AMD has introduced the VEK385 Evaluation Kit built around the Versal AI Edge Gen 2 XC2VE3858 SoC FPGA, which combines eight Cortex-A78AE cores, ten Cortex-R52 cores, FPGA fabric with 543,104 LUTs, 144 AI Engine-ML v2 tiles (up to 184 INT8 TOPS), 2,064 DSPs, a Mali-G78AE GPU, and an integrated ISP. The kit features 20 GB of LPDDR5X memory, a PCIe x8 edge connector supporting Gen5 x4 and Gen3/4 x8, and two HDMI 2.1 RX/TX ports for video. There is also an SFP28 port for 25–100 Gb/s Ethernet, and CAN-FD alongside PL/PS Ethernet for deterministic control applications. The board is designed to accelerate prototyping for automotive (ADAS, autonomous driving), industrial (AMR, edge AI boxes), healthcare (ultrasound, endoscopy, 3D imaging), and aerospace-grade systems. VEK385 Evaluation Kit specifications Adaptive SoC – AMD Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 XC2VE3858-2MSESSVA2112 heterogeneous adaptive SoC CPU – 8x Arm Cortex-A78AE application cores Real-time – 10x Arm Cortex-R52 […]
xSDR – A tiny M.2 2230 SDR module with Artix-7 FPGA and LMS7002M RFIC (Crowdfunding)
Wavelet Lab’s xSDR is a tiny, single-sided M.2 2230 software-defined radio (SDR) module designed for integration into laptops, embedded systems, and edge computing devices. A successor to the company’s previous uSDR, the “x” in xSDR stands for “extended,” adding 2×2 MIMO support and a wider frequency range to the same tiny footprint. The module is built around the Lime Microsystems LMS7002M RFIC and an AMD Artix-7 XC7A50T FPGA as found in the LimeNET Micro 2.0 Developer Edition board. This combination allows for a tuning range of 30 MHz to 3.8 GHz and a sample rate of up to 122.88 MSPS, making this SDR suitable for cellular research (LTE/5G), spectrum analysis, satellite tracking, and high-speed data links (with two modules). Wavelet Lab’s xSDR specifications: RFIC – Lime Microsystems LMS7002M programmable RF (FPRF) transceiver IC FPGA – AMD Embedded XC7A50T (Artix-7) with 52,160 logic cells RF capabilities Channels – 2×2 MIMO (2x […]
AMD Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 mid-range FPGA family to be available until at least 2045
AMD Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 is a mid-range FPGA family designed for the broadcast, test, industrial, and medical markets, which provides an update to the Spartan UltraScale+ FPGA family introduced in 2024, and promises availability until at least 2045. Key features include high-speed transceivers and PCIe Gen4 for support of 4K AV-over-IP, multi-stream capture, and frame-accurate transport, increased memory bandwidth for semiconductor test and inspection systems, and advanced imaging and real-time control for machine vision, industrial automation, medical imaging, and robotic systems. AMD Kintec UltraScale+ Gen2 key features AMD says the Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 devices deliver up to 5x increase in memory bandwidth when comparing the AMD Kintex UltraScale+ Gen 2 XC2KU040P and XC2KU050P FPGAs to the previous generation Kintex UltraScale+ FPGA, and up to 2x higher channel density per PCIe interface compared to the Altera Agilex A5EC065A FPGA. The company further states that compared to “competing platforms”, the family delivers […]
AMD Embedded+ mini-ITX Board features Ryzen AI Embedded P132 CPU, Versal AI Edge Gen2 VE3558 SoC FPGA
At CES 2026, Sapphire Technology introduced the EDGE+VPR-7P132, an “AMD Embedded+” Mini-ITX motherboard built around AMD’s newly announced Ryzen AI Embedded P100 series of SoCs, namely the hexa-core Ryzen P132 (V4526iX) CPU, and an AMD Versal AI Edge Gen 2 VE3558 SoC FPGA, which features octa-core Arm Cortex-A78AE + ten Cortex-R52 real-time cores beyond FPGA fabric. It’s the first AMD Ryzen AI Embedded motherboard we’ve seen. It represents a massive update from last year’s Edge+ VPR-5050 motherboard, which relied on Zen 2-based Ryzen Embedded V2000 series and first-generation Versal silicon. The new VPR-7P132 skips multiple generations, jumping straight to Zen 5 CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 graphics, with an upgraded Versal Gen 2 adaptive Edge AI SoC for real-time inference, along with faster LPDDR5 (4266MHz) memory and 40 Gbps USB4 connectivity. SapphireTech EDGE+ VPR-7P132-MB specifications: AMD Embedded+ Architecture Adaptive SoC Subsystem Adaptive SoC – AMD Versal AI Edge Gen 2 […]
Lattice Semi MachXO4 FPGA family offers up to 9400 LUTs, 448 kb user flash, improved “hot socketing”
Lattice Semiconductor has recently launched the MachXO4 low-power FPGA family featuring 896 to 9400 LUTs, fabric performance of up to 150 MHz, and improved “hot socketing” with a low leakage current of 350 μA. Other features include up to 432 kb embedded RAM, 73 kb distributed RAM, 448 kb User Flash Memory (UFM), up to 382 I/Os, hardened SPI and I2C interfaces, a wide range of packages from 2.5×2.5mm to 20 x 20 mm, and three temperature grades (consumer, industrial, and automotive). Lattice Semi MachXO4 key features and specifications: FPGA Fabric 896 to 9400 LUTs 1,100 to 11,300 logic cells Up to 150 MHz operation Memory Embedded RAM – 64 kb to 432 kb Distributed RAM – 10 kb to 73 kb Storage – 64 to 448 kb User Flash Memory (UFM) I/O and peripherals Up to 382 I/O pins 1x Phased Lock Loop (PLL) Hardened functions: SPI, 2x I2C, […]
Linux 6.18 LTS release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures
Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.18 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), which will likely become the next LTS kernel [update: it’s now official]: So I’ll have to admit that I’d have been happier with slightly less bugfixing noise in this last week of the release, but while there’s a few more fixes than I would hope for, there was nothing that made me feel like this needs more time to cook. So 6.18 is tagged and pushed out. Most of the last-minute fixes are minor fixes to drivers, with some random noise elsewhere (bluetooth, ceph, afs..). Nothing strikes me as standing out, but hey, there’s a shortlog appended if you want to see the details. And this obviously means that the merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have three dozen pull requests pending. Thanks. And as I already mentioned a couple of […]
AMD Spartan UltraScale+ SU35P FPGA evaluation kit supports Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Mikrobus, and Pmod expansion
AMD’s SCU35 Evaluation Kit is an affordable ($229) development board powered by the AMD Spartan UltraScale+ SU35P FPGA device, which targets low-power industrial, medical, and data center applications requiring I/O expansion and board management capabilities. Designed for headless applications, the board features a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port and a USB-C port for power, as well as plenty of headers and connectors compatible with off-the-shelf expansion boards or modules, including Arduino UNO headers, two 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO headers, two Mikrobus headers, four Pmod connectors, and an HSIO board-to-board connector. AMD SCU35 evaluation kit specifications: FPGA – AMD Spartan Ultrascale+ SU35P (XCSU35P-2SBVB625E) 36K Logic Cells 304 Max Total I/O• Board Management Controller Memory – 1.93 Mb on-chip memory Memory – 64 Mbit HyperRAM Storage 128 Mbit QSPI flash 64 Kbit EEPROM Networking – 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port Sensor – 3-axis linear accelerometer Expansion Arduino UNO headers 2x 40-pin Raspberry Pi […]
Taradov’s open-source hardware pocket USB sniffer works with Wireshark
Alex Taradov has designed a low-cost, open-source hardware USB sniffer compatible with the popular Wireshark packet capture utility, and also controllable from the command line, capturing data in the standard PcapNG format in either case. Wireshark has had built-in USB capture capability for many years, and I used it myself to reverse-engineer the software for a USB video capture card around 2007, but it’s not perfect since it does not capture low-level packets. For that, you need extra hardware, and last year we covered the tinysniffer USB sniffer based on a WiFi-connected Linux SBC. It does the job, but it’s sold for $199, and you don’t need an application processor to handle USB 2.0 speeds. Alex’s design is optimized for cost and built around three main components: Cypress CY7C68013A 8051 MCU, Lattice MachXO2 LCMXO2 FPGA, and Microchip USB3343 USB PHY. Taradov’s USB sniffer specifications: Microcontroller – Cypress CY7C68013A enhanced 8051 […]

