When we first looked at 3D scanners a few years ago, products that provided decent results were fairly expensive. But at the end of last year, we covered the Revopoint POP 2 color 3D scanner that appears to offer good scans at a relatively affordable (~$420) price point. Creality, more known for its 3D printers, has now introduced the CR-Scan Lizard 3D scanner with a similar or even lower pricing point, an accuracy of up to 0.05mm, support for scanning of dark/black objects, as well as an optional color kit to scan objects with full colors. Creality CR-Scan Lizard specifications: Accuracy – Up to 0.05 mm Single capture range/area – 200 x 100 mm Point distance – 0.1 to 0.2 mm Working distance – 150 to 400 mm Minimum scan volume – 15 x 15 x 15 mm Scan speed – Up to 10 fps Light source – LED + […]
Sonoff ZBBridge gateway can be used as a Zigbee router/repeater
Sonoff ZBBridge WiFi to Zigbee gateway was introduced in April 2020, and a few months later got support for Tasmota ESP8266 firmware and Gecko firmware for either Home Assistant or Zigbee2MQTT support. But there’s now a new Tasmota firmware that converts Sonoff ZBBridge into a Zigbee router (a.k.a. Zigbee Signal Repeater or Zigbee Range Expender) following a request on Tastoma Github’s issue tracker from last year. The firmware, unofficial yet signed, was released a few days ago by xsp1989 Github’s user with a link to the firmware on Google Drive. Digiblur successfully tried it out on its own Sonoff Zigbee bridge and published the instructions. Assuming you already have Tasmota flashed to the device, switching to the router software is basically a firmware upgrade from the Tasmota web interface. Once the update is complete, you’ll still need to access the console in Tasmota in order to run a command to […]
STMicro Intelligent Sensor Processing Unit (ISPU) combines MEMS sensor with DSP for AI “in the edge”
STMicroelectronics’ Intelligent Sensor Processing Unit (ISPU) is a single chip that combines a MEMS sensor together with a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) designed to run AI algorithms to let the chip make electronic decisions “in the edge” without help from the cloud or a local gateway. The ISPU is said to offer a smaller size compared to system-in-package devices, cut power consumption by up to 80%, and according to STMicro, launch the new “Onlife era” following the “Offline era” of the 2000’s where sensors were controlled by MCUs without network connectivity and the “Online era” in the 2010’s when sensors became connected to the cloud or a local gateway. ISPU key features: Enhanced 32-bit RISC Harvard architecture Extensible at the chip design phase with dedicated instructions or HW components Frequency / ODR (Output Data Rate) max – 5 MHz / 3.33 kHz – 10 MHz / 6.66kHz Four-stage pipeline 16-bit […]
Low-power satellite IoT SoC works with Totum’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network
Orca Systems ORC3990 is a low-power satellite Internet of Things (IoT) SoC that works with Totum’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network of satellites and targets outdoor and indoor tracking and monitoring applications. It’s not the first time we read about satellites being used for LPWAN networks, as Sigfox launched LEO satellites a few years ago to provide worldwide coverage even in remote locations like the Sahara desert, the two poles, and oceans. But I had never heard of Totum or Orca Systems before, so let’s have a closer look. Orca Systems ORC3990 ORC3990 specifications: Unnamed Arm cores Integrated RF Transceiver Low Power Sensor-to-Satellite (LP-S2S) connectivity in the 2.4 GHz ISM band Totum DMSS modem for improved doppler performance Link budget enables indoor signal coverage Support location fixes with 20m accuracy Low power – 10+ year battery life Package – 7x7mm QFN chip Temperature Range – -40 – +85°C Process – […]
Fixing performance issues with Realtek RTL8156B 2.5GbE USB dongle in Ubuntu
A few days ago, I reviewed a USB 3.0 to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter based on Realtek RTL8156B chip in Ubuntu 20.04, and let’s say the reliability and performance were underwhelming. I got some recommendations like changing cables, the MTU size, etc… Playing around with cables did no help, but one comment mentioned the cdc_ncm driver could be the issue, followed by another saying that updating to Linux kernel 5.14 should install the correct r8152 driver… So I just did that:
