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

April 13, 2020April 14, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

X96Q Android 10 TV Box Shows Up with Allwinner H313 Quad-core Cortex-A53 Processor

It looks like Allwinner has come up with a new confusing processor. Allwinner H3 is a popular quad-core Cortex-A7 processor that’s been around for years, but the company has now launched an Allwinner H313 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor that’s found in some TV boxes running Android 10, namely X96Q with 1 to 2 GB RAM, and 8 to 16GB storage. X96Q TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H313 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.35 GHz with Arm Mali G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan System Memory – 1GB/2GB SDRAM Storage – 8GB/16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, AV port for video composite + stereo audio Video Codecs VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K 30fps H.265 Main10 @ L5.1 up to 4K 60fps AVS2 JiZhun 10-bit Profile up to 4K 60fps H.264 BP/MP/HP @ L4.2 […]

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

Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino Features Arduino UNO Compatible Board & Ten Pre-wired Modules

Arduino boards are great to get started with electronics has they offer an ecosystem of expansion modules and libraries, as well as tutorials, that may it easy to get started with almost any projects. Seeed Studio Grove is a family of standardized modules with 4-pin headers using digital I/O, analog I/O, UART or I2C interfaces and allowing you to easily connect to compatible board such as Seeeduino Lotus board. You still need to connect the Grove module via cables, so Seeed Studio decided to create a big board called Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino that features Seeduino Lotus at the center and ten pre-wired and detachable Grove modules so no cabling is required to get started apart from a USB cable. List of Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino board and modules: Seeeduino Lotus ATmega320p board compatible with Arduino UNO compatible board and featuring 12 Grove connectors 10 pre-wired modules without […]

April 13, 2020February 5, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

HeimVision HM241 NVR Review – Part 2: Installation Tips, Video Interface, Android App

A coupled of weeks ago, I received HeimVision HM241 HD NVR kit, and in the first part of the review, I showed the content of the kit, installed an internal 3.5″ hard drive, and did a teardown of both the NVR and one camera. I’ve now had time to test the device for about two weeks. I have plans to install it permanently in another location, but for testing, I temporarily installed the camera for testing in several strategic locations: 3 outdoors, one indoors. Back inside, I connected the NVR device (black box below) to an Ethernet switch for Internet connectivity, a 4K TV to access the user interface, a USB mouse, and the power supply. First Boot and Configuration I was quite surprised during the first boot as I did not have to set up anything and the cameras were automatically detected. The first screen shows QR code for […]

April 12, 2020April 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Bored during Quarantine? Get some Soldering Kits to keep you Busy (Crowdfunding & Alternatives)

I’ve heard some of you are forced to stay at home for some reason… HHTronik has decided to design what they call “Quarantine Occupation Kits” which are actually open-source hardware soldering kits of varying complexity. Five soldering kits are available: I learn soldering TH (Super Easy) – Ten solder joints with one LED, one resistor, one switch and a CR2032 coin cell holder using through-hole components. The end results is a flashlight board I learn soldering SMD (Easy) – Same as above but with SMD (surface mount) components, and a more compact PCB. I learn soldering Boost Edition (Moderate) – More complex board with a bigger variety of parts and footprints including some slightly smaller and unusual parts (side view white LEDs, SOT23-6, SOT23-3, and 0805 passives). The assembled board is a step up” or “boost” converter taking 3V from the battery and bring it up to 6V to light […]

April 11, 2020April 11, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

n-Fuse SX1302 Mini PCIe LoRaWAN Concentrator Card to Sell for 100 Euros

Semtech SX1302 LoRa transceiver was announced in Q3 2019 as an updated to the company’s SX1301 LoRaWAN gateway chip with improved efficiency, lower BoM costs, and the ability to handle more traffic. At the time, the company also showcased a mini PCIe LoRaWAN concentrator card reference design pairing SX1302 with SX1250 sub-GHz RF front end, and that could be connected to a Raspberry Pi board via an interface board. n-Fuse has now come up with a commercial product adapted from the reference design with LRWCC2-MPCIE SX1302 Mini PCIe concentrator card designed for LoRaWAN gateways. n-Fuse LRWCC2-MPCIE key features and specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32 (no details provided) LoRa Connectivity Semtech SX1302 digital baseband processor with 2xSX1250 and 1xSX1261 Tx/Rx front-ends Frequency Range – 863 to 870 MHz or 915 to 928 MHz Sensitivity <= -124dBm at SF7, BW 125KHz <= -138dBm at SF12, BW 125kHz <= -125dBm at SF7, BW […]

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments

MediaTek Caught Cheating but Says Benchmarks Just Represent Peak Performance

Silicon vendors have been cheating in benchmarks for years, mostly by detecting when popular benchmarks run and boost the performance of their processors without regard to battery life during the duration of the test in order to deliver the best possible score. There was a lot of naming and shaming a few years back, and we did not hear much about benchmarks cheating in the last couple of years, but Anandtech discovered MediaTek was at it again while comparing results between Oppo Reno3 Europe (MediaTek Helio P95) and China (MediaTek Dimensity 1000L) with the older P95 model delivering much higher performance contrary to expectations. Cheating was suspected, so they contact UL to provide an anonymized version of PCMark so that the firmware could not detect the benchmark was run. Here are the before and after results. As noted by Anandtech, the differences are really stunning: a 30% difference in the […]

April 10, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HummingBoard Ripple SBC Targets AI Applications with NXP i.MX 8M Mini SoC & Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S NPU

SoliRun has made good use of its i.MX 8M Mini SoM which – as its name does not imply – comes with both an NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor and Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S AI accelerator, and can now be found in HummingBoard Ripple SBC part of the new HummingBoard-M family and based on a cost-reduced version of HummingBoard Pulse baseboard which we covered in 2018. Note that HummingBoard Ripple board is also available with the earlier SoliRun i.MX 8M module, and comes with up to 4GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, Micro HDMI. Compared to HummingBoard Pulse SBC, it does without MIPI-DSI nor digital audio, and removing one Gigabit Ethernet port, and one MIPI-CSI connector. HummingBoard Ripple SBC specifications: SOM Model NXP i.MX8M dual-/quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor up to 1.5GHz with Arm M4 MCU core NXP i.MX8M Mini single to quad-core Arm Cortex A53 processor up to 1.8GHz with […]

April 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

NXP WiFi 6 Solutions Launched for Home, Enterprise, IoT and Automotive Markets

Several silicon vendors started to unveil WiFi 6 (802.11ax) chips in 2017-2018 such as Broadcom BCM43684, BCM43694 & BCM4375, and Marvell 88W906x. While NXP launched QorIQ LA1575 programmable wireless SoC with expected 802.11ax support early 2017, AFAIK they did not introduce any specific WiFi 6 chips. But last year, the company used some of its cash to purchase Marvell’s WiFi & Bluetooth business and has now announced the availability of Marvell NXP WiFi 6 chips and solutions which mostly are the ones announced by Marvell in 2017. NXP Wi-Fi 6 solutions include NXP 88W9064 & 88W9068 4×4 and 8×8-stream solutions with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 for home and enterprise access solutions NXP 88Q9098 concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6 2×2+2×2 + Bluetooth 5 AEC-Q100 qualified solutions for infotainment and telematics automotive applications NXP 88W9098 concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6 2×2+2×2 + Bluetooth 5 solutions for multimedia streaming and consumer access applications Unnamed […]