Cambridge-based hardware and cloud computing company, Signaloid has begun crowdfunding for the C0-microSD – a tiny, programmable iCE40UP5K FPGA system-on-module (SoM) in a microSD card form factor. It comes preloaded with a RISC-V softcore and users can also load custom FPGA designs onto the board. Part of the Signaloid C0-microSD’s unique appeal is its SD card form factor, which allows it to fit in unused full SD or microSD slots. This allows the implementation of FPGA-based hardware acceleration in systems without traditional expansion interfaces like PCIe M.2 slots. It can also be interfaced with as a standard SD block device and used to bring hardware-accelerated data processing to existing industrial automation, manufacturing, and robotics systems. The iCE40UP5K FPGA SoM has two main use cases: a hot-pluggable FPGA module or a hot-pluggable RISC-V co-processor module. The SD interface allows you to load custom FPGA bitstreams and applications onto the module from […]
Renesas RA8E1 and RA8E2 entry-level Arm Cortex-M85 MCUs target cost-sensitive applications
Renesas has expanded its Arm Cortex-M85-based RA8 series to include two new entry-level MCUs, RA8E1 and RA8E2. The new microcontrollers perform similarly to other Arm Cortex-M85-based microcontrollers and are offered at a lower price point thanks to a streamlined feature set to reduce costs. The RA8E1 and RA8E2 groups of microcontrollers will be useful for high-volume applications in industrial and home automation, healthcare, office equipment, and consumer products. We have previously covered other models in Renesas’ RA8 series, including the Renesas RA8T1, RA8D1, and the very first Cortex-M85 microcontroller, the Renesas RA8M1. The RA8 series consists of microcontrollers based on the Arm Cortex-M85 core with a performance of 6.39 CoreMark/MHz and Arm’s M-Profile Vector Extension which provides a 4x performance boost for DSP and ML workloads while maintaining low power consumption. The RA8E1 and RA8E2 Cortex-M85 microcontroller groups differ mostly in clock speed, available internal and external memory, communication interfaces, […]
Giveaway Week 2024 – RT-Thread Vision board with Renesas RA8D1 Arm Cortex-M85 MCU
It’s already Friday, and the fifty prize of CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2024 will be the RT-Thread Vision board equipped with a Renesas RA8D1 Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller, a camera, an optional LCD display, and a 40-pin GPIO header. The board is used as an evaluation platform for the Renesas RA8D1 MCU and RT-Thread real-time operating system. As its name implies, it’s mainly designed for computer vision applications leveraging the Helium MVE (M-Profile Vector Extension) for digital signal processing (DSP) and machine learning (ML) applications. I haven’t reviewed it myself and instead, received two samples from RT-Thread who sent them to me by mistake, so I’ll give them away here and on the Thai website. But it was reviewed by Supachai who tested the RT-Thread Vision board with OpenMV and ran a few benchmarks last June. The Helium MVE did not seem to be utilized in OpenMV at that time (June […]
Forlinx launches NXP i.MX 95 SoM and development board with 10GbE, CAN Bus, RS485, and more
Forlinx FET-MX95xx-C is a system-on-module (SoM) based on NXP i.MX 95 SoC with up to six Cortex-A55 cores, an Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core clocked at 800 MHz, an Arm Cortex-M33 “safety” core clocked at 333 MHz, and equipped with 8GB LPDDR4x and 64GB eMMC flash. The company also provides the feature-rich OK-MX95xx-C development board based on the i.MX 95 module with a wide range of interfaces such as dual GbE, a 10GbE SFP+ cage, terminal blocks with RS485 and CAN Bus interface, three USB Type-A ports, two PCIe slots, and more. Forlinx FET-MX95xx-C system-on-module Specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 9596 CPU 6x Arm Cortex-A55 application cores clocked at 1.8 GHz (industrial) with 32K I-cache and D-cache, 64KB L2 cache, and 512KB L3 cache Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core clocked at 800 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 safety core clocked at 333 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G310 V2 GPU for 2D/3D acceleration with support […]
