CT Semiconductor Holding GDM7243SL is a multi-mode 5G/4G LTE IoT modem with two 400 MHz RISC-V cores capable of operating in Cat 4, Cat 1bis, Cat M1, Cat NB1/NB2 (NB-IoT) and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) in order to work anywhere on earth. If I remember correctly, one of the first commercial RISC-V SoCs I saw was a storage controller from Western Digital introduced in 2019. But since then, we’ve seen more and more RISC-V chips come to market from entry-level microcontrollers up to Linux-capable application processors, and even chips for datacenters that are out of the scope of topics covered on CNX Software. But with GDM7243SL, I think it’s the first time I’ve encountered a RISC-V modem, so let’s have a closer look. There are two models, the GDM7243SL1 and GDM7243SL2, with different memory and storage options, and the L1 lacks support for LTE Cat 4. GDM7243SL key features: CPU 400 […]
HPMicro HPM6800 600 MHz RISC-V MCU comes with a Vivante 2.5D GPU with OpenVG support
HPMicro HPM6800 is a family of high-end RISC-V microcontrollers clocked up to 600 MHz integrating a VeriSilicon Vivante 2.5D GPU with support for the OpenVG 1.1 vector graphics API, and peripherals making it suitable for digital dashboard displays and human-machine interfaces (HMI). The family is comprised of three parts: the HPM6830 without video support, the HPM6850 with 2D graphics and video input/outputs, and the HPM6880 adding support for the 2.5D OpenVG GPU from VeriSilicon. All variants come with 1064KB SRAM, support for external DDR2/DDR3/DDR3 memory, NOR, PSRAM and eMMC flash, audio interfaces, and a range of peripherals with eight CAN FD interfaces, gigabit Ethernet, USB high-speed, and many more. HPMicro HPM6800 specifications: CPU – Single core 32-bit RISC-V (RV32-IMAFDCP) processor @ 600MHz with 32KB I/D Cache (3390 CoreMark) Memory 1064 KB SRAM with 256KB ILM + 256KB DLM in the RISC-V core, 512KB AXI SRAM, 32KB AHB SRAM, and 8KB […]
Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 schedule – Embedded Linux, Zephyr OS, and Real-time Linux
The Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 (EOSS 2024) will take place on April 16-18 and the Linux Foundation has already announced the schedule with conference sessions, lightning talks, and birds of a feather (BoF) sessions covering embedded Linux, Zephyr OS, and real-time (RT) Linux. While I won’t be attending in person, I still find it interesting to check out the schedule as we may learn more about the current status of embedded Linux. So I’ve created my own little virtual schedule out of the available talks. Tuesday, April 16 – Day 1, Embedded Open Source Summit 2024 9:05 – 9:45 – No, It’s (Still) Never Too Late to Upstream Your Legacy Linux-Based Platforms by Neil Armstrong, Linaro Nearly 7 years ago, Neil already spoke about this subject in Berlin, and it’s still very true. Do you maintain or used to maintain a Linux-based board or SoC off-tree? Then there are […]
FOSDEM 2024 schedule – Open-source embedded, mobile, IoT, robotics, RISC-V, etc..
