Yi Technology, the maker of Yi actions cameras, often wrongly reported as Xiaomi Yi cameras as they are sold in Xiaomi stores, has now released an Open API to allow software and hardware engineers to develop products – such as drones, robots, or 360 deg. video recording setups – using their cameras. YiOpenAPI supports three types of APIs available in Java or Swift languages: Camera control (start/stop recording, capture picture, turn on/off viewfinder, etc…) Camera settings (date/time, video resolution, photo size, video standard, etc…) Camera state (record started/completed, video finder started etc…) There are also some app samples, one of which being YI360Demo available in both binary and source code, and used to control multiple Yi cameras in order to shoot 360 deg. / VR videos. You can find YiOpenAPI on github, get support on YiOpenAPI Facebook group, and sign-up for news updates on YiOpen.com. Via GeekBuying Blog Jean-Luc Aufranc […]
Development Resources for Realtek “Ameba” RTL8710, RTL8711, and RTL8195 WiFi SoCs
We were made aware of a potential ARM based ESP8266 competitor last week with Realtek RTL8710 WiFi modules selling for about $3.5 shipped per unit, and under $2 per unit for larger orders (100+ pieces). Hardware is good, but for a platform to be successful, or even just useful, you also need software support. So I started doing some research into IoT-Tech BBS and asked ICStation for an “SDK” for the module they sold. I ended up on this forum post providing an “Realtek RTL8710 SDK” via Baidu (password: brwp), which turned out to be about the same as the Google Drive link provided by ICStation, and only contain minimal documents, as well as cracked Windows IAR Embedded Workshop and JLink tools. There are also some more technical details in Chinese only in another forum post, and well as B&T RTL8710 module datasheet (PDF). However, if you don’t read Chinese […]
VicoVR is a Wireless 19-Point Full-Motion Tracker for Virtual Reality Working with Android and iOS (Crowdfunding)
There’s a wide a virtual reality solution from cardboard kits that now sells for a couple of dollars to full featured headset with motion tracking selling for several hundred dollars or more. 3DiVi has designed a Kinect like motion tracking device that connects to your Android and iOS smartphone, and is supposed to offer similar tracking capabilities of more expensive head mount displays (HMD) such as HTC VIVE at about half the cost, while also replacing the cables of those kits with wireless connectivity through WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE. The company offer three VicoVR devices part with the following specifications: VicoVR Sensor SoC – Unnamed Samsung Exynos processor Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Data stream Bluetooth – User pixel mask @ 30 fps, 3D coordinates up to 19 skeletal joints per user (max 2 users) @ 30 fps, 3D point cloud @ 30 fps up to […]
Wandboard Development Boards Get Android 6.0 Marshmallow Support
Wandboard development boards powered by Freescale i.MX6 Solo, Dual and Quad Cortex A9 processors were released over 3 years ago with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Contrary to many other boards that don’t get an updated version, Wandboard boards got support for Android 4.4 Kitkat, Android 5.x Lollipop, and now the community has recently released Android 6.0 Marshmallow. You can try the Android 6.0 SD card image as follows:
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wget http://download.wandboard.org/wandboard-imx6/android-6.0/wandboard-all-android-6.0.1-sdcard-20160428.zip unzip wandboard-all-android-6.0.1-sdcard-20160428.zip sudo dd if=wandboard-android-6.0.1-ga-20160428-sdcard.img | pv | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=16M |
Where /dev/sdX is the device for your SD card. If you can remember the first Jellybean release had separate images for each version of the board, but thanks to device tree implementation, a single image is now released with all three versions. The full source code is also available in a 5.0 GB tarball. Since Freescale, now NXP, i.MX6 processors will be available until November 2022, we can most probably expect a few more Android releases for the board. Jean-Luc Aufranc […]
$20 MediaTek LinkIt 7687 Arduino Compatible WiFi IoT Board Runs FreeRTOS