Andes QiLai quad-core AX45MP RISC-V SoC with NX27V vector processor powers micro-ATX Voyager Development Platform
Andes’ Voyager Development Platform is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the company’s QiLai SoC with four AX45MP 64-bit RISC-V cores and an NX27V vector processor optimized for AI workloads. The Voyager board supports up to 16GB of DDR4 via a UDIMM socket, features 16Mbit SPI Flash for boot code and an SD card socket, includes three PCIe Gen4 slots to connect external devices such as GPU card and SSD, as well as a JTAG debugger and USB to UART bridge for debugging during Linux software development. Andes QiLai RISC-V AI SoC Before looking at the board itself, let’s check the Andes QiLai SoC specifications: CPU cores Andes AX45MP-4C cluster 4x RV64GC 8-stage superscalar processors clocked at 1.6 GHz (worse) / 2.1 GHz (typ.) Support of MESI cache coherence protocol with Coherence Manager 32KB L1 Instruction and Date cache 2MB L2 cache I/O Coherence Port (IOCP) – Synchronous AXI4 (256 bits […]
USB Insight Hub is an open-source, ESP32-S2-based tool for testing USB devices (Crowdfunding)
The USB Insight Hub is a USB testing tool based on the ESP32-S2 wireless SoC made by Ecuador-based company Aerio Solutions SAS and aimed at developers and tech enthusiasts. The Insight Hub connects to a computer via a USB Type-C port and expands it to three downstream ports, each with a 1.3-inch color display screen that displays information about the serial device such as its assigned enumeration name, voltage, and current. The enumeration name displayed helps to identify all virtual ports running through the Insight Hub. This feature is quite handy when multiple devices are connected. Although the hub features a Wi-Fi-enabled SoC, it doesn’t currently support wireless networking. Each downstream port is connected to a dedicated voltage and current meter for real-time feedback. Also, the hub implements configurable short-circuit, over-current, and back-current protection. It also allows you to control the individual activation and deactivation of the D+/D- data lines […]
Seeed Studio’s XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards target battery-powered Matter and BLE applications
Seeed Studio has added two members to its XIAO family of tiny MCU boards with the XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 multi-protocol wireless SoC and designed for battery-powered Matter over Thread and Bluetooth LE 5.3 applications. Both 21×17.8 mm USB-C boards feature a 78MHz Silabs MG24 Cortex-M33 microcontroller with 256kB SRAM and 1536KB flash, an additional 4MB SPI flash on-board, and 22 pins and pads for GPIO pins, analog inputs, and power signals, plus a reset button and two LEDs. The “Sense” model adds an analog microphone and a 6-axis IMU sensor. XIAO MG24/MG24 Sense specifications: SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 (EFR32MG24B220F1536IM48-B) MCU cores Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for user application Arm Cortex-M0+ core for wireless Memory – 256 KB RAM Storage – 1536 KB flash Wireless protocols – Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3, […]
1.28-inch round color display features Raspberry Pi RP2350, motion sensor, GPIO headers, metal case
Waveshare has recently launched the RP2350-LCD-1.28, a Raspberry Pi RP2350-based 1.28-inch round color display module with 240×240 pixel resolution and a 65K-color IPS panel. This board also features a rechargeable Lithium battery manager, a 6-axis IMU with a 3-axis gyroscope and accelerometer, multiple GPIO pins, and a USB Type-C connector for programming and power. Additionally, it supports USB 1.1 host/device support, temperature sensor, and 24 PWM channels, all configured for flexible I/O options. These features make this device useful for IoT, wearable tech, and embedded applications. The company also provides an optional CNC metal casing that provides durability and heat dissipation for portable or rugged applications. We have previously covered similar development boards with a round display such as the RP2040-powered 0.99″ rounded display, the ESP32-S3 LCD Driver Board, the SB-Components has launched Dual Roundy, and others, but it’s the first to feature the RP2350 microcontroller. RP2350-LCD-1.28 specification: Microcontroller – Raspberry Pi […]