The RISC-V Summit 2020 is currently taking place virtually, and RISC-V International, a non-profit corporation aiming to drive the adoption and implementation of the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA), took the occasion to remind us of the growth of the ISA both in terms of commercial adaption, education, and other projects. Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International, detailed the growth in memberships: This year, our technical community has grown 66 percent to more than 2,300 individuals in our more than 50 technical and special interest groups. We’re seeing increased market momentum of RISC-V cores, SoCs, developer boards, software and tools across computing from embedded to enterprise … We’re proud of our growing global membership, which has more than doubled in the last year to 1,000 total members, including 222 organizations.” RISC-V also launched the RISC-V Exchange now listing over 124 RISC-V cores, SoCs, and developer boards, as well as 129 […]
$20 mini spot welder machine welds thin steel strips on battery packs
When I think about welding machines, I imagine fairly large units, protective gloves and masks, plus sparks coming out of the welding process when two metal parts are melted together. So when I saw a small “portable DIY mini spot welder machine” going for $25 on Banggood[update: or just under $20 shipped on Aliexpress], I thought to myself: “what is THAT”? It turns out it’s made for welding jobs with thin nickel-plated steel strips such as the ones that can be found attached to 18650 batteries, or full battery packs. Mini spot welder specifications: Controlled with by unnamed MCU Display – LCD with welding parameters: WELD ENERGY – 01-99 adjustable by up and down keys INPUT – Display input power voltage WELD WAY – Manual / Auto (adjustable with “square label” button) Based on 5x 300A MOSFETs 30cm 10AWG cables for welding pens 25V 10000uF high-frequency low-resistance capacitor to increase […]
Foenix 21-5-inch Android 8.1 smart touch computer features MediaTek MT8167A Cortex-A35 SoC
Earlier this week, we covered Wireless Tag’s Industio 7-inch smart display powered by a SigmaStar SSD201 32-bit Arm Cortex-A7 processor and offering both Ethernet and WiFi 4 connectivity. If you’d like a 64-bit processor, a much larger display size, and faster wireless connectivity, Innocomm has just introduced the “Foenix Touch Console” 21.5-inch open-frame touch computer based on the same MediaTek MT8167A quad-core Cortex-A35 processor as found in the PlayStation Classic, and capable of Ethernet and WiFi 5 (AC) networking. Foenix iCOM1019 touch console preliminary specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT8167A quad-core Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with PowerVR GE8300 GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB storage, MicroSD card slot Display – 21.5-inch PCAP touchscreen display with 1920×1080 resolution Video Output – Optional HDMI 1.4a Audio – 2-channel 6W amplifier, 2x digital microphones, 3.5mm 4-pole audio jack Camera – Optional 2MP front-facing camera Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet (RJ45) […]
Raspberry Pi 4 gets a 13MP 4K MIPI camera devkit for $99
The Raspberry Pi boards already have their official 4K MIPI camera with Raspberry Pi HQ camera based on a 12.3MP Sony sensor module that sells for $75 and up with a lens. But e-Con Systems still decided to launch their own 13MP 4K MIPI camera development kit for Raspberry Pi 4 which they currently sell for $99 plus shipping. At first, I dismissed the news, but let’s have a look if there may be some advantages in using that camera devkit. e-CAM130_CURB camera devkit specifications: e-CAM137A_CUMI1335_MOD 13.0 MP camera module with S-mount lens holder, ON Semiconductor AR1335 13MP 1/3.2″ CMOS image sensor Image Signal Processor (ISP) for auto functions such as auto white balance, auto exposure control as well as optional MJPEG compression. Resolutions and frame rates VGA (640 x 480) – 110 fps HD (1280 x 720) – 72 fps Full HD (1920 x 1080) – 60 fps 4K […]
Industio 7-inch smart display features SigmaStar SSD201 SoM, WiFi and Ethernet
