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

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Cypress EZ-PD CCG6DF & CCG6SF are USB4-Ready USB-C PD Controllers for PCs and Notebooks

The USB4 specification was published in September 2019 with promises of up to 40 Gbps data transfer rate over a Thunderbolt physical layer, and last December, we reported about an MCCI USB4 switch designed to test and design USB4 products. Cypress Semiconductor EZ-PD CCG6DF and CCG6SF dual-port and single-port USB-C and USB PD 3.0 controllers designed for PCs and notebooks that will be compatible with USB4 standard. EZ-PD CCG6DF and CCG6SF key features: MCU Subsystem – Arm Cortex-M0 core @ 48 MHz with 64KB flash, 96KB SROM, 16KB SRAM USB Type-C and Power Delivery 3.0 supporting USB3 and USB4, Thunderbolt, DisplayPort Alternate Mode platforms Digital I/Os Two timers, counters, PWMs, and up to 23 GPIOs Four SCBs (Serial Communication Blocks) for configurable master/slave I2C, SPI or UART Analog Blocks VBUS Provider Load switch (5V/3A) Slew rate controlled turn-on on VBUS path UAB PD 3.0 Fast Role Swap support Integrated high-voltage […]

March 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 “Multimedia” Development Board Comes with Touchscreen Display & Camera

ESP32-S2 secure WiFi processor based on Xtensa LX7 core was first unveiled in May 2019, before the datasheet was released, and the first development boards were showcased in September. The Coronavirus outbreak slowed down progress, but the company has now announced the start of mass production for ESP32-S2 SoC, ESP32-S2-WROVER & ESP32-S2-WROOM modules, and ESP32-S2-Saola-1 development board. So that means we should soon be able to buy any of those. Apart from improved security, ESP32-S2 chip also provides a USB OTG interface and interfaces for HMI (Human Machine Interface) solutions thanks to LCD & camera interfaces. So that’s probably why the company has developed ESP-S2 Kaluga-1 board with an LCD touchscreen display, touch panel, support for camera image acquisition, audio playback, and more. We do not have the full specifications at this stage, but here are some of the highlights of the board: LCD interfaces – SPI interface or 8-/16-/24-bit […]

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

Ampere Altra Announces 80-Core Arm Neoverse N1 Server Processor & Reference Designs

The first 64-bit Arm server processor was announced almost 9 years ago. Applied Micro X-Gene was found in several servers, and the company updated X-Gene family until it got bought by Ampere in 2018. The latter has now announced the first of their own design with Ampere Altra, an 80-core Arm Neoverse N1 server processor made for data centers. Ampere Altra specifications: Processor Subsystem 80x Arm v8.2+ 64-bit CPU cores up to 3.0 GHz with Sustained Turbo 64 KB L1 I-cache, 64 KB L1 D-cache per core, 1 MB L2 cache per core, 32 MB System Level Cache (SLC) 2x full-width (128b) SIMD Coherent mesh-based interconnect, distributed snoop filtering System memory 8x 72-bit DDR4-3200 channels ECC, Symbol-based ECC, and DDR4 RAS features Up to 16 DIMMs and 4 TB/socket System Resources Full interrupt virtualization (GICv3) Full I/O virtualization (SMMUv3) Enterprise server-class RAS Connectivity 128 lanes of PCIe Gen4 8 x8 […]

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

What’s the Cheapest Android Phone with NFC Support?

I have an Octopus payment card from Hong Kong using NFC technology, and I’d like to check its status, and if needed top it up to keep it valid. One way to do so is to install the Android app on an NFC enabled smartphone. However, none of my phones, including my current Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone, support NFC. So I’d decided to look for the cheapest Android phone with NFC support that I could find since that’s the only feature I need, and the app is compatible with Android 4.0 or greater for now. Wileyfox Swift 2X – $75.90 I first went to GearBest to check out for NFC phones, as the cheapest one of the lot is Wileyfox Swift 2X going for $75.90 shipped. The phone runs Android 8.1 on a Snapdragon 430 processor coupled with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. It is equipped with a 5.2″ Full […]

