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March 27, 2025March 28, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

emCraft SOM-NRF9151 – A Nordic Semi nRF9151 System-on-Module with LTE-M, NB-IoT, DECT NR+, and GNSS

Better known for its Linux and uCLinux-powered system-on-modules, emCraft has just launched the SOM-NRF9151 system-on-module powered by a Nordic Semi nRF9151 Arm Cortex-M33 SiP (System-in-Package) with LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ connectivity, and GNSS functionality. The SoM also features a 16MB SPI flash, an nPMIC1300 for power management, a Nano SIM card slot, and a footprint for an eSIM. I/Os and power signals are exposed through two 50-pin board-to-board connectors, and the company provides a starter kit with a baseboard for evaluation. emCraft SOM-NRF9151 specifications: SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9151 CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 64 MHz Memory – 256 KB SRAM Storage – 1 MB flash Wireless – LTE-M, NB-IoT, and DECT NR+ modem with GNSS 700-2200 MHz LTE bands: B1-B5, B8, B12, B13, B17-B20, B25, B26, B28, B65, B66, B85 Power Class 5 20 dBm Power Class 3 23 dBm 1.9GHz NR+ band support Certified for global operation […]

March 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

STMicro STM32WBA6 2.4 GHz wireless MCU gets up to 2MB flash, 512KB SRAM, USB OTG, and more

STMicro had two announcements yesterday. I’ve already covered the launch of the ultra-low-power STM32U3 microcontroller family, so today, I’ll check the new 100 MHz STM32WBA6 Cortex-M33 wireless MCU family with 2.4GHz radios for Bluetooth LE 6.0, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter designed for wearables, smart home devices, remote weather sensors, and more. The STM32WBA6 is an evolution of the STM32WBA family introduced last year, especially of the STM32WBA54 and STM32WBA55 with many of the same features SESIP (Security Evaluation Standard for IoT Platforms) Level 3 security certification, but gets more memory and flash with up to 512KB of SRAM and up to 2MB of flash. The new STM32WBA6 family also gains a High-Speed USB OTG interface and extra digital interfaces such as three SPI ports, four I2C ports, three USARTs, and one LPUART. STMicro STM32WBA6 key features and specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 at 100MHz with FPU and DSP Memory […]

January 5, 2025February 2, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Khadas Mind Maker Kit review – Part 2: Windows 11 Home on an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V AI mini PC

I’ve already gone through the specifications and an unboxing of the “Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit” powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V “Lunar Lake” processor delivering up to 115 TOPS of AI performance and equipped with 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD in the first part of the review. I’ve now spent time with the mini PC/developer kit which is now simply called “Khadas Mind Maker Kit”, and I will report my experience with the Windows 11 Home 24H2 operating system in the second part of the review testing features, running benchmarks including an AI benchmark, evaluating networking and storage performance, testing the thermal design while under stress, and taking measurements for fan noise and power consumption. It looks like some AI features may finally be usable on Windows, but I’ll test that in a separate post since everything is new and Microsoft Copilot+, […]

December 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Iridium Certus 9704 Satellite IoT Developer Kit supports Arduino programming, integrates with Blynk IoT Cloud

Iridium Certus 7904 Satellite IoT Developer Kit is a compact Arduino-programmable devkit with satellite connectivity, a microSD card for data storage, USB and LiPo battery power support, and various expansion options designed for IoT and M2M applications. Featuring a pre-provisioned Iridium Certus 9704 module, the developer kit also supports expansion headers and connectors for Adafruit FeatherWing modules, Arduino Shields, Qwiic/STEMMA QT modules, and Arduino I2C (ESLOV) add-on boards. We have written about several Iridium satellite solutions over many years, but I think it’s the first time we’ve come across an easy-to-use Satellite IoT development kit programmable with the Arduino IDE and with Blynk IoT Cloud integration. Iridium Certus 9704 Satellite IoT Developer Kit specifications: Iridium Certus 9704 Module Max Message Size – 100 KB including images & soundbites through IMT (Iridium Messaging Transport) service Command Interface – JSON-Based Serial Protocol for REST (JSPR) Interfaces – Serial data; SPI; GPIOs; GNSS […]

December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

$249 NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit targets generative AI applications at the edge

NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Development Kit

NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit is an upgrade to the Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit with 1.7 times more generative AI performance, a 70% increase in performance to 67 INT8 TOPS, and about half the price, making it a great development platform for generative AI at the edge, mostly robotics. We’ve seen several AI boxes and boards in the last year capable of offline generative AI applications like the Firefly AIO-1684XQ motherboard or Radxa Fogwise Airbox which I reviewed with Llama3, Stable diffusion, Imgsearch, etc… A product like the Fogwise Airbox delivers up to 32 TOPS (INT8) and sells for around $330 which was very competitive then (June 2024). However, the Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit will certainly disrupt the market with over twice the performance, a lower price, and a larger developer community. NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super specifications: NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 8GB Module CPU […]

December 15, 2024March 29, 2025 by Sayantan Nandy - 1 Comment

Nordic Thingy:91 X multi-sensor cellular IoT platform combines nRF9151 LTE IoT SiP, nRF5340 BLE SoC, and nRF7002 WiFi 6 IC

Nordic Semiconductor introduced the Nordic Thingy:91 in mid-2019, a cellular IoT prototyping platform built around the Nordic nRF9160 system-in-package (SiP). It supports LTE-M, NB-IoT, and GPS, and includes features like an Arm Cortex-M33 core, Arm TrustZone security, and flash memory. The platform is ideal for creating IoT Proof-of-Concepts, demos, and prototypes, making it easy to test and deploy IoT applications. The upgraded Nordic Thingy:91 X features the new Nordic nRF9151 SiP, offering support for LTE-M, NB-IoT, GNSS, and DECT NR+ for global connectivity, integrates the nRF5340 SoC for USB and Bluetooth LE, and the nRF7002 IC for Wi-Fi locations. The platform includes sensors for environmental and motion sensing, one expansion connector for Qwiic/STEMMA QT and Grove modules, and antennas for LTE, GNSS, and Wi-Fi. Additionally, the kit also features a Nano/4FF SIM slot, two SIM cards, and a 1,350 mAh Li-Po battery managed by nPM6001 and nPM1300 PMICs, to support field […]

December 9, 2024December 10, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

SECO launches Mediatek Genio 510 and 700 SMARC SoMs built for industrial and edge AI applications

SECO SOM SMARC Genio510 module with MediaTek Genio510

SECO SOM-SMARC-Genio500 and SOM-SMARC-Genio700 are two new SMARC system-on-modules products powered by MediaTek Genio 510 and 700 Cortex-A78/A55 series SoCs. These industrial modules are designed for high power efficiency and offer reduced energy consumption even during intensive edge AI workloads, and are suitable for retail touchscreens, intelligent industrial sensors, advanced conferencing systems, and dynamic digital signage. Both modules feature up to 8GB LPDDR4 memory, 64GB eMMC flash, two Ethernet interfaces via RGMII and USB, an optional M.2 slot for a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, and camera inputs. We’ve previously considered Via’s offerings with the same MediaTek Genio 700 application processor: a SMARC module, a single-board computer, and a fully embedded system. The IBase ISR500 is another option featuring the Mediatek Genio 510 or Genio 700. SECO SOM-SMARC-Genio700 & SOM-SMARC-Genio510 specifications: SoC (one or the other) SOM-SMARC-Genio700 – MediaTek Genio 700 (MT8390) CPU – Octa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A78 cores @ up to […]

December 3, 2024 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Renesas RZ/T2H Cortex-A55/R52 industrial MPU and Dev Board support EtherCAT, PROFINET, and TSN

Renesas RZ/T2H industrial MPU is the most powerful member of its RZ/T2 series of real-time microprocessors. The MPU features four Arm Cortex-A55 CPUs for application tasks and two Cortex-R52 CPUs for real-time control. It supports 9-axis motor control with 3-phase PWM timers, delta-sigma interfaces, and encoder interfaces. It also supports Industrial Ethernet protocols like EtherCAT, PROFINET, and TSN. These features make it ideal for industrial applications such as industrial robots, PLCs, motion controllers, and CNC machines. Renesas launched the RZ/T2L single-core Arm Cortex-R52 MPU just last year, and before that, in 2022, they launched the RZ/T2M dual Arm Cortex-R52 MPU. The RZ/T2L was just a cost-down version of RZ/T2M with an EtherCAT controller, compared to those old controllers the latest RZ/T2H supports 9-axis motor control and compatibility with various industrial Ethernet protocols. Renesas RZ/T2H specifications: CPU 4x Arm Cortex-A55 (64-bit) clocked at up to 1.2GHz with 32KB L1 I/D cache, 1MB L3 cache 2x […]