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

May 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pi-oT ESP Module Leverages ESP32, Screw Terminals for IoT & Automation (Crowdfunding)

Last year, we covered Pi-oT Raspberry Pi add-on board designed for commercial and industrial IoT applications with five SPDT relays and eight analog outputs housed in a DIN rail enclosure, although some noted it may not be suitable for all industrial applications due to the lack of 24V DC input and protected outputs. But there seems to be a market anyway, as the company has now come up with a similar product, except that Pi-oT ESP module replaces the Raspberry Pi board with an ESP32 board, namely ESP32-DevKitC-D32. Pi-oT ESP module key features and specification: Board – ESP32-DevKitC-D32 based on ESP32-WROOM-D32 module with ESP32 dual-core processor, 32Mbit SPI flash Relays – 4x Panasonic SPDT relays controlled via GPIO pins Screws terminals for Relay outputs 6x analog inputs configurable as GPIO if needed 2x analog outputs configurable as GPIO if needed 2x GPIO 5V input, 3.3V, and GND Power Supply – […]

May 4, 2020September 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

Argon One Case Brings All Raspberry Pi 4 Connectors on One Side

Due to its small size, the Raspberry Pi 4 board has Ethernet and USB ports on one side, and micro HDMI ports, AV port, and USB-C port on another side. This may not be an issue for most people, but having all ports on one side may make cable management easier. Argon One case for Raspberry Pi 4 makes that feat possible thanks to an adapter board that brings HDMI and AV ports on the left side of the USB ports, and an extra power expansion board does the same for the USB-C port plus adds a power button. Argon One comes in a kit with the following components: Aluminum top cover, black bottom AR1 power board AR1 AV board with micro HDMI inputs and outputs, AV port input and output Fan Power button Thermal pads for the processor and memory chip for passive cooling via internal heatsinks built into […]

May 4, 2020June 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

NXP LPC551x/S1x Arm Cortex-M33 MCU Family Launched with LPC55S16 Development Board

NXP has announced the general availability of LPC551x/S1x Arm Cortex-M33 MCU family with low power consumption, embedded security, pin-, software- and peripheral-compatibility. The LPC551x/S1x family is manufactured using a cost-effective 40-nm NVM process technology and targets industrial and general embedded markets. An LPC55S16 based development board – PLC55S16-EVK – is also offered for evaluation and software development. NXP LPC551x/S1x MCU Key features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 core @ up to 150 MHz delivering over 600 EEMBC CoreMarks and consuming as low as 32uA/MHz Memory and Storage – Up to 256 KB on-chip flash; up to 96 KB SRAM; 128 KB boot ROM Peripherals CAN FD / CAN 2.0 Dual-USB with on-chip PHY, supporting both HS and FS modes SDIO and up to 9 FlexComm interfaces (configurable as either SPI/I2C/I2S, UART) Up to 64x GPIO pins 16-bit ADC with five differential channel pair Comparator with five input pins and […]

May 3, 2020May 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

ODROID-Go Advance Black Edition Gets WiFi, R2/L2 Button, and USB-C Power Input

At the end of last year, Hardkernel launched ODROID-GO Advance portable Linux retro game console powered by a Rockchip RK3326 processor with 1GB RAM, and a 3.5″ color display. While it was fairly well-received, people wished it would not come with a large power barrel jack and included WiFi among a few other requests. COVID-19 also delayed mass-production of the device, but the silver lining is that the company decided to make a new revision 1.1 PCB with a USB-C port for power input, a WiFi module, and R2 and L2 buttons that’s planned to launch soon under the name ODROID-Go Advance Black Edition. ODROID-Go Advance Black Edition specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3326 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.3GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3L @ 786Mhz, 32 Bits bus width Storage – 16MB SPI Flash for bootloader, Micro SD Card slot (UHS-1 Capable interface) Display – […]

May 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

MINISFORUM S40 Celeron N4000 PC Stick with HDMI & miniDP Goes for $190

MINISFORUM S40 Gemini Lake PC Stick HDMI miniDP

MINISFORUM S40 is yet another Gemini Lake mini PC, but it comes in a super-compact PC Stick form factor and combines an Intel Celeron N4000 dual-core processor with 4GB DDR4 RAM and 64G eMMC flash storage. All that for just $189.99 on Banggood. MINISFORUM S40 specification: SoC – Intel Celeron N4000 dual-core Gemini Lake processor @ 1.1GHz / 2.6GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphic 600; 6W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash and microSD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz, mini DisplayPort port up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port Misc – Power button, reset pinhole, Kensington lock support, cooling fan, ventilation hole with dustproof net Power Supply – 12V? via USB-C port Dimensions – 133 x 46 […]

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

Congatec conga-TR4 COM Express Module is Powered by AMD Ryzen Embedded SoC

We’ve covered plenty of AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000-series SBCs, and some Ryzen Embedded mini PCs, but so far, we had not written about any AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 or R1000 system-on-module (SoM) or computer-on-module (CoM), partially because there aren’t many yet, and because we missed Advantech SOM-5871 CPU module earlier this year. But there’s now another option courtesy of Congatec with conga-TR4 AMD Ryzen Embedded COM Express module with consumer or industrial temperature range, and a choice of seven different processors. conga-TR4 COM Express module specifications: SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen V1807B quad-core processor @ up to 3.35 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 11 graphics; 35-54W TDP AMD Ryzen V1756B quad-core processor @ up to 3.25 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 8 graphics; 35-54W TDP AMD Ryzen V1605B quad-core processor @ 2.0 GHz with 2MB L2 cache, Vega 8 graphics; 12-25W TDP AMD Ryzen V1202B dual-core […]

May 1, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

ATX12VO Standard Reduces Idle Desktop Power of ATX Motherboards

I remember a few years back when I still used an AMD FX8350 power tower PC power consumption was about 75 Watts at idle, and around 15-20 Watts when the computer was turned off. Those are really high numbers especially considering many systems can now run under full-load for up to 15-20 Watts. Power consumption has vastly improved since, but desktop computers are still not the most efficient even while idled or power off, so a new standard has been created. ATX12VO single rail power supply desktop platform form factor takes out the 3.3- and 5-volt rails from the power supply and relies on the motherboard instead that can handle those voltages more efficiently. The name makes sense as ATX12VO should read as ATX 12 Volts Only. The new motherboard standard was at least partially designed to meet the requirements of upcoming new energy regulations for desktop computers in the […]

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

Particle Tracking System Offers Software, Hardware LTE IoT Module and Tracker in Turnkey Solution

Particle’s first cellular M2M module was launched in 2015 when the company was still called Spark IO. Since then they’ve offered new modules and boards supporting recent standards like NB-IoT and/or LTE Cat-M with product likes Boron and E series castellated modules. The company found out that most of their customers used their boards for asset tracking despite many off-the-shelf products already available, and the main reason was the ability to customize the solution. To help their customers, the company has now launched the Particle Tracking System combining a software suite with LTE IoT system-on-module and Tracker One reference product to ease the development and deployment of customized asset tracking solutions. Particle Tracking System is comprised of three main components relying on the existing Particle IoT platform: Particle Tracking Services software suite with geolocation services (mapping and geodatabase), fleet-wide device management, an open device firmware application framework to integrate with […]