Laser ranging has many applications in production and life, such as ranging, positioning, obstacle avoidance, and so on. Time-of-Flight (ToF) ranging, as a type of laser ranging technology, is often used for real-time object detection in robots, autonomous vehicles, and traffic management because of its accuracy, fast response, and low power consumption. The face detection function of mobile phones also uses this technology. This article will introduce the WisBlock RAK12014 ToF laser ranging sensor module, and use the WisBlock development board to demonstrate how the module works. What is a ToF laser ranging sensor module? A ToF laser ranging sensor module uses laser pulses to measure the distance between itself and a target object. The WisBlock RAK12014 ToF laser ranging sensor module is based on STMicro VL53L0X, the smallest ToF ranging sensor in the world. The WisBlock RAK12014 provides accurate distance measurement and can measure distances up to 2 meters. […]
DepthVista USB 3D ToF camera supports close range depth measurement, far-range object detection
DepthVista is a USB Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera designed for precise 3D depth measurement in close range mode (1.2m) and person and/or object detection in far-range mode up to 6 meters away. This ToF camera combines a 3D depth camera capable of 640 x 480 @ 30fps, and an Onsemi AR0234 color global shutter sensor supporting HD and FHD at up to 30fps, plus an 850nm VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) for safety and the ability to operate in complete darkness. e-con Systems’ DepthVista (See3CAM_TOF_25CUG) specifications: Depth camera 3D camera technology: Time-of-Flight Depth range Near mode – 0.2m to 1.2m Far mode – 1m to 6m Illumination: 850nm pulsed laser (Indoor) Accuracy: Up to 1% depending on environmental conditions Output format: Y16 (raw 12-bit) Resolutions Depth – 640 x 480 @ 30fps IR – 640 x 480 @ 30fps Depth + IR – 640 x 960 @ 30fps FOV – 84.29° (H) […]
Linux hardware video encoding on Amlogic A311D2 processor
I’ve spent a bit more time with Ubuntu 22.04 on Khadas VIM4 Amogic A311D2 SBC, and while the performance is generally good features like 3D graphics acceleration and hardware video decoding are missing. But I was pleased to see a Linux hardware video encoding section in the Wiki, as it’s not something we often see supported early on. So I’ve given it a try… First, we need to make a video in NV12 pixel format that’s commonly outputted from cameras. I downloaded a 45-second 1080p H.264 sample video from Linaro, and converted it with ffmpeg:
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ffmpeg -i big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4 -pix_fmt nv12 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv |
I did this on my laptop. As a raw video, it’s pretty big with 3.3GB of storage used for a 45-second video:
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ls -lh total 3.3G -rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 40M Aug 5 2011 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K.MP4 -rw-rw-r-- 1 jaufranc jaufranc 3.3G May 21 15:03 big_buck_bunny_1080p_H264_AAC_25fps_7200K-nv12.yuv |
Now let’s try to encode the video to H.264 on Khadas VIM4 board using aml_enc_test hardware video encoding sample:
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khadas@Khadas:~$ time aml_enc_test 1080p.nv12 dump.h264 1920 1080 30 25 6000000 1125 1 0 2 4 src_url is : 1080p.nv12 ; out_url is : dump.h264 ; width is : 1920 ; height is : 1080 ; gop is : 30 ; frmrate is : 25 ; bitrate is : 6000000 ; frm_num is : 1125 ; fmt is : 1 ; buf_type is : 0 ; num_planes is : 2 ; codec is : 4 ; codec is H264 Set log level to 4 [initEncParams:177] enc_feature_opts is 0x0 , GopPresetis 0x0 [SetupEncoderOpenParam:513] GopPreset GOP format (2) period 30 LongTermRef 0 [vdi_sys_sync_inst_param:618] [VDI] fail to deliver sync instance param inst_idx=0 [AML_MultiEncInitialize:1378] VPU instance param sync with open param failed [SetSequenceInfo:979] Required buffer fb_num=3, src_num=1, actual src=3 1920x1080 Encode End!width:1920 real 0m26.074s user 0m1.832s sys 0m4.883s |
The output explains the parameters used. There are some error messages, […]
Rockchip RK3588 Pico-ITX board launched with four-node cluster box (Crowdfunding)
The Mixtile Blade 3 Pico-ITX single board computer (SBC) powered by Rockchip RK3588 processor has now launched on Crowd Supply with either 8GB or 16GB RAM, and an optional four-node cluster box with a built-in PCIe switch designed to accommodate four Mixtile Blade 3 boards. The board also comes with up to 128GB of storage, two 2.5GbE interfaces, HDMI 2.1 output, HDMI 2.0 input, USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB Type-C ports, as well as a mini PCIe Gen 2 for expansion and a 30-pin GPIO header for expansion, as well as U.2 edge connector with 12V, PCIe x4 Gen 3 and SATA signals to interface with other Mixtile boards and build clusters. Mixtile Blade 3 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Arm Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan1.1, 6 […]
$30 compact multi-sensor board works with any microcontroller with I2C (Crowdfunding)
SENSE is a compact multi-sensor board supporting measurement of air quality, sound, light intensity, temperature, proximity, etc… and designed by Zack Seifert, a seventeen-year-old electronics enthusiast and president of his school’s robotics team. SENSE can work with any microcontroller or processor with I2C (hardware or implemented with bit-banging), including Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards. and an extra Qwiic connector allows for additional sensors. SENSE board specifications: Storage – MicroSD card holder Sensors
Turing Pi 2 mini-ITX cluster board supports RK3588 based Turing RK1, Raspberry Pi CM4, and NVIDIA Jetson SoMs (Crowdfunding)
We first covered the Turing Pi V2 mini-ITX cluster board supporting up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 or NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM system-on-module in August 2021. The company has now launched the Turing Pi 2 on Kickstarter with a little surprise: the Turing RK1 module with Rockchip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 processor and up to 32GB RAM. The board allows you to mix and match modules (e.g. 3x RPi CM4 + 1x Jetson module as on the photo below), and with SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet networking, USB 3.0 ports, mPCIe socket, you could build a fairly powerful homelab, learn Kubernetes, or self-host your own apps. Turing Pi 2 specifications: SoM interface – 4x 260-pin SO-DIMM slots for up to four Raspberry Pi CM4 with Broadcom quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB eMMC flash (adapter needed) NVIDIA Jetson Nano/TX2 NX/Xavier NX SO-DIMM system-on-modules with up to 6x Armv8 cores, and […]
Trying out Edge Impulse machine learning platform on XIAO BLE Sense board
I had seen the Edge Impulse development platform for machine learning on edge devices being used by several boards, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to try it out so far. So when Seeed Studio asked me whether I’d be interested to test the nRF52840-powered XIAO BLE Sense board, I thought it might be a good idea to review it with Edge Impulse as I had seen a motion/gesture recognition demo on the board. It was quite a challenge as it took me four months to complete the review from the time Seeed Studio first contacted me, mostly due to poor communications from DHL causing the first boards to go to customs’ heaven, then wasting time with some of the worse instructions I had seen in a long time (now fixed), and other reviews getting in the way. But I finally managed to get it working (sort of), so let’s […]
NXP i.MX RT1180 Cortex-M7/M33 crossover MCU integrates GbE TSN for industrial IoT communication
NXP i.MX RT1180 is the latest member of the company’s i.MX RT Series crossover MCUss with application processor-like performance. The 800 MHz dual-core Arm Cortex-M7/M33 microcontroller is specifically designed for industrial IoT communication with a Gigabit Ethernet port supporting time-sensitive networking (TSN). NXP also highlights that it is the first crossover MCU to include an EdgeLock secure enclave that “eases the complexity of implementing robust, system-wide security intelligence for industrial IoT applications”, and the new processor aims to bridge the gap between existing industrial systems and Industry 4.0 system. NXP i.MX RT1180 key features and specifications: CPUs – Arm Cortex-M7 @ 800 MHz + Arm Cortex-M33 @ 240 MHz (Optional: single-core Arm Cortex-M33) On-chip Memory – Up to 1.5 MB SRAM (ECC protected) with 512 KB of TCM for Cortex-M7 and 256 KB of TCM for Cortex-M33 Memory & Storage I/F – 2x FlexSPI for HyperRAM or HyperFlash 8/16/32-bit SDRAM/LPSDRAM […]