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March 3, 2021March 3, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

It’s raining i.MX 8M Plus systems-on-module at Embedded World 2021

NXP introduced i.MX 8M Plus AI SoC with a built-in 2.3 TOPS neural processing unit (NPU) last year, and we’ve already covered several early announcements about i.MX 8M Plus systems-on-module (SoM) with Variscite VAR-SOM-MX8M-PLUS and DART-MX8M-PLUS, TechNexion EDM-G-IMX8M-PLUS and AXON-E-IMX8M-PLUS respectively using SO-DIMM edge connectors and board-to-board connectors, as well as SolidRun i.MX 8M Plus SoM that was announced together with the HummindBoard Mate carrier board with dual Gigabit Ethernet. But as Embedded World 2021 Digital is taking place virtually until Friday, other companies have now made their own announcements of i.MX 8M Plus SoMs as the processor enters mass production this month, and since as far as I know, it’s pin-to-pin and software compatible with earlier i.MX 8M Nano/Mini SoCs, the update must have been easy. That means we’ve got a longish list of modules, and I have probably missed some. Supported operating systems are basically the same across […]

November 17, 2020November 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Reading Vehicle OBD-II data through CAN within a containerized application in Embedded Linux

telematics applications overview-GNSS CAN Cloud embedded Linux

CNXSoft: This is a guest about OBD-II and CAN support in embedded Linux by Andre Márcio de Lima Curvello, Sr. FAE and Technical Evangelist, Toradex A connected world makes it possible to track your online orders being shipped to your home through your smartphone in real-time, and getting information about your vehicle such as tire pressure, outside temperature, and even details like if a lamp is broken – has begun to be possible via smartphones in modern vehicle models. But behind the magic of knowing where the truck carrying your package is at all times and other details of the vehicle, there is a very complex world made of embedded devices ‘talking’ to each other so the information makes its way from the device to you. In this article, you will learn how to create an application to communicate with a vehicle through CAN via the OBD-II standard. We use […]

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Toradex Launches New Verdin Arm SoM Family Starting with iMX8M Mini/Nano Modules

So far, Toradex had two Arm-based system-on-module families with the smaller, lower-power Colibri and more powerful Apalis modules. The Colibri form factor was first defined in 2005, and the company is still maintaining it, but since then new interfaces have emerged, so Toradex has now designed a new low-power module family called Verdin. Toradex Verdin modules offer more I/Os with a 260-pin edge connector, include a battery-ready design with a wide input voltage range (3.3 to 5V), low power 1.8V IOs, the ability to easily extend power management to carrier board peripherals, and off-the-shelf thermal solutions. The modules are also tested for EMC, shock and vibration tolerance, and “Toradex Direct Breakout” is said to simplify signal routing on carrier boards as high speed, impedance critical signals are routed from the source IC to the edge connector on the Verdin module in such a ways to limit complexity on the carrier […]

February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Toradex AI Embedded Vision Starter Kit Leverages Amazon Web Services for AI and ML Applications

Toradex AI Embedded Vision AWS Starter Kit

Toradex, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and NXP Semiconductors collaborated to create the AI Embedded Vision Starter Kit aiming to ease the development of cloud-connected computer vision and machine learning applications in industries such as industrial automation, agriculture, medical equipment, and many more. The AI Embedded Vision Starter Kit includes the following items: Toradex Apalis iMX8 System on Module (SoM) powered by NXP i.MX 8QuadMax applications processor Toradex Ixora Carrier Board Allied Vision Alvium 1500 industrial-grade MIPI CSI-2 camera All required cables and a 12VDC (30W) power supply Full software stack, including source code for running the device as well as for cloud deployment Extensive documentation 50 USD AWS credit The kit will help developers meet the must-have requirements of smart connected devices including secure connectivity, remote monitoring, OTA updates, maximum uptime & reliability, compact form factor, cost-optimized hardware, computer vision and machine learning algorithms optimized for low-power hardware, and more. […]

August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Wear Estimation for Devices with eMMC Flash Memory

flash wear leveling & garbage collection

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Marcel Ziswiler, Platform Manager – Embedded Linux, Toradex and Leonardo Graboski Veiga, Technical Marketing Engineer, Toradex related to Marcel’s upcoming talk “Wear Estimation for Devices with eMMC Flash Memory” at the Embedded Linux Conference 2019 later this month. Flash memory has been an important topic in embedded systems for decades. It allows for drastic improvements to the size and robustness of electronic devices compared to other storage technologies. Other benefits of flash storage include a lack of moving parts and reduced power consumption. However, the challenges that come with flash memory are not as widely publicized in consumer electronics. Among them are limited durability and greater software complexity. As shown in Figure 1, flash memory is everywhere in our daily lives, ranging from devices used specifically to store data, such as thumb drives, SD cards and SSDs, to other consumer electronics that use […]

May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Toradex Torizon Industrial Linux Distribution Targets Windows Developers

When we interviewed Toradex right before Embedded World 2019, they told us they would focus on their new software offering called Torizon, an easy-to-use industrial Linux Platform, especially targeting customers are coming from the Windows / WinCE environment or who have only experience with application development and are not embedded Linux specialists. The company has now officially launched Torizon, and provided more details about their industrial open source software solution especially optimized for their NXP i.MX modules. Torizon specifically relies on foundries.io Linux microPlatform which provides full system with a recent stable kernel, a minimal base system built with OpenEmbedded/Yocto, and a runtime to deploy applications and services in Docker containers. The microPlatform is part of TorizonCore (light blue section above) that also includes an OTA client (Aktualizr). TorizonCore is free open-source software, and serves as the base to run software containers. To get started, Torizon provides a Debian container […]

February 26, 2019March 1, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Systems-on-Module Market Update – An Interview with Toradex CMO

I’ve been interviewing Daniel Lang, Toradex Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), over email just before Embedded World 2019, to learn a bit more about the system-on-module market, and what’s ahead. CNXSoft: We’ve already covered several Toradex systems-on-module and development kits on CNX Software, but for readers who may not know Toradex yet, could you provide a short description of what the company does in the embedded systems space? Daniel Lang: Thanks for having me. Toradex builds high reliable Arm-based System on Modules. Our focus is to make the life of developers easier and to reduce the complexity and time-to-market. We sell hardware, but most of our engineering resources focus on Software and Support. Our products are used in areas such as Industrial Automation, Medical, Transportation, Test and Measurement, Building Automation and many more. CNXSoft: Could you explain why / what type of customers go the SoM route instead of designing for […]

February 5, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Adding Machine Learning based Image Processing to your Embedded Product

Convert model tensorflow runtime to NNEF

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Greg Lytle, V.P. Engineering, Au-Zone Technologies. Au-Zone Technologies is part of the Toradex Partner Network. Object detection and classification on a low-power Arm SoC Machine learning techniques have proven to be very effective for a wide range of image processing and classification tasks. While many embedded IoT systems deployed to date have leveraged connected cloud-based resources for machine learning, there is a growing trend to implement this processing at the edge. Selecting the appropriate system components and tools to implement this image processing at the edge lowers the effort, time, and risk of these designs. This is illustrated with an example implementation that detects and classifies different pasta types on a moving conveyor belt. Example Use Case For this example, we will consider the problem of detecting and classifying different objects on a conveyor belt. We have selected commercial pasta as an example […]