Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft), Author at CNX Software

July 19, 2025July 19, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

MeshCore is a lightweight alternative to Meshtastic LoRa-based off-grid messaging

While Meshtastic is by far the most popular off-grid messaging solution relying on LoRa radios, MeshCore offers an alternative as a lightweight C++ library and firmware designed for multi-hop packet routing and made for developers who want to create resilient, decentralized communication networks that work without the internet. The project’s GitHub repository provides some high-level differences compared to the Meshtastic and Reticulum projects: MeshCore provides the ability to create wireless mesh networks, similar to Meshtastic and Reticulum but with a focus on lightweight multi-hop packet routing for embedded projects. Unlike Meshtastic, which is tailored for casual LoRa communication, or Reticulum, which offers advanced networking, MeshCore balances simplicity with scalability, making it ideal for custom embedded solutions., where devices (nodes) can communicate over long distances by relaying messages through intermediate nodes. This is especially useful in off-grid, emergency, or tactical situations where traditional communication infrastructure is unavailable. MeshCore key features: Multi-hop […]

July 18, 2025July 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

cExpress-R8 COM Express Type 6 Compact module features up to Ryzen Embedded 8845HS SoC, supports up to 96GB DDR5

AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 COM Express Type 6 Module

ADLINK cExpress-R8 is a COM Express Type 6 Compact CPU module powered by a choice of AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 SoCs, up to the 8-core Ryzen Embedded 8845HS SKU with up to 39 TOPS of AI performance, support for up to 96GB of DDR5 (ECC or non-ECC) memory, and optional NVMe SSD BGA storage. The module also features an Intel i226 2.5GbE controller, a SEMA board controller, and a debug connector, and exposes all I/Os through two standard 220-pin COM Express board-to-board connectors with four SATA III, up to 16x PCIe Gen4 lanes, DDI, LVDS, and/or eDP interface for up to four displays, and more. cExpress-R8 specifications: Hawk Point SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen Embedded 8845HS octa-core processor up to 5.1GHz with 6 WG (WorkGroup) AMD Radeon RDNA 3 Graphics Core; TDP: 35-54W AMD Ryzen Embedded 8840U octa-core processor up to 5.1GHz with 6 WG AMD Radeon RDNA […]

July 18, 2025July 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Rockchip unveils RK3668 10-core Arm Cortex-A730/Cortex-A530 SoC with 16 TOPS NPU, RK182X LLM/VLM co-processor

The Rockchip Developer Conference 2025 (RKDC!2025) is now taking place in Fuzhou, China, with some interesting announcements such as the Rockchip RK3668 10-core Arm Cortex-A730/A530 processor with a 16 TOPS NPU and the RK182X RISC-V co-processor with support for up to 7B parameters LLM (large Language Model)or VLM (Vision Language Model). Rochchip RK3668 10-core Armv9 SoC Let’s have a look at the Rockchip RK3668 SoC, which looks quite similar to the RK3688 SoC unveiled last year, but with some differences. Preliminary Rockchip RK3668 specifications: CPU – 4x Cortex-A730 + 6x Cortex-A530 Armv9.3 cores delivering around 200K DMIPS; note: neither core has been announced by Arm yet GPU – Arm Magni GPU delivering up to 1-1.5 TFLOPS of performance AI accelerator – 16 TOPS RKNN-P3 NPU VPU – 8K 60 FPS video decoder ISP – AI-enhanced ISP supporting up to 8K @ 30 FPS Memory – LPDDR5/5x/6 up to 100 GB/s […]

July 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

P250Q-M80 M.2 NVMe SSD supports one-click data destruction by software or hardware (smoke involved)

Team Group P250Q-M80 is a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD with up to 2TB capacity and a rather unique feature: one-click data destruction with software or hardware method. If you press a button for 5 to 10 seconds, the software method is triggered, and the SSD automatically wipes out all data. A longer 10-second or over press triggers the hardware method, which applies high voltage to the SSD to self-destruct a la Mission: Impossible with smoke and all. P250Q-M80 specifications: Host Interface – PCIe Gen4 x4, M-Key Flash Type – 3D TLC Capacity – 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB Sequential R/W – Up to 7,000 / 5,500MB/s Features – TRIM and SMART support; no thermal sensor, no external DRAM buffer Max. Power consumption – 1358mA @ 3.3V Dimensions – 80 x 22 x 3.5 mm Temperature Range – Operating: 0°C to +70°C; storage: -55°C to +95°C Humidity – 5% ~ […]

