Four A.I. development boards compliant with 96Boards specifications were announced at Linaro Connect HK 2018 last month: HiKey 970, Ultra96, as well as ROCK960 PRO & Enterprise Edition. So for we only knew pricing for Ultra96 ($249), but I’ve now noticed Hikey 970 “Super Edge AI Computing Platform” is now up for pre-order for $299.99 on Lenovator website, with shipping planned for the end of April. [Update: Also found on Seeed Studio for the same price] Hikey 970 specifications: SoC – Huawei/Hisilicon Kirin 970 with 4x Cortex A73 @ 2.36GHz, 4x Cortex A53 @ 1.8GHz, Arm Mali G72-MP12 GPU, NPU (Neural Processing Unit) with 256MAC/cycle @ 960MHz System Memory – 6GB 1866MHz, 4 Channel LPDDR4x Storage – 64GB UFS storage, micro SD card slot, PCIe Gen3 on M.2 M key connector Video Output – HDMI 1.4 type A up to 1080p60 (TBC), 1x 4-lane MIPI DSI (via HS expansion connector) […]
Samsung Aurora Smart Speaker Prototype is Powered by a Smartphone, Features an Hologram-like Character
Samsung Electronics has showcased a smart / A.I. speaker prototype at SXSW 2018 trade show last month, that can be manufactured at low cost since it relies on a smartphone to provide a processor, microphone, and other equipment. The smart speaker also uses the smartphone’s screen to show an hologram to greet users. Meet Samsung “Aurora”. The smartphone is placed horizontally (blue above) in a slot in the upper part of the speaker, and a hologram-like character floats above the Bluetooth speaker included of the kit. The part on the top surface is an optical mechanism using the smartphone’s camera for image recognition. The smart speaker also charges the phone, but it’s unclear how you are supposed to answer phone calls once it is inserted in the speaker… The concept looks similar to Vinclu Gatebox which we covered in 2016, except it relies on a smartphone. Samsung is said to […]
Embedded Systems Conference 2018 Schedule – IoT, Security, Artificial Intelligence, and More
The Embedded Systems Conference takes place each year in Boston, US in April or May. This year, the event will occur on April 18-19, and the organizers have published the schedule with 7 tracks: Advanced Technologies, Center Stage (free), Embedded Hardware Design & Verification, Embedded Software Design & Verification, IoT and Connected Devices, Keynotes (free) and Special Event (free). Even if you can’t attend, it’s always useful to have a look at the schedule to learn about potential industry developments. So I’ve made my own virtual schedule with some of the sessions I found relevant to this blog. Wednesday, April 18 8:00 – 10:00 – An Introduction to RTOS by Jean Labrosse (Software Architect, Silicon Labs) This tutorial will help you understand what RTOSs are and how they work so that you can make better use of their features. The class will explain what an RTOS is and why you […]
Huawei P20 Pro Smartphone Comes with Three Rear Cameras: Main, Monochrome, and Telephoto
We’ve all seen smartphone with dual camera system for better field of depth, better clarity, and the ability to create effects (bokeh) to blur the background of an image. But three rear system? I had not seen any so far, and that’s exactly what Huawei P20 Pro offers with a main camera (40MP), a telephoto camera (8MP), and a monochrome camera (20 MP). Let’s go through the whole specifications first: Display SoC – HUAWEI Kirin 970 CPU octa-core processor with 4x Cortex A73 @ 2.36 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G72MP12, Kirin NPU (Neural Processing Unit) System Memory – 6 GB RAM Storage – 128 GB ROM Display – 6.1″ OLED display with 1080 x 2240 resolution Cellular Connectivity Single SIM Card (CLT-L09C model) or dual SIM Card (CLT-L29C model) LTE TDD / LTE FDD / WCDMA / EDGE / GPRS Wireless Connectivity – 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO, […]
Mi MIX 2S Smartphone Launched with Snapdragon 845 SoC, Up to 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage, A.I. Dual Camera