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sudo apt install linux-oem-20.04d |
This upgraded Linux 5.13 (shipped with Ubuntu 20.04 + HWE) to Linux 5.14, but still no luck as the system kept using the cdc_ncm driver with a half-duplex link:
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jaufranc@cnx-laptop-4:~$ inxi -n Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 IF: enp2s0f1 state: down mac: 98:28:a6:0f:06:07 Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath10k_pci IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 70:c9:4e:b7:84:77 Device-3: Realtek USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN type: USB driver: cdc_ncm IF: enx1cbfced40321 state: up speed: 2500 Mbps duplex: half mac: 1c:bf:ce:d4:03:21 jaufranc@cnx-laptop-4:~$ uname -a Linux cnx-laptop-4 5.14.0-1022-oem #24-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jan 31 16:00:31 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux |
But then I thought I may have to use udev rules to prevent loading the cdc_ncm driver, and there’s indeed 50-usb-realtek-net.rules in r8152 driver to do just that. So I copied the file in /etc/udev/rules.d/ folder. Since I […]
Intel aims to be the performance per watt leader by 2024 with Lunar Lake processors
Apple-designed Arm processors have shown it’s possible to get high-performance at relatively low power, and this has left competitors behind in that regard. But Intel aims to rectify that with the goal of becoming the “performance per watt leader” by 2024 with the new Lunar Lake processors manufactured with Intel 18A process. Intel also provided some details about families following Alder Lake processors with Raptor Lake expected later this year, Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake based on Intel 4 and 20A processes in 2023-2024 2022, and Lunar Lake expected in 2024+. Let’s have a look at what we know so far for each family. Intel Raptor Lake The Raptor Lake processors will rely on the same “Intel 7” process as Alder Lake processors, offer up to double-digit performance boost (translation: up to around 10% in specific workloads), up to 24 cores and 32-threads, better overclocking, support for AI M.2 modules […]
VIA SOM-9X35 Starter Kit features MediaTek i350 Arm processor for edge AI devices
VIA has just introduced the SOM-9X35 Starter Kit based on MediaTek i350 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with AI accelerator and HiFi4 DSP designed for Edge AI devices in the retail, commercial, and industrial sectors. The kit is comprised of the SOM-9X35 module with MediaTek i350 SoC, up to 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and WiFI 5 + Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module, as well as the VIA VAB-935 3.5-inch carrier board, a 7-inch 1024×600 touch panel display, a 13MP camera module, two speakers and microphone, and accompanying accessories. VIA SOM-9X35 Starter Kit specifications: SOM-9X35 System-on-Module SoC – MediaTek i350 (MT8365) quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz, Arm Mali-G52 MC1 up to 800Mhz with support for OpenGL ES, OpenCL, and Vulkan APIs, MediaTek APU 1.0 AI Processor up to 500MHz (285 GMACs), HiFi4 DSP System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 SDRAM (1GB/4GB optional) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Connectivity – MediaTek […]
HC32L110 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU is available in a tiny 1.59 x 1.436 mm CSP16 package
Before you ask… No, it’s not another one of those CNXSoft’s typos, I did not mean to write cm (centimeters), and HDSC HC32L110 is indeed an Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller available in an almost microscopic 1.59 x 1.436 mm CSP16 package, which could make it the world’s smallest Arm MCU. I discovered the microcontroller when LilyGO shared a small board only showing the MCU’s dimensions and CSP16 type. Silicon Labs EFM8SB10F8G-CSP16 showed first in a web search, but that’s an 8-bit 8051 microcontroller with a 1.781 x 1.659 mm CSP16 package, and it’s unlikely they’d use a “Western” microcontroller. But I soon found the microcontroller on Huada Semiconductor Co. Ltd (HDSC) website. HC32L110 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M0+ 32-bit core @ up to 32 MHz Memory – 2KB to 4KB RAM memory with parity check Storage – 16K to 32KB flash memory with erase and write protection Peripherals 16x GPIOs […]