CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Kodi 19 “Matrix” released with AV1, HDR, tvOS support

Kodi is an open-source media center that was initially designed for the XBOX game console, but was quickly ported to other platforms such as Windows and Linux, and eventually to low-cost Android TV boxes and single board computers such as Raspberry Pi. A new stable release of the software comes out every couple of years, and the developers have just announced the release of Kodi 19 “Matrix” a little over two years after Kodi 18 “Leia” release. The default user interface may look similar to the one for Kodi 18, but there have been many changes over the last two years with some of the highlights including: Skin/Look-and-Feel Screen redesign, especially for music with new metadata displays and changes to playlist views New “now playing” view Artwork and image file improvements Video Playback AV1 software decoding Windows 10 – HLG HDR and static HDR10 playback Android – Static HDR10 and […]

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PoE powered AI Edge computer combines NXP i.MX 8M SoC with Google Edge TPU

AAEON has introduced several BOXER AI edge computers over the years either powered by an NVIDIA Jetson module, a HiSilicon HI3559A Arm SoC, or an Intel processor combined with Movidius Myriad AI accelerator. The latest model, BOXER-8521AI, combines an NXP i.MX 8M SoC with Google Edge TPU AI accelerator, and offers 1GB RAM, USB ports, a 40-pin external I/O connector, and 12V or PoE power inputs. AAEON BOXER-8521AI specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M SoC quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Cortex-M4F real-time core, 2D/3D GPUs AI Accelerator – Google Edge TPU ML accelerator coprocessor System Memory – 1GB LPDDR4x RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0a port Audio – 1x Mic-in, 1x Line-out, optional 2x MEMS microphones Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port with PoE (802.3at) Optional? WiFi 2×2 MIMO (802.11b/g/n/ac 2.4/5GHz) & Bluetooth 4.1 plus two antennas USB – 2x USB3.2 Gen 1 […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

LiPo battery powered Olimex boards use ESP32-S2’s USB OTG interface

Last year, Olimex introduced ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo and ESP32-S2-WROVER-Devkit-LiPo boards optimized for battery-powered applications with as little as 30uA deep sleep power consumption. ESP32-S2 processor comes with a USB OTG interface, but at the time, Espressif Systems ESF-IDF SDK did not support programming via the built-in USB interface, so Olimex added CH340T USB to serial converter for programming. The good news is that the SDK can now support USB programming without an external chip, so the company designed new versions of the boards without a USB to serial chip with namely ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo-USB and ESP32-S2-WROVER-Devkit-LiPo-USB boards. The specifications are basically the same as previously except for the removal of the USB to serial chip, support for USB OTG, and even lower power consumption: Wireless module: ESP32-S2-DevKit-LiPo – ESP32-S2-WROOM with Espressif ESP32-S2 single-core 32-bit LX7 microprocessor up to 240 MHz with 128 KB ROM, 320 KB SRAM, 16 KB SRAM in RTC, 4MB SPI […]

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Android 12 developer preview released – What’s New?

Google releases a new version of Android every year, and the company is now usually releasing a developer preview in February to allow feedback and testing from app developers. So here we are with the Android 12 developer preview having just been released by Google with changes ranging from trust and safety to media transcoding to support for AVIF image format. Android 12 highlights: Performance Improved Binder IPC calls – Google engineers have had a look at latency and workload distribution, and made optimizations that reduce the median experience. This has yielded roughly a 2x performance increase on Binder calls overall, and up to a 47x improvement in refContentProvider(), 15x in releaseWakeLock(), and 7.9x in JobScheduler.schedule(). Foreground service optimizations – To ensure a better experience for users, foreground service starts from the background will be blocked for apps that are targeting the new platform. Android 12 will also delay the […]

February 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ESP32 TouchDown comes with 3.5-inch display for custom control interfaces

