mcu News - Page 26 of 47 - CNX Software

September 22, 2020September 23, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

GigaDevice GD32E5 Cortex-M33 microcontrollers target motor and industrial control

We first mentioned GigaDevice Semiconductor in 2015 for its STM32-compatible GD32 microcontroller, but last year, the company was brought back to our attention again with its GD32V RISC-V microcontroller with similar features as its GD32 Cortex-M3 model but equipped with a faster and more efficient RISC-V “Bumblebee” core. That does not mean the company has given up on Arm though, as GigaDevice recently announced GD32E5 Cortex-M33 high-performance microcontrollers, manufactured using TSMC’s Low Power 40nm process, and designed for embedded systems such as high-precision industrial controllers, motor control applications, digital power supplies, measuring instruments, mixed-signal processing applications, and industrial/consumer controllers. GD32E5 MCU key features & specifications: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M33 Armv8-M core clocked at up to 180MHz with DSP instruction set and single-precision FPU. Memory – 80KB to 128KB SRAM Storage – 128KB to 512KB on-chip flash, QSPI interface for external storage Peripherals USB 2.0 OTG dual-function controller, including 480Mbps […]

September 18, 2020September 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Microchip SAMD21 Machine Learning Evaluation Kits Work with Cartesiam, Edge Impulse and Motion Gestures Solutions

While it all started in the cloud Artificial Intelligence is now moving at the very edge is ultra-low power nodes, and Microchip has launched two SAMD21 Arm Cortex-M0+ machine learning evaluation kits that now work with AI/ML solutions from Cartesiam, Edge Impulse, and Motion Gestures. Bot machine learning evaluation kits come with SAMD21G18 Arm Cortex-M0+ 32-bit MCU, an on-board debugger (nEDBG), an ATECC608A CryptoAuthentication secure element, ATWINC1510 Wi-Fi network controller, as well as Microchip MCP9808 high accuracy temperature sensor and a light sensor. But EV45Y33A development kit is equipped with an add-on board featuring Bosch’s BMI160 low-power Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), while EV18H79A features an add-on board with TDK InvenSense ICM-42688-P 6-axis MEMS. The photo above makes it clear both SAMD21 machine learning evaluation kits rely on the same baseboard with a MikroBus socket connected to either 6DOF IMU 2click or 6DOF IMU 14 click add-on board from MikroElektronika. Both […]

September 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

3µA/MHz Ambiq Apollo 4 MCU Targets Battery-powered IoT Devices with Voice Processing

Ambiq Micro is using sub-threshold voltages under 0.5V to offer ultra-low-power Arm microcontrollers. In 2015, the company launch the Apollo Cortex-M4F MCU with 30µA/MHz power consumption in active mode, which was followed in 2016 by Apollo 2 in consuming just 10µA/MHz, and Apollo 3 (Blue) dropped power consumption to as low as 6µA/MHz against using a Cortex-M4F @ 48 MHz in active mode. The fourth generation of ultra-low-power Apollo microcontroller has now been announced with Apollo 4 and Apollo 4 Blue microcontrollers – the latter adding Bluetooth – halving the power consumption of Apollo 3 at just 3µA/MHz, or ten times less than the original ultra-low-power MCU from the company. Apollo 4 (Blue) specifications and key features: MCU Core – Arm Cortex-M4F core up to 192 MHz (TurboSPOT) with FPU, Memory Protection Unit (MPU), and Secure Boot GPU – 2D/2.5D graphics accelerator with full alpha blending, texture and frame buffer […]

August 26, 2020August 26, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SwiftIO Arm Cortex-M7 MCU Board Targets Apple Swift Programming Language

Swift programming language has been developed by Apple for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and Linux. The programming language works with Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, as well as existing Objective-C code written for Apple products. MadMachine has now created an Arm Cortex-M7 development board, named SwiftIO, specifically designed for Swift programming language through MadMachine IDE and SwiftIO framework. SwiftIO hardware specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX RT1052 Arm Cortex-M7 Crossover Processor @ 600MHz System Memory – 32 MB SRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot supporting standard and high capacity SD cards USB – 1x Micro USB connector for power, 1x Micro USB connector for serial communication Expansion – 2x 46 GPIO headers with 12x 12-bit analog to digital (ADC) converters, 4x UART, 2x CAN, 2x IIC, 2x SPI, 14x PWM Misc – On-board RGB LED, download and reset buttons Power Supply – 5V via Micro USB port Dimensions – […]

August 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

SAMD21 Lite is a Stamp-sized, MikroBus Compatible Cortex-M0+ MCU Board

If you’re a fan of tiny microcontroller boards, you’ll be pleased with BOKRA SAMD21 Lite board powered by Microchip SAMD21 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU, exposing I/Os in a way compatible with MikroBus socket, and adding a Grove connector for good measure. SAMD21 Lite board specifications: MCU – Microchip ATSAMD21G18A Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 256KB flash memory, 32KB RAM Expansion I/Os MicroBus socket with GPIO, SPI, I2C, USART, PWM, DAC, +5V, +3.3V, GND I2C Grove connector 10-pin I/O header with GPIO, USB 2.0, VIN, GND Misc – Reset button, red power LED, 2x user LED (yellow/green), J1/J2 jumper to enable/disable I2C pull-ups Debugging – 4-pin SWD header Power Supply 5V input via VIN MIC5528500 voltage regulator Output current – 500 mA Dimensions -28.6 x 25.4 mm Despite its tiny size, SAMD21 Lite exposes all expect five I/Os from the microcontroller. The Microbus headers and the I2C Grove connector allow […]

July 27, 2020July 28, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ECM3532 AI Sensor Board Features Cortex-M3 MCU & 16-bit DSP “TENSAI” SoC for TinyML Applications

Eta Compute ECM3532 is a system-on-chip (SoC) with a Cortex-M3 microcontroller clocked at up to 100 Mhz, and NXP CoolFlux 16-bit DSP designed for machine learning on embedded devices, aka TinyML, and part of the company’s TENSAI platform. The chip is also integrated into the ECM3532 AI sensor board featuring two MEMS microphones, a pressure & temperature sensor, and a 6-axis motion sensor (accel/gyro) all powered by a CR2032 coin-cell battery. ECM3532 AI sensor board specifications: SoC – ECM3532 neural sensor processor with Arm Cortex-M3 core @ up to 100 MHz (< 5μA/MHz run mode) combines with 512KB embedded FLASH, 256KB SRAM, and 8KB BootROM + secure bootloader, and NXP CoolFlux 16-bit DSP @ up to 100 MHz with 32KB program memory, 64KB data memory. See the product brief for details. Storage – 64Mbit serial Flash for datalogging Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2 LE via ABOV Semiconductor A31R118 and PCB antenna […]

July 7, 2020March 16, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

QuickFeather Board is Powered by QuickLogic EOS S3 Cortex-M4F MCU with embedded FPGA (Crowdfunding)

Yesterday, I wrote about what I felt what a pretty unique board: Evo M51 board following Adafruit Feather form factor, and equipped with an Atmel SAMD51 Cortex-M4F MCU and an Intel MAX 10 FPGA. But less than 24 hours later, I’ve come across another Adafruit Feather-sized Cortex-M4F board with FPGA fabric. But instead of using a two-chip solution, QuickLogic QuickFeather board leverages the company’s EOS S3 SoC with a low-power Cortex-M4F core and embedded FPGA fabric. QuickFeather board QuickFeather specifications: SoC – QuickLogic EOS S3 with Arm Cortex-M4F Microcontroller @ up to 80 MHz and 512 Kb SRAM, plus an embedded FPGA (eFPGA) with 2400 effective logic cells and 64Kb RAM Storage – 16Mbit SPI NOR flash USB – Micro USB port with data signals tied to eFPGA programmable logic Sensors – Accelerometer, pressure sensor, built-in PDM microphone Expansion I/Os – Breadboard-compatible 0.1″ (2.54 mm) pitch headers including 20 Feather-defined […]

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Feather-Sized Evo M51 Board Combines Atmel SAMD51 MCU with Intel MAX 10 FPGA

Arduino unveiled its first FPGA board around two years ago with MKR Vidor 4000 combining an Intel Cyclone FPGA with Microchip SAMD21 Cortex-M0+ MCU in a form factor similar to Arduino Zero. But in case you are looking for an even smaller Arduino compatible FPGA board, Alorium Technology’s Evo M51 might be exactly what you are after. The Adafruit Feather-sized board is equipped with an Atmel SAMD51 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller coupled with an Intel MAX 10 FPGA. Evo M51 specifications: MCU – Microchip (Atmel) SAMD51 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller clocked at 120 MHz with 512KB flash, 192 KB SRAM FPGA – Intel MAX 10 (10M25) FPGA with 25K LEs, 675Kbit block memory Storage – 2MB external flash USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming I/O Digital 55x Total Digital I/O – 21x through-hole/castellated vias, 34x additional castellated-only 6x digital pins shared with analog pins 3.3V Inputs, 3.3V Outputs […]