Congatec Announces Ultra-Low-Power SMARC 2.0 CoM Congatec has come out with a new CoM, the Conga-SMX8-Nano that carries up to 4x ARM Cortex-A53 and 1x Cortex-M7 cores with a full spectrum of options. The SMARC 2.0 module can meet ultra-low-power requirements, offers low cost, as well as high-level performance. Background Information Background on NXP i.MX 8M Nano processors and modules have been reported in our report about iWave’s iW-RainboW-G34M-SM SoM and the introduction of the i.MX 8M Nano ARM Cortex-A53 and M7 processor to the market. A Board for the Industry The intention here is to develop a board that has high performance, ultra-low power requirements and can reach high volumes at low cost. The modules are scalable to the conga-SMX-8-Mini CoM, with options for a multitude of setups across types. Example Uses for conga-SMX8-Nano The company offers the example of a complex medical user interface that engineers might want […]
ROCK Pi SATA HAT Targets ROCK Pi 4 & Raspberry Pi 4 NAS
Radxa ROCK Pi 4 is a single board computer (SBC) powered by Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor and inspired by Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. The company has now designed ROCK Pi SATA HAT expansion board to design 4-bay NAS based on Raspberry Pi 4 and ROCK Pi 4. There are 3 models with support for 2, 4 or 5 drives: Dual/Quad SATA HAT connected over two USB 3.0 ports and working with both boards Penta SATA HAT connected over PCIe and compatible with ROCK Pi 4 only ROCK Pi Dual/Quad SATA HAT Specifications: 2x or 4x SATA connectors supporting 2.5″ or/and 3.5″ HDD/SSD 2x USB 3.0 port to connect to RPi 4 via one or two JMS561 USB to SATA controllers Storage Features – HDD suspend mode, UASP, software RAID 0/1/5 Misc Fan and heatsink header for Raspberry Pi 4 CPU cooling Optional PWM control fan for HDD heat dispatching […]
AI inference using Images, RTSP Video Stream on NVIDIA Jetson Nano Devkit
Last month I received NVIDIA Jetson Nano developer kit together with 52Pi ICE Tower Cooling Fan, and the main goal was to compare the performance of the board with the stock heatsink or 52Pi heatsink + fan combo. But the stock heatsink does a very good job of cooling the board, and typical CPU stress tests do not make the processor throttle at all. So I had to stress the GPU as well, as it takes some efforts to set it up all, so I’ll report my experience configuring the board, and running AI test programs including running objects detection on an RTSP video stream. Setting up NVIDIA Jetson Nano Board Preparing the board is very much like you’d do with other SBC’s such as the Raspberry Pi, and NVIDIA has a nicely put getting started guide, so I won’t go into too many details here. To summarize: Download the […]
Nordic Semi nRF52832 Powered PineTime Dev Kit is Now Available for $24.99
PineTime was announced as a $25 smartwatch & companion for PinePhone Linux smartphone which itself sells for $150. PineTime specifications are still not frozen, but we do know it will be based on Nordic Semi nRF52832 or nRF52840 wireless SoC, come with a 1.3″ 240×240 capacitive touch display, and support a variety of operating systems such as ZephyrOS, FreeRTOS, Arm Mbed or NuttX depending on community involvement. So far it was not available for purchase, but in Pine64’s December update about their various projects, Lukasz Erecinski announced the PineTime dev kit is now available for pre-order for $24.99. PineTime Dev Kit specifications: WiSoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52832 ARM Cortex-M4F @ 64 MHz with 512KB Flash, 64KB RAM, Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity Storage – 4 MB SPI NOR Flash Display – 1.3″ 240×240 IPS capacitive touchscreen with 65K colors Sensors – Accelerometer, PPG Heart Rate Sensor Actuator – Vibrator Battery Built-in […]
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c & 8c Processors Target Entry-Level & Mainstream Mobile PCs
Nearly exactly one year ago, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8cx processor for always-on always-connected PCs, and lateron Qualcomm and UL released PCMark 10 benchmark results showing Snapdragon 8cx had similar performance to a 15W Intel Core i5-8250U Kaby Lake-R processor, but with much better efficiency. The price of such laptops is still fairly high with Samsung Galaxy Book S announced in August for $1,000, and possibly canceled at this stage. Microsoft SQ1 powered Surface Pro X tablet is the only system based on Qualcomm Arm technology (customized version of Snapdragon 8cx) available now, and also sells for $1,000 and up. Qualcomm has now unveiled Snapdragon 7c and 8c arm processor to address the entry-level and mainstream markets of connected mobile PCs. Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Specifications: CPU – Octa-core Kryo 468 processor @ up to 2.45 GHz GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 618 GPU DSP – Qualcomm Hexagon 692 DSP with Hexagon […]
Rikomagic MK25 Amlogic S922X TV Box Supports Digital Signage Features
Here’s another Amlogic S922X TV box. Rikomagic MK25 TV box & digital signage player comes with up to 4GB RAM and 32GB storage, HDMI 2.0 output, Gigabit Ethernet, and dual-band WiFi 5. Rikomagic MK25 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 & Storage Configurations 2GB LPDDR4 RAM + 16GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot up to 32GB 4GB LPDDR4 RAM + 32GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60 Hz, 3.5mm AV port (composite) Video – AVE-10 engine with 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding up to 60 fps, Dolby Vision, Advanced HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and PRIME HDR high-dynamic range support Audio – Optical S/PDIF, digital audio via HDMI, stereo analog audio via 3.5mm […]
Versalogic Owl Small Form Factor Apollo Lake Embedded Computer Targets Military & Industrial Applications
VersaLogic Owl VL-EPU-4012 Embedded System Computer In October 2019 we reported on the VersaLogic Harrier computer that was slightly bigger than a credit card. Just announced by the company is a new embedded computer system is being developed, the Owl. Basics of the VersaLogic Owl The intended uses are again industry and military-grade applications. The system uses ECC memory and the Embedded Processing Unit (EPU) format. The processing unit is an Intel Atom E39xx Platform, 5th Gen Apollo Lake processor with dual or quad-core options. Strength and Resilience The ECC memory is fixed to the board and can be up to 8 GB in size. This reduces the damage that can be caused by vibration and shock, making the system tough and resilient. Available Ports and Security Hardware-based security is through a TDM 2.0 chip. There are onboard power conditioning, mini-PCIe expansion sockets, analog inputs, standard USB 3.0 and 4x […]
ROCK PI N10 RK3399Pro SBC Sells for $99 and up
Rockchip RK3399Pro processor is based on the popular Rockchip RK3399Pro hexa-core Arm Cortex-A72/A53 processor plus an embedded neural processing unit (NPU) delivering up to 3 TOPS for AI acceleration. So far you had to spend over $200 to get either Toybrick RK3399Pro board or 96Boards RK3399Pro development kit to get started with the processor. Some other companies announced their own RK3399Pro SBC such as Pine64 RockPro64-AI, or Khadas Edge board, but those are not available yet. But there’s now a more affordable Rockchip RK3399Pro SBC courtesy of Radxa’s Rock Pi N10 available on Seeed Studio in three variants: $99 model A with 4GB RAM (3GB for CPU/GPU + 1GB for NPU), 16GB eMMC flash $129 model B with 6GB RAM (4GB for CPU/GPU + 2GB for NPU), 32GB eMMC flash $169 model C with 8GB RAM (4GB for CPU/GPU + 4GB for NPU), 64GB eMMC flash Rock Pi N10 specifications: […]