Processors Category - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 21, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

DIY Sendspin audio receiver supports multi-room audio synchronization, integrates with Home Assistant

SendspinZero is an open-source, DIY Sendspin audio receiver for your amplifier that relies on off-the-shelf parts costing around $10 and a 3D printed enclosure. It integrates with Home Assistant for multi-room audio synchronization. It sounds good, but what is Sendspin exactly? It’s a royalty-free, open protocol developed by the Open Home Foundation for synchronized audio playback across multiple devices and rooms. Besides audio, it also supports screens for album art and control music, and sound-activated lights (coming soon feature). The protocol enables open-source products that compete against proprietary systems like Sonos, AirPlay, or Google Cast, and integrates nicely with the Music Assistant add-on for Home Assistant. Sendspin audio receiver key components: Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero board with 2MB PSRAM (About $4-$6 on AliExpress, $12 on Amazon), ideally the version without pre-soldered headers Optional 1.54-inch LCD screen (About $5 on AliExpress) Optional 3-6V, 22mm bi-color button (About $2 to $3) Audio output options: […]

April 21, 2026April 20, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Ezurio Tungsten 510/700 SMARC SoM features MediaTek Genio 510/700 AIoT SoC, dual GbE, WiFi 6

Ezurio Tungsten MediaTek Genio 700 SMARC system-on-module

Ezurio Tungsten 510 and Tungsten 700 SMARC 2.1 compliant system-on-module powered by MediaTek Genio 510 hexa-core and Genio 700 octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 AIoT SoCs with an up to 4 TOPS NPU. The SMARC modules feature 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4 memory and 16GB flash by default (upgradeable up to 128GB), offer dual Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and various interfaces exposed through a standard 314-pin MXM connector, including HDMI, DisplayPort, eDP, and MIPI DSI display interfaces, two MIPI CSI camera interfaces, two I2S audio interface, PCIe Gen2 x1, and more. Ezurio Tungsten 510/700 specifications: SoC (one or the other) MediaTek Genio 510 (MT8370) CPU – Hexa-core processor with 2x Arm Cortex-A78 core up to 2.2 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores up to 2 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU VPU – 4Kp60 H.265, AV1, VP9, H.264 video decoding, 4Kp30 H.265 and H.264 video encoding Accelerators – Up to 3.2 […]

April 20, 2026April 20, 2026 by Debashis Das - 1 Comment

LILYGO T-Watch Ultra – An IP65-rated ESP32-S3 smartwatch with 2.01-inch AMOLED, LoRa, and GNSS

LILYGO’s T-Watch Ultra is an ESP32-S3-based smartwatch development platform that appears to be an upgrade over the previous T-Watch-S3 Plus (1.3-inch display and a 940mAh battery), with a larger 2.01-inch AMOLED touch display, a higher-capacity 1,100mAh battery, and an IP65 waterproof and dustproof rating. The device integrates a u-blox MIA-M10Q GNSS module for positioning, a SX1262 LoRa transceiver for long-range communication, and a Bosch BHI260AP smart sensor for motion-based AI applications. Additionally, it features an RTC chip, NFC, a built-in microphone, a haptic driver, a microSD card slot, and a USB Type-C port for programming and charging. The watch targets applications such as Meshtastic nodes, GPS tracking, wearable IoT interfaces, edge AI sensing, and custom smartwatch firmware development. LILYGO T-Watch Ultra specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32-S3R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration Memory – 512KB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi […]

April 20, 2026April 19, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

IP67-rated AI security camera feature Rockchip RV1126B or RK3576/J/M SoC for commercial, industrial, and automotive applications

Firefly CQ38W 1126B and CQ38W 3576 AI smart security cameras

Back in January 2024, Firefly released the CT36L AI smart security cameras, built around the Rockchip RV1106G2 SoC with a 0.5 TOPS NPU and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support. Now, Firefly has introduced two new AI cameras, the CQ38W-1126B and CQ38W-3576, which use a similar IP67-rated enclosure but come with much more powerful processors. Both new models no longer support PoE and instead use a 12V DC input, and they also add an RS485 interface. In terms of performance, the CQ38W-1126B is built around the Rockchip RV1126B with a 3 TOPS NPU and can run small multimodal AI models. The higher-end CQ38W-3576 features an octa-core Rockchip RK3576 with a 6 TOPS NPU, making it suitable for more demanding AI workloads, including YOLO and large language models. Both cameras are available with 3MP or 5MP sensors and come in Commercial or Industrial (J-suffix) variants. The 3576 series also adds an Automotive-grade […]

