CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Zigbee Home is an ESPHome-like firmware project for Zigbee devices

Zigbee Home firmware project aims to provide similar functionality to ESPHome open-source firmware, but for Zigbee devices based on Nordic Semi nRF52 wireless microcontrollers, and later on the newer nRF53 MCUs.

The firmware relies on Nordic Semi ZBOSS for Zigbee 3.0 stack and should eventually enable a range of Zigbee devices to be flashed with open-source firmware and facilitate integration with Home Assistant open-source home automation framework through ZHA integration, and support for Zigbee2MQTT is also being worked on.

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

Waveshare PCIe to M.2 adapter for Raspberry Pi 5 will only cost you $8.99

The Waveshare PCIe To M.2 adapter is an inexpensive PCIe to M.2 HAT+ module for the Raspberry Pi 5 designed for PCIe Gen2 and Gen3 SSDs. It is compatible with standard SSD sizes of 2230/2242 and features status indicator LEDs, a power monitoring chip, an EEPROM, and a cooling fan vent to keep temperatures in control during heavy use. It’s not the first Raspberry Pi 5 adapter taking NVMe SSDs (or AI accelerator), as we previously explored the PineBerry Pi’s HatDrive, suitable for 2230, 2242, and 2280 SSDs up to PCIe Gen3 speeds and the Pimoroni NVMe Base with a different design and compatible with 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 drives up to PCIe Gen3 speeds. A few days ago, we already covered Waveshare’s PoE HAT(F), which shares a similar form factor with Waveshare PCIe To M.2 Adapter and uses the new HAT+ standard to provide 24W of power to […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

January 22, 2024February 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC

We first checked out the GEEKOM Mini IT12 with an unboxing and teardown of the Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC in the middle of December 2023, and we’ve now had plenty of time to test the mini PC with Windows 11 Pro since the device was out of stock for a while and we were asked to postpone the review… Now that the mini PC is for sale again, we will report our experience with the Windows 11 Pro operating system in the second part of the review of the Mini IT12. This will include an overview of the software, features testing, various benchmarks including storage and networking performance, 4K and 8K YouTube video streaming, cooling performance, fan noise, and finally, we will provide some power consumption numbers. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu wrongly shows we have a “Mini Air12” mini PC instead of a […]

January 21, 2024January 20, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 5 Comments

Jetway launches the JF35-ADN1– A 3.5” Intel N97 SBC designed for industrial robotics applications

Jetway, an AAEON-affiliated manufacturer, has released a new single-board computer, the JF35-ADN1, targeted at industrial robotics applications. The JF35-ADN1 is a subcompact, 3.5” board that is powered by the Intel N97 (formerly Alder Lake) processor. It features several high-speed interfaces and peripherals for its target applications including two 2.5GbE ports, a total of eight USB 2.0 ports (physical ports and internal connectors), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (Type-A and Type-C), and supports up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM via a SO-DIMM socket. It can power up to three displays via two HDMI 2.0b ports and a DisplayPort over USB-C port. The Jetway JF35-ADN1 SBC is aimed at Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) applications, but it is stated to be versatile enough to accommodate other uses such as machine vision and payment systems solutions. The JF35-ADN1 features the same Intel N97 processor as AAEON’s Up Xtreme 7100 and is intended for […]

January 20, 2024January 21, 2024 by Debashis Das - 14 Comments

This new ESP32-C6-based IoT development board supports solar battery charging

FireBeetle 2 ESP32 C6 IoT Development Board with Wi Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, Solar Powered

DFRobot’s FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 is an IoT Development Board with 802.11ax (now called Wi-Fi 6), Bluetooth 5, Zigbee 3.0, Thread 1.3, and flexible power options including USB Type-C, 5V DC, and a CN3165 Lithium Ion battery charger for solar-powered systems. This isn’t the first solar-based board we’ve covered. We’ve also explored boards like Conexio Stratus, Wisblock Kit 2, and RAK8211-NB iTracker along with other solar-powered devices such as solar-powered laptops, solar-powered headphones, and even a solar-based power supply. FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6 IoT Development Board Specifications: Processor – ESP32-C6 RISC-V single-core, 160 MHz Memory SRAM – 512KB ROM – 320KB Flash – 4MB RTC SRAM – 16KB USB – USB 2.0 CDC Wi-Fi Protocols – IEEE 802.11b/g/n, IEEE 802.11ax (20 MHz-only non-AP mode) Bandwidth – Supports 20 MHz and 40 MHz at 2.4 GHz Modes – Station, SoftAP, SoftAP+Station Frequency – 2.4GHz Frame Aggregation – TX/RX A-MPDU, TX/RX A-MSDU Bluetooth Protocol […]

