RasPad 3 Review – Part 2: A Raspberry Pi 4 mini PC with integrated display

Raspad 3 review

I started RasPad 3 review last week with an unboxing of the tablet shell for Raspberry Pi 4, together with assembly instructions, and a first boot after flashing Raspad OS to the system. In the first part of the review, I mentioned that I’d probably focus the remainder of the review on Ezblock Studio visual programming IDE, as the rest of the software is almost the same as using a standard Raspberry Pi 4, the other difference being the touchscreen-friendly RasPad launcher. But Sunfounder explained to me it would be hard to check out Ezblock as it’s designed to control robots and other hardware platforms, and requires an extra HAT (see Kickstarter campaign) to allow the Ezblock APP to connect through Bluetooth (it cannot be directly linked to Raspberry Pi through the built-in Bluetooth).  Here’s an example of a robot that is compatible with Ezblock Studio: Picar-X. Finally, I was […]

Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini SOM and Mini Development Kit for Industrial IoT Applications

Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini SOM

Digi International has announced the Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini System-on-Module (SOM) which is an addition to its ConnectCore family modules. We saw the Android application development kit featuring earlier Digi Wireless modules based Freescale i.MX51 (ConnectCore Wi-i.MX51) and i.MX53 (ConnectCore Wi-i.MX53) in early 2012. The new Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini comes with a built-in Video Processing Unit specialising in vision use cases. The Digi ConnectCore 8M Mini SOM is an industrial i.MX 8M Mini quad-core system-on-module that comes with Arm Cortex-A53 cores, one Cortex-M4 core, and the Cortex-M0-based Digi Microcontroller Assist. This enables optimal power consumption while simultaneous maintenance of highly efficient performance. Main benefits of Digi Connect Core 8M Mini SOM Digi SMTplus form factor (40 x 45 mm) for flexibility and reliability while designing. Power management with both hardware and software support for low-power designs. Display and camera capabilities with graphics and video hardware acceleration make it suitable […]

TI AM64x 7-core processor is made for PLC’s, motor drives, industrial robots

AM64x GP EVM development platform

Texas Instruments AM64x is a family of 64-bit Arm processors with functional safety designed for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), motor drives, remote I/O, and industrial robots. The top-end processor of the family, AM6442, comes with seven cores including two Cortex-A53 application cores, four Cortex-R5F real-time cores, and one Cortex-M4F isolated core. AFAICT, while the documentation is dated January 2021 and TI announced the processor in February in a blog post with a cryptic title, it was only first picked up by Embedded Computing in early May. Besides the processor itself, TI also provides an AM64x starter kit and a full-featured AM64x evaluation kit, and several companies are already preparing development boards and modules as we’ll see further below. TI AM64x processor AM64x key features & specifications: CPU cores Dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz with 256KB L2 shared cache with SECDED ECC, 32KB L1 D-cache, 32KB L1 I-cache Up […]

Xilinx announces Versal AI Edge Series with Cortex-A72 & R5 cores, FPGA fabric

Xilinx Versal AI Edge

Edge AI solves the latency and security issues through on-device AI acceleration for optimal computations at a low power supply. Xilinx announces its Versal AI Edge Series which is 4th member of the Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP) family. The versal series consists of seven models ranging from VE2002 to VE2802 with the processor fabrication on 7 nm silicon technology. Talking more about ACAP, it is a platform that provides a combined essence of a processor and FPGA. The processing features efficient memory and I/Os, whereas programmable arrays allow logical control over the hardware. Also, as Xilinx specializes in FPGA products, the additional support of computational features makes the ACAP hardware even more flexible and dynamic. The Versal AI Edge series features different types of engines for specific functionalities in terms of adaptable, scalar, and intelligent engines. The seven processor models vary with respect to engine and platform specifications. However, […]