July 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Quectel KCMA32S – A Zigbee 3.0 and BLE 5.3 module based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 wireless SoC

KCMA32S-TE B V1.2 board for Quectel Zigbee BLE module

Quectel is better known for its GNSS, 4G LTE, and 5G cellular IoT modules, but the KCMA32S offers Zigbee 3.0 and BLE 5.3 short-range connectivity through a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 (MG21 for short) Cortex-M33 wireless SoC. The module comes with up to 96KB SRAM and 1024KB flash through the MG21 SoC, and is offered in an LCC + LGA form factor (20 x 12 x 2.2mm) exposing up to 20 GPIO, I2C, UART, SPI, and I2S to the host board. Target applications include smart lighting, smart buildings, and smart home wireless networks. Quectel KCMA32S specifications: SoC – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 up to 80 MHz Memory – 64KB or 96 KB SRAM Storage – 768 KB or 1024 KB Wireless Zigbee 3.0 (IEEE 802.15.4) Bluetooth LE (BLE) 5.3 Encryption Mode- AES128/256, SHA-1, SHA-2 (up to 256 bits), ECC (up to 256 bits), ECDSA (up to 256 bits), […]

July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

CamThink NeoEyes NE101 – A low-power, modular ESP32-S3 Vision AI Camera with optional 4G LTE and WiFi HaLow connectivity

CamThink NeoEyes NE101 is a battery-powered, low-power Vision AI Camera powered by an ESP32-S3 wireless module, featuring event-triggered image capture, and suitable for real-time vision control. By default, the camera supports WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and ships with a 5MP OV5640 camera module with an LED flash. However, the ESP32-S3 camera has a modular design, and it is offered with 4G LTE Cat 1 or WiFi HaLow connectivity, supports replaceable lenses, optional housing, and custom mounting options. CamThink NeoEyes NE101 specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 MCU – ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with 512KB SRAM, up to 8MB PSRAM Storage – 16MB flash Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 PCB antenna Optional wireless features NE101-L01GL – LTE Cat 1 with global support NE101-HL00 – WiFi HaLow 868 MHz NE101-HL01 – WiFi HaLow 915 MHz Storage – MicroSD card slot Camera FPC camera connector […]

July 16, 2025July 18, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Canonical and ESWIN announces EBC77 RISC-V SBC with Ubuntu 24.04 support

ESWIN Computing, in collaboration with Canonical, has announced the EBC77 Series single board computer (SBC) with support for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and designed for education, embedded systems, and general-purpose applications The credit card-sized board is based on the EIC7700X quad-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC with a 19.95 TOPS NPU, and features 64-bit LPDDR5 memory, an 8MP SPI flash, a microSD card slot, a micro HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header. ESWIN EBC77 specifications: SoC – ESWIN EIC7700X CPU – 4x SiFive Performance P550 RV64GC RISC-V cores @ up to 1.8GHz with Cortex-A75-class performance NPU – Up to 19.95 TOPS in INT8, 9.975 TOPS in INT16, and 9.975 FTOPS in FP16 Vision Engine HAE (2D Blit, Crop, Resize, Normalization) Imagination AXM-8-256 3D GPU (support OpenGL-ES 3.2, EGL 1.4, OpenCL 1.2/2.1 EP2, Vulkan 1.2, Android NN HAL) OSD (3 layers) Vision DSP […]

July 16, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ASRock Industrial unveils DSC-NV003-WT NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit

ASRock DSC-NV003-WT Jetson AGX Orin Developer kit

ASRock Industrial DSC-NV003-WT is an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit designed for edge AI, robotics, drones, Smart Cities, and advanced industrial applications with a wide operating temperature range (-25 to 50°C) and up to 275 TOPS of AI processing power. The solution is offered with NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Series (Industrial/64GB/32GB), supports up to four 4-lane MIPI or GMSLII cameras, and 12 PoE ports for computer vision applications. It also includes two PCIe Gen4 x8 slots, one M.2 Key M/B/E expansion slot for storage, 5G/4G LTE cellular, and Wi-Fi connectivity. ASRock Industrial DSC-NV003-WT specifications: System-on-Module (one or the other) NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Industrial (JAOi) SoC – Ampere GPU + Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU System Memory – 64GB 256-bit LPDDR5 (+ECC) Storage – 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64GB (JAO 64GB) SoC – Ampere GPU + Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU System Memory – 64GB 256-bit LPDDR5 Storage – […]