CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 12, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Arduino Core mbed 2.0 supports Raspberry Pi Pico & Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect

Last week, we noted and tried the unofficial Raspberry Pi Pico Arduino Core that works on RP2040 boards, including Raspberry Pi Pico. Everything was super early to set up and the blink sample worked just fine. But Arduino recently tweeted about the Arduino Core mbed 2.0 release that adds for Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards including Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect and Raspberry Pi Pico boards. Arduino first used mbed for their Arduino Nano 33 BLE board as they didn’t have an official Arduino core for the Nordic nRF52840 Cortex-M4 microcontroller, and it appears they’ve done the same for Raspberry Pi RP2040 whose mbed implementation itself relies on the C SDK. Let’s have a try, how hard can it be? We can find the release and changelog on Github with some instructions on the main Github. First, we can clone the repo in the sketchbook directory (See Arduino IDE’s preferences) which in my case was ~/Arduino:

mkdir -p ~/Arduino/hardware/arduino-git
cd ~/Arduino/hardware/arduino-git/
git clone https://github.com/arduino/ArduinoCore-mbed mbed

mkdir -p ~/Arduino/hardware/arduino-git

cd ~/Arduino/hardware/arduino-git/

git clone https://github.com/arduino/ArduinoCore-mbed mbed

We’ll also need to clone […]

April 12, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

T95 Plus Android 11 TV Box features Rockchip RK3566 AIoT processor, 8GB RAM

Last month, we wrote about the first Rockchip RK3566 TV box we had seen so far with a new version of the H96 Max TV box running Android 11 with up to 8GB RAM. While Rockchip RK3566 processor has multimedia capabilities with 4K HDR video playback and output, it has many other interfaces such as native PCIe and SATA that would not make it as cost-effective as TV Box SoC’s like Rockchip RK3328 or Amlogic S905X4. But this does not stop companies from making TV boxes with the AIoT processor, and T95 Plus TV box offers another option, again with up to 8GB RAM. T95 Plus specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-G52 EE GPU, 0.8 TOPS NPU/AI accelerator System Memory – 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB RAM Storage – 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4Kp60 Video decoding 4Kp60 H.264/H.265/VP9 VC1 up to […]

Crowbits Master Kit Tutorial – Part 2: ESP32 intrusion scanner and visual programming

I started Crowbits Master Kit review last month by checking out the content, user manual, and some of the possible projects for the ESP32 educational kit including a 2G phone and a portable game console. For the second part of the review, I’ll go through one of the lessons in detail, namely the intrusion scanner to show the whole process and how well (or not) it works. Let’s go to Lesson 5 directly, although I’d recommend going through the first lessons that provide details about the hardware and visual programming basics using Letscode program, which is basically a custom version of Scratch for Crowbits The user manual introduces the project, explains it is to detect intruders, and lists the learning goals as we’ll learn how to control the servo and play music on the Crowbits kit. Kit Assembly But first, we’ll have some assembly to do, in a similar way that’s we’d assemble a LEGO robotics kit. Each assembly step […]

April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

ESP32-C6 WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5 LE RISC-V SoC for IoT devices coming soon

Espressif Systems introduced their first RISC-V wireless SoC last year with ESP32-C3 single-core 32-bit RISC-V SoC offering both 2.4GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity, and while the company sent some engineering samples of ESP32-C3 boards months ago, general availability of ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 and modules is expected shortly. But the company did not stop here, and just announced their second RISC-V processor with ESP32-C6 single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor clocked at up to 160 MHz with both 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5 LE connectivity. ESP32-C6 preliminary specifications: CPU, Memory, and Storage 32-bit RISC-V single-core processor up to 160 MHz 384 KB ROM 400 KB SRAM (16 KB for cache) 8 KB SRAM in RTC SPI, Dual SPI, Quad SPI, and QPI interfaces for external flash and/or PSRAM WiFi 2.4 GHz 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 with 20 MHz bandwidth, support for station interface 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFI 4 with 20/40MHz bandwidth, 1T1R mode with data rate up to 150 Mbps; […]

