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July 19, 2024July 19, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

Femtosense introduces the AI-ADAM-100 system-in-package for affordable, efficient AI-based voice processing on the edge

Femtosense’s newest release, the AI-ADAM-100, combines a low-power Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller from ABOV Semiconductor with the Femtosense Sparse Processing Unit (SPU), an in-house neural processing unit. This combination powers AI voice processing and cleanup capabilities on edge devices. It leverages sparsity techniques to ensure that models can run on edge devices without intensive processing. Sparsity in AI refers to the presence of zeroes or non-zero values in the matrices and tensors used in machine learning models. No computation is required for these zero weights, heavily reducing processing requirements. The Femtosense AI-ADAM-100 aims to bring voice control to various devices such as home appliances, hearing aids, industrial headsets, and consumer earbuds. These appliances can implement voice user interfaces that allow users to talk naturally in their own words. On-device voice cleanup functionality would reduce infrastructure costs and improve the accuracy of the data sent to the cloud. The Femtosense SiP […]

July 2, 2024July 2, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor Wireless Kit targets electromyography (EMG) applications

MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor with ESP32 Arduino board

The MyoWare 2.0 Muscle Sensor Wireless Kit is an Arduino-compatible electromyography (EMG) sensor kit capable of detecting and measuring the electrical signals generated by muscle fibers in the body. The MyoWare 2.0 kit is a collaborative product by SparkFun and Advancer Technologies. The MyoWare 2.0 ecosystem brings several improvements over the previous generation, including a compact design, solderless snap connectors, and an upgraded chipset for improved reliability and performance. It includes shields designed to seamlessly interface with the MyoWare 2.0 Muscle sensor, a wearable, Arduino-compatible EMG sensor. The Muscle Sensor’s wearable design makes it possible to directly attach biomedical sensor pads and add-on shields to the board. It operates on a single-supply voltage between +3.3V to +5V and supports three separate output modes. It analyzes filtered and rectified activity from muscle movement and outputs a signal from 0 to the power source voltage (VIN) that represents the intensity of flex. […]

June 28, 2024June 27, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 7 Comments

Zigbee Coordinator CC2652P7 1.0 runs open-source firmware, works with Zigbee2MQTT, Home Assistant, and ioBroker

The cod.m Zigbee Coordinator 1.0 (CZC 1.0) is a hybrid ZigBee coordinator that can be used to connect devices over a network (Ethernet/Wi-Fi) and USB. The ZigBee Coordinator version 1.0 is an upgrade of version 0.2 released in 2022. The CZC 1.0 replaces the Texas Instruments CC2652P2 chip with the much more powerful CC2652P7 chip, uses an ESP32-WROOM-32E module instead of the USR-K6 chip, and adds compatibility with Home Assistant (ZHA integration). It can create a Zigbee network and pair Zigbee devices over Ethernet, WiFi, or Serial (USB). It features the same Texas Instruments CC2652P7 chip as the SMLIGHT line of Zigbee Ethernet/WiFi/USB coordinators and USB dongles. There are two models of the CZC 1.0: a Power over Ethernet model and a model that can only be powered via USB-C. cod.m Zigbee Coordinator specifications: Zigbee SoC – Texas Instruments CC2652P7 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 704 KB flash, […]

June 25, 2024June 25, 2024 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Olimex NEO6502 is a W65C02 and Raspberry Pi RP2040-powered retro computer with HDMI, USB, and more

Olimex has recently launched NEO6502 an open-source hardware retro computer designed for educational and entertainment purposes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used for retro gaming. The board is very unique as it’s built around a 65C02 MPU and Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 MCU in a dual-processor configuration. The MOS6502 handles the Apple II, Oric, and Commodore 64 emulators whereas the RP2040 handles everything else including HDMI (DVI) video output using the PicoDVI project. Previously we have written about similar retro computer kits such as the CERBERUS 2100, TinyLlama x86, DevTerm with ClockworkPi v3.14, Olimex AgonLight2, and many others feel free to check those out if you are interested in retro tech with a modern twist. Olimex NEO6502 board specifications Processors Western Design Center W65C02S 8-bit microprocessor @ 6.25 MHz with 64kB RAM, 32kB Graphics RAM Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 133 MHz with 264 KB SRAM Storage […]

June 22, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

The Pico Display Base Board offers a simpler way to create Raspberry Pi Pico LCD projects

The Pico Display Base Board is a printed circuit board from Applying Microcontroller Solutions that provides a platform for building Raspberry Pi Pico-based display projects. It works with a Raspberry Pi Pico board and an LCD screen based on the Solomon Systech SSD1963 display controller. The Pico Display Base Board features a 40-pin header (Display Port) which connects to GPIO on the Pico to provide an 8-bit parallel interface for the display and SPI pins for the touchscreen and integrated SD card. It supports various display sizes from 4.3 inches up to 7 inches. Displays up to five inches can be powered directly by the Pico. A jumper block on the board can be used to pass power to the LCD and wire the display’s optional flash chip to the Pico. A USB-C port on the board can provide an alternative power source for larger displays. It also has male […]

June 21, 2024July 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Nuvoton NuMicro M2L31 Arm Cortex-M23 MCU embeds up to 512KB high-durability ReRAM, 168KB SRAM

Nuvoton NuMaker-M2L31KI development board

Nuvoton NuMicro M2L31 is a family of Arm Cortex-M23 microcontrollers clocked up to 72 MHz, equipped with 64KB to 512KB high-durability ReRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) with fast write speeds, 40KB to 168KB SRAM. The microcontroller supports 1.71V to 3.6V operating voltage, can operate in the -40°C to 105°C temperature range, and offers a wide range of interfaces available through packages as small as WLCSP 25 (2.5 x 2.5 mm) and up to LQFP128 (14 x 14 mm). Arm introduced the Cortex-M23 core in 2016 together with the Arm Cortex-M33 core, but while the latter is widely integrated in a large range of designs, we’ve seen fewer Cortex-M23 microcontrollers with some examples being Microchip SAML10/L11 (2018) and more recently, the Renesas RA0 family. Nuvoton adds another option with the Numicro M2L31 that also happens to integrates ReRAM non-volatile memory. Key Features: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M23 core running up to 72 […]

June 20, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Alif Semi Ensemble E1C is an entry-level Cortex-M55 MCU with a 46 GOPS Ethos-U55 AI/ML accelerator

Alif Ensemble E1C AI/ML Cortex-M55 microcontroller

Alif Semi Ensemble E1C is an entry-level addition to the company’s Ensemble Cortex-A32M35 processors and microcontrollers with Ethos-U55 microNPUs that targets the very edge with a 160 MHz Cortex-M55 microcontroller and a 46 GOPS Ethos-U55 NPU. The Ensemble E1C is virtually the same as the E1 microcontroller but with less memory (2MB SRAM) and storage (up to 1.9MB non-volatile MRAM), and offered in more compact packages with 64, 90, or 120 pins as small as 3.9 x 3.9mm. Alif Semi Ensemble E1C specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M55 core up to 160 MHz with Helium Vector Processing Extension, 16KB Instruction and Data caches, Armv8.1-M ISA with Arm TrustZone; 4.37 CoreMark/MHz GPU – Optional D/AVE 2D Graphics Processing Unit MicroNPU – 1x Arm Ethos-U55 Neural Processing Unit with 128 MAC; up to 46 GOPS On-chip application memory Up to 1.9 MB MRAM Non-Volatile Memory Up to 2MB Zero Wait-State SRAM with optional […]

June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

JieLi Tech AC6329C4 is a 35 cents Bluetooth 5.0 microcontroller

JieLi Technology AC6329C4 is an ultra-cheap microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and several I/Os including some for motor control that sells for just 35 cents on LCSC in single units, or 25 cents per piece for 1K+ orders. The microcontroller features a 32-bit RISC core clocked at 96 MHz with 73KB SRAM, and up to 4Mbit (512KB) flash. The 16-pin (SOP16) package offers plenty of multiplexed interfaces including USB 2.0, ADC, PWM, I2C, SPI, UART, and in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) encoders. AC6329C4 specifications: CPU – 32-bit RISC CPU @ 96 MHz with Cache – 8KB I-cache 2-way, 1KB R/O cache 1-way 64x Vectored interrupts 8x Levels interrupt priority Memory – 73KB data RAM Storage – 4Mbit flash (another part called AC6329C2 comes with 2Mbit flash) Bluetooth CMOS single-chip fully-integrated radio and baseband Compliant with Bluetooth 5.0+BR+EDR+BLE specification Bluetooth Piconet and Scatternet support Meets class2 and class3 transmitting power requirement […]