MediaTek Labs has already launched several WiFi boards for IoT applications starting with LinkIt ONE, and later LinkIt Smart 7688 running OpenWrt, and the company is now about to launch LinkIt 7687 HDK (Hardware Development Kit) powered by Mediatek MT7687F Cortex-M4 SoC, running FreeRTOS, and developed & produced by Silicon Application Corp (SAC). LinkIt 7687 (WS3489) board specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7687F ARM Cortex-M4F MCU @ 192MHz with 352 KB SRAM, 64KB ROM, and 2 MB serial flash in package, integrated security engine, and built-in 802.11n WiFi. 8×8 mm 68-pin QFN package Connectivity – 1×1 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with on-module PCB antenna and U.FL connector. USB – 1x micro USB for power, debugging (Coresight Debug Access Port + Virtual COM) Expansion Arduino Uno Rev. 3 headers + an extra 8-pin extension connector. Mass Storage Device (MSD) flash programming interface. Reserved headers for power consumption (current) measurement. Misc – LEDs for […]
$15 RobinCore WiFi IoT Module Runs OpenWrt, Supports 720p Video Encoding (Crowdfunding)
Do you remember VoCore? It was a low cost OpenWrt WiFi IoT module based on Mediatek RT5350 processor, that had a very successful crowdfunding campaign managed by a single developer, and the project is still going strong with VoCore2 being in the works. Another developer had the idea of doing something similar but based on HiSilicon Hi3518 ARM9 processor with more memory and support for 720p video encoding making it suitable for HD drone camera, compact video cameras, and so on. Meet RobinCore. RobinCore specifications: SoC – Hisilicon Hi3518E ARM926 processor @ 440MHz with H.264 encoder(720p@30fps) System Memory – 64MB DDR2 Storage – 16 MB NOR flash Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi via Mediatek MT7601U with on-board chip antenna Debugging – micro USB port Expansion – 2x 30-pin 2.0mm pitch through holes with access to 10/100M Ethernet, UART, I2C, SPI, SDIO, ADC, PWM, JTAG and GPIOs Power Support – 5V […]
Astro Carrier & XBG201 Breakout Boards Are Designed for Nvidia Jetson TX1 Module
Nvidia unveiled Jetson TX1 system-on-module powered by their latest Tegra X1 processor, as well as a carrier board that fits into a mini-ITX case at the end of last year. However, if you need something more compact and lightweight, Connect Tech designed Astro Carrier baseboard for Jetson TX1 module with about the same size, as well as a breakout board with connectors that can be customized as needed. Astro Carrier (ASG001) board specifications: SoM Connector – Samtec “SEARAY” high density board to board connector for Jetson TX1 module Breakout board connectors – 3x 60-pin high density connectors with HDMI, SATA, 2x Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000), 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 2x RS-232/RS-485, 2x camera (CSI4), 4x GPIO…… Storage – micro SD slot On-board connectivity – GbE magnetics + Intel 82574 GbE PHY + magnetics Video I/Os 8x u.FL video inputs GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) signaling via 2x MAX9286 deserializer […]
Android N Developer Preview Released with Multi-Window Support, PiP, Background Apps Optimizations…
Google has just released an early developer preview of Android 7.0 N (Nutella?) before the OS officially launched later this summer with new features such s multi-window support, TV recording, Picture-in-picture, bundled notifications, and efficiency improvements. So let’s have a look at some of improvements: Multi-window – A new manifest attribute called android:resizableActivity is available for apps targeting N and beyond, allowing your activity to be launched in split-screen modes on phones and tablets. In addition, activities can also go into picture-in-picture mode on devices like TVs by setting android:supportsPictureInPicture to true. Direct reply notifications: Initially an Android Wear only features, the RemoteInput notification API has now been added for smartphones and tablets, and allows user to reply directly within the notification shade. Bundled notifications – The Notification.Builder.setGroup() method can be used to bundle notifications from the same app together. Efficiency Improvements – Doze has been further improved to save […]