CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

LilyGO T-HC32 board with the world’s smallest Arm MCU (HC32L110B6) is now available for $9

HC32L110 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU is found in a minuscule 1.59 x 1.436 mm CSP16 package that should make it the world’s smallest Arm MCU. LilyGO T-HC32 is one of the first boards with the HC32L110B6 microcontroller, and it is now available for $8.98 on Aliexpress including shipping. The board offers really basic features with two buttons, a WS2812 RGB LED, and two-row of ten pins each for GPIOs and power signals, plus a 4-pin header for SWD programming. There’s nothing really special about the board or its price, except for the MCU’s size that’s barely discernable from a discrete component, and much smaller than the 7x7mm ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package shown in the photo below for comparison. LilyGO T-HC32 board specifications: MCU – HDSC HC32L110B6 Arm Cortex-M0+ @ up to 32 MHz with up to 4KB RAM, up to 32KB flash memory Expansion – 2x 10-pin header with GPIO, UART, I2C, […]

May 20, 2022May 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

5G RedCap leverages 5G features, limits bandwidth to 85Mbps for industrial IoT applications

5G is often associated with Gigabit speeds when found in mobile handsets or connected laptops, while there’s also 5G LPWA for battery-powered IoT devices. 5G RedCap, which stands for Reduced Capability, offers a middle ground for industrial IoT applications that keep some 5G features such as low latency, low power consumption, enhanced security, and network slicing while limiting the bandwidth to around 85 Mbps. 5G RedCap, also called NR Lite, will be part of 3GPP Release 17 scheduled for later in 2022, and further improved in Rel 18 in 2023. It will be first found in applications currently relying on LTE Cat 1 through Cat 4, and can be considered a light version of the 5G standard. An article on Telit says Rel 18 will specifically address the low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) segment currently carried seamlessly (e.g. no hardware changes required) in 5G by LTE-M and NB-IoT. I found out […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

May 20, 2022January 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Rockchip RK3588 Pico-ITX board launched with four-node cluster box (Crowdfunding)

The Mixtile Blade 3 Pico-ITX single board computer (SBC) powered by Rockchip RK3588 processor has now launched on Crowd Supply with either 8GB or 16GB RAM, and an optional four-node cluster box with a built-in PCIe switch designed to accommodate four Mixtile Blade 3 boards. The board also comes with up to 128GB of storage, two 2.5GbE interfaces, HDMI 2.1 output, HDMI 2.0 input, USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB Type-C ports, as well as a mini PCIe Gen 2 for expansion and a 30-pin GPIO header for expansion, as well as U.2 edge connector with 12V, PCIe x4 Gen 3 and SATA signals to interface with other Mixtile boards and build clusters. Mixtile Blade 3 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Arm Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, Arm Mali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan1.1, 6 […]

May 19, 2022May 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Geniatech launches OSM Size-L modules with Renesas RZ/G2L, Rockchip RK3566

Geniatech has introduced LGA system-on-modules compliant with the SGET OSM (Open Standard Module) Size-L standard and designed to be soldered directly on the carrier board. Two models have been launched with the SOM-G2L-OSM equipped with Renesas RZ/G2L Arm Cortex-A55/M33 processor, and the SoM-3566-OSM powered by a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 SoC. SOM-G2L-OSM module Specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L dual-core Cortex-A55 processor, Cortex-M33 real-time core, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, H.264 video encoder/decoder System Memory – 1GB RAM (2GB/4GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (16GB/32GB optional) 662 contacts with Display – 1x MIPI DSI, 1x RGB Camera – 1x MIPI CSI Audio – I2S Networking – 2x Gigabit Ethernet USB – 1x USB OTG 2.0, 1x USB 2.0 host Serial – 2x CAN bus SDIO 3.0 Low-speed I/Os – 5x UART including debug, 2x I2C, 3x SPI, 3x PWM, 16x GPIO, 2x ADC Dimensions – 45 x 45 mm (OSM Size-L form […]

May 19, 2022May 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$30 compact multi-sensor board works with any microcontroller with I2C (Crowdfunding)

SENSE is a compact multi-sensor board supporting measurement of air quality, sound, light intensity, temperature, proximity, etc… and designed by Zack Seifert, a seventeen-year-old electronics enthusiast and president of his school’s robotics team. SENSE can work with any microcontroller or processor with I2C (hardware or implemented with bit-banging), including Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards. and an extra Qwiic connector allows for additional sensors. SENSE board specifications: Storage – MicroSD card holder Sensors

May 19, 2022May 19, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

DeskMini UM350 Manjaro Edition is a Linux mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 3550H SoC

Most mini PCs are offered with Windows 10 or 11 operating systems, but MinisForum DeskMini UM350 Manjaro Edition mini PC ships with Manjaro Linux, making it one of the rare mini PCs pre-loaded with a Linux distribution. The mini PC hardware is pretty standard with a 35W AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core processor, support for up 64GB RAM, 2.5-inch SATA and M.2 2280 SSD storage, and the only real highlights are Linux support, and relatively affordable pricing. DeskMini U350 Manjaro Edition specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H 4 Cores/8 Threads processor @ 2.1 GHz / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics @ up to 1200MHz System Memory – 2x SO-DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM up to 64GB Storage 256GB or 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe/NVMe SSD 2.5-inch SATA III bay Video Outpu HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 DisplayPort up to 4Kp60 USB-C port up to 4Kp60 Audio […]

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

May 18, 2022May 18, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Exo Sense RP – A Raspberry Pi RP2040-based multi sensor module

Sfera Labs Exo Sense RP is a multi-sensor module with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller and various sensors to report temperature, humidity, air quality (VOC), light intensity, audio, and motion. The module can work as a standalone unit but can also communicate with a host through RS485 and USB interfaces, and supports expansion via surge-protected digital inputs and outputs. The Exo Sense RP is designed for indoor residential and commercial applications such as environmental monitoring and data logging, people and assets tracking, room management, access control, and more. Exo Sense RP specifications: MCU – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Arm Cortex M0+ @ 133 MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 16MB flash memory Communication ports RS485 half-duplex up to 115200 bps, with surge protection Micro USB 1.1 Type-B connector Sensors Sensirion SHT40 temperature and humidity sensor Sensirion SGP40 air quality (VOC) sensor Texas Instruments OPT3001 light intensity sensor TDK ICS-43432 digital […]

May 18, 2022December 28, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

$349 AMD Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit takes on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier devkit

AMD Xilinx Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit features the Kria K26 Zynq UltraScale+ XCK26 FPGA MPSoC system-on-module (SoM) introduced last year together with the Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit. Designed as a development platform for robotics and industrial applications, the KR260 is said to deliver nearly 5x productivity gain, up to 8x better performance per watt and 3.5x lower latency compared to Nvidia Jetson AGX Xavier or Jetson Nano kits. We’ll have a better look at the details below. Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit specifications: SoM – Kria K26 module with: MPSoC – Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ custom-built XCK26 with quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.5GHz, dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F real-time processor up to 600MHz, Mali-400 MP2 GPU up to 667MHz, 4Kp60 VPU, 26.6Mb On-Chip SRAM, 256K logic cells, 1,248 DSP slices, 144 Block RAM blocks, 64 UltraRAM blocks System Memory – 4GB 64-bit DDR4 (non-ECC) Storage – 512 Mbit […]

Boardcon EM3562 Rockchip RK3562 SBC with 8 analog camera inputs