CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

BL602/BL604 RISC-V WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 LE SoC will sell at ESP8266 price point

Hisilicon Hi3861 may be the first RISC-V WIFI SoC we’ve reported on, but due to political uncertainties and security concerns, supplies may not be available outside of China. So alternatives are welcomed, and Nanjing-based Bouffalo Lab (not a typo, 博流智能科技 in Chinese) has recently introduced BL602 and BL604 32-bit RISC-V WiFi and Bluetooth LE SoC for low-power IoT applications that are supposed to compete against ESP8266 in terms of price but with higher performance and additional features. The BL602 will also be integrated into an upcoming Sipeed Longan-series board, and potentially a new IoT board from Pine64. BL602 / BL604 key features & specifications: MCU subsystem – 32-bit RISC-V CPU with FPU with dynamic frequency from 1MHz to 192MHz, L1 cache Memory – 276KB SRAM on-chip Storage 128KB ROM, 1Kb eFuse, and optional Embedded Flash on-chip XIP QSPI flash support Wireless Wi-Fi 4 – 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz Bluetooth 5.0 LE Wi-Fi Fast connection with BLE assistance Wi-Fi Security […]

October 23, 2020October 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

E3K all-in-one wireless bio-sensing platform supports EMG, ECG, and EEG sensors (Crowdfunding)

Over the year, The maker community has designed several platforms to monitor vital signs with boards like Healthy Pi v4 or HeartyPatch both of which are powered by an ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth wireless SoC. WallySci has designed another all-in-one wireless bio-sensing platform, called E3K, that also happens to be powered by Espressif Systems ESP32 chip, and can be connected to an electromyography (EMG) sensor to capture muscle movements, an electrocardiography (ECG) sensor to measure heart activity, and/or an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor to capture brain activity. The board also has an extra connector to connect a 9-axis IMU to capture motion. E3K main board which the company refers to as “Data Communication and Processing Unit” (DCPU) comes with the following specifications: Supported wireless board – ESP32-DevKitC with ESP32-D0WD-V3 dual-core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor, up to 240 MHz, Integrated 520 KB SRAM, 16 MByte SPI flash. 2.4 GHz WiFI 4, and Bluetooth 4.x/5.x connectivity Data acquisition – 2x 8-bit DAC with 1 […]

ClearFog CX CN9K Mini-ITX 10GbE/5GbE networking SBC runs Linux or FreeBSD

Last year, SolidRun introduced ClearFog CX LX2X networking single board computer offering up to 100GbE via NXP LX2160A 16-core Cortex-A72 communication processor that followed ClearFog CX 8K ARMADA 8040 networking board launched the year before. The Israeli company is now working on two ClearFog CX CN9K networking SBC’s powered by CEx7 CN913x system-on-module featuring Marvell Octeon TX2 CN913x quad-core Cortex-A72 processor and offering multi-gigabit Ethernet with various 10Gbps, 5Gbps, and Gigabit Ethernet ports. ClearFog CN9132 Pro The higher-end version of the ClearFog CX CN9K boards is ClearFog CN9132 Pro with the following specifications: CEx7 CN9132 COM Express Type 7 module SoC – Marvell OCTEON TX2 CN9132 quad-core Arm Cortex A72 up to 2.2 GHz (Industrial temperature up to 2.0 GHz) System Memory – Up to 16GB SO-DIMM DDR4 up to2400MT/s (not included by default) Storage – Up to 32 GB eMMC flash, SPI NOR flash COM Express Type 7 board-to-board connectors with Storage – 2x SATA (Gen III) Networking – […]

October 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Intel Elkhart Lake COM’s offer up to 3x 2.5GbE, SIL2 functional safety

Since the launch of the Intel Elkhart Lake IoT Edge processor family, we’ve covered several COM Express modules based on the new low power SoCs including TQ Embedded TQMxE40C1/C2 and Congatec conga-MA7 & conga-TCA7. But despite the processor supporting 2.5GbE, all the computers-on-module we’ve covered so far would only offer Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. But Eurotech CPU-161-19 and CPU-161-20 COM Express Compact Type 6 modules support up to three 2.5 Gbps Ethernet interfaces using COM Express with proprietary expansions, and CPU-161-20 is the first module we’ve seen taking advantage of Intel Atom x6000FE parts with Functional Safety (FuSa) support making the module certifiable with SIL2 Safety Integrity Level (IEC 61508-2:2010) and/or Cat 3 PL=d (ISO 13849-1). As we may infer from the photos above and below, both modules share many of the same features, except for the added functional safety on CPU-161-20. CPU-161-19/20 specifications: SoC CPU-161-19 module Atom x6212RE dual-core processor @ 1.20GHz with 16EU 11th gen Intel UHD graphics @ 250 […]