Xiaomi has just unveiled their latest premium with Mi MIX 2S Android smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with up to 8GB RAM, up to 256GB storage, a dual camera with artificial intelligence, ARCore technology, wireless charging, and more. Mi MIX 2S specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with four Kryo 385 performance cores @ 2.8 GHz, four Kryo 385 efficiency cores @ 1.8 GHz, Adreno 630 GPU, Hexagon 685 DSP System Memory + Storage options: 6GB LPDDR4x, 64GB UFS flash 6GB LPDDR4x, 128GB UFS flash 8GB LPDDR4x, 256GB UFS storage Display – 5 .99″ Full HD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels) 18:9 AMOLED display Camera Rear Camera – AI dual camera with 12 MP wide-angle + 12 MP telephoto; DxO score: 101 Front-facing camera – 5MP camera AI features enable Face unlock, ARCore technology Wireless Connectivity Cellular 2x Nano SIM slots 43 global bands: GSM: 2/3/5/8 CDMA 1X/EVDO: […]
96Boards Unveils Four A.I. Developer Platforms: HiKey 970, Ultra96, ROCK960 PRO & Enterprise Edition
Many new processors include a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) – aka Neural Network Accelerator (NNA) – in order to speed up talks associated with artificial intelligence, such as object or other patterns recognitions. With Linaro Connect Hong Kong 2018, 96Boards has just unveiled four development boards specifically designed for artificial intelligence solution with Hikey 970 powered by Hisilicon Kirin 970 processor, Ultra96 based on Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ZU3EG ARM+ FPGA SoC, and ROCK960 PRO & Enterprise Edition featuring the upcoming Rockchip RK3399Pro processor. Hikey 970 Preliminary specifications: SoC – Kirin 970 with 4x Cortex A73 @ 2.36GHz, 4x Cortex A53 @ 1.8GHz, Arm Mali G72-MP12 GPU, NPU with 256MAC/cycle @ 960MHz System Memory – 6GB 1866MHz, 4 Channel LPDDR4x Storage -64GB UFS storage, micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p60 Camera – 4 lanes CSI + 2 lanes CSI Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, wireless module, […]
Rockchip Unveils RK3308 & Gemini Cortex-A35 Processors for Smart Speakers
Rockchip has posted a tweet about smart speakers, specifically about Midea AI speaker based on Rockchip RK3229, but the second image is what caught my eyes, as it reveals two new Arm Cortex A35 processor designed for “Smart AI solutions”, namely RK3308 and “Gemini” Processor. Rockchip RK3308 “mainstream” processor specifications: CPU – Quad core Cortex A35 processor GPU – TBD (maybe none?) Audio Integrated 8-ch ADC and hardware VAD (Voice Activity Detection) module Multi-channel PDM/I2S/TDM audio interface Rockchip Gemini “high-end” processor specifications: CPU – Quad core Cortex A35 processor GPU – Mali Dvalin MP2 GPU Audio – “high-end smart audio solution”; multi-channel PDM/I2S/TDM audio interface Video I/O – LCD screen & camera support Rockchip will provide support for Android Thing and Linux for the processors, as well as integration with MIC arrays boards and popular voice services such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Baidu DuerOS, and others. Arm Cortex A35 […]
VIA SOM-9X20 Module Powers Smart Recognition and Smart Machine Vision Platforms
At the end of last year, VIA launched SOM-9X20 system-on-module powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with 4GB PoP LPDDR4 RAM, 64 GB eMMC flash, as well as WiFi + Bluetooth module, and a GNSS/GPS receiver. The company introduced two software platform for the SoM and development kit at embedded world 2018: a Smart Machine Vision Platform for manufacturing management and control systems, and a Smart Recognition Platform for facial recognition, object detection, people counting & tracking, etc… VIA SOM-9X20 module specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad- core processor with 2x high-performance Kryo cores up to 2.15GHz, 2x low power Kryo cores up to 1.593GHz, and Adreno 530 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.1/ GEP, GL4.4, DX11.3/ 4, OpenCL 2.0, Renderscript-Next System Memory – 4 GB POP LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 64 GB eMMC 5.1/ UFS 2.0 flash On-module Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ b/ g/ n/ ac + Bluetooth […]