April 10, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Olimex RP2040-PICO-PC “computer” to feature RP2040-Py Raspberry Pi Pico compatible module

We previously wrote it was possible to create a Raspberry Pi RP2040 board with HDMI using DVI and programmable IOs to output video up to 640×480 at 60 Hz with the microcontroller’s Cortex-M0+ cores clocked at 252 MHz. At the time, we also noted Olimex was working on such a board with RP2040-PICO-PC designed to create a small Raspberry Pi RP2040 computer with HDMI/DVI video output. The Bulgarian company has now manufactured the first prototype, but due to supply issues with the Raspberry Pi Pico board, they also designed their own RP2040-PICO module since they’ve got a reel of Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontrollers. RP2040-PICO-PC small computer board Specifications: Support for Raspberry Pi Pico board Storage – MicroSD card Video Output – HDMI port with DVI signal (note no audio through this interface) Audio output – 3.5mm audio jack Expansion UEXT connector with UART, SPI, I2C, 3.3V, and GND to attach external modules or sensors from Olimex Grove compatible 4-pin JST2.0 […]

April 9, 2021April 9, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Rugged, fanless quad-camera system brings AI and Machine Vision to rolling stock and automotive applications

quad-camera system automotive AI & machine vision

Eurotech BoltGPU 10-31 is a rugged fanless embedded system powered by NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX module, equipped with four FAKRA connectors for GMSL camera, and designed to bring Edge AI and machine vision to rolling stock (e.g. trains) and automotive applications. The BoltGPU 10-31 also features 16 GB of eMMC flash, NVMe SSD support, three Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, two USB3.1 ports, as well as isolated CAN-FD, optoisolated DIO, video out, and GNSS with optional RTK. BoltGPU 10-31 specifications: System-on-Module – NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX with hexa-core NVIDIA Carmel ARM v8.2 64-bit CPU with 6MB L2 + 4MB L3 cache, 384-core NVIDIA Volt GPU with 48 Tensor Cores (up to 21 TOPS of accelerated computing), 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM, 16GB eMMC 5.1 flash Storage MicroSD card socket Optional 512 GB NVMe SSD on M.2 Key M socket 256 Kbit Serial EEPROM Video Output – 1x Mini DisplayPort Camera Input – 4x GMSL (1.5Gbps to CSI-2) FAKRA […]

DIY Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 NAS supports up to four drives

We previously noted it was possible to build a Raspberry Pi CM4 NAS using Wiretrustee carrier board with a built-in Marvell 88SE9215 PCIe to SATA controller and four SATA connectors. But Mebs just created his own Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 four-bay NAS with his own carrier board equipped with a PCIe socket used to insert a PCIe SATA card, as well as a neat 3D printed enclosure that took 6 days to print. This carrier board design is actually derived from the official Raspberry Pi CM4 IO board with only the interfaces needed for the NAS to make it smaller and fit within the width of a standard 3.5″ hard drive. It was also made as simple as possible because it was Mebs’ first PCB design. This leaves the board with Gigabit Ethernet, one HDMI port, a USB 2.0 port, the PCIe 2.0 socket, as well as some headers for power (board and SATA), a small I2C OLED display, […]

April 9, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Eyecam open-source webcam will make you feel spied on

Most people will use webcams connected to a computer or integrated into a laptop without thinking about the possibility of being spied on, but Eyecam will certainly raise awareness and make you feel like somebody is truly watching. The open-source webcam is shaped like a human eye and acts like one thanks to a Raspberry Pi camera and an Arduino board controlling six servos for eyeball, eyelids, and eyebrows movements. The project was conducted at Saarland University in Germany, and Eyecam looks amazingly realistic – and creepy – with the eyeball and eyelids moving, especially when face tracking is enabled, and expressions are possible with servos controlling the eyebrows. The webcam is comprised of 3D printed parts, a Raspberry Pi camera connect to Raspberry Pi Zero recognized as a USB webcam from the host, and an Arduino Leonardo Pro Micro to control the 6 servo motors. On the software side, an Arduino sketch controls the servos, Raspberry Pi OS Linux […]