Renesas R8P1 – A 1 GHz Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller with Ethos-U55 NPU for Audio and Vision AI applications

Renesas RA8P1

Renesas has introduced its most powerful Cortex-A85 microcontroller to date: the R8P1, clocked at 1 GHz and equipped with a 500 MHz Arm Ethos-U55 NPU for edge AI applications, as well as an Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core clocked at 250 MHz. With a 2D GPU, MIPI DSI and parallel RGB display interfaces, MIPI CSI and parallel camera interfaces, and I2S and PDM audio interface, the Renesas RA8P1 is mainly designed to address Voice AI and Vision AI applications requiring real-time analytics. The 1 GHz microcontroller also has plenty of other peripherals and security features, as we can see from the specifications and block diagram below. Renesas RA8P1 specifications: MCU core Arm Cortex-M85 clocked at 1 GHz with Helium MVE (M-Profile Vector Extension) with 32KB I/D caches; 7300+ CoreMarks Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at 250 MHz with 32KB I/D caches GPU – 2D drawing engine NPU – Arm Ethos-U55 NPU delivering 256 […]

ALIENTEK DNESP32P4M – An ESP32-P4 board without network connectivity

ESP32P4M MINI board

Most ESP32-P4 boards and development platforms we’ve covered so far include an ESP32-C6 or ESP32-C5 wireless module, and in case you don’t want any WiFi and Bluetooth module, the Olimex ESP32-P4-DevKit is one option that comes with Ethernet instead. The ALIENTEK DNESP32P4M board, also called ESP32P4M MINI, adds another option with a form factor similar to Espressif Systems Devkit-C boards. The board does not have network connectivity at all, and exposes all I/Os from the ESP32-P4 through headers, MIPI DSI and MIPI CSI connectors, and two USB-C ports. ALIENTEK DNESP32P4M specifications: Microcontroller – ESP32-P4 (ESP32-P4NRW32) MCU Dual-core RISC-V microcontroller @ 400 MHz with AI instructions extension and single-precision FPU Single-RISC-V LP (Low-power) MCU core @ up to 40 MHz GPU – 2D Pixel Processing Accelerator (PPA) VPU – H.264 and JPEG codecs support Memory – 768 KB HP L2MEM, 32 KB LP SRAM, 8 KB TCM, 32MB PSRAM Storage – […]

1GHz Renesas RZ/A3M Cortex-A55 MPU embeds 128MB on-chip DDR3L for HMI applications

Renesas RZ/A3M MPU 128MB DDR3L

Renesas RZ/A3M is an Arm Cortex-A55 microprocessor (MPU) clocked at up to 1.0 GHz with 128MB on-chip DDR3L for cost-effective, yet advanced HMI applications with up to 1280×800 resolution. The RZ/A3M is similar to its predecessor, the Renesas RZ-A3UL, but it integrates 128MB on-chip RAM in a single System-in-Package (SiP), supports both MIPI DSI and parallel display interfaces, and adds a 2D graphics accelerator for smoother user interfaces. Renesas RZ/A3M specifications: CPU – Single-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.0 GHz GPU – 2D drawing engine Memory 128KB on-chip SRAM with ECC Built-in 128MB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (16-bit bus width) Storage SPI Multi I/O Bus Controller× 1 channel (4-bit Double data rate) Boot from Serial NAND or Serial NOR flash SD card host interface Display I/F – 4-lane MIPI DSI or Digital parallel output up to 1280×800 resolution @ 60 Hz Audio – Serial sound interface (SSI/I2S) USB – 1x USB […]

Beacon W5+ SoM – A tiny (27x15mm) Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ System-on-Module for wearables

Tiny Snapdragon W5+ System-on-Module

Beacon EmbeddedWorks’ W5+ SoM is an ultra-compact (27×15 mm) system-on-module powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ platform for wearables with a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, a co-processor with an Arm Cortex-M55 core and an Ethos U55 ML accelerator, and WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. The Snapdragon W5/W5+ wearables platforms were introduced in the summer of 2022, but so far, all I could find was a $2,000 devkit (TurboX W5+) suitable for ODM/OEM manufacturers. The upcoming Beacon W5+ SoM will be one of the first hardware solutions based on the Snapdragon W5+ platform designed for commercial applications. Beacon W5+ specifications: Platform – Snapragon W5+ SW5100P-0 SoC CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.7 GHz GPU – Qualcomm Adreno A702 @ up to 1,010 MHz with OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 2.0 API support DSP – Dual Qualcomm Hexagon DSP V66K ISP – Dual ISP VPU 1080p30 Video Decode […]