January 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$16 Grove Vision AI V2 module features WiseEye2 HX6538 Arm Cortex-M55 & Ethos-U55 AI microcontroller

Grove Vision AI V2 XIAO ESP32-C3 OV5647 camera

Seeed Studio’s Grove Vision AI V2 module is based on the HiMax WiseEye2 HX6538 dual-core Cortex-M55 AI microcontroller with an Arm Ethos-U55 microNPU and features a MIPI CSI connector for an OV5647 camera. It is designed for AI computer vision applications using TensorFlow and PyTorch frameworks and connects to hosts such as Raspberry Pi SBCs, ESP32 IoT boards, Arduino, and other maker boards over I2C. We tested the previous generation Grove Vision AI module based on the 400 MHz HX6537-A DSP-based AI accelerator using the SenseCAP K1100 sensor prototype kit with LoRaWAN connectivity, and managed to have the kit perform face detection and send the data over LoRaWAN. The Grove Vision AI V2 builds on that but with a modern Arm MCU core and more powerful AI accelerator that can run models such as Mobilenet V1/V2, Efficientnet-lite, and Yolo v5 & v8 using the SenseCraft low-code/no-code platform. Grove Vision AI […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

January 19, 2024January 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

8 Euros ESP32-H2-DevKit-LiPo is an open-source hardware Bluetooth 5 LE and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread/Matter) board

Olimex ESP32-H2-DevKit-LiPo is an open-source hardware board based on ESP32-H2-MINI-1-N4 wireless module with Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (LE) and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter connectivity, and that can be powered by a LiPo battery. The ESP32-H2 RISC-V microcontroller is coupled with 4MB flash in the wireless module, and the board comes with two rows of 15 pins for up to 19 GPIOs with alternate functions such as ADC, SPI, UART, I2C, etc… plus pUEXT and Qwiic/Stemma connectors for expansion modules. The board also features two USB-C ports, one for connected directly to the ESP32-H2 and the other for USB to UART programming/debugging. ESP32-H2-DevKit-LiPo specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-H2-MINI-1-N4 MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-H2 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller at up to 96 MHz with 320 KB SRAM, 128 KB ROM, 4 KB LP memory, Bluetooth 5.2 LE/Mesh and 802.15.4 (Zigbee/Thread/Matter) radios. Storage – 4MB flash storage PCB antenna Dimensions […]

January 19, 2024 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

Firefly CT36L AI Smart Camera Features Rockchip RV1106G2 with 0.5 TOPS NPU, 100Mbps Ethernet with PoE support

Firefly CT36L AI Smart Camera (PoE) features a Rockchip RV1106G2 CPU with 0.5 TOPS NPU, a 5-megapixel ISP, and a 3-megapixel HD lens. It supports 100Mbps Ethernet with PoE and includes advanced image enhancements like HDR, WDR, and noise reduction, all while maintaining low power consumption and high image integration. We’ve previously explored various AI cameras such as Tokay Lite, EDATEC ED-AIC2020, ThinkCore TC-RV1126, Orbbec Persee+, M5Stack UnitV2 among others. Feel free to check them out for more information. Firefly CT36L AI Smart Camera (PoE) specifications: CPU – Rockchip RV1106G2 Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.2GHz, with Neon and FPU NPU – 0.5 TOPS, supports INT4/INT8/INT16, TensorFlow/MXNet/PyTorch/Caffe/Onnx NN ISP – 5MP high-performance, HDR, WDR, 3DNR, 2DNR, sharpening, defogging, fisheye and gamma correction, feature detection VPU – 3072×1728 (5M) @ 30fps H.265/H.264 encoding, 16M@60FPS JPEG snapshot RAM – 128MB DDR3 built-in Storage – 16MB SPI Flash built-in Camera specifications: Type – Color Camera Image Sensor – SC3336 CMOS Size […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications