CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 2, 2020July 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Energy Harvesting Makes Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform Maintenance Free

LPWAN wireless protocols like LoRaWAN, Sigfox, and NB-IoT enable long-range transfers of small amounts of data at very low power for a battery life of up to 10 years. But there’s still a need to replace the battery from time to time increasing maintenance costs. HiSilicon and Nowi have partnered to design and launch the Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform, a sensor hub that can transmit via NB-IoT without the need to change or recharge batteries manually through its energy harvesting capabilities. Energy Autonomous NB-IoT V2 Platform key features and specifications: LPWAN module – Quectel BC95 module based on HiSilicon Hi2115 NB-IoT chip Max transmissions per day Up to 3 transmissions per day in indoor conditions Up to 6 transmissions per day in outdoor conditions Power Management Nowi NH2 (MH2D02564) energy harvesting power management IC Can operate with a range of photovoltaic (multiple) cells Dimensions – 5.5 x 3.5cm The […]

July 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Raspberry Pi SBC Now Supports OpenVX 1.3 Computer Vision API

OpenVX is an open, royalty-free API standard for cross-platform acceleration of computer vision applications developed by The Khronos Group that also manages the popular OpenGL ES, Vulkan, and OpenCL standards. After OpenGL ES 3.1 conformance for Raspberry Pi 4, and good progress on the Vulkan implementation, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has now announced that both Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 Model B SBC’s had achieved OpenVX 1.3 conformance (somehow dated 2020-07-23). Raspberry Pi OpenVX open-source sample implementation passes the Vision, Enhanced Vision, & Neural Net conformance profiles specified in OpenVX 1.3 standard. However, it is NOT intended to be a reference implementation, as it is not optimized, production-ready, nor actively maintained by Khronos publically. The sample can be built on multiple operating systems (Windows, Linux, Android) using either CMake or Concerto. Detailed instructions are provided for Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit x86 and Raspberry Pi SBC. Here’s the list of commands to […]

July 2, 2020July 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Zynq UltraScale+ Arm FPGA FZ3 Deep Learning Accelerator Card Supports Baidu Brain AI Tools

MYIR’s FZ3 card is a deep learning accelerator board powered by Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ ZU3EG Arm FPGA MPSoC delivering up to 1.2TOPS for artificial intelligence products based on Baidu Brain AI open platform. The FZ3 card also features 4GB RAM, 8GB eMMC flash, USB 2.0 & USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort (DP) output, PCIe interface, MIPI-CSI and more. MYIR FZ3 card specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ XCZU3EG-1SFVC784E (ZU3EG) MPSoC Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.2 GHz Dual-core Arm Cortex-R5 processor @ 600MHz Arm Mali-400MP2 GPU FPGA fabric System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, 32MB QSPI flash, 32KB EEPROM, MicroSD card slot Video Output – 1x Mini DisplayPort up to 4Kp30 Camera I/F 1 x MIPI-CSI Interface (25-pin 0.3mm pitch FPC connector) 1 x BT1120 Camera Interface (32-pin 0.5mm pitch FPC connector) Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet USB – 1x USB 2.0 Host, 1x USB 3.0 Host […]

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AI Edge Fanless Embedded Box PC is Powered by HiSilicon HI3559A Penta-Core 8K AI Camera SoC

HiSilicon Hi3559A is a penta-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor designed for 8Kp30 or 4Kp120 smart cameras thanks to DSP cores and a single or dual-core NNIE (Neural Network Inference Engine) AI accelerator. We first found the processor in an expensive development board and noted its integration into OBSBOT Tail 4Kp60 “auto-director” smart camera and a 4Kp120 action camera. AAEON has now launched BOXER-8410AI AI Edge fanless embedded box PC based on Hi3559A V100ES processor to add an alternative to its Intel and NVIDIA based AI edge PC‘s. AAEON BOXER-8410AI specifications: SoC – Hisilicon Hi3559A V100(ES) (See product brief) CPU – Penta-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ 1.8 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.2 GHz, 1x low power Arm Cortex A53 core @ 1.2 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G71 MP2 GPU @ 900 MHz AI Accelerators – Quad-core DSP & dual-core NNIE MCU – Arm Cortex-M7 based Sensor […]

