Allwinner V3s processor was introduced a little over a year ago with a single Arm Cortex A7 core, 64MB DRAM built-in, and designed for camera applications with parallel CSI and 4-lane MIPI CSI2 interfaces It looks like Allwinner has now launched an updated version with Allwinner S3, still based on Cortex A7, but increasing memory to 128MB, and adding some interfaces like I2S. We don’t have a whole lot of information, apart from a development board (SC1615S) on Taobao with the following (tentative) specifications: SoC – Allwinner / Sochip S3 Cortex-A7 processor with 128MB DDR3 Storage – 16MB NOR Flash, 4GB eMMC flash, SPI NAND flash, micro SD card Display I/F – LCD, LVDS, touch panel connectors, HDMI port Camera I/F – 1x 4-lane MIPI CSI, 1x parallel CSI Audio – HP, 2x MIC, speaker headers, PCM header Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi + Bluetooth (AP6212 or XR819 […]
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, […]
Android P Developer Preview Released with Indoor Positioning, Display Notch Support, HDR VP9 Video, and More
Google has just announced the release of the first developer preview for Android P mobile operating system, as the company is looking for feedback from developers who can use the official Android emulator, as well as images for Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2XL devices for testing Google will take into account comments from developers before finalizing the APIs and features. That won’t be the only preview however, as the company plans to release other developer previews planned before the stable release at the end of the year, and Google aims to reveal more at Google I/O 2018 next week. Some of the interesting changes and new features found in Android P so far: Indoor positioning with Wi-Fi RTT (Round Trip Time) also known as 802.11mc WiFi protocol Display cutout support for some of the new phones with a notch Improved messaging notifications, for example highlighting who is […]
Haven Open Source App Transforms Your Old Android Smartphone into a Smart Security Camera
About two years ago, I wrote a post asking what to do with old devices instead of throwing them away. My own proposals included giving them away, reselling them on eBay, recycling them for other purpose like servers or download clients, or scavenging some parts. Other people also comments what they did with theirs, for example setting up a Linux cluster with old TV boxes. Another way to recycling an old (Android) smartphone – albeit you could always buy an inexpensive one – is to install and run Haven, an open source app that transforms your phone into some sort of smart security camera, but instead of only using the camera from the phone, the app also logs audio events using its microphone (array), as well as data reported by sensors. One of you first reaction might be: “cool! somebody may an app that would allow hackers or government to […]
Apertus AXIOM Beta Open Source Professional Digital Cinema is Built around MicroZed Board
Apertus AXIOM Beta is a professional digital cinema camera built around FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and open hardware licenses. The project started around year 2011 with AXIOM Alpha camera, and AXIOM Beta is the latest iteration powered by MicroZed development board based on Xilinx Zynq 7020 ARM + FPGA SoC, and running Arch Linux ARM. AXIOM Beta developer kit (planned) hardware specifications: “Linux” Board – Xilinx Zynq 7020 based MicroZed board Beta Main Board – Hosts two external medium-speed shield connectors and two high-speed plugin module slot connectors. Image Sensor – 12MP CMV12000 (Used for research and development) via CMV12K ZIF Sensor Board Lens Mount Passive E-mount Ports – USB / USB UART / JTAG / Gigabit Ethernet Modules and Shields Single HDMI Full HD (4:4:4) output at up to 60 FPS Dual 6G SDI output (in development) 3x PMOD debug module LED matrix debug module Genlock, Trigger, […]
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa Core Kryo 385 SoC to Power Premium Smartphones, XR Headsets, Windows Laptops
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor was expected since May 2017 with four custom Cortex A75 cores, four Cortex A53 cores, Adreno 630 GPU, and X20 LTE modem. with the launch planned for Q1 2018. At least, that what the leaks said. Qualcomm has now formally launched Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform and rumors were mostly right, as the the octa-core processor comes with four Kryo 385 Gold cores (custom Cortex A75), four Kryo 385 Silver cores (custom Cortex A55) leveraging DynamIQ technology, an Adreno 630 “Visual Processing System”, and Snapdragon X20 modem supporting LTE Cat18/13. The processor is said to use more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) allowing what the company calls “extended reality (XR)” applications, and will soon be found in flagship smartphones, XR headsets, mobile PCs, and more. Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (SDM845) specifications: Processor 4x Kryo 385 Gold performance cores @ up to 2.80 GHz (custom ARM Cortex A75 cores) 4x […]
AWS DeepLens is a $249 Deep Learning Video Camera for Developers
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Deeplens, the “world’s first deep learning enabled video camera for developers”. Powered by an Intel Atom X5 processor with 8GB, and featuring a 4MP (1080p) camera, the fully programmable system runs Ubuntu 16.04, and is designed expand deep learning skills of developers, with Amazon providing tutorials, code, and pre-trained models. AWS Deeplens specifications: SoC – Intel Atom X5 Processor with Intel Gen9 HD graphics (106 GFLOPS of compute power) System Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot Camera – 4MP (1080p) camera using MJPEG, H.264 encoding Video Output – micro HDMI port Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, and HDMI audio Connectivity – Dual band WiFi USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports Misc – Power button; camera, WiFi and power status LEDs; reset pinhole Power Supply – TBD Dimensions – 168 x 94 x 47 mm Weight – 296.5 grams The […]
Hisilicon Hi3559A V100ES is an 8K Camera SoC with a Neural Network Accelerator
Earlier today, I published a review of JeVois-A33 machine vision camera, noting that processing is handled by the four Cortex A7 cores of Allwinner A33 processor, but in the future we can expect such type of camera to support acceleration with OpenCL/Vulkan capable GPUs, or better, Neural network accelerators (NNA) such Imagination Tech PowerVR Series 2NX. HiSilicon already launched Kirin 970 SoC with such similarIP, except they call it an NPU (Neural-network Processing Unit). However, while looking for camera SoC with NNA, I found a list of deep learning processors, including the ones that go into powerful servers and autonomous vehicles, that also included a 8K Camera SoC with a dual core CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) acceleration engine made by Hisilicon: Hi3559A V100ES. Hisilicon Hi3559A V100ES specifications: Processor Cores 2x ARM Cortex A73 @ 2 GHz, 32 KB I cache, 64KB D cache or 512 KB L2 cache 2x ARM […]