit RA family of microcontrollers (MCUs) with the 100 MHz RA4E2 and 200 MHz RA6E2 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontrollers designed for “high-performance applications” in small packages such as sensing, gaming, wearables, and appliances. The new microcontrollers are equipped with 40 KB SRAM, 128 KB or 256 KB flash, and integrate various on-chip interfaces such as CAN FD, USB, QSPI, SSI, and I3C interfaces to offer an easy upgrade path for products based on other members of the Renesas RA Family. Renesas RA4E2 MCU group Both the RA4E2 and the RA6E2 are the most cost-effective microcontroller groups of the RA family with integrated CAN FD,  with the RA4E2 group especially well-suited to cost-sensitive applications and other systems requiring relatively high performance, low power consumption, and/or small package size. RA4E2 key features: CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone @ up to 100 MHz […]

ROCK 3C SBC – A $39+ Raspberry Pi 3 lookalike with Rockchip RK3566-T AI SoC, M.2 NVMe SSD support

Radxa ROCK 3C

Radxa ROCK 3C, also called ROCK 3 Model C, is a Rockchip RK3566-T Arm SBC with up to 8GB RAM and WiFi 5. It mostly follows the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B form factor, but also adds an M.2 PCIe socket for NVMe SSDs. The single board computer also comes with a MicroSD card slot and eMMC flash module socket to boot the OS, a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, a MIPI DSI connector, a MIPI CSI camera connector, a 3.5mm jack with microphone, four USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 40-pin color-coded GPIO header. ROCK 3C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566-T quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.6 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU (AI accelerator) System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 2112MT/s Storage MicroSD card slot eMMC module socket M.2 Key-M PCIe socket for 2230 NVMe SSD Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 2-lane […]

$700 Netgear RS700 WiFi 7 router supports up to 19Gbps (combined) speed

Netgear RS700 WiFi 7 router

Netgear “Nighthawk” RS700 is the first WiFi 7 (802.11be) router from the company, with the tri-band router being rated “BE19000” meaning it can deliver a combined ~19Gbps link rate using all three bands. The router is based on the Broadcom BCM67263 Arm processor and with that kind of wireless bandwidth it comes with two 10GbE ports one WAN port to connect to the internet, and one LAN port to connect to the local networks plus four extra Gigabit Ethernet ports, and a USB 3.0 port for network storage. Netgear RS700 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM67263 quad-core WiFi 7 processor @ 2.6 GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 512MB NAND flash for OS Networking 802.11be WiFi 7 WiFi Coverage – Up to 325 square meters Speed – Up to ~19Gbps combined 2.4GHz BE – 4×4 (Tx/Rx) 4096-QAM 20/40MHz, up to 1.4Gbps 5GHz BE – 4×4 (Tx/Rx) 4096-QAM 20/40/80/160MHz, up […]

Youyeetoo X1 x86 SBC