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

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 […]

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

NXP i.MX 8M Mini Pico-ITX SBC Comes with Audio DSP, Optional PoE and Google Coral M.2 Module

We’ve covered several NXP i.MX 8M Mini SBC‘s since the announcement of the processor in 2018 as the first i.MX SoC manufactured with a 14nm process allowing for a higher CPU clock of 2.0 GHz compared to the 1.5 GHz frequency used with the original i.MX 8M processor. i.MX 8M Mini also removes some features (4K video playback, some video interfaces, …) in order to lower the cost of the processor. Companies are still releasing new i.MX 8M SBCs regularly, but we don’t always cover them all since many often do not offer much compared to the competition. But Estone Technology EMB-2237-AI Pico-ITX SBC has some unusual features and options including a Cirrus Logic audio DSP, as well as support for a PoE module and Google Coral M.2 AI accelerator module. EMB-2237-AI SBC is comprised of a system-on-module and baseboard with the following specifications: Estone SOM-2237 module SoC – […]

April 9, 2020July 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

3.5″ SubCompact SBC Leverages Intel Whiskey Lake Processor for Embedded & AI Applications

AAEON already has several Whiskey Lake SBCs in its portfolio including PICO-WHU4 Pico-ITX board for AI & edge computing and UP Extreme SBC targeting the maker community and enthusiasts. The company’s latest GENE-WHU6 is a features-rich 3.5″ SubCompact SBC offered with a choice of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 and Celeron Whiskey Lake Embedded processors and designed for embedded and artificial intelligence applications thanks to an M.2 socket accepting AI accelerator cards. AAEON GENE-WHU6 specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core processor @ 2GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 610; 15W TDP Intel Core i3-8145UE dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 2.2GHz / 3.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 620; 15W TDP Intel Core i5-8365UE quad-core/octa-thread processor @ 1.6GHz / 4.1GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 620; 15W TDP Intel Core i7-8665UE quad-core/octa-thread processor @ 1.7GHz / 4.4GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 620; 15W TDP System Memory – 2x 2400 MHz Dual […]

April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Olimex Launches a Breakout Board with Quectel BC66 NB-IoT module

Quectel BC66 NB-IoT module is found on a few development boards such as Olimex NB-IoT DevKit, works worldwide – at least where NB-IoT networks are deployed -, and can be programmed with Arduino or PlatformIO. Olimex has now designed a breakout board fitted with Quectel BC66 module for people wanting a smaller footprint (26x26mm) and/or integrate the module easily with their own hardware. Olimex BC66 breakout board’s features and specifications: NB-IoT Connectivity Quectel BC-66 with worldwide GSM bands coverage 25.5 kbps uplink and downlink nano SIM card slot u.FL antenna connector + optional antenna I/O Expansion – 3x 10-pin header either unpopulated or fitted with male headers; Level shifters for 5x GPIOs, I2C, SPI, UART Misc – Status LEDs Power Supply – Dimensions – 26×26 mm As with other LPWAN modules, this module/board would typically be found in remote electricity, water and gas meters, smart city (parking/lighting) management systems, healthcare […]

April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Amlogic S922X Digital Signage Board Comes with HDMI, LVDS, V-by-One, and eDP Video Interfaces

Thanks to its 4K video playback and output capability and high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet, Amlogic S922X is a suitable processor for 4K digital signage players. One way is to get a TV box optimized for signage applications such as Rikomagic MK25, but if you want to integrate a board into your own display, XYT-6689 SBC may be an interesting option with LVDS, V-by-One and eDP (embedded DisplayPort) display interfaces, as well as many other features. XYT-6689 S922X digital signage board specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.0 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores, Arm Mali-G52MP6 (6EE) GPU; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB to 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot up to 128 GB; maybe SATA (unsoldered “laptop” SATA interface on the backside of the board) […]

April 8, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

DragonBoard 845c Android (AOSP) Reference Board Supports Open Source Graphics, Mainline Kernel

Besides the obvious Google Pixel and Nexus devices supported by AOSP (Android Open Source Project), we previously covered some single board computers that were also officially supported by the project with Hikey and Hikey 960 Android reference boards. Linaro Consumer Group (LCG) has just written about Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 based Dragonboard 845c board. It has been now an official Android reference board for a few months now, and it is the first such board with an open-source graphics stack thanks to Freedreno graphics driver and mesa framework. Since no proprietary blobs are required, the board’s full functionality can also be upstreamed into the mainline kernel, and Linaro currently uses the board as a test target for validating the mainline kernel and stable updates. Here’s a reminder of the board’s hardware specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with 8x custom 64-bit ARMv8 CPUs up to 2.8 GHz, Adreno 630 GPU with […]

April 7, 2020February 22, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

CircuitBrains Deluxe is a Tiny, CircuitPython-compatible Module (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of boards with Adafruit’s CircuitPython support, but Microchip SAMD51 powered CircuitBrains Deluxe is a little different since it’s a module with castellated holes that make it easy to solder to your own baseboard or integrate into a space-constrained product. CircuitBrains Deluxe specifications: MCU – Microchip/Atmel ATSAMD51J19 32-bit ARM Cortex M4 microcontroller @ 120 MHz with 192 KB SRAM, 512 KB Flash Storage – 8 MB Quad SPI Flash I/Os via 48x through holes and castellated holes around the module GPIO (13 Analog, 2 of which are DAC capable, and 19 Digital) SPI, I²C, UART SWD programming/debug interface USB D- & D+ Power Supply Voltage – 5V Output – Onboard 3.3 V 600 mA Linear Regulator (LDO) connected to 3V3 pin Dimensions – 29 x 29 x 3.5 mm The module comes preloaded with CircuitPython, a fork of MicroPython maintain by Adafruit. You can just connect the board […]

April 7, 2020July 20, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Beware of Defective, Wrongly Manufactured IR Thermometers

There is a lot of demand for medical supplies and equipment due to COVID-19. IR Thermometers are used to check the temperature of people before entering a building for instance and are also in short supply. So factories are frantically mass-producing everything they can from face masks to IR thermometers, and it looks like some may forgo quality control. The latter are very hard to find in Thailand, but one person managed to purchase an IR thermometer online and decided to open it… [Update April 16th 2020: The Facebook video has been taken down, but still available on Youtube] This Heaco MDI908 medical thermometer’s infrared board is not connected to the mainboard, so it “works” even without the IR sensor… This takes “non-contact infrared thermometer” to a whole new level 🙂 I can see Kaidee (Thailand’s eBay) had some listed a few days, but the pages have since then been […]