CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 26, 2024February 25, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 1 Comment

Particle’s M-series multi-radio devices connect anywhere with WiFi, cellular, NTN satellite, and LoRaWAN connectivity

Particle Industries Inc., an IoT Platform-as-a-Service company, has announced a new line of multi-radio boards and modules that offer multiple connectivity options in a single product. Particle is a complete edge-to-cloud IoT development platform that offers hardware products and software tools for creating IoT solutions. The company’s latest product, the M-series, has a bold tagline: connect anywhere. Although wireless connectivity has come a long way, there is no single wireless technology that works everywhere. Particle’s M-series aims to address that problem by bundling multiple radios – Wi-Fi, cellular, satellite, and LoRaWAN – into one product. Particle is looking to expand from its two primary wireless technologies: Wi-Fi and cellular, and add two more radios, satellite and LoRaWAN, for broader coverage. These two radios will cover devices in areas such as enclosed spaces (boiler rooms, elevator shafts, basements, and mines) and remote locations (methane sensors in oil and gas plants, boats, […]

February 26, 2024February 25, 2024 by Debashis Das - No Comments

BrainChip’s Neuromorphic Akida Edge AI Box is now available for pre-orders at $799

BrainChip Neuromorphic Akida Edge AI Box

BrainChip has recently opened preorders for their Akida Edge AI Box, built in partnership with VVDN Technologies. This box features an NXP i.MX 8M Plus SoC and two Akida AKD1000 neuromorphic processors for low-latency, high-throughput AI processing at the edge. The system features USB 3.0 and micro-USB ports, HDMI, 4GB LPDDR4 memory, 32GB eMMC with up to 1TB micro-SDXC expansion, dual-band Wi-Fi, and two gigabit Ethernet ports for external camera connections, all within a compact, passively-cooled chassis, powered by 12V DC. BrainChip Akida Edge AI Box Specifications: Host CPU – NXP i.MX 8M Plus Quad SOC with 64-bit Arm Cortex-A53 processor running at up to 1.8GHz AI/ML Accelerator – Dual Brainchip AKD1000 (Akida Chip) over PCIe for efficient AI processing Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage 32GB eMMC flash MicroSD card slot for additional storage options Display Output – HDMI output supporting up to 3840 x 2160p30 resolutions with a pixel clock […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

February 25, 2024May 3, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MINIX Z100-0dB review – Part 2: A fanless Intel Processor N100 mini PC tested with Windows 11

We’ve already done an unboxing and a teardown of the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N100 CPU, and equipped with a 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD before quickly trying the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating system in the first part of the review. We’ve now had time to test Windows 11 in the MINIX Z100-0dB fanless mini PC in more detail. So we’ll report our experience in the second part of the review with features testing, benchmarks, some storage and networking performance tests, measurements of fan noise and power consumption, and more. We’ll also compare the MINIX NEO Z100-0dB against other Alder Lake-N mini PCs such as the actively-cooled GEEKOM Mini Air12 that we reviewed at the end of last year. Software overview and features testing The System->About window confirms the Z100-0dB mini PC features an Intel N100 processor at 800 […]

February 24, 2024July 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

GEEKOM A7 mini PC review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 (and Ubuntu 24.04)

After a GEEKOM A7 mini PC unboxing and teardown, I tested the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, but I’ll now report my experience with the GEEKOM A7 running Ubuntu 22.04.4 to see how well the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS system performs in Linux. I also had to install Ubuntu 24.04 to check the wireless module further, so I’ll report on that too. The Ubuntu 22.04 review will include features testing, several benchmarks, storage, 2.5GbE, and WiFi 6 networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation I resized the Windows 11 partition to get an unused 500GB partition to install Ubuntu 22.04 from a USB drive. But the first time, it did not work as I was asked to disable BitLocker disk encryption in Windows 11 just like I did for the […]

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Semtech AirLink XR60 is the world’s smallest rugged 5G router

Airlink XR60 world smallest rugged 5G router

Semtech AirLink XR60 is a tiny 5G router powered by a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with up to two Ethernet ports (1Gbps and 5 Gbps), WiFi 6 connectivity, GNSS navigation, and an optional RJ45 serial port. Semtech is better known for its LoRa low-power transceivers, but the company acquired Sierra Wireless last year, so they’ll now have a wider range of wireless products to offer, and the AirLink XR60 5G gateway is the first we cover here on CNX Software since the merger between the two companies. Semtech Airlink XR60 specifications: SoC – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor Memory – 1.2 GB RAM (that should be the free memory) Storage – 1.7 GB (available storage) Networking 5G cellular Sierra Wireless EM9291 5G NR Sub-6 M.2 module Peak downlink – 2800 Mbps Peak uplink – 300 Mbps 4×4 MIMO 4x SMA antenna connectors Dual SIM (Nano-4FF) Carrier – AT&T, FirstNet 4G, T-Mobile, Verizon, […]

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 12 Comments

Spark Analyzer is a USB-C PD analyzer and power supply based on ESP32-C3 (Crowdfunding)

Spark Analyzer is an ESP32-C3-powered device built to streamline the process of developing and debugging USB-C Power Delivery (UCPD) solutions. The board’s design is simple, compact, and includes helpful power delivery and analysis functionality, at an affordable price. Spark Analyzer runs on an ESP32-C3FH4 microcontroller, a low-power SoC with a single-core RISC-V CPU with onboard 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 (Low Energy) connectivity. The wireless chip lets users control the Spark Analyzer and monitor its operation remotely. It also supports integration with other smart devices via Matter. The device allows you to adjust voltage output from 5V to 20V, depending on your project requirements. Power is sent to a connected device via the two-pin screw terminal block on the device, and a Cross Chip sensor measures the electrical current sent through the device using Hall effect. It includes a software safety feature that turns off the output field-effect […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

February 23, 2024February 22, 2024 by Debashis Das - 8 Comments

52Pi P02 PCIe expansion board for Raspberry Pi 5 features a PCIe x1 slot

The 52Pi P02 is an expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5 that converts the Pi’s PCIe into a PCIe x1 slot. The board gets connected to the bottom of the Pi and taps into the Pi’s power with the help of onboard pogo pins. It supports PCIe Gen2/Gen3 speeds and features a JST connector for external power input. While writing about the 52Pi NVdigi Expansion Board, I found the P02 PCIe expansion board for Raspberry Pi 5 interesting. It features a PCIe x1 slot, allowing you to install various off-the-shelf accessories like network cards, USB expansions, and more. You can even use a PCIe riser to connect a GPU with standard PC products. This isn’t the only 52Pi product we’ve covered; we’ve also looked at the 52Pi water cooling kit and the 52Pi CM4 Router Board. Feel free to check those out if you’re interested in the topic. 52Pi […]

February 23, 2024February 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LibreVNA open-source USB vector network analyzer (VNA) works in the 100kHz to 6GHz range

LibreVNA Open source hardware vector network analyzer vna

Jan Käberich’s LibreVNA is an open-source hardware USB vector network analyzer (VNA) based on a Spartan-6 FPGA, an STM32 microcontroller, and RF circuitry with MAX2871 and Si5351C chips. The open-source VNA supports two channels and works in the 100kHz to 6GHz frequency range. Vector network analyzers are expensive pieces of electronic test equipment used to measure the magnitude and phase of high-frequency electrical networks costing several thousand dollars. They are commonly used in radio frequency (RF) and microwave engineering applications. Last year, we wrote that Pico Technology released PicoVNA 5 software for Linux, Raspberry Pi, and macOS instead of only providing a Windows program for their commercial PicoVNA devices. I thought it was already a good development even if it was closed-sourced, but LibreVNA goes all the way with an open-source hardware design with hardware design files, the FPGA code, STM32 firmware, and PC software (GUI) all open-source. LivreVNA hardware […]