CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 4, 2024November 6, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 293 Comments

Giveaway Week 2024 – Jupiter RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard

The 11th edition of CNX Software giveaway week is underway! We have seven items to give away this time around: six review samples I will send myself and one from a company offering one of its cellular IoT development kits… The contest is open worldwide, and CNX Software Thailand is also joining the fun with four additional items available to people with an address in Thailand. The first prize of this year’s giveaway is Shenzhen MILK-V Technology’s Jupiter RISC-V mini-ITX motherboard powered by a 1.8 GHz SpacemiT K1/M1 octa-core processor, equipped with 16GB LPDDR4x, and various interfaces and features such as M.2 PCIe 2.0 x2 socket for an NVMe SSD, a 4K-capable HDMI video output, two gigabit Ethernet ports, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 module, and more. I reviewed the Jupiter mini-ITX motherboard with Ubuntu-based Bianbu OS and an Auriga 6-Bay NAS mini-ITX chassis last August and the results were […]

November 4, 2024November 7, 2024 by Sponsored Post - No Comments

Revopoint MetroX 3D Scanner: Blue Laser Scanning Breakthrough at an Appealing Price! (Sponsored)

As an innovator in 3D scanning technology, Revopoint has unveiled its latest product, the Revopoint MetroX 3D scanner. The Kickstarter campaign started on October 15th and will run until November 14th, offering MetroX at only $689 (MSRP $999) now. Four Scanning Modes MetroX is a versatile 3D scanner that combines blue laser and blue structured light technology. Its four scanning modes give users the right tools to optimally capture every aspect of small to medium objects, from flat areas to complex details. Cross Lines laser: Fourteen crossed lines rapidly scan larger surfaces at speeds of up to 800,000 points/second. No scanning spray is needed for glossy or black areas. Parallel Lines laser: Seven high-powered parallel blue laser lines are projected to accurately capture fine details, edges, and complex surfaces. Full-field structured light: Using blue structured light, it offers high-speed scanning at up to 7 million points/second for efficient point cloud […]

ArmSoM CM5 - Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

November 3, 2024November 3, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Murata unveils stretchable PCB technology for medical and bio-sensing applications

Many PCB vendors now provide flexible PCB manufacturing services, but Murata goes further with stretchable PCB technology that’s not only bendable but can be twisted and stretched to better fit on the body for bio-sensing and medical applications even on parts such as an elbow. Traditional bio-monitoring sensors have some limitations. For example, they can become unstuck when the body moves, damage the delicate skin of infants and the elderly, data may be distorted due to body movement, and Murata explains “there is a risk of a decline in insulation and the occurrence of ion migration when using a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU), known as a stretchable base material, in a high humidity environment”. The company’s stretchable printed circuits ((SPC) are supposed to solve or at least mitigate all those issues. The technology is under development, but Murata still shared some highlights of the technology: Stretchable electrode printing in compliance […]

November 2, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Seeed Studio’s XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards target battery-powered Matter and BLE applications

Seeed Studio has added two members to its XIAO family of tiny MCU boards with the XIAO MG24 and XIAO MG24 Sense boards based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 multi-protocol wireless SoC and designed for battery-powered Matter over Thread and Bluetooth LE 5.3 applications. Both 21×17.8 mm USB-C boards feature a 78MHz Silabs MG24 Cortex-M33 microcontroller with 256kB SRAM and 1536KB flash, an additional 4MB SPI flash on-board, and 22 pins and pads for GPIO pins, analog inputs, and power signals, plus a reset button and two LEDs. The “Sense” model adds an analog microphone and a 6-axis IMU sensor. XIAO MG24/MG24 Sense specifications: SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG24 (EFR32MG24B220F1536IM48-B) MCU cores Arm Cortex-M33 @ 78.0 MHz with DSP instruction and floating-point unit for user application Arm Cortex-M0+ core for wireless Memory – 256 KB RAM Storage – 1536 KB flash Wireless protocols – Matter, OpenThread, Zigbee, Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3, […]