October 22, 2020October 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Lanmodo Vast Pro dashcam helps you drive more safely at night (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of dashcams on the market to record accidents or other events that may happen while driving or while your car is parked. Lanmodo Vast Pro is another of those systems but features a wider screen and a night mode that helps drivers see clearer and further at night or other adverse conditions (rain, fog, snow, etc…), leaving more time for the driver to take corrective action and prevent an accident. The system is equipped with a 1080p HDR camera using a Sony CMOS sensor, as well as an optional Full HD rear camera with a 170-degree field-of-view, and up to 128GB of storage good for around 28 hours of continuous recording. Lanmodo Vast Pro key features and specifications: SoC – Unknown Storage – MicroSD card up to 128 GB (28 hours of continuous of front came, or 14 hours with rear camera as well) Display – 8-inch IPS screen with 850cd/m2 brightness Cameras Adjustable 5MP Full HD […]

October 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

One Netbook A1 7-inch laptop features Ethernet and COM port for IT Pros

We’ve seen many Intel-powered mini-laptops with 6 to 9-inch display in the last coupled of years mainly from GPD and One Netbook, but also CHUWI. Most models are tinier versions of ultrabooks with wireless-only connectivity, but last year GPD MicroPC 6-inch mini-laptop added Ethernet and RS-232 COM port for IT professionals such as sysadmins. But there’s now another option with One Netbook A1 equipped with a 7-inch display, powered by an Intel Core m3-8100Y Amber Lake processor, and also featuring Ethernet and COM ports, plus the usual USB and HDMI ports. One Netbook A1 specifications: SoC – Intel Core m3-8100Y dual-core/quad-thread Amber Lake processor @ 1.1 / 3.4 (Turbo) GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 615; 5W TDP System Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 256GB or 512GB M.2 SSD; microSD card slot Display – 7-inch touchscreen IPS LCD with 1920 x 1200 resolution IPS LCD; support for stylus with 4096 levels of pressure Video Output – 1x micro HDMI port […]

Flex Logix InferX X1 AI Inference Accelerator Takes on NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX

When it comes to AI inference accelerators, NVIDIA has captured the market as drones, intelligent high-resolution sensors, network video recorders, portable medical devices, and other industrial IoT systems use NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX. This might change as Flex Logix’s InferX X1 AI inference accelerator has been shown to outperform Jetson Xavier NX as well as Tesla T4. During the Linley Fall Conference 2020, Flex Logix showcased InferX X1 AI Inference Accelerator, its performance, and how it outperformed other edge inference chips. It is the most powerful edge inference coprocessor with high throughput, low latency, high accuracy, large model megapixels images, and small die for embedded computing devices at the edge. The estimated worst-case TDP (933MHz, YOLOv3) is 13.5W. The coprocessor operates on the INT8 or BF16 precision over a batch size of 1 for minimum latency. The nnMAX Reconfigurable Tensor Processor accelerator engine exists in the edge inference coprocessor- InferX X1. The nnMAX Reconfigurable Tensor Processor is optimized for AI […]

October 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

How to develop Gstreamer-based video conferencing apps for RDK & Linux set-top boxes

CNXSoft: This is a guest post by Promwad that explains the basic steps to develop a video conferencing app with Gstreamer on TV boxes running Linux. The COVID-19 pandemic has become a catalyst for new online services. For example, Zoom became so successful that it overtook IBM in terms of capitalization this month. The software engineers at Promwad were inspired by this success and decided to go even further: what about implementing video conferencing on Smart TV and STBs? Then the users of such an application will have an opportunity to communicate not only at work but also to enjoy remote meetings with friends, cheer for a soccer team, watch a movie together, or do sports with a coach. For some reason, most digital TV operators do not have such a service, although, from an engineering point of view, all these features can be implemented on set-top boxes based on Linux/Android and RDK. Let’s analyze the architecture of a Zoom-like […]