Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Renesas introduces 100 MHz RA4E2 and 200 MHz RA6E2 Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs for wearables, sensors, appliances

Renesas introduces 100 MHz RA4E2 and 200 MHz RA6E2 Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs for wearables, sensors, appliances

Renesas RA4E2 RA6E2

Renesas Electronics has added two new groups to its 32-bit RA family of microcontrollers (MCUs) with the 100 MHz RA4E2 and 200 MHz RA6E2 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontrollers designed for “high-performance applications” in small packages such as sensing, gaming, wearables, and appliances. The new microcontrollers are equipped with 40 KB SRAM, 128 KB or 256 KB flash, and integrate various on-chip interfaces such as CAN FD, USB, QSPI, SSI, and I3C interfaces to offer an easy upgrade path for products based on other members of the Renesas RA Family. Renesas RA4E2 MCU group Both the RA4E2 and the RA6E2 are the most cost-effective microcontroller groups of the RA family with integrated CAN FD,  with the RA4E2 group especially well-suited to cost-sensitive applications and other systems requiring relatively high performance, low power consumption, and/or small package size. RA4E2 key features: CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 core with TrustZone @ up to 100 MHz […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Texas Instruments MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontrollers sell for 39 cents and up

Texas Instruments MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontrollers sell for 39 cents and up

MSPM0L Block Diagram

Texas Instruments has just introduced its low-cost MSPM0 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller portfolio comprised of the MSPM0L series with a 32 MHz CPU, up to 64 kB of flash, and 4 kB SRAM, and the MSPM0G series with an 80 MHz CPU, up to 128 kB of flash and 32 kB SRAM. Texas Instruments MSPM0L MSPM0L1306 key features: CPU – Arm 32-bit Cortex-M0+ core @ up to 32 MHz Memory – Up to 4KB SRAM Storage – Up to 64KB flash Digital peripherals 3-channel DMA controller 4x 16-bit general-purpose timers, each with two capture/compare registers supporting low-power operation in STANDBY mode, supporting a total of 8 PWM channels Windowed watchdog timer Analog peripherals 12-bit 1.45-Msps analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with up to 10 total external channels Configurable 1.4-V or 2.5-V internal ADC voltage reference (VREF) 2x zero-drift, zero-crossover chopper operational amplifiers (OPA) 1x general-purpose amplifier (GPAMP) 1x high-speed comparator (COMP) with 8-bit […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 26 Comments on ROCK 3C SBC – A $39+ Raspberry Pi 3 lookalike with Rockchip RK3566-T AI SoC, M.2 NVMe SSD support

ROCK 3C SBC – A $39+ Raspberry Pi 3 lookalike with Rockchip RK3566-T AI SoC, M.2 NVMe SSD support

Radxa ROCK 3C

Radxa ROCK 3C, also called ROCK 3 Model C, is a Rockchip RK3566-T Arm SBC with up to 8GB RAM and WiFi 5. It mostly follows the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B form factor, but also adds an M.2 PCIe socket for NVMe SSDs. The single board computer also comes with a MicroSD card slot and eMMC flash module socket to boot the OS, a 4Kp60 capable HDMI 2.0 port, a MIPI DSI connector, a MIPI CSI camera connector, a 3.5mm jack with microphone, four USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 40-pin color-coded GPIO header. ROCK 3C specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566-T quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.6 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU (AI accelerator) System Memory – 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4 2112MT/s Storage MicroSD card slot eMMC module socket M.2 Key-M PCIe socket for 2230 NVMe SSD Video Output HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 2-lane […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on $700 Netgear RS700 WiFi 7 router supports up to 19Gbps (combined) speed

$700 Netgear RS700 WiFi 7 router supports up to 19Gbps (combined) speed

Netgear RS700 WiFi 7 router

Netgear “Nighthawk” RS700 is the first WiFi 7 (802.11be) router from the company, with the tri-band router being rated “BE19000” meaning it can deliver a combined ~19Gbps link rate using all three bands. The router is based on the Broadcom BCM67263 Arm processor and with that kind of wireless bandwidth it comes with two 10GbE ports one WAN port to connect to the internet, and one LAN port to connect to the local networks plus four extra Gigabit Ethernet ports, and a USB 3.0 port for network storage. Netgear RS700 specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM67263 quad-core WiFi 7 processor @ 2.6 GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 512MB NAND flash for OS Networking 802.11be WiFi 7 WiFi Coverage – Up to 325 square meters Speed – Up to ~19Gbps combined 2.4GHz BE – 4×4 (Tx/Rx) 4096-QAM 20/40MHz, up to 1.4Gbps 5GHz BE – 4×4 (Tx/Rx) 4096-QAM 20/40/80/160MHz, up […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments on MNT Pocket Reform open-source 7-inch modular laptop launched on Crowd Supply