FOSDEM – which stands for Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting – is a free-to-participate event where thousands of developers meet in Brussels on the first week-end of February to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. FOSDEM 2024 will take place on February 3-4 with 880 speakers, 818 events, and 66 tracks. Although I won’t attend, I’ve created a virtual schedule like every year with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms including “FOSS Mobile Devices”, “ Energy: Reimagining this Ecosystem through Open Source”, “RISC-V”, and others. FOSDEM Day 1 – Saturday, February 3, 2024 10:30 – 10:55 – Screen Sharing on Raspberry Pi 5 Using VNC in Weston and Wayland with the Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded by Leon Anavi In 2023, embedded Linux developers received eagerly awaited news: […]
HARDWARIO CHESTER – A configurable Zephyr OS LPWAN IoT gateway with LoRaWAN, LTE IoT, GNSS connectivity
HARDWARIO CHESTER platform is a configurable LPWAN IoT gateway whose main function is to connect as many devices and environments as possible to the Internet using connectivity such as LoRaWAN, LTE Cat M1, or NB-IoT, as well as GNSS for geolocation. Contrary to most IoT gateways, it does not run Linux on an application processor, and instead, the “brain” of the CHESTER IoT gateway is a Raytac Bluetooth 5.0 module based on a Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller running Zephyr real-time operating system, which connects to LTE IoT modem and a LoRaWAN module through UART, and expansion modules through I2C, 1-wire, and GPIO interfaces. HARDWARIO CHESTER specifications: Wireless modules/chips Raytac MDBT50Q-P1MV2 Bluetooth 5.0 module based on Nordic Semi nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F MCU with 1MB Flash memory, 256kB RAM Nordic Semi nRF9160-SICA-B1A-R7 LTE-M/NB-IoT system-in-package (SiP) with Arm Cortex-M33 MCU, 1024 KB flash, 256 KB SRAM Murata CMWX1ZZABZ-078 LoRa module as […]
Embedded Open Source Summit 2023 schedule – Zephyr OS, Security, IoT, Embedded Linux, and more
The Linux Foundation has just announced the full schedule for the Embedded Open Source Summit, which will take place on June 27-30, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as virtually starting on June 26. Over 175 sessions, birds of a feather (BoF) tracks, and workshops related to embedded and open-source innovation will be presented at the event itself comprised of six micro conferences: Automotive Linux Summit Europe, Embedded IoT Summit, Embedded Linux Conference, LF Energy Embedded Summit, Safety-Critical Software Summit, and Zephyr Project Developer Summit. Even though I’m not going to attend personally, I’ve gone through the schedule to create my own little virtual schedule with some sessions relevant that should be interesting to me and hopefully to CNX Software readers. Monday, June 26 (Virtual sessions) The first day of the event will have a Yocto Dev training in the morning, and a bunch of virtual sessions that are […]
ZSWatch open-source hardware nRF52833 smartwatch runs Zephyr RTOS
ZSWatch is an open-source hardware smartwatch based on an u-Blox ANNA-B402 module with Nordic Semi nRF52833 Bluetooth 5.1 SoC and running Zephyr real-time operating systems. We’ve seen several open-source hardware smartwatches over the years, as well as open-source firmware projects such as AsteroidOS or InfiniTime with the latter used in the PineTime smartwatch, and the ZSWatch adds to the list of interesting open-source wearables with all source files made public. ZSWatch specifications: Wireless module – u-blox ANNA-B402 based on Nordic Semi nRF52833 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller with Bluetooth LE 5.1 and direction finding support Storage – 8MB flash (MX25R6435FZNIL0) Display – 1.28-inch 240×240 IPS TFT circular display with GC9A01 driver; covered with Sapphire Crystal Glass. Sensors Accelerometer (LIS2DS12TR) for step counting, etc… MAX30101EFD for pulse oximetry and heart rate monitoring Misc 3x buttons for navigation (prev, next, enter) Vibration motor (DRV2603RUNT) with haptics driver to give better vibration control. Power Management […]
SyncBot educational mobile robot supports NVIDIA Xavier NX or Intel Tiger Lake controller
Syncbotic Syncbot is a four-wheel autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platform for research and education that can be fitted with an NVIDIA Xavier NX or an Intel Apollo Lake/Tiger Lake-based controller running Ubuntu 20.04 operating system with ROS 2 framework, and comes with an motion control MCU board with an EtherCat master and running Zephyr OS. The robot comes with four 400W TECO servo motors, can handle up to 80kg payloads for sensors and a robotic arm, features 12V and 24V power output for sensors, four USB 3.0 ports, and can also be equipped with an eight-camera kit with Intel RealSense and ToF cameras. Syncbot AMR specifications: Robot Controller Platform (one or the other) SyncBotic A100 evaluation ki (Apollo Lake E3940) SyncBotic SBC-T800 series (Intel Tiger Lake UP3) SyncBotic SBC W series (Intel Tiger Lake UP3, waterproof version) SyncBotic NSync-200 series (NVIDIA NX) Dimensions – 200 x 190 mm STM32-based Motion […]