March 3, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Congatec conga-SMC1 3.5″ Carrier Board is Designed for NXP i.MX8 SMARC Modules

3.5-inch carrier board with NXP i.MX8 SMARC Module

Last year, Congatec introduced SMARC 2.0 compliant systems-on-modules based on NXP i.MX 8, i.MX 8M Mini and i.MX 8M Nano processors, together with Conga-SEVAL carrier board designed for evaluation and early software development, but is not suitable for deployment in the field. The company has now unveiled a standard 3.5″ carrier board – conga-SMC1 – that takes any of the company’s i.MX8 SMAC modules, in order to help their customers bring products faster to market thanks to a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) board. Congatec conga-SMC1/SMARC-ARM carrier board features and specifications: Supported SoM – conga-SMX8 (i.MX8), conga-SMX8-Mini (i.MX 8M Mini), or conga-SMX8-Nano (i.MX 8M Nano). Future SMARC 2.0 Arm-based modules should also be supported Storage – 1x SATA III (support of SATADOM VCC PIN 7 and PIN 8), 1x SATA power (+5V, +12V), MicroSD card socket, M.2 NVMe SSD support Display Interface 1x LVDS 18/24bit single/dual channel LVDS 2x optional eDP/DSI (dependent on […]

March 3, 2020March 4, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Sipeed M1n is a $10 M.2 Module based on K210 RISC-V AI Processor

Kendryte K210 is a RISC-V processor with AI accelerator found in boards such as Maixduino, Grove AI HAT, or HuskyLens among others, and enabling low-cost, low power AI applications such as face detection or object recognition. You can now add Kendryte K210 AI accelerator to any board or computer with M.2 socket or [Update: the M.2 connector pinout is non-standard] a USB-C port thanks to Sipeed M1n M.2 module that also comes with an M.2 to USB-C adapter. Sipeed M1n specifications: SoC – Kendryte K210 dual-core 64-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 400MHz with FPU, Neural-network Processing Unit (NPU), audio processor, built-in 6MB SRAM memory for CPU, and 2MB AI SRAM Storage – 128Mbit SPI flash Camera – 24-pin connector for DVP camera (OV0328 camera module provided as part of the kit) Host Interface – M.2 socket with some IOs and JTAG interface, accessible via Maix Nano M.2 to USB-C […]

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

Paranoid Mutes or Jams your Smart Speaker’s Microphone for Improved Privacy

Panaroid Smart Speaker Microphone Jammer

Smart speakers normally work by constantly listening to a wake-word, that is processed locally, before listening to your more complex command, and send the audio to the cloud for processing. That means most of the time no data is sent to the cloud, as continuously processing audio in the cloud would not be resource-efficient. However, in isolated cases, the company may want to listen to audio samples to improve their product(s) and it’s possible since the hardware is perfectly capable of doing this. Alternatively, hackers could always access your smart speaker. So if you worry about your privacy, while still wanting the convenience of using a smart speaker, a third-party solution controlling the microphone should protect your privacy. Pleasant Solutions “Paranoid” aims to provide such privacy solution by taking control of the microphone on your smart speaker. Due to the various smart speaker designs and features in the market, three […]

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

V-Raptor Edge RK3399 Mini PC Runs Xubuntu 18.04 with EBBR Support

We previously wrote about XS LAB’s V-Raptor server equipped with SocioNext SC2A11 24-core Arm Cortex-A53 SoC, but the Korean company has been working on a different kind of project with V-Raptor Edge mini PC powered by Rockchip RK3399 processor and running Xubuntu 18.04 with an Arm EBBR-compliant UEFI bootloader. The mini PC was designed to work as a thin client for Cloud PC VDI service from SK Broadband, but XS Lab appears open to expand its use to other applications depending on interest from distributors. V-Raptor Edge PC preliminary specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A72 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash or 32GB MicroSD card Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K, and DisplayPort via USB-C port; dual-independent display support up to 2x Full HD Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, […]