MNT Pocket Reform open-source 7-inch modular laptop launched on Crowd Supply

Buy MNT Pocket Reform

The MNT Pocket Reform, a smaller version of the MNT Reform laptop, with a 7-inch display has just launched on Crowd Supply with an NXP i.MX8M Plus system-on-module, but also compatible with an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module, Raspberry Pi CM4, Pine64 SOQuartz, and an AMD Kintex-7 FGPA module. The open-source modular laptop also comes with a 128GB eMMC flash, 8GB RAM, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity on-module, an optional 1TB NVMe SSD, a backlit 60-key mechanical keyboard with an optical trackball and four buttons, a micro HDMI port to connect an external display, a few USB ports, and Ethernet through an ix industrial connector. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: SoM – Boundary Devices Nitrogem8M Plus system-on-module with SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz with Cortex-M7 real-time core, Vivante GC7000UL GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU with open drivers, H.264/H.265 Video Decoder with open drivers (Hantro), and HiFi4 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Silicon Labs announces MG27 and BG27 Bluetooth LE & 802.15.4 SoCs for small devices, healthcare

Silicon Labs announces MG27 and BG27 Bluetooth LE & 802.15.4 SoCs for small devices, healthcare

BG27 Bluetooth LE SoC

Silicon Labs has just announced the tiny BG27 Bluetooth LE and MG27 multiprotocol wireless SoCs designed for small devices, and they will be especially useful in connected health applications, or the so-called Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), as well as wearables, sensors, switches, smart locks, and commercial and LED lighting. Both chips feature a Cortex-M33 core clocked at 76.8 MHz, up to 768KB flash, and up to 64KB RAM, but the BG27 only supports Bluetooth LE, Mesh, and propriety 2.4 GHz connectivity, while the MG27 also adds an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, OpenThread, and Matter protocols Silicon Labs BG27 and MG27 specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 76.8 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit Memory – Up to 64 kB RAM data memory Storage – Up to 768 kB flash program memory 2.4 GHz Radio BLE 5.3 Bluetooth mesh Proprietary 2.4 GHz MG27 adds Matter OpenThread Zigbee Modulation – […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiPs for robotics power RB1/RB2 development kit

Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiPs for robotics power RB1/RB2 development kit

Open-Q RB1 RB2 Development Kit with Qualcomm QRB2210 or QRB4210

What comes after Qualcomm Robotics RB3, RB5, and RB6 platforms? Apparently, it’s Qualcomm Robotics RB1 and RB2 platforms powered by Qualcomm QRB2210 and Qualcomm QRB4210 processors respectively and optimized for cheaper, smaller robots with lower power consumption. But Qualcomm is one of the lamest companies known to man, so they did not include any photos when announcing the Robotics RB1 and RB2 platforms, so I’ll focus this post on Lantronix Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB system-in-packages (SiP) based on the same processors, as well as the Open-Q RB1/RB2 development kit. Open-Q 2210RB and 4210RB SiP The new system-in-packages are very similar to the earlier Open-Q 2290CS and 4290CS SIPs for industrial IoT and machine vision applications, with the only difference being the Qualcomm processor used, so I invite you to read the earlier post for the full details, and I’ll just provide summaries here. Open-Q 2210RB key features: SoC – Qualcomm […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Digi ConnectCore MP13 SoM with STM32MP13 MPU embeds Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 module

Digi ConnectCore MP13 SoM with STM32MP13 MPU embeds Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 module

DigiConnect Core MP13

Digi International ConnectCore MP13 system-on-module (SoM) is powered by the just-announced STMicro STM32MP13 Cortex-A7 microprocessor and integrates a pre-certified WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 module for applications in the medical, smart energy, and industrial sectors. The module is also equipped with up to 1GB RAM and 1GB SLC NAND flash, and exposes I/Os through LGA pads and/or castellated holes with interfaces such as dual GbE, USB 2.0, I2S and SPDIF for audio, CAN FD, analog inputs, and more. Contrary to the company’s earlier Digi ConnectCore MP15 based on STM32MP15 MPU, the MP13 does not provide multimedia functions, display, and camera interfaces. Digi ConnectCore MP13 specifications: SoC – STMicro STM32MP13x single-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 650 MHz (only STM32MP133C at this time) System Memory – Up to 1GB DDR3 Storage – Up to 1GB SLC NAND flash Wireless – Optional pre-certified Wi-Fi 5 802.11a/b/g/n/ac up to 433.3 Mbps and Bluetooth 5.2 […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products