Amazon FreeRTOS Released for NXP, Texas Instruments, STMicro, and (soon) Microchip Microcontrollers

FreeRTOS is an open source real-time operating system for microcontrollers released under an MIT license, and when it comes to adoption in embedded systems it’s right there near the top with embedded Linux according to Aspencore 2017 embedded markets study. For example, some Espressif SDKs for ESP8266 or ESP32 are based on FreeRTOS, and so is Mediatek LinkIt Development Platform for RTOS. The recently announced Amazon FreeRTOS (a:FreeRTOS) leverages the open source operating systems, and extends it with with libraries that enable local and AWS cloud connectivity, security, and soon over-the-air updates. a:FreeRTOS is free of charge, open source, and available today. In order to get started, you’ll have a choice of 4 hardware platforms: STMicro STM32L4 Discovery Kit IoT Node (B-L475E-IOT01A) powered by STM32L475 ARM Cortex-M4 MCU with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, RF (868 / 915 MHz), and NFC connectivity, plenty of sensors NXP LPC54018 IoT module (OM40007) […]

SAMA5D2 Based SiPs Combine ARM Cortex-A5 Processor With Up to 128MB DDR2

Atmel SAMA5D2 ARM Cortex-A5 processor was released about two years ago with extended temperature range and lower power consumption compared to previous SAMAD5 processors, with the new SoC still targeting industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), wearables and point of sale applications. In recent years, we’ve seen companies packing main components into systems-in-package (SiP) with products such as Octavo Systems OSD3358 and Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 with integrate an existing processor with memory, storage, and/or PMIC. Microchip (previously Atmel) has now done the same for their SAMA5D2 processors with SiPs combining the Cortex A5 SoC with DDR2 memory. Four SAMA5D2 SiPs have been launched: ATSAMA5D225C-D1M based on ATSAMA5D22C MPU with extra SD/SDIO, QSPI, FLEXCOMs (2x), I2S, and timers (2x) and: 128 Mb (16 MB) DDR2 DRAM 90 Peripheral I/Os 196 BGA Package Designed for RTOS/bare metal development ATSAMA5D27C-D5M based on ATSAMA5D27C MPU with: 512 Mb (64 MB) DDR2 DRAM 128 Peripheral I/Os […]

PingPong IoT Development Board Supports Cellular Connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa, Sigfox, and More

Round Solutions, a supplier of products, services and concepts for industrial M2M and IoT markets, has introduced PingPong IoT development board with either Microchip PIC32MZ running an RTOS, or PIC32MZ DA running Linux, and equipped with a Telit modules for either 2G or 3G cellular + GNSS connectivity. The board can also support WiFi, Bluetooth, ISM/RF, NFC/RFID, LoRa, Sigfox, Iridium satellite, and serial interface thanks to a range of expansion boards. PingPong IoT board specifications: MCU / Flash RTOS version – Microchip PIC32MZ 32-bit Microcontroller @ 200 MHz, with 512 KB RAM and 2 MB Flash Memory + 4 MB external memory Linux version – Microchip PIC32MZ DA  (Full specs TBA) Connectivity Cellular connectivity Telit xE910 module with 2G, 3G and/or 4G LTE (coming soon) Data GSM/GPRS – Uplink/Downlink: 9.6 kbps UMTS – Downlink: 384 kbps, Uplink: 384 kbps HSPA+ – Downlink: 42.0 Mbps, Uplink: 5.75 Mbps LTE – Download: 100 […]

Texas Instruments Announces AMIC110 Sitara Industrial Communication Processor & Development Board

Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x SoCs integrate an ARM Cortex A8 processor @ up to 1GHz with a PRU-ICSS for industrial communication, but also include a display controller, an optional PowerVR GPU, and a rich-set of peripherals making it useful for a wide range of applications. The company has now launched AMIC110 Sitara processor with a Cortex A8 core @ 300 MHz, and a PRU-ICSS specifically designed for industrial Ethernet, and fieldbus communication. Texas Instruments AMIC110 Sitara processor key features and specifications: CPU – ARM Cortex-A8 processor @ up to 300 MHz with NEON, 32+32KB I/D cache, 256KB L2 cache, 176KB boot ROM, 64KB RAM External Memory Interfaces (EMIF) – mDDR(LPDDR), DDR2, DDR3, DDR3L Controller up to 1GB General-Purpose Memory Controller (GPMC) – 8-bit & 16-bit Asynchronous Memory Interface with up to Seven Chip Selects (NAND, NOR, Muxed-NOR, SRAM) 2x programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication Subsystem (PRU-ICSS) supporting  EtherCAT, […]

Samsung Unveils Tizen 4.0 with .NET Framework, Low End IoT Devices Support

We’ve already seen the announcement of Samsung ARTIK 053 WiFi module with Tizen RT this morning, but it appears that Tizen RT (Real Time) is part of a Tizen 4.0 that will add support to IoT devices, as well as introduce changes from the developers’ perspective. Samsung Electronics talked a bit more about Tizen Next (Tizen 4.0) at the Tizen Developer Conference (TDC) 2017 taking in place on May 16-17 in San Francisco. Few details are provided in the press released, but we could learn that “the Tizen 4.0 platform has been extended to Tizen RT (Real-Time) to involve high-end products such as TVs and mobile devices as well as low-end products such as thermostats, scales, bulbs, and more”. Tizen RT page explains that the real-time operating system is designed to run on Cortex M/R MCU with less than 2 MB RAM, less than 16 MB flash, and consists of […]

Whitecat ESP32 N1 Board Combines ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth SoC with a LoRa Transceiver, Runs Lua RTOS

Espressif ESP32 SoC is gaining traction right now as prices have come down, and there’s still an on-going fight among LPWAN standards with LoRaWAN being fairly popular in Europe. Whitecat, a group of engineers from several companies based in Citilab, Barcelona, Spain, has designed a board that combines both ESP32 and a LoRA transceiver, bringing an alternative to Pycom LoPy board, but instead of running MicroPython, they have developed Lua-RTOS. Whitecat ESP32 N1 hardware specifications: SoC – Espressif ESP32 dual-core Tensilica LX6 microprocessor @ up to 240MHz with 520kB internal SRAM Storage – 4MB flash memory Connectivity LoRa WAN transceiver working in the 868 (EU) MHz / 915 (USA) MHz with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi transceiver with on-board antenna, and u.FL connector for external antenna Integrated dual-mode Bluetooth (classic and BLE) I/O Headers – 2x 16-pin with SPI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, UART, CAN, […]

MYD-C437x-PRU Development Board Leverages TI Sitara AM437x Programmable Real-time Unit

MYIR Technologies launched MYC-C437x system-on-module based on TI Sitara AM437X processor, and the corresponding MYD-C437x development board at the end of 2015, but the latter did not make use of the processor’s PRU-ICSS (Programmable Real-Time Unit Subsystem and Industrial Communication SubSystem) block. The company has now released a new version of the baseboard called MYC-C437x-PRU which exposes I/Os pins to leverage the PRU-ICSS and enable implementation of protocols like EtherCAT and Profibus.MYD-C437x-PRU industrial development board specifications: System-on-Module – MYC-C437x module with SoC – Texas Instruments AM437x ARM Cortex A9 processor @ up to 1GHz with PowerVR  SGX530 GPU (AM4378/AM4379 only) System Memory – 256 or 512MB (default) DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash (reserved 256/512MB Nand Flash design), 16MB QSPI Flash (unpopulated by default), 32KB EEPROM Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet PHY Storage – 1x micro SD slot Serial ports – 1x 3-wire RS232 debug serial port, 2x  5-wire RS232 serial […]

Embedded Linux Conference & IoT Summit Europe 2016 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference & IoT summit 2016 first took place in the US in April, but the events are now also scheduled in Europe on October 11 – 13 in Berlin, Germany, and the schedule has now been published. Even if you are no going to attend, it’s always interesting to find out more about the topic covered in that type of events, so I had a look, and created my own virtual schedule with some of the sessions. Tuesday, October 11 10:40 – 11:30 – JerryScript: An Ultra-lightweight JavaScript Engine for the Internet of Things – Tilmann Scheller, Samsung Electronics JerryScript is a lightweight JavaScript engine designed to bring the success of JavaScript to small IoT devices like lamps, thermometers, switches and sensors. This class of devices tends to use resource-constrained microcontrollers which are too small to fit a large JavaScript engine like V8 or JavaScriptCore. JerryScript is heavily […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case