Radxa Zero SBC – A powerful quad-core alternative to Raspberry Pi Zero W

Radxa Zero

Radxa Zero SBC follows Raspberry Pi Zero W form factor, but thanks to an Amlogic S905Y2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at up to 2.0 GHz offers much higher performance, which Radxa says corresponds to about 70% of Raspberry Pi 4 CPU performance. The tiny Arm Linux board comes with up to 4GB RAM, 16GB eMMC flash, and either AP6212 or AP6256 wireless module. plus all interfaces from Raspberry Pi Zero W, but with a twist as the mini HDMI port is replaced by a micro HDMI port, and USB-C ports are used instead of micro USB ports. Radxa Zero preliminary specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905Y2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 512MB RAM, 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – MicroSD slot, optional 8GB or 16GB eMMC flash Video Output – micro HDMI port up to 4Kp60 Connectivity Ampak AP6212 […]

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial module adds lockstep Cortex-R5 cluster, ECC RAM, and more

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial

NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier is the most powerful module from the Jetson family packing 32 TOPS of AI inference performance. But with some customers wanting to use the embedded AI computer in harsher conditions, the company has now introduced a rugged version of the module with NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial. Some changes included a slightly lower performance (30 TOPS) to cater for an expanded temperature range, a dual-core Cortex-R5 cluster in lockstep, ECC memory, and compliance with shock and vibration standards. NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial specifications with bold highlights showing differences / new features: CPU – 8-core NVIDIA Carmel Arm v8.2 64-bit CPU with 8MB L2 + 4MB L3 GPU – NVIDIA Volta architecture with 512 NVIDIA CUDA cores and 64 Tensor cores for up to 20 TOPS (INT8) (Note: the standard version support 22 TOPS) DL Accelerator – 2x NVDLA accelerators for up to 10 TOPS (INT8) […]

HaneSOM is a 4 cm2 Arm Linux module powered by Microchip SAMA5D2 SiP

HaneSOM

DAB Embedded HaneSOM is a tiny (4 cm2) system-on-module based on Microchip SAMA5D2 Arm Cortex-A5 processor running Linux, which could make it the world’s smallest Linux module. The small size is made possible by the use of a SAMA5D2 system-in-package that also integrates 128MB DDR2, and the only two other chips on the modules are a 4MB flash (GD25Q32) and the PMIC (MIC2800). HaneSOM specifications: SiP – Microchip ATSAMA5D27C-D1G system-in-package with SAMA5D27 Arm Cortex-A5 processor @ 500 MHz with NEON, 128MBytes DDR2 System Memory – 128MBytes DDR2 memory Storage – 4 MBytes of QSPI Flash Castellated holes giving access to signal for: Storage – SD card interface Display – 24-bit RGB LCD TFT interface; capacitive touch controller Camera – Up to 5MP CMOS camera sensor support Audio – SSC, I2S Networking – 10/100M Ethernet USB – USB 2.0 (OTG and host) SPI, I2C, UART, CAN-FD, 12-bit ADC, PWM Misc – […]

Cellular system-on-module integrates Quectel BG95-M3 Cat M1, NB-IoT, GPS module

S-2CONNECT Creo SOM

Most systems-on-module come with a processor, memory, storage, and maybe a PMIC and some extra chips such as an Ethernet PHY. Some add wireless connectivity with a WiFi & Bluetooth module, but TT Electronics S-2Connect Creo SoM is more unusual as a Linux-powered SO-DIMM module with built-in Cat M1 & NB-IoT cellular connectivity, as well as GPS. This is implemented through Quectel BG95-M3 multi-mode LPWA module and an eSIM and a micro SIM socket in combination with an NXP i.MX 6UL processor Cortex-A7 processor along with 256MB RAM and a 4GB eMMC flash. S-2Connect Creo SoM specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX6UL Cortex-A7 System Memory – 256MB DDR3L Storaage – 4GB eMMC flash Connectivity LTE Cat M1 (eMTC), Cat NB2 (NB-IoT) 2G/EGPRS fallback via Quectel BG95-M3 module based on Cortex-A7 processor running ThreadX Bands LTE – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, […]