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January 22, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Cadence Tensilica HiFi iQ DSP to power next-generation Voice AI and Audio applications

Cadence Tensilica HiFi iQ DSP IP is the sixth generation of the company’s HiFi DSP family found in countless SoCs with audio features, and is based on a new architecture designed for next-generation voice AI and immersive audio applications. Compared to the Tensilica HiFi 5s DSP, the HiFi iQ DSP offers twice the compute performance, 8x higher AI performance, and more than 25% energy savings for most workloads, while delivering over 40% performance uplift on several audio codecs. The company claims it can act as an all-in-one AI processor for voice AI applications running popular SLMs and LLMs on the DSP itself. Tensilica HiFi iQ DSP key specifications: Load Units – 2 VLIW Slots – 5 Vector operations (SIMD) – 256-bit Accumulator Width – 80-bit Fixed Point MACs MACs for AI – Up to 128 16×8, up to 256 16×4 Optional instructions for AI (improved from HiFi 5s) Optional Vector […]

January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

HalowLink 2 Wi-Fi HaLow access point and extender offers up to 1 km range, supports up to 1,000 IoT end devices

GL.iNet HaLowLink 2 WiFi HaLow access point extender

Designed in collaboration with Morse Micro, GL.iNet’s HalowLink 2 is a Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) access point and extender that offers up to 1 km range and supports up to 1,000 IoT end devices. It’s an update to the earlier HaLowLink 1 Wi-Fi HaLow gateway with the exact same functionality, except it replaces a Morse Micro MM6108-based module with an MM8108-based module that offers a higher max link rate (43.3 Mbps vs 32.5 Mbps), broader region support, higher device capacity, and potentially better /performance range with up to 26 dBm Tx power (vs 23dBm in the first generation model). HalowLink 2 specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT7621 dual-core, quad-thread MIPS1004K processor @ up to 880MHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – 32MB NAND Flash Connectivity Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) AzureWave AW-HM677 module with Morse Micro MM8108 HaLow chipset supporting Wi-Fi HaLow, IEEE 802.11ah, Sub-GHz, 43.3 Mbps, ultra-low power, WPA3 Sub-GHz frequency range […]

January 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Nordic Semi nRF54LM20B wireless SoC integrates 128 MHz Axon NPU for Edge AI workloads

Nordic Semi nRF54ML20B Arm Cortex-M33 wireless SoC is the first nRF54L microcontroller to integrate the ultra-efficient Axon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for edge AI workloads. The NPU is said to deliver up to 7 times faster performance and up to 8 times higher energy efficiency versus (unnamed) competing wireless solutions for tasks such as sound classification, keyword spotting, and image-based detection. The Axon NPU is also about 15x faster compared to using the Cortex-M33 CPU for the same task. Other than the NPU, the nRF54LM20B offers exactly the same features as the earlier nRF54LM20A wireless microcontroller, including up to 2 MB NVM, 512 KB RAM, a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 plus RISC-V coprocessor, high-speed USB, up to 66 GPIOs, and an ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Matter over Thread, and more as shown in the nRF54L comparison table below. Like other nRF54L wireless SoCs, the […]

January 7, 2026January 10, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Espressif Systems showcases ESP32-E22 Wi-Fi 6E SoC and ESP32-H21 BLE MCU for battery-powered devices

Espressif Systems is showcasing its products at CES 2026, including two interesting upcoming parts: the ESP32-E22 Wi-Fi 6E tri-band SoC and the ultra-low-power ESP32-H21 Bluetooth LE MCU for battery-powered devices. Espressif Systems has been teasing an upcoming Wi-Fi 6E SoC for several months, but so far, there have been very few details. Once tipped that the ESP32-E22 tri-band Wi-Fi 6E SoC was demonstrated at CES 2026, I headed over to X and noticed tks posted a few interesting photos from the exhibition. Here’s what we know about the ESP32-E22 so far: CPU – Dual-core RISC-V processor at up to 500 MHz Memory – 1 MB (no optional PSRAM) Wireless Tri-band 2.4/5/6GHz Wi-Fi 6E, 160 MHz channel bandwidth, 2×2 MIMO; tested with iperf; up to 2.1 Gbps physical thoughput Dual-mode Bluetooth 5.4/6.0 (LE + BR/EDR) I/Os – 41x GPIO Host interfaces – PCIe 2.0, USB FS OTG, SDIO 3.0 (when used […]

January 6, 2026 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

ESP32-S3 development board features 4.2-inch Reflective LCD (RLCD), dual microphone array, onboard speaker

Waveshare ESP32-S3-RLCD-4.2 is a 4.2-inch Reflective LCD (RLCD) development board built around ESP32-S3 wireless SoC for DIY projects, rapid prototyping, and smart display devices that need a paperlike experience with a higher refresh rate compared to e-paper displays. The ESP32-S3 provides 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 LE connectivity, and the board also includes a dual microphone array with ES7210 ADC and ES8311 audio codec, as well as an onboard speaker for AI voice interaction. Other features include an SHTC3 temperature and humidity sensor, a PCF85063 RTC, a microSD card slot for storage, along with multiple GPIO, UART, and I²C expansion headers. Power, programming, and battery charging are done through the USB Type-C port connected to an optional 18650 battery. Applications include electronic calendars, desktop displays, voice-based devices, environmental monitoring, and low-power indoor or outdoor display systems. ESP32-S3-RLCD-4.2 specifications Core module – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 SoC – ESP32-S3 CPU – Dual-core […]

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

LoRa, BLE, and GNSS tracker supports open-source software, solar charging, outdoor and indoor tracking

Designed by Ruictec in China, the TD04 is a LoRa-based low-power tracker that also features BLE and dual-band GNSS. It supports both indoor and outdoor positioning, and is suitable for fleet management, asset tracking, and geofencing over public or private LoRaWAN networks with minimal maintenance. The device combines GNSS (L1/L5) for outdoor positioning with BLE-based indoor tracking. It automatically switches between the two to optimize accuracy and power usage, delivering around 1–2 m accuracy outdoors and 2–4 m indoors. It is LoRaWAN 1.0.3-compliant, supports OTAA and ABP, and operates across multiple regional bands (EU868, US915, IN865, AS923, and others). Other features include a built-in motion sensor (G-sensor), configurable reporting and heartbeat intervals, iBeacon support, optional Bluetooth gateway mode, BLE-based configuration, OTA updates, and batch firmware upgrades. The device is powered by a 6000 mAh rechargeable battery and support 1.3 W solar panel input, enabling up to six months of standby […]

December 29, 2025December 28, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Forlinx FET1126Bx-S low-power Rockchip RV1126BJ industrial SoM powers SBC with 40-pin GPIO header

Forlinx has recently released the FET1126Bx-S, a low-power SoM, which is based on the Rockchip RV1126B (commercial) or RV1126BJ (industrial) SoC. Designed for edge AI applications, the module is suitable for smart cameras, AIoT gateways, and intelligent monitoring systems where local video analytics, low power consumption, and long-term stability are required. It is easy to confuse the newer RV1126B/RV1126BJ with the original Rockchip RV1126, a 32-bit Cortex-A7-based SoC announced around 2020–2021. However, the newer RV1126B/BJ comes with a significant architectural upgrade with a 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor (instead of the original 32-bit quad-core Cortex-A7) and a more powerful 3.0 TOPS NPU (up from 2.0 TOPS). This updated chip has only recently started appearing in products like Luckfox Aura SBC, Boardcon MINI1126B-P SoM (based on the RV1126B-P), GL.iNet Comet PoE, and GL.iNet Comet Pro KVMs, all of which were released just this year. This makes the FET1126Bx-S SoM one of the […]

December 27, 2025 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

ESP32-C6 development board features 1.8-inch AMOLED touch display, built-in mic and speaker, IMU, RTC, and more

Waveshare ESP32-C6-Touch-AMOLED-1.8 is an ESP32-C6-based touch display development board featuring a 1.8-inch capacitive AMOLED display, a 6-axis IMU, RTC, audio codec, microSD card slot, USB-C for power and programming, power/boot buttons, and various I/Os including I²C, UART, USB, and GPIO pads. Compared to boards like Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-1.28, ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-1.69 (based on ESP32-S3), and ESP32-P4-WIFI6-Touch-LCD-3.4C/4C (based on ESP32-P4), this board is based on the ESP32-C6 wireless SoC with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5 LE, Zigbee, and Thread connectivity. It also includes a 16 MB external flash and a 368 × 448 AMOLED display with 16.7 million colors and capacitive touch support. Power is managed by an AXP2101 PMIC for Li-ion battery support and charging. Typical applications include smart home control panels, wearable and handheld IoT devices, voice-enabled assistants, data loggers, portable dashboards, and HMI-focused embedded prototypes. Waveshare ESP32-C6-Touch-AMOLED-1.8 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 CPU Single-core 32-bit RISC-V clocked up to 160 MHz […]