CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 17, 2016November 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Xiaomi Introduces Mi Box 3c and 3s TV Boxes with Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

Xiaomi has launched two new upgraded models based on their Mi Box 3 TV box powered by Amlogic S905-H processor, with Mi Box 3s with Amlogic S905X-H and 2GB RAM, and Mi Box 3c with Amlogic S905-H and 1 GB RAM. Beside the box hardware changes, the most significant updates are the replacement of MIUI TV interface by allegedly the first set-top box system with AI in the world, which the company calls Patch Wall, as well as Mi Touch IR remote control which include a touch ring in place of the usual arrow keys (3s only). Xiaomi Mi Box 3s specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X-H quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor + Mali-450MP GPU System memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI2.0a port with HDR support + AV port Audio – Dolby and DTS support Connectivity – WiFi 802.11ac Dual band 2.4 / […]

November 16, 2016November 17, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Make-WiFi-Fast Project Massively Improves WiFi Performance of Busy WiFi Routers

WiFi is a great way to add connectivity to a large group of people, but once everybody tries to connect at the same time, the network often becomes unusable due to very high latency, a problem that can occur on servers on the ISP side too, and that’s usually caused by excessive buffering, Bufferbloat. The Bufferbloat project aims to resolve this issue with both routers using CoDel and fq_codel algorithms, as well as WiFi via Make-WiFi-Fast project. Dave Täht gave a presentation of his work on Make-WiFi-Fast project entitled “Fixing WiFi Latency… Finally“showing how latency was reduced from seconds to milliseconds. It’s quite technical, but two slides of the presentation clearly shows the progress made. The first chart shows 100 stations connecting to a website using unpatched code with the top of the chart showing the bandwidth per node in MBits/s, while the lower part showing latency in ms. We […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

November 16, 2016September 27, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 40 Comments

Banana Pi M2 Ultra Allwinner R40 Development Board with SATA & GbE Sells for $46

Allwinner A10 and A20 processors have been quite popular in the past since they could handle Fast or Gigabit Ethernet and SATA natively, included decent multimedia capabilities, and were found in low-cost hardware such as Cubieboard 2 or MeLE A1000. Since then we’ve had a few boards with SATA using newer and faster processors without SATA IP, meaning it was usually implemented using a USB 2.0 to SATA bridge leading to mediocre to average performance depending on the implementation and selected bridge. Allwinner R40 is the successor of Allwinner R20 with a faster quad-core Cortex A7 processor, but keeping Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, and most features of its predecessor. The good news is that Banana Pi has now launched the promised M2 Ultra development board based on the new processor for $45.80 + shipping on Aliexpress (Total for me: $48.35). Banana Pi M2 Ultra specifications: SoC – Allwinner R40 quad-core ARM […]

November 15, 2016March 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Siemens SIMATIC IOT2000 UL Approved Educational & Industrial IoT Gateways are Powered by Intel Quark Processor

Siemens has recently released SIMATIC IOT2000 series IoT gateways based on Intel Quark X1000/X1020 processor also used in Intel Galileo Gen 2 board with both IOT2020 educational version, and IOT2040 industrial version featuring UL-approval, Arduino headers, and a mini PCIe expansion socket. SIMATIC IOT2040 specifications: SoC – Intel Quark X1020 32-bit processor @ up to 400 MHz with 16KB cache (2.2W TDP) System Memory – 1 GB RAM Storage – micro SD slot Connectivity – 2x Ethernet ports Serial – 2x RS232/485 interfaces USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x micro USB device port Expansion – Arduino UNO compatible headers, mini PCIe socket Misc – Battery-backed RTC Power Supply – 9 to 36V DC wide-range power supply Dimensions – 144x90x54 mm Weight – About 200 grams Temperature Range – 0 °C to up to +50 °C Certificates – CE, UL, FCC, KCC, RCM The device support wall-mount and DIN rail […]

November 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Meet Body Heat Powered MATRIX PowerWatch, The Activity Tracker You Never Need to Charge (Crowdfunding)

There are currently several issues with wearables that makes it sub-optimal devices, from displays that can’t be always-on, to unreliable sensors, and in my experience pretty poor reliability, as I’ve managed to go through 4 fitness trackers / smartwatches in a year. Another issue is that contrary to typical watches lasting 10 years with a coin cell battery, most wearables require to be charge every few days, weeks, with the very best devices being chargers every few months. MATRIX PowerWatch promises to solve latter, as you will never need to ever charge it since it charges itself by harvesting energy using your body heat. The company promotes it as a smartwatch, but it’s closer to an activity tracker, since you can’t keep the Bluetooth LE connection all the time in order to receive notifications to your smartphone. It’s basically used to show time, track your activity and sleep patterns, and […]

November 15, 2016August 22, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

GR-LoRa is a Reverse-Engineered Open Source Implementation of LoRa PHY

LPWAN standards such as LoRa or Sigfox allow you to transmit data over long distance, at ultra low power (up to 10 years on a AA battery), and for free if your use your own network (P2P or gateway), or a few dollars per years if you go through a network provider. The low cost is possible since those standards rely on 900 MHz ISM bands, meaning nobody has to pay millions of dollars to the government to obtain a license fee. Matt Knight looked at LoRa, and while Level 2 and 3 of the protocol (LoRaWan) has public documentation, Level 1 (LoRa PHY) is proprietary and the standard is proprietary. So he decided to reverse-engineer LoRa PHY using Microchip RN2903 based LoRa Technology Mote and Ettus B210 USB software defined radio, and software packages and tools such as Python and GNU Radio to successfully deliver GR-LoRa open source “GNU Radio […]

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

November 14, 2016November 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Voyo VMac (V1) Apollo Lake Mini PC is up for Pre-order for $195 and Up

Voyo VMac (aka Voyo V1) is the first Apollo Lake mini PC from mainland China manufacturers, and will come with either Celeron N3450 or Pentium N4200 quad core processor combined with 4GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash, as well as an 128GB SSD. Voyo VMac/V1 specifications: SoC Celeron N3450 quad core processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.2 GHz (Burst frequency) and 12 EU Intel HD graphics 500 @ 200 MHz / 700 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP Pentium N4200 quad core processor @ 1.1 GHz / 2.5 GHz (Burst frequency) and 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505 @ 200 MHz / 750 MHz (Burst freq.); 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB DDR3L (upgradeable to 8GB) Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + 128GB M.2 SSD + micro SD slot Video Output – Mini HDMI 1.4 port limited to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio – HDMI + 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – […]

November 14, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$2 Wisol SFM10R1 & SFM10R2 Sigfox Modules and Evaluation Board

LoRa appears to be one of the most popular long range lower power WAN standards, at least based on the number of hobbyist boards coming to market, but hardware is not exactly cheap with modules such as Microchip RN2483 & RN2903 LoRa modules selling a little over $10, and development board such as LoPy normally going for at least $35. If large scale IoT is ever going to take off, prices will have to go lower, and AFAIK we are still waiting for the promised sub $2 Weightless chips. But if Elettronica In tweet is to be believed some Sigfox modules made by Korean company Wisol are selling for just $2, likely in larger quantities. WiSOL SFM10R1 is made with RCZ1 (Radio Configuration Zone 1 – ETSI – Europe), while SFM10R2 module is made for RCZ2 ((Radio Configuration Zone 2 – FCC – North America). SFM10R1 key features and specifications: […]