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

BeagleConnect Zepto – A “$1 computer” based on TI MSPM0L1117 Cortex-M0+ MCU

BeagleBoard.org Foundation’s BeagleConnect Zepto “$1 computer” is an upcoming open-source hardware board powered by Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 Cortex-M0+ MCU, part of the MSPM0 family introduced in 2023. It’s a tiny board with mikroBus-compatible headers, a TAG-CONNECT JTAG connector, two Qwiic connectors for expansion (or one Qwiic connector + USB-C depending on the variant), Boot and Reset buttons, and an RGB LED. BeagleConnect Zepto specifications: MCU – Texas Instruments MSPM0L117 CPU – 32MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ core Memory – 16KB SRAM Storage – 128KB dual-bank flash Package – QFN32 (5×5 mm) USB – Optional USB-C port for power (multiplexed with one of the Qwicc JST connectors) Expansion mikroBUS headers supporting a choice of about 2,000 ClickE add-on boards; one of the sides is compatible with some Raspberry Pi HATs (note limited to 12 pins) Up to 2x Qwicc connectors with full Grove function: I2C, UART, ADC, GPIO Debugging – 8-pin TAG-CONNECT JTAG […]

April 18, 2026April 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Pironman 5 Pro Max Review – A Raspberry Pi 5 Tower PC case with integrated video and audio capabilities, optional UPS kit

SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The PiPower 5 is a UPS HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B single board computers, and not directly compatible with the Pironman cases, but we’ll still try to use it. I’ll start this review with an unboxing of the Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5 packages, followed by an assembly guide for the Pironman 5 Pro Max, a test of the new features (display, camera, audio interaction), and finally, I’ll have a quick test of the UPS HAT with the Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure. Unboxing of Pironman […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Boardcon Tiny1126B is a smaller and lighter Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module, yet with more I/Os

Boardcon Tiny1126B shrinks the company’s MINI1126B-P Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module (SoM) from 38x30mm to 34x30mm, targeting even more compact AI vision systems such as smart cameras, smart door locks, inspection cameras, cleaning/logistics robots, DMS (Driver Monitoring Systems), BSD (Blind Spot Detection) solutions, and smart displays. Despite its smaller size, the Tiny1126B features two 0.4mm pitch 100-pin connectors, instead of two 0.5mm pitch 80-pin connectors for its predecessors, offering even more I/Os. It’s notably gaining a USB 3.0 DRD (Dual-Role Device) interface, an extra SDMMC interface, one additional SPI and I2C interfaces, Fast Ethernet, and more. The rest of the specifications, including memory capacity (up to 4GB LPDDR5) and storage (up to 256GB eMMC flash), remain the same. Boardcon Tiny1126B system-on-module Boardcon Tiny1126B specifications: SoC – Rockchip RV1126B CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 up to 1.6 GHz with 32KB L1 I-Cache and 32KB L1 D-Cache, unified 512KB L2 Cache GPU – 2D […]

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

WiQwiic-32 – A compact USB-C IoT board with eight Qwiic connectors (Crowdfunding)

Hack The Board’s WiQwiic-32 is a small USB-C IoT development board based on an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and equipped with a 1.14-inch LCD and eight Qwiic ports for easy prototyping with compatible modules. It also features a microphone and a buzzer for audio interaction, four buttons, two RGB LEDs, and a power LED. There aren’t any through-holes for GPIO pins, so expansion is only possible through the Qwiic connectors, although you can always add a Qwiic to header converter module if you ever need breadboard-compatible GPIO headers. WiQwiic-32 specifications: Wireless Module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz with vector extension for AI/ML workloads RAM – 512KB SRAM Storage – TBD Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth LE 5 Antenna – PCB antenna Display – 1.14-inch TFT display Audio On-board buzzer Built-in microphone for voice and sound detection USB […]