November 1, 2024November 2, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MicroPython v1.24 release adds support for RP2350 and ESP32-C6 microcontrollers, various RISC-V improvements

Micropython v1.24 with ESP32-C6 and RP2350 support

MicroPython has become one of the most popular ways of programming microcontrollers, and the just-released MicroPython v1.24 adds support for the widely-used Raspberry Pi RP2350 and Espresif ESP32-C6 microcontrollers and a range of other changes. Those include improved RISC-V support with native code generation, an updated Zephyr v3.7.0 RTOS with threading support, unified TinyUSB bindings across ports, a portable UART IRQ API, and enhanced mpremote recursive copy. Damien George goes into more detail about the RISC-V improvements: … include an RV32IMC native code emitter, native NLR and GC register scanning implementations for 32- and 64-bit RISC-V, support for placing RV32IMC native code in .mpy files and also freezing it, and RISC-V semihosting support. Testing for RISC-V is done with the qemu and unix ports, and the support is utilised in the esp32 and rp2 ports. The Raspberry Pi RP2350 comes with both Arm Cortex-M33 and RISC-V cores, and the good […]

November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UP Squared Pro 710H SBC combines Alder Lake-N CPU with Hailo-8 AI accelerator for the machine vision market

AAEON UP Squared Pro 710H is a 4×4-inch SBC and developer board designed for machine vision applications with an Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N CPU and a 26 TOPS Hailo-8 Edge AI processor. The single board computer supports up to two MIPI CSI cameras via a 61-pin connector and offers expansion capabilities through a 40-pin Raspberry Pi-compatible header and three M.2 sockets for 5G, Wi-Fi, and NVMe storage support. While it’s only designed to operate in the 0 to 60°C temperature range, it does have industrial features such as 12V to 36V DC input and two RS-232/422/485 connectors. UP Squared Pro 710H specifications: Alder Lake N-series SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 1.2 GHz; TDP: 12W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs

November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

STMicro’s low-power ST1VAFE3BX AI biosensor integrates biopotential signal monitoring and motion tracking

STMicroelectronics (STMicro) has announced the ST1VAFE3BX biosensor, a highly integrated chip that combines “cardio and neurological sensing with motion tracking and embedded AI functionalities,” and is targeted at healthcare and fitness wearables. The ST1VAFE3BX biosensor chip integrates biopotential inputs with an accelerometer and a machine learning core for reduced power consumption. It features a complete vertical analog front end (vAFE) for simplified detection of vital signs in electrocardiography, electroencephalography, and other healthcare monitoring applications. Inertial sensing by the accelerometer is synchronized with biopotential sensing “to infer any link between measured signals and physical activity.” The integrated machine-learning core (MLC) and finite state machine (FSM) allow for ultra-low-power and accurate biopotential input recognition at a degree of responsiveness that is reportedly faster than the current industry standard. The ST1VAFE3BX is aimed at applications in healthcare and fitness wearables such as smartwatches, smart patches, sports bands, connected rings, and smart glasses. It […]

October 31, 2024November 12, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

GEEKOM GT1 Mega AI mini PC Review – Part 1: Specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM GT1 Mega is an AI mini PC based on the latest Intel Core Ultra 5/7/9 Meteor Lake processor. We received a review sample from the company with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H SoC, 32GB DDR5 memory, and a 2TB NVMe SSD as well as an Intel BE200 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 module. As usual, we’ll do a three-part review starting with an article with the specifications, an unboxing, and a teardown followed by a thorough review with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro operating system, and finally with the latest Ubuntu 24.04.1 OS. GEEKOM GT1 Mega specifications GEEKOM provides the following specifications for the GT1 Mega mini PC and motherboard: Meteor Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core Ultra 9 185H 16-core (6P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 2.5 / 3.8 / 5.1 GHz (Turbo) with 24MB cache, 8x Xe-cores Intel Arc graphics @ 2.35 GHz, Intel AI Boost NPU; […]

Boardcon Rockchip and Allwinner SoM and SBC products