We previously covered the $10 Industio IDO-SOM2D01 module based on SigmaStar SSD201 Cortex-A7 processor with 64MB RAM built-in, 128MB SPI NOR flash, and designed for full HD smart displays. Today I learned Industio was the design team of system-on-module for Wireless Tag, and the latter is the only distributor of Industio branded products. The company also informed us about Industio IDO-SBC2D70 7-inch smart display based on the aforementioned SSD201 or SSD202 module and connected over Ethernet or WiFi. Industio IDO-SBC2D70 smart display specifications: SoM – Industio IDO-SOM2D01 with SoC – SigmaStar SSD201/SSD202 dual-core Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.2 GHz with 2D GPU, 64MB DDR2 (SSD201) or 128MB DDR3 (SSD202) Storage – 128MB SPI NAND flash (option up to 512MB) Video Decoder – H.264/H.265 up to 1920×1080 @ 60 fps Dimensions – 2.95 x 2.95 cm Storge – MicroSD card socket (SDIO 2.0) Display – 1024 x 600 IPS RGB module by […]
AI Gateway combines Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with Google Coral Edge TPU
Techbase quickly unveiled an update to their Modberry industrial controllers with Modberry 500 CM4 DIN Rail computer as soon as Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 was launched. The company has now introduced another Raspberry Pi CM4 based product with ModBerry AI GATEWAY 9500-CM4 gateway combining the Broadcom BCM2711C0 system-on-module to Google Edge TPU to cater to applications leveraging AI acceleration. ModBerry AI GATEWAY 9500-CM4 preliminary specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 AI accelerator – Google Coral Edge TPU module with up to 4 TOPS connected over the RPi CM4’s PCIe interface Peripherals (customizable as needed) USB, HDMI, and Ethernet. Serial RS-232/485 ports Digital and analog I/Os with or without opto-isolation Relays, 1-Wire, CAN bus, M-Bus Master and Slave PCIe modules for wireless support Cellular – 4G/LTE and 5G modem, interchangeable with Coral TPU, plus on-board eSIM LPWAN – NB-IoT, LoRa, Sigfox, Wireless M-Bus ZigBee Additional Wi-Fi/Bluetooth interface or […]
DR6018-S is a more compact, cheaper WiFi 6 SBC with optional WiFi 6E
Earlier this year we wrote about Wallys Communications DR6018-V2 WiFi 6 embedded router board based on Qualcomm IPQ6010 processor with M.2 sockets for optional 5G and WiFi 6E cards. The company has now launched a more compact, and cheaper board with DR6018-S SBC based on the same processor with 802.11ax WiFi 6 and 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 support, plus an M.2 socket for people wanting to add WiFi 6E cards. DR6018-S board specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros IPQ6010 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.8 GHz System Memory – 1GB (2x 512MB) DDR3L 16-bit interface with 32-bit memory bus design Storage – 256MB NAND Flash, 32MB NOR flash, optional SD card slot Networking Wired – 2x Gigabit Ethernet port including one with PoE support Wireless WiFi 2×2 2.4GHz MU-MIMO OFDMA 802.11b/g/n/ax WiFi 6, max 23dBm per chain 2×2 5GHz MU-MIMO OFDMA 802.11a/n/ac/ax WiFi 6, max 20dBm per chain 4x u.FL connectors […]
Sequans Monarch 2 GM02S LTE IoT module is “5G-ready” for “Massive IoT”
A couple of days ago, Sequans published a press release announcing the availability of Monarch 2 GM02S “5G-ready” LTE-M/NB-IoT module with power consumption further reduced by 60 percent, featuring an GSMA-compliant integrated SIM (ieUICC), and designed for “Massive IoT” applications. Wait… What is “Massive IoT”? Ericsson explains: Massive IoT refers to applications that are less latency sensitive and have relatively low throughput requirements, but require a huge volume of low-cost, low-energy consumption devices on a network with excellent coverage. The growing popularity of IoT use cases in domains that rely on connectivity spanning large areas, and are able to handle a huge number of connections, is driving the demand for massive IoT technologies. I see… That’s what I used to call LPWAN (Low-power wide-area network) applications, but for sure “Massive IoT” sounds much more cool. Monarch 2 GM02S Let’s go back to the module with Sequans Monarch 2 GM02S key […]