GCT GDM7243SL is a dual-core RISC-V 5G/4G LTE modem with support for NTN, NB-IoT, LTE Cat M, Cat1bis, Cat1 and/or Cat4

GDM7243SL2 block diagram

CT Semiconductor Holding GDM7243SL is a multi-mode 5G/4G LTE IoT modem with two 400 MHz RISC-V cores capable of operating in Cat 4, Cat 1bis, Cat M1, Cat NB1/NB2 (NB-IoT) and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) in order to work anywhere on earth. If I remember correctly, one of the first commercial RISC-V SoCs I saw was a storage controller from Western Digital introduced in 2019. But since then, we’ve seen more and more RISC-V chips come to market from entry-level microcontrollers up to Linux-capable application processors, and even chips for datacenters that are out of the scope of topics covered on CNX Software. But with GDM7243SL, I think it’s the first time I’ve encountered a RISC-V modem, so let’s have a closer look. There are two models, the GDM7243SL1 and GDM7243SL2, with different memory and storage options, and the L1 lacks support for LTE Cat 4. GDM7243SL key features: CPU 400 […]

SBC software news – Armbian 24.5.1, DietPi 9.4, and Otii server for the Raspberry Pi 4/5

Qoitech Otii Raspberry Pi 4

There’s been some notable software news for single board computers (SBCs) in the last few weeks with the release of Armbian 24.5.1 Havier with a focus on stability and UX improvement, the release of DietPi 9.4 lightweight Debian distritions for SBCs, and Otii server, the software for Qoitech Arc power supply, meter, and DAQ, has been finally released for the Raspberry Pi 4/5. Armbian 24.5.1 Havier Armbian announced 24.5.1 Havier on May 25 with bug fixes and improvements as a point release, but also some new boards. Here are some of the highlights. New boards Orange Pi 5 Pro FriendlyElec CM3588 NAS board Radxa ROCK 5 ITX Radxa Zero 3E/3W Avaota A1 SBC SK-AM68 board tqma8mpxl board CSC Hinlink H6xk boards RK3588-based Cool Pi CM5 EVB Improve Khadas support Resolve Rockchip patch maintenance nightmare Add functionality to freeze git resources Improve support for Radxa Rock S 0 and test USB […]

Mekotronics R57 – A Rockchip RK3576 Edge AI fanless mini PC with HDMI input/output, dual GbE, RS232, RS485, DIO…

Mekotronics R57 fanless RK3567 mini PC

Mekotronics R57 is a fanless edge AI mini PC powered by a Rockchip RK3576 octa-core Cortex-A72/A53 SoC with a 6 TOPS NPU, 4GB LPDDR5, a 32GB eMMC flash, and features such as RS485 and dual gigabit Ethernet that makes it suitable for industrial automation. I initially thought it was a cost-down version of the Mekotronics R58 mini PC that I reviewed with Android 12 as my first ever Rockchip RK3588 device. But while the mechanical design is similar and some of the ports are in the same position, there are some changes with the new model equipped with only one HDMI output, one HDMI input, two GbE jacks, and a terminal block with RS232, RS485, and digital inputs and outputs. Mekotronics R57 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3576 CPU 4x Cortex-A72 cores @ 2.2GHz, four Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.8GHz Arm Cortex-M0 MCU at 400MHz GPU – ARM Mali-G52 MC3 GPU with […]

Quectel SG368Z WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 smart module is built around Rockchip RK3568 SoC

Quectel SG368Z Smart Module

The Quectel SG368Z Smart Module is an all-in-one hardware package built around a Rockchip RK3568 AI SoC that combines computing, graphics, storage, and connectivity in a compact form factor. The  LGA module offers WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, dual gigabit Ethernet networking, various video output options (HDMI, LVDS, RGB, MIPI, eDP), USB, PCIe, and many other features making it suitable for applications like smart homes, wearables, and industrial automation. Previously we have seen Quectel introduce various communication modules like the Quectel BG95-S5 5G, the  Quectel KG200Z LoRa the Quectel RG255G RedCap IoT Module, and the Quectel CC660D-LS IoT-NTN module, but this is the first time we have seen Quectel release a Smart Module which can be certainly be considered as a SoM in a LGA package. Quectel SG368Z Smart Module specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568 CPU – Quad-core Cortex A55 processor at up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Mali G52 […]

Radxa Fogwise Airbox edge AI box review – Part 1: Specifications, teardown, and first try

Radxa Fogwise Airbox review

Radxa Fogwise Airbox, also known as Fogwise BM168M, is an edge AI box powered by a SOPHON BM1684X Arm SoC with a built-in 32 TOPS TPU and a VPU capable of handling the decoding of up to 32 HD video streams. The device is equipped with 16GB LPDDR4x RAM and a 64GB eMMC flash and features two gigabit Ethernet RJ45 jacks, a few USB ports, a speaker, and more. Radxa sent us a sample for evaluation. We’ll start the Radxa Fogwise Airbox review by checking out the specifications and the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown, before testing various AI workloads with Tensorflow and/or other frameworks in the second part of the review. Radxa Fogwise Airbox specifications The specifications below come from the product page as of May 30, 2024: SoC – SOPHON SG2300x CPU – Octa-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 2.3 GHz VPU Decoding of up to […]

Dusun DSGW-130 smart home controller fits into an 86-type junction box

DSGW 130 Zigbee Touch Screen Control Panel

The Dusun DSGW-130 smart home controller is a Rockchip PX30-powered, touch-enabled control panel designed to fit into an 86-type junction box. It runs on Android 11 and can connect to your home network using Wi-Fi and Zigbee, similar to the SONOFF NSPanel Pro. The only glaring difference I can see from the specifications is that the DSGW-130 has a few extra features like more storage, a wired network connection, RS485, and support for newer 5GHz Wi-Fi, which the SONOFF doesn’t have. We’ve also written about other similar controllers, like the SONOFF NSPanel, and reviewed the SONOFF NSPanel Pro with Zigbee and the CAM Slim WiFi camera. Check them out if you’re interested in similar products. Dusun DSGW-130 smart home controller specifications SoC – Rockchip PX30 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor with Arm Mali-G31 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash Display – 4-inch capacitive touchscreen color TFT display with […]

Arm unveils Cortex-X925 and Cortex-A725 CPUs, Immortalis-G925 GPU, Kleidi AI software

Arm SoC with Cortex-X925 Cortex-A725 Cortex-A520 CPU with Immortalis-G925 GPU

Arm has just announced new Armv9 CPUs and Immortalis GPUs for mobile SoCs, as well as the Kleidi AI software optimized for Arm CPUs from Armv7 to Armv9 architectures. New Armv9.2 CPU cores include the Cortex-X925 “Blackhawk” core with significant CPU and AI performance improvements, the Cortex-A725 with improved performance efficiency, and a refreshed version of the Cortex-A520 providing 15 percent efficiency improvements. Three new GPUs have also been introduced namely the up-to-14-core Immortalis-G925 flagship GPU which delivers up to 37% 3D graphics performance improvements over last year’s 12-core Immortalis-G720, the Mali-G725 with 6 to 9 cores for premium mobile handsets, and the Mali-G625 GPU with one to five cores for smartwatches and entry-level mobile devices. Arm Cortex-X925 The Arm Cortex-X925 delivers 36 percent single-threaded peak performance improvements in Geekbench 6.2 against a Cortex-X4-based Premium Android smartphone, and about 41 percent better AI performance using the time-to-first token of tiny-LLama […]

Ochin V2 tiny Raspberry Pi CM4 robotics carrier board gets micro HDMI port, Fast Ethernet support

Ochin V2 CM4 robotics carrier board and USB-C board

Ochin V2 is an update to the tiny Ochin Raspberry Pi CM4 carrier board for robotics applications and drones that adds a micro HDMI port, support for Fast Ethernet through pads or a GHS connector (no RJ45 connector), two user LEDs, and a few other changes. The form factor remains the same at just 55 x 40 x 4.7mm, or about the size of a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, which in combination with a range of USB, UART, I2C, and SPI interfaces, makes it an ideal candidate for space-constrained applications such as robotics system or UAVs. Ochin V2 specifications (differences against Ochin v1 shown in bold or strikethrough): Supported modules – Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash (the CM4 Lite is not supported since there’s no microSD card on the board), 4Kp60 H.265 decode, 1080p30 H.264 encode, […]

EmbeddedTS embedded systems design