CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 19, 2021March 23, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1 development kit ships with 4.3-inch touch display, 1,950mA battery

Espressif Systems ESP32-S2 single-core WiFi processor features an RGB LCD interface that makes it suitable for multimedia applications, and about two years ago, ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 Multimedia Development Board was introduced with a touchscreen display & a camera. But now the company has launched another ESP32-S2 based development kit specifically designed for HMI (human-machine interfaces) found in smart home automation controllers, smart speakers with display, smart alarm clocks, and so on. Meet ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1 equipