CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AMD unveils low-cost Artix UltraScale+ AU7P FPGA and Zynq UltraScale+ ZU3T MPSoC

AMD UltraScale AU7P FPGA UltraScale ZU3T MPSoC

AMD has added two new low-cost, low-power members to its UltraScale+ family with the Artix UltraScale+ AU7P FPGA and the Zynq UltraScale+ ZU3T MPSoC. Both devices are manufactured with the 16nm FinFET process and offer entry points to the transceiver-based UltraScale+ family with features such as high I/O-to-logic density, UltraRAM, DSP, and more. AMD Artix UltraScale+ AU7P FPGA The new AU7P FPGA is the smallest from the Artix UltraScale+ family with four 12.5Gbps transceivers, up to 82K system logic cells, 216 DSP slices, 4.9 Mbit RAM, and 248 I/Os. It is offered in a 10.5 x 8.5mm InFO package. The company says the chip provides up to 50% lower static power, 20% more I/O-to-logic ratio, and twice as many 3.3V HDIO compared to the AU10P device. The AU7P is designed for space-constrained and/or power-sensitive applications such as medical imaging, machine vision, professional cameras/monitors, and automotive radar/lidar. More details may be […]

November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

This is what a 100 µAh micro-battery looks like

Electronic components have shrunk a lot over the year, but batteries are usually one of the larger items in a design. ITEN changes that with solid state lithium-ion micro-batteries in the shape of SMD components with up to 100 µAh capacity. This is clearly not going to power your next smartphone, but ITEM micro-batteries could be found in ultra-low-power sensors potentially replacing non-rechargeable coin cell batteries with much higher capacities (e,g. 100 mAh). ITEN says their solid-state micro-batteries are superior to coin cell batteries because those are polluting, difficult to assemble on PCB, costly to recycle and require periodic maintenance once a battery is depleted. In addition, some low-power embedded systems still require high current pulses for instance to drive RF transceivers or actuators leading hardware engineers to rely on oversized coin cell batteries as those can only deliver small currents. The carbon footprint of such batteries is claimed to […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

November 14, 2022November 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Sipeed M1s & M0sense – Low-cost BL808 & BL702 based AI modules (Crowdfunding)

Sipeed has launched the M1s and M0Sense AI modules. Designed for AIoT application, the Sipeed M1s is based on the Bouffalo Lab BL808 32-bit/64-bit RISC-V wireless SoC with WiFi, Bluetooth, and an 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee support, as well as the BLAI-100 (Bouffalo Lab AI engine) NPU for video/audio detection and/or recognition. The Sipeed M0Sense targets TinyML applications with the Bouffa Lab BL702 32-bit microcontroller also offering WiFi, BLE, and Zigbee connectivity. Sipeed M1s AIoT module The Sipeed M1S is an update to the Kendryte K210-powered Sipeed M1 introduced several years ago. Sipeed M1s module specifications: SoC – Bouffalo Lab BL808 with CPU Alibaba T-head C906 64-bit RISC-V (RV64GCV+) core @ 480MHz Alibaba T-head E907 32-bit RISC-V (RV32GCP+) core @ 320MHz 32-bit RISC-V (RV32EMC) core @ 160 MHz Memory – 768KB SRAM and 64MB embedded PSRAM AI accelerator – NPU BLAI-100 (Bouffalo Lab AI engine) for video/audio detection/recognition delivering up […]

November 13, 2022November 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 765 Comments

Giveaway Week – Mekotronics R58 mini PC

Let’s end Giveaway Week 2022 with a bang, and more exactly a rather powerful Rockchip RK3588 mini PC: Mekotronics R58 (mini). The device comes with 8GB RAM and 64GB flash storage, two 8K capable HDMI 2.0 output ports, one DisplayPort output, one HDMI input, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFI 6 connectivity, as well as a few USB 3.0/2.0 ports, plus support for a SATA drive. I reviewed the Rockchip RK3588 mini PC with Android 12 last July, and I was impressed by the CPU and GPU performance, 4K video playback capabilities, except for AV1 which was not stable at the time, and support for HDMI audio passthrough. Android 12 was quite stable at that early stage as well. Some downsides included the lack of a useful HDMI input app and USB 3.0 performance that could be improved. I always test samples before adding them to the giveaway, and I initially thought […]

November 12, 2022March 8, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

NanoPi R6S Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Teardown, OpenWrt 22.03, and iperf3

NanoPi R6S is a Rockchip RK3588S powered device that can not only work as a router with two 2.5GbE ports, but also as a mini PC with HDMI and USB ports, and an Edge AI computer thanks to the 6 TOPS NPU found in the processor. FriendlyElec has just sent me two samples of the NanoPi R6S for review. Today, I’ll start with an unboxing, a teardown, and install OpenWrt 22.03 to run some iperf3 benchmarks. I’ll try other features with either Debian or Ubuntu Desktop in a few weeks. NanoPi R6S unboxing The router/mini PC ships with 6 rubber feet (3M), and nothing else. The front panel comes with four LEDs for the system and Ethernet ports, a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port, as well as an IR receiver “window” (under the USB 3.0 port). The rear panel includes a USB Type-C port that supports 5V […]

November 12, 2022November 14, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 166 Comments

Giveaway Week – GL.iNet GL-S10 BLE to MQTT Gateway

The sixth prize of this year’s Giveaway Week will be GL.iNET GL-S10 BLE to MQTT gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller and offering Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway is used to gather data from Bluetooth LE devices such as beacons and can be used in warehouses, shopping malls, airports, exhibition halls, tourist attractions, etc… for personnel management, asset management, environmental monitoring, indoor navigation, and more. I reviewed the ESP32-based BLE to MQTT gateway with the provided BLE beacon at the end of last year using MQTT X open-source client and the GL-S10 Tool App for Android. It allowed me to send commands through MQTT topics, for example, to set or retrieve the beacon’s (WiFi) configuration, and receive the data through MQTT subscriptions. Some of the data include the MAC address, RSSI, ad (Broadcast data advData), and a timestamp. It took some effort to get it working, but […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs

November 11, 2022November 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Arduino Lab for MicroPython – An experimental cross-platform MicroPython IDE for Arduino boards

Arduino boards have traditionally been programmed with C-like language in the Arduino IDE, but with the Arduino Lab for MicroPython, Arduino added MicroPython to several official Arduino boards. In the words of the Arduino Team, “not an official product yet, an experimental tool”, but I would not be surprised if it becomes an official IDE eventually as the company collaborated with Damien George, the creator of MicroPython, to port the official the virtual machine to a number of Arduino products, and Murilo Polese to develop the Arduino Lab for MicroPython cross-platform IDE for MicroPython. The IDE looks familiar… Oh yes, I see it now, it’s basically the Arduino IDE, but for MicroPython… 😉 and many of the same features including supporting connection with a board, code upload, file transfer, plus a Python-specific interactive REPL shell. Arduino Lab for MicroPython features so far: MicroPython’s Read Eval Print Loop (REPL) Enter […]

November 11, 2022November 11, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 134 Comments

Orange Pi 5 Rockchip RK3588S SBC launched for $60 and up

Orange Pi 5 (LTS) is a single board computer powered by Rockchip RK3588S cost-down octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor that offers one of the best cost/performance ratios on the market with pre-order pricing starting at just $60. The SBC was initially unveiled with up to 32GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, but at launch, Shenzhen Xunlong Software offers models with 4GB and 8GB RAM, and no flash storage. The board supports dual 8K display setups thanks to HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 Type-C video outputs and also features up to two MIPI DSI display interfaces, three camera interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi 6 connectivity, and a few USB ports plus a GPIO header. Orange Pi 5 LTS specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588S octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, 6 TOPS AI accelerator System Memory – […]

Boardcon Rockchip RK3588S SBC with 8K, WiFI 6, 4G LTE, NVME SSD, HDMI 2.1...