Arm Cortex-A320 low-power CPU is the smallest Armv9 core, optimized for Edge AI and IoT SoCs

Arm Cortex-A320

Arm Cortex-A320 is a low-power Armv9 CPU core optimized for Edge AI and IoT applications, with up to 50% efficiency improvements over the Cortex-A520 CPU core. It is the smallest Armv9 core unveiled so far. The Armv9 architecture was first introduced in 2021 with a focus on AI and specialized cores, followed by the first Armv9 cores – Cortex-A510, Cortex-A710, Cortex-X2 – unveiled later that year and targeting flagship mobile devices. Since then we’ve seen Armv9 cores on a wider range of smartphones, high-end Armv9 motherboards, and TV boxes, The upcoming Rockchip RK3688 AIoT SoC also features Armv9 but targets high-end applications. The new Arm Cortex-A320 will expand Armv9 usage to a much wider range of IoT devices including power-constrained Edge AI devices. Arm Cortex-A320 highlights: Architecture – Armv9.2-A (Harvard) Extensions Up to Armv8.7 extensions QARMA3 extensions SVE2 extensions Memory Tagging Extensions (MTE) (including Asymmetric MTE) Cryptography extensions RAS extensions […]

NXP EdgeLock A30 Secure Authenticator chip enables battery authentication for compliance with EU regulation 2023/1542

NXP EdgeLock A30 secure authenticator

NXP recently launched the EdgeLock A30 Secure Authenticator chip, a Common Criteria EAL 6+ certified secure authentication designed for IoT devices, including battery authentication applications. It complies with the EU’s Batteries Regulation 2023/1542, which mandates the inclusion of a Digital Product Passport (DPP), by 2027 to ensure traceability, sustainability, and safety in battery manufacturing and recycling. Alasdair Ross, Senior Director, NFC IoT Security, NXP explains: Secure authentication helps to ensure brand protection, consumer safety, and product traceability, fostering trust and shielding devices from physical damage. Smaller than a grain of rice, the EdgeLock A30 is designed to fit into even the smallest of devices. It supports multiple authentication use cases, making it easier for developers to support a variety of devices and accessories with a single solution, including device to device, cloud to device, counterfeit protection, and storage or protection of device identity. To address these requirements NXP’s EdgeLock A30 […]

Toradex launches its first SMARC modules with NXP SoCs for improved compatibility and supply chain

Toradex SMARC modules with NXP i.MX 8MPlus and i.MX 95

Toradex has introduced its first SMARC-compliant system-on-modules (SoMs) with the SMARC iMX8M Plus and SMARC iMX95 SoMs based on NXP i.MX 8M Plus and NXP i.MX 95 SoC respectively. The company has made proprietary system-on-modules for years with the Colibri, Apalis, Aquila, and Verdin families. Those typically are cost-optimized and use most or all I/Os from the selected SoC, but customers are tied to one supplier: Toradex. To offer more flexibility, the company decided to introduce its first standardized system-on-modules by selecting the SMARC 2.2 standard for compatibility with existing SMARC-compliant carrier boards and adding the Swiss company as an alternative supplier. Highlights of the SMARC iMX8M Plus module: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M Plus CPU Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 application processor @ 1.6 GHz Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core @ 800 MHz GPU – Vivante GC380 2D GPU and GC7000UL 3D GPU VPU – 1080p60 video decoder & encoder AI accelerator […]

Tactility “operating system” for the ESP32 microcontroller family supports built-in and external applications

Tactility devices with logo

Tactility is an operating system that runs on the ESP32 microcontroller series. Created by Dutch software developer, Ken Van Hoeylandt (also known as ByteWelder), Tactility is a project one year in the making inspired by the Flipper Zero and its application platform. The ESP32 operating system can run built-in apps and helper services from flash storage as well as external applications from an SD card. It leverages the Espressif ELF(Executable and Linkable Format) loader to load ELF files from external storage to the executable memory area. Tactility is built to run on any ESP32-based device with a touchscreen since drivers (display, touch, and SD card) can be implemented for any hardware. ESP32-S3 devices are “the best option” due to their performance and larger memory. The LILYGO T-Deck series is highly recommended for its onboard keyboard and sizable display. Preset configurations are available for the LILYGO T-Deck Plus, LILYGO T-Deck, M5Stack […]

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