OpenMV Cam H7 MicroPython Machine Vision Camera Launched on Kickstarter

OpenMV CAM H7

OpenMV team has launched an upgrade to their popular OpenMV CAM M7 machine vision camera, with OpenMV CAM H7 replacing the STMicro STM32F7 micro-controller by a more powerful STM32H7 MCU clocked at up to 400 MHz. Beside having twice the processing power, the new camera board also features removable camera modules for thermal vision and global shutter support. OpenMV CAM H7 camera board specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32H743VI Arm Cortex M7 microcontroller @ up to 400 MHz with 1MB RAM, 2MB flash. External Storage – micro SD card socket supporting up to 100 Mbps read/write to record videos and store machine vision assets. Camera modules Omnivision OV7725 image sensor (default) capable of taking 640×480 8-bit Grayscale /  16-bit RGB565 images at 60 FPS when the resolution is above 320×240 and 120 FPS when it is below; 2.8mm lens on a standard M12 lens mount Optional Global Shutter camera module to capture […]

Lindenis V5 Allwinner V5 SBC is Designed for AI Video Processing, 4K Encoding

Allwinner V5 SBC

Allwinner V5 V100 is a new quad core Cortex A7 processor targeting 4K 30 fps (Linux)  cameras, and integrating AIE intelligent analytic acceleration engine handling motion detection, perimeter defense video diagnosis, and face detection. Usually, it’s pretty hard to get a development board based on a new processor, but Lindenis V5 single board computer based on the processor is already available in China, and comes with 1 to 2GB RAM, HDMI 1.4 and MIPI DSI video outputs, dual MIPI CSI video inputs, Gigabit Ethernet and more. Lindevis V5 SBC specifications: SoC – Allwinner V5 Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 1,512 MHz with NEON, VFPv4 FPU 4K @ 30 fps H.265/H.264 encoder and decoder Dual ISP 13M@30fps + 8M@30fps AIE (AI Engine) Architecture – Built-in with intelligent analytics acceleration engine with support for motion detection, perimeter defense, video diagnosis, face detection, flow statistics. Supports binocular depth map. System Memory […]

Embedded Linux Conference Europe & OpenIoT Summit Europe 2018 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference OpenIOT Summit Europe 2018

The Embedded Linux Conference & OpenIoT Summit 2018 took place in March of this year in the US, but the European version of the events are now planned to take place on October 21-24 in Edinburg, UK, and the schedule has already been released. So let’s make a virtual schedule to find out more about some of interesting subjects that are covered at the conferences. The conference and summit really only officially start on Monday 22, but there are a few talks on Sunday afternoon too. Sunday, October 21 13:30 – 15:15 – Tutorial: Introduction to Quantum Computing Using Qiskit – Ali Javadi-Abhari, IBM Qiskit is a comprehensive open-source tool for quantum computation. From simple demonstrations of quantum mechanical effects to complicated algorithms for solving problems in AI and chemistry, Qiskit allows users to build and run programs on quantum computers of today. Qiskit is built with modularity and extensibility […]

Apexel “Telescopes” Add 8x to 20x Optical Zoom to Smartphones for $8 and Up

Smartphones are getting better at taking photos, and cameras in high-end phones are are getting almost as good as DSLR cameras in many cases. However, one advantage of DSLR cameras is that you’d normal fit a zoom lens allowing you to take photos further away. Mobile phones are normally limited to 3x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom, but I’ve seen Banggood is now offering some Apexel “Telescopes” that you can clip on a phone or tablet and adds 8x to 20x optical zoom for about $8 and up. Let’s have a look at Apexel APL-18XTZJ monocular lens with 18x zoom since it’s a new arrival product. They have not provided many specific details, but the focal length is also adjustable, and it is compatible with most phones. The main thing is whether it can be mechanically clipped on top of your phone’s camera. It ships with a clip, and […]

Snapdragon 670 Launched with Better Performance and Camera Capabilities, Artificial Intelligence Tech

Snapdragon 670

Qualcomm has just introduced another of their “Mobile Platforms” with Snapdragon 670. The chipset comes with eight Kryo 360 cores, a Snapdragon X12 LTE modem for download speeds up to 600 Mbps,  as well as Qualcomm AI engine and  Hexagon 685 DSP for accelerating artificial intelligence workloads. The Qualcomm Spectra 250 ISP found in the SoC is said to enable most of the premium camera features found in professional cameras including noise reduction, image stabilization, and active depth sensing. Snapdragon 670 specifications: CPU – Octa-core processor with a cluster of 2x Kryo 360 performance cores @ up to 2.0 GHz, and a cluster of 6x Kryo 360 efficiency cores @ up to 1.7 GHz Visual Processing System (aka GPU) – Adreno 615 GPU with support for Open GL ES 3.2, Open CL 2.0, Vulkan, DirectX 12, H.264/H.265/VP9 Ultra HD video playback, DisplayPort over USB Type-C DSP – Hexagon 685 DSP […]

PIXY2 Computer Vision Camera Works with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Other Boards

PIXY2 Camera

Cameras may be used to take holiday photos, but when integrated into robotics projects there may purpose is usually to detect objects and/or patterns. We’ve previously covered specialized computer vision camera such as the Linux based JeVois camera powered by Allwinner A33 processor,  HICAT.Livera machine vision board, or STMicro STM32F7 Arm Cortex M7 powered OpenMV Cam M7 open source computer vision board. Another popular option is PixyCam PIXY camera that was first launched via a Kickstarter campaign in 2013. The company has recently introduced an updated version, aptly named PIXY2, which can still detect objects – just faster at 60 fps-, and also includes new algorithms to detect and track lines or barcodes. PIXY2 camera specifications: MCU – NXP LPC4330 dual core Arm Cortex M4/M0 @ up to  204 MHz with 264KB RAM, 2MB flash Image sensor – OnSemi  (previously Aptina) MT9M114  1296×976 resolution with integrated image flow processor Lens […]

Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero Board Combines PoE, Camera Interface, and Allwinner H2+ Processor

Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero

Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor has enabled some of the cheapest Arm Linux boards on the market with products such as NanoPi Duo or Orange Pi Zero with the latter now selling for about $9 and up. SinoVoIP also had their own inexpensive – and Raspberry Pi Zero compatible – Allwinner H2+ board with Banana Pi M2 Zero, and the company has now been working on another model dubbed BPI-P2 Zero which includes support for PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) as well as a CSI camera interface. Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2+ quad core Arm Cortex A7 processor with Mali-400MP GPU. System Memory – 512MB DDR3 SDRAM. Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot Video Output – mini HDMI port Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet with PoE support WiFi & Bluetooth via AP6212 module Camera I/F – CSI camera interface USB – 1x USB OTG port Expansion […]

GAPUINO GAP8 is a $229 RISC-V MCU Developer Kit for A.I. Applications

GAPuino Board

GreenWaves GAP8 is a low power RISC-V “MCU class” processor with eight compute cores optimized for artificial intelligence applications, and its main selling point is the ability to do tasks like computer vision or audio processing at very low power, even good enough to run on batteries. When we first covered GAP8 RISC-V processor at the beginning of the year, the company also mentioned a development kit comprised of GAPDUINO Arduino compatible board, a sensor board, and a QVGA camera module to experiment with the solution.  The board and development kit are now easier to purchase as the devkit is sold on SeeedStudio for $229. GAPuino board specifications: SoC – GAP8 IoT Application Processor with 8x RISC-V  compute cores, 1x RISC-V fabric controller core delivering up to 200 MOPS at 1mW and  >8 GOPS at a few tens of mW Memory / Storage –  HyperBus combo DRAM/Flash with 512 Mbit […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC