Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on Rockchip RV1126 AI Camera SoC features 2.0 TOPS NPU, promises 250ms fast boot

Rockchip RV1126 AI Camera SoC features 2.0 TOPS NPU, promises 250ms fast boot

The Rockchip Developer Conference that took place at the end of November 2020 allowed us to learn more about RK3588, RK3566, and RK3568 64-bit Arm processors for AIoT applications. But the company also presented additional details about camera SoC’s, namely the dual-core RV1109 and quad-core RV1126, equipped with a 1.2 TOPS and 2.0 TOPS respectively, and both capable of delivering a 250ms fast boot. Rockchip RV1109 and RV1126 share many of the same specifications: CPU RV1109 – Dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz + RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz RV1126 – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 @ 1.5 GHz + RISC-V MCU @ 400 MHz GPU – 2D graphics engine NPU RV1109 – 1.2 TOPS with support for INT8/ INT16 RV1126 – 2.0 TOPS with support for INT8/ INT16 Memory – 32-bit DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR2/LPDDR3/DDR4/LPDDR4 up to 4GB RAM Storage – eMMC 4.51, Serial SPI NOR Flash or NAND flash with fast booting support, SD card via SDIO interface Display – MIPI-DSI/RGB interface up […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on Year 2020 in review – Top ten posts and stats

Year 2020 in review – Top ten posts and stats

It’s this time of the year when we look back at what happened, and what may be next. 2020 did not pan out as planned in more ways than one, but there were still some interesting developments. Based on 2019 announcements, 2020 was promising to be an exciting year for Amlogic and Rockchip with the expected launch of RK3588 and S908X high-end processors for 8K capable devices,  but we’ll have to wait for 2021 for this to happen. Instead, the most interesting processor of the year from the Allwinner, Amlogic, and Rockchip offerings was probably Amlogic S905X4 processing adding AV1 hardware decoding. As pointed out in our “RISC-V 2020 highlights” post, it was a fairly eventful year for RISC-V architecture, although there’s still a long road ahead, especially for application processors. We had seen some general-purpose and Bluetooth RISC-V MCUs in 2019, but 2020 saw the launch of the first WiFi IoT RISC-V chips with ESP32-C3 and BL602, Alibaba making […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on RK628D adds HDMI input, extra video outputs to Rockchip processors

RK628D adds HDMI input, extra video outputs to Rockchip processors

If I’m asked about a Linux or Android platform with HDMI input, I would immediately think about Realtek RTD1295 SoC with products like Zidoo X9S or X2 TV stick which enabled picture-in-picture (PiP), UDP/TCP broadcast of HDMI input, or PVR functions. Some Rockchip boards such as Orange Pi RK3399 SBC do come with both HDMI output and HDMI input, with the latter relying on a Toshiba TC358749XBG HDMI interface bridge IC. But Rockchip has decided to design its own HDMI input chip with Rockchip RK628D supporting HDMI, parallel RGB or BT.1120 as input and dual MIPI, dual LVDS, GVI (general video interface), parallel RGB, or BT.1120 as outputs. The new chip would enable PCB designers to add display output ports to application processors such as RK3288 or RK3399, or add an HDMI input interface. Rockchip RK628D key features and specifications: Video input interfaces HDMI 1.4/2.0 RX interface up to 4Kp60 (yuv420) – Support 8-/10-bit, RGB888/YUV420, EDIC and CEC. Parallel RX […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments on Rockchip RK3566 and RK3568 datasheets and features comparison

Rockchip RK3566 and RK3568 datasheets and features comparison

We first covered Rockchip RK3566 processor in February, but we’ve been informed the specifications have changed since then, and earlier this month, we also wrote about RK3568 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with the same base features but some extra I/Os. But due to NDAs, people familiar with the chips could not release too many details, so we did not get the full picture. This has just changed as the datasheets for both processors have just dropped from somewhere here and there, and we can get a much closer look. I’ve highlighted the obvious differences above, with the big ones being the PCIe interface and RK3568 having dual Gigabit Ethernet. The other features comparison can be found in the table below. Important note. Rockchip RK3566 and RK3568 are using Multi-PHY Interfaces, and while the table above lists all possible interfaces, they can not all be used at the same time. PCIe, SATA, USB 3.0 are multiplexed in most cases as shown in […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 44 Comments on Rockchip RK3568 processor to power edge computing and NVR applications

Rockchip RK3568 processor to power edge computing and NVR applications

We recently reported on the Rockchip developer conference (RKDC) 2020, and especially the upcoming Rockchip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55 processor that packs a lot of power and features, and is now scheduled to launch in Q3 2021. But as you can imagine there were other products revealed during the conference, including the new Rockchip RK3568, similar to the previously announced RK3566, and designed for edge computing and network video recorder (NVR) applications. There’s also an RK353X processor specifically designed for NVR application that should have similar performance as RK3568, but a lower cost, as well as two UP camera SoC with RV1106 and RV1128. CNX Software managed to obtain the presentation for the RK3568 processor from the conference so we’ll focus on the quad-core Cortex-A55 processor in this post. Rockchip RK3568 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor with NEON and FPU GPU – Mali-G52 EE with support for OpenGL ES 1.1 to 3.2, Vulkan 1.1, OpenGL 2.0 AI accelerator – 0.8 TOPS […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 99 Comments on Rockchip RK3588 specifications revealed – 8K video, 6 TOPS NPU, PCIe 3.0, up to 32GB RAM

Rockchip RK3588 specifications revealed – 8K video, 6 TOPS NPU, PCIe 3.0, up to 32GB RAM

Rockchip RK3588 is one of the most anticipated processors for the year on this side of the Internet with the octa-core processor features four Cortex-A76 cores, four Cortex-A55 cores, an NPU, and 8K video decoding support. The roadmap shows an expected launch date in Q3/Q4 2020, but sadly the release date will be pushed back in the future. Having said that, the Rockchip Developer Conference (RKDC) is now taking place, and the company has put up a poster that reveals a bit more about the processor. That means we now have more detailed Rockchip RK3588 specifications: CPU – 4x Cortex-A76 and 4x Cortex-A55 cores in dynamIQ configuration GPU – Arm Mali “Odin” MP4 GPU AI Accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU 3.0 (Neural Processing Unit) VPU – 8Kp60 video decoding support, 8Kp30 encoding support Memory I/F – LPDDR4x/LPDDR5 up to 32GB Storage – eMMC 5.1, SDIO, SATA 3.0 (multiplexed with PCIe 2.0) Video Output Dual HDMI 2.1 / eDP up to […]

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Posted on by Abhishek Jadhav - 6 Comments on Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding support in mainline Linux

Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding support in mainline Linux

With the increasing need for video encoding, there are some breakthrough developments in hardware-accelerated video encoding for Linux. Bootlin has been working on the implementation of Hantro H1 hardware accelerated video encoding to support H.264 encoding on Linux which follows the company’s work on the previously-released open-source VPU driver for Allwinner processors. Hantro H1 Hardware Hantro H1 is a common hardware H.264 encoder, it can also do VP8 and JPEG. It is found in a few ARM SoCs including a lot of Rockchip (RK3288, RK3328, RK3399, PX30, RK1808) and NXP (i.MX 8M Mini). Depending on the version, it can support up to 1080p at 30 or 60 fps. Here we can see different blocks used for encoding. Hantro H1 is a stateless hardware implementation which means it has no microcontroller or firmware running. As can be seen in the diagram, it has a pre-processor that can do things like cropping, rotation, scaling, stabilization, and CSC. It will produce slice NALUs […]

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Rockchip RK3566, RK3588, RV1109 SoC’s Coming in 2020 based on Rockchip Processor Roadmap

Rockchip RK3566, RK3588, RV1109 SoC’s Coming in 2020 based on Rockchip Processor Roadmap

Last year, Rockchip had a presentation in China where they highlighted their processor roadmap for 2020, and we learn about processors such as Rockhip RK3588 Cortex-A76/A55, RK3530 Cortex-A55 SoC’s, and RV1109 camera processor, but we had limited details about the processors at the time. CNX Software has now received a more detailed roadmap that reveals some of the specifications about the new processors, and some Rockchip products that people may not be aware of such as a 3D structured light module and a 4G module. Rockchip RK3566 Rockchip RK3530 is not shown in the roadmap, but there’s a similar RK3566 processor, so I assume the company just changed the name. Rockchip RK3566 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 2EE NPU – 0.5 TOPS with support for INT8/ INT16 Multi-Media 8M ISP 2.0 with 3F HDR(Line-based/Frame-based/DCG) Support MIPI-CSI2,4-lane 1080p60 H.265, H.264 encoding 4K H.264/H.265/VP9 60fps video decoder DVP interface with BT.656/BT.1120 Memory – 32-bit DDR3L/LPDDR3/DDR4/LPDDR4/LPDDR4X […]

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