GPU Accelerated Object Recognition on Raspberry Pi 3 & Raspberry Pi Zero

You’ve probably already seen one or more object recognition demos, where a system equipped with a camera detects the type of object using deep learning algorithms either locally or in the cloud. It’s for example used in autonomous cars to detect pedestrian, pets, other cars and so on. Kochi Nakamura and his team have developed software based on GoogleNet deep neural network with a a 1000-class image classification model running on Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi 3 and leveraging the VideoCore IV GPU found in Broadcom BCM283x processor in order to detect objects faster than with the CPU, more exactly about 3 times faster than using the four Cortex A53 cores in RPi 3. They just connected a battery, a display, and the official Raspberry Pi camera to the Raspberry Pi boards to be able to recognize various objects and animals. The first demo is with Raspberry Pi Zero. […]

ARM Introduces Mali-C71 ISP (Image Signal Processor) for Automotive Applications

A camera in an embedded system is normally connected to an ISP (image signal processing) block inside an SoC to handle the data coming from the sensor, and with recent cars now requiring more and more cameras for car DVRs, car parking systems, and self-driving vehicles, ARM has now unveiled Mali-C71 ISP specifically designed for automotive applications with support for 4 real-time cameras and 16 camera streams with a single pipeline. ARM explains that you can’t simply use smartphone cameras in automobile, as automotive requirements in terms of clarity and reliability are much more stringent. For example, Mali-C71 supports UWDR (Ultra-wide dynamic range) up to 24 stops, against 15 stops for the best DSLR cameras, which removes noise and process multiple exposures from the camera, and allows the processor/computer vision engine to detect objects such as a pedestrian, while others systems may not detect it. The image is also much […]

Wandboard QuadPLUS Development Board Gets i.MX 6QuadPlus Processor, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1

The first Wandboard development boards launched in 2012 nearly 5 years ago based on Freescale i.MX6 Solo and Dual processor, with Wandboard Quad launched a few months later. The boards were fairly popular at the time due to their better specifications, and especially Freescale’s much better documentation and software compared to the competition such as Broadcom (Raspberry Pi) and Allwinner (Cubieboard). Since the boards are based on TechNexion EDM system-on-modules they could also be used by companies working on their own products based on the system-on-module. It’s also a good platform if you want to test various version of Android, because the company released Jelly Bean, Kitkat, Lollipop, and Marshmallow images for the boards, and I’m expecting a Lollipop version soon. However, albeit the company worked on other NXP boards such as PICO-IM6UL Android Things, there had not been any hardware upgrade for Wandboard for nearly 4 years, but last […]

That USB Stick Looks Suspicious! Camera, Microphone and Battery Included.

I had previously read about USB flash drives dropped on the parking with some malware, so that if you pick it up and use it it infects your computer in order to spy on your activity. But I browser new arrivals on DealExtreme, I found another nefarious use case thanks to U8 Mini USB drive / spy camera sold for around $10 shipped. If we look the picture below, it looks just like any other USB flash drives.But once we have a closer look at U8 mini specifications: USB – 1x USB 2.0 male port Storage – micro SD slot up to 32GB (no internal storage) Camera Video up to 720 x 480 @ 25~30fps recording to AVI/M-JPEG Photo up to 1280×1024 in JPG format Audio recording with built-in microphone Misc – Motion detection camera button, power button, picture button, status LED Battery – 300 mAh good for about 60 […]

Alcatel Flash Android Smartphone Comes with 4 Cameras (Dual front, Dual rear Cameras)

In recent years, we’ve seen smartphones with dual camera systems most of the time placed on the rear side of the phone, but Alcatel Flash smartphone features both  a dual front-facing camera for better selfies, and a dual rear camera, both coming with one color and one monochrome sensors. Alcatel Flash specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helipo X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 @ 2.3 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.9 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4 GHz System Memory – 3GB RAM Storage – 32GB flash, micro SD slot up to 128 GB Display – 5.5” IPS display; 1920×1080 resolution; Dragontrail Glass; fingerprint-resistant Oleophobic coating Cellular Connectivity GPRS/EDGE –  850/900/1800/1900 MHz UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA –  850/900/1900/2100 MHz 34/39 band LTE – FDD: B1/3/5/7/8/20; TDD: 38/39/40/41 Dual Nano SIM Dual Standby Wireless Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, FM radio, GPS with A-GPS/Glonass/Beidou Cameras Dual rear cameras Dual 13MP Mono+RGB, Sony IMX258 1/3.06 sensor […]

ArcherMind Mediatek X20 Pro Development Board Adds 3G, 4G LTE and More I/Os

Archermind launched Mediatek X20 board powered by Mediatek Helio X20 deca-core processor, and compliant with 96Boards CE hardware specifications last year for $199. The company has now been working on a “professional” version, dubbed Mediatek X20 Pro that adds supports for 3G and 4G / LTE, as well as extra I/O connectors for cameras, LCD modules, and an RF baseboard. Alpha Star Mediatek X20 Pro board specifications: SoC – Mediatek Helio X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor with two ARM Cortex A72 cores @ 2.1~2.3 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.85 GHz, four Cortex A53 @ 1.4 GHz, and  ARM Mali-T880 GPU @ 700 MHz System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 2-ch @ 933 MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC 5.1 flash + micro SD 3.0 card slot Video Output – HDMI up to 1080p @ 30 fps Video Support – 25MP @ 24fps / 25MP @ 30 fps; WQXGA 2560×1600 60fps; FHD 1920×1080 […]

$6 LicheePi Zero ARM Board Runs Linux 4.10, Supports Lots of Add-On Boards (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already covered LicheePi One board powered by Allwinner A13 processor, but it was not for sale out of China, and the developers are now back with LicheePi Zero board/module, slightly bigger than an SD card, featuring Allwinner V3s processor, and offered for as low as $6, or $8 with WiFi via an Indiegogo campaign. LicheePi Zero specifications: SoC – Allwinner V3s ARM Cortex A7 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz with an ARM Mali-400 GPU, 512Mbit (64MB) DDR2 on-chip Storage – micro SD card slot, SPI flash (not 100% clear if it will be populated when shipped to backers) Display – FPC40 RGB Connector with support for 800×480 RGB LCD Audio – Audio codec USB – micro USB OTG port Expansion 2x 15 headers with 2.54mm pitch, breadboard friendly with GPIOs, 2x UART, 1x SPI, 2x I2C,ADC, 1x PWM 2x  30 half-holes with 1.27mm pitch with OTG USB,MIPI CSI,EPHY,RGB […]

GOLE 360 Video Camera Review & 360 Degrees Videos Desktop Experiments

GOLE has designed GOLE 360 video camera to connect to your smartphone via its micro USB, or USB type C port, and let you shot 360 degrees videos or photos.  The company has sent me a review sample with a USB type C port in order to test it with Vernee Apollo Lite Android smartphone. I’ve spent about two days playing with it, so I’ll report my experience with the 360° camera, and my attempts at playing the videos back on my computer. GOLE 360 Unboxing The camera is sent in a white retail box with “Micro USB” or “Type C” option, and as requested I got the latter. The camera comes with a pouch, a useful user’s manual in English, and a USB to USB type C cable. I did not use the latter since I instead charge the camera with my phone’s power adapter and cable. One side […]

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