July 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MediaTek Helio G35 & G25 Entry-Level SoCs Feature MediaTek HyperEngine Game Technology

MediaTek Helio G-Series mobile processors come with optimization for gamers including HyperEngine game technology with network optimizations reducing lag and improving connection reliability, faster responses to taps, improved picture quality, and better resources management to avoid thermal throttling. So far, the company had integrated the HyperEngine technology into premium SoCs such as Helio G80 or Helio G90T powered by Cortex-A75/A76 cores, and BiFrost GPUs. There are aggressively Helio G90T priced phones such as Redmi Note 8 Pro going for about $240, but to address the lower-end side of the market, MediaTek has now introduced Helio G35 and G25 octa-core Cortex-A53 SoC with HyperEngine Game Technology. Helio G35 & G25 specifications: Processor Helio G25 – Octa-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU @ 2.0 GHz Helio G35 – Octa-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU @ 2.3 GHz GPU Helio G25 – Imagination PowerVR GE8320 up to 650MHz Helio G35 – Imagination PowerVR GE8320 up to 680MHz […]

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Snapdragon Wear 4100+ Platform Combines Cortex-A53 Cores with Always-On Cortex M0 Core

Qualcomm entered the wearables market in 2016 with the launch of Snapdragon Wear 2100 quad-core Cortex A7 SoC, followed by other models all based on Cortex-A7 cores including the more recent Wear 3100 platform which also added a QCC1110 co-processor to extend battery life. The company has now made the switch to 64-bit Arm with Snapdragon Wear 4100 and Wear 4100+ both featuring a quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor and companion chips, but the latter adds QCC1100 Arm Cortex-M0 always-on (AON) co-processor to lower power consumption. Snapdragon Wear 4100+ key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm SDM429w or SDA429w CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.7 GHz GPU – Adreno A504 GPU up to 320 MHz with OpenGL ES 3.1 API support DSP – Dual Qualcomm Hexagon QDSP6 v56, dedicated MDSP for modem and GPS, and dedicated ADSP for Open Sensor Execution Environment (SEE) and audio Memory & Storage […]

June 30, 2020June 30, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

CutiePi Raspberry Pi CM3+ Lite based Tablet Launched on Kickstarter

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ Lite based CutiePi open-source tablet has been in the making for well over a year, and the company has made enough progress to launch a Kickstarter campaign with the Raspberry Pi tablet offered for $169 and up. CutiePi specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ Lite with Broadcom BCM2837 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 1GB RAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Display – 8-inch 5-point multi-touch display with 1280×800 resolution Video Output – Micro HDMI Audio – 2W 8Ohm speaker Camera – 5MP front-facing camera Connectivity – WLAN 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.0 (RTL8723BS) USB – 1x USB type-A port Expansion – 6x GPIO pins Sensor – Gyroscope Misc – Handle that doubles as a stand Battery – 5,000 mAh Li-Po battery Power Supply – 5V via USB Type-C port; STM32 MCU handles power management and battery level monitoring Dimensions – 213 x […]

June 30, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ugoos X4 Cube Android 9.0 TV Box Plays 4Kp120 AV1 Videos

AOMedia AV1 video codec has been in the works for several years, and has strong industry backing since it’s open-source, royalty-free and delivers compression similar or even superior to H.265. Some services like YouTube and Netflix have already started using AV1 on PCs where the CPU is powerful enough to handle software video decoding. But relying on software video decoding is not ideal on typical Arm-based devices, either because of battery life concerns (e.g. phones) or simply impossible because the processor won’t be able to cope. The latter is especially the case on TV boxes who are not usually fitted with Arm Cortex-A53 cores leaving hardware video decoding to a video processing unit (VPU). Since AV1 is still fairly new, most VPU doesn’t support the new video codec, and while we have seen several AV1 capable processors including Broadcom BCM7218x, Realtek RTD1311/RTD1319, and Amlogic S905X4. as well as at least […]