ESP32 TouchDown Open-Source Stream Deck Alternative

Dustin Watts developed FreeTouchDeck software to interface with Windows, macOS, Linux computers and boards over Bluetooth LE using an ESP32 board connected to a touchscreen display. So far, he used off-the-shelf parts, but he has now decided to create his own hardware with ESP32 TouchDown open-source hardware board equipped with a 480×320 TFT display. ESP32 TouchDown specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-WROOM-32D with ESP32 dual-core WiFi & Bluetooth processor, 4MB flash, PCB antenna Display – 3.5-inch 480*320 TFT screen based on ILI9488 driver connected over SPI mode, plus FT6236 Capacitive Touch Controller Storage – MicroSD card reader USB – 1x USB-C port Expansion Header with I2C, SPI, 7x GPIO, 3.3V and GND Stemma / JST-PH I2C connector Debugging – CP2102 USB-to-UART IC Misc – Piezo speaker, Power & Charge LEDs, on/off switch, boot and reset buttons, Power Supply 5V via USB-C 2-pin JST connector for battery APK2112 3.3V regulator MCP73831 battery […]

February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Open-source H.265/HEVC Hantro G2 decoder driver added to NXP i.MX 8M in Linux

H.265 Linux open-source driver NXP iMX 8M Quad

Getting open-source multimedia drivers on Arm Linux is one of the most difficult tasks, that’s why there’s no much talk about open-source GPU drivers for 2D & 3D graphics acceleration, but work on video hardware decoding and encoding is also a challenge. We’ve previously seen Bootlin work on Cedrus open-source driver for Allwinner VPU (Video Processing Unit), but Collabora has been working on open-source drivers for VeriSilicon’s Hantro G1 and G2 VPU found in some Rockchip, NXP, and Microchip processors. The company previously managed to have Hantro G1 open-source driver for JPEG, MPEG-2, VP8, and H.264 codecs, but H.265/HEVC relies on Hantro G2, and the patch for H.265 hardware video decoding on NXP i.MX 8M Quad has just been submitted to mainline Linux. Benjamin Gaignard explains more in his commit message: The IMX8MQ got two VPUs but until now only G1 has been enabled This series aim to add the […]

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

February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

$10 LoRa-E5 STM32WL module offers LoRaWAN networking in a 12x12mm package

Over the years, we’ve seen many LoRa modules combining STM32 microcontroller with Semtech SX12xx wireless transceivers, so that’s probably why STMicro decided to create the first LoRa SoC with STM32WL that was launched last year. I’ve just been informed a tiny (12x12mm) LoRa-E5 module based on STM32WL LoRa SoC working with 868 MHz and 915 MHz bands had recently launched on Seeed Studio for $9.90. LoRa-E5 key features and specifications: SoC – STMicro STM32WLE5JC Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ 48 MHz with 256 KB flash memory, 64 KB SRAM, SX126x LoRa radio LoRa connectivity Tx power – 22dBm @ 868/915MHz -136.5dBm sensitivity for SF12 with 125KHz BW 158dB link budget Embedded LoRaWAN protocol, AT command Frequency ranges – EU868, US915, AU915, AS923, KR920, IN865 I/Os – 3x UART, 1x I2C, 1x 12-bit ADC, 1x SPIO Supply Voltage – 3.3V Power Consumption As low as 2.1uA sleep current in WOR mode Tx […]

February 17, 2021February 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MaaXBoard Nano SBC targets audio and edge IoT with NXP i.MX 8M Nano SoC

Avnet has launched several Raspberry Pi-inspired MaaXBoard SBCs based on NXP i.MX processors through their Embest subsidiary starting in 2019 with MaaXBoard single board computer powered by an NXP i.MX 8M processor, and following by MaaxBoard Mini with NXP i.NX 8M Mini SoC in 2020. The latest model is MaaXBoard Nano SBC with an NXP i.MX 8M Nano quad-core Cortex-A53 processor best suited to audio and edge IoT applications. MaaxBoard Nano SBC specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Nano quad-core Arm Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Cortex-M7F core @ 750MHz, 2D GPU, 3D GPU, but no video hardware decoding. System Memory -1GB DDR4 SDRAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 256 Mbit QSPI Flash, MicroSD Slot Display Interface – MIPI DSI display Interface Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, 4x built-in microphones Camera I/F – MIPI CSI Camera Interface Networking – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.2/5 […]

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