Posted on by Abhishek Jadhav - 1 Comment on CloudBEAR BM-310 RISC-V MCU core for IoT applications

CloudBEAR BM-310 RISC-V MCU core for IoT applications

In the pool of 32-bit RISC-V microcontroller cores (E20 by SiFive, VEGA ET1031 by C-DAC), CloudBEAR showcased its 32-bit small and efficient MCU core – BM-310 at RISC-V GLOBAL FORUM 2020. CloudBEAR works on providing services like processor IP customization, support for RISC-V ISA extensions, product integration within a system-on-chip, and configurable instruction and data cache. Let’s first look into the CloudBEAR processor IP portfolio. It has three different product lines- BM series, BR series, and BI series. First, the BM series targets small and efficient MCUs cores. Second, the BR series targets fast and compact embedded cores. The third and most important BI series is about Linux capable application cores. In this article, we will look into the details of BM-310, which is the RISC-V MCU core for embedded and IoT solutions.  BM-310 Architecture As RISC-V is a modular instruction set, extensions are optional for the developer. BM-310 architecture (RV32IMCAFNB) includes many ISA extensions. It has RV32I as a […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on VIA VAB-950 SBC Features MediaTek i500 SoC for AIoT Applications

VIA VAB-950 SBC Features MediaTek i500 SoC for AIoT Applications

While MediaTek is better known for their mobile SoCs and they also offers processors made for AIoT (AI + IoT) applications such as MediaTek i700, i500 or i300 SoCs. We only covered a few development / evaluation boards so far, with Pumpkin i500 SBC or Innocom SB30 EVK, but we’ve now got another one with VIA VAB-950 single board computer equipped with MediaTek i500 AIoT octa-core processor, up to 4GB LPDDR4, 16GB flash storage, HDMI, dual Fast Ethernet, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and support for 4G LTE cellular connectivity. VAB-950 SBC specifications: SOM-9X50 system-on-module SoC – MediaTek i500 octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A73 @ 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.0GHz Arm Mali-G72 GPU up to 800 MHz with support for OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL ES 1.1, and Vulkan 1.0 VPU for 1080p30 H.264/H.265 decoding 2x Cadence Tensilica Vision P6 DSPs System Memory –  2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM Storage – 16GB eMMC Flash memory Dimensions – 7 x 5.5 mm […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Hi3861 based HiSpark WiFi IoT development board supports LiteOS and HarmonyOS

Hi3861 based HiSpark WiFi IoT development board supports LiteOS and HarmonyOS

HiHope HiSpark WiFi IoT development board features Hisilicon Hi3518 microcontroller with 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 and supports Huawei LiteOS as well as HarmonyOS. Equipped with 2MB flash and 384KB SRAM, the board targets smart home applications, and ships with a baseboard to help with development. HiSpark board specifications: MCU – Hisilicon Hi3861 32-bit microcontroller @ up to 160 MHz with 352 KB SRAM and 288 KB ROM, 2 MB flash memory, and WiFI 4 connectivity; QFN-32 5x5mm package WiFi 802.11b/g/n standard up to 72 Mbps @ HT20 2.4 GHz frequency band (ch1-ch14). Station (STA) and access point (AP) modes with up to 6 clients for the latter WiFi mesh with up to 256 nodes Security – WPA, WPA2 personal, and WPS 2.0 PCB antenna USB – 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming via CH340 chip Expansion – 2x headers with up to 2x SPI, 2x I2C, 3x UART interfaces, 15x GPIO, 7x ADC inputs, 6x PWM interfaces, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on NXP IW620 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 Chip Targets Gaming, Audio, Industrial and IoT Markets

NXP IW620 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 Chip Targets Gaming, Audio, Industrial and IoT Markets

NXP has announced the IW62X WiFi 6 & Bluetooth 5.1 family of chips designed for high-end gaming, audio, industrial and IoT markets. The family currently consists of IW620 and IW620S parts with respectively PCIe and SDIO host interfaces. Both chips integrate dual-band Power Amplifiers (PAs), Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), and switches in order to reduce the board-level BOM (Bill of Materials). IW62X key features and specifications: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 DB (802.11ax) 1024 QAM, 80MHz Peak Throughput: 1.2 Gbps Improved wideband noise & MU-MIMO performance Advanced active channel scanning 802.11s, EasyMesh 802.11mc Bluetooth & Bluetooth Low Energy 5.1 BLE 2Mbps + Long Range BLE direction finding with Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) BLE Mesh Antenna support 2×2 5G 1×1 2.4G + BT Multimode energy-efficient support (TWT, Micro AP, TX Power Control, Wi-Fi Direct, BT5.1) Host Interfaces IW620 – PCIe 1.0 IW620S – SDIO 3.0 UART for Bluetooth only I2S/PCM audio Power Supply Integrated PMIC […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Renesas Launches RA6M4 Cortex-M33 Microcontrollers for Secure IoT Applications

Renesas Launches RA6M4 Cortex-M33 Microcontrollers for Secure IoT Applications

Arm Cortex-M33 core with Arm Trustzone security was first unveiled in 2016, and since then several silicon vendors introduced secure Cortex-M33 microcontrollers with, for instance, Nordic nRF91 LTE-IoT SoC, STMicro STM32L5 MCU family, or NXP LPC551x/S1x. Renesas has now added one more alternative with RA6M4 Cortex-M33 microcontroller family clocked at up to 200 MHz with increased performance and security compared to their earlier Cortex-M4 RA6 microcontrollers clocked at 120 Mhz. Key features for RA6M4 microcontrollers: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 @ 200 MHz with TrustZone technology Memory – 256 KB RAM include 64KB ECC RAM Storage – 512-1024 embedded flash, QuadSPI, and OctaSPI memory interface Networking – Ethernet controller with DMA USB – USB 2.0 Full Speed and CAN Other Peripherals Capacitive touch sensing unit SCI (UART, Simple SPI, Simple I2C), and SPI/ I2C multi-master interface SDHI and SSI (Serial Sound Interface) Security Renesas’ Secure Crypto Engine supporting multiple symmetric and asymmetric cryptography accelerators, advanced key management, security lifecycle management, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on MAX78000 RISC-V & Cortex-M4F MCU enables IoT artificial Intelligence in battery-powered devices

MAX78000 RISC-V & Cortex-M4F MCU enables IoT artificial Intelligence in battery-powered devices

Now even endpoints like sensors are capable of running basic artificial intelligence workloads thanks to microcontroller-class chips with built-in AI accelerators or instructions such as Kneron KL720 Arm Cortex-M4 AI SoC, GAP8 RISC-V IoT processor, or Cortex-M55 MCU core coupled with Ethos U55 MicroNPU. Maxim Integrated has now launched its own AI capable microcontroller with MAX78000 combining a Cortex-M4F core, a 32-bit RISC-V core, and a CNN accelerator enabling AI inferences at less than 1/100th the energy or 100 times the speed of software solutions making especially suited for battery-powered AI applications. MAX78000 specifications: Ultra-Low-Power microcontrollers Arm Cortex-M4F core with FPU Up to 100MHz with 512KB Flash and 128KB SRAM 32-Bit RISC-V ultra-low-power co-processor up to 60MHz Neural Network Accelerator optimized for Deep Convolutional Neural Networks​​ (CNN) 442k 8bit Weight Capacity with 1,2,4,8-bit Weights Input Image Size up to 1024 x 1024 pixels Network Depth up to 64 Layers Layer Network Channel Widths up to 1024 Channels 1D and 2D […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Vecow SPC-6000 Fanless Embedded PC is Powered by an Atom x6425RE Elkhart Lake Processor

Vecow SPC-6000 Fanless Embedded PC is Powered by an Atom x6425RE Elkhart Lake Processor

Since the official launch of the Elkhart Lake processor family last month, we’ve covered a Pico-ITX SBC, a 3.5-inch SBC, and several CoM’s following SMARC, Q7, COM Express, and other system-on-module standards. So far, we had not found any Elkhart Lake mini PCs, but Vecow SPC-6000 fanless embedded PC powered by an Intel Atom x6425RE processor is one of the first such solutions offered from the market, and supports 2.5 Gbps Ethernet with TSN support. Vecow SPC-6000 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x6425RE quad-core Elkhart Lake processor @ 1.90 GHz with 1.5MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics; 12W TDP System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR4 3200MHz via a single SO-DIMM socket Storage – 1x M.2 Key M Socket (2280, PCIe x2), and 1x SATA III (6Gbps) Video Output DVI-I up to 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz DisplayPort up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz Audio Realtek ALC892, 5.1 Channel HD Audio codec 3.5mm Line-out jack Networking Gigabit Ethernet (LAN1) […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on FeatherS2 Board Brings ESP32-S2 to Adafruit Feather Form Factor

FeatherS2 Board Brings ESP32-S2 to Adafruit Feather Form Factor

We’ve covered a fair number of development boards following Adafruit Feather form factor in the last year or so with products such as QuickFeather Cortex-M4 + FPGA board, OrangeCrab (Lattice FPGA), nRF9160 Feather providing LTE IoT & GPS connectivity, and other boards. But here’s yet another Adafruit Feather themed board that has just launched: FeatherS2. The tiny board is equipped with the latest Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 WiFi SoC, 16 MB SPI Flash, 8 MB PSRAM, several I/O, and a USB-C port for power and programming. FeatherS2 key features and specifications: SoC – ESP32-S2 single-core Tensilica LX7 processor @ 240 MHz, RISC-V ultra-lower power co-processor, 320 kB SRAM, 128 kB ROM Memory – 8 MB extra PSRAM Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash Connectivity – 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g/n with 3D antenna USB – 1x USB-C port for power and programming Sensor – ALS-PT19 Ambient Light Sensor Expansion 16 + 12 through holes for up to 21x GPIOs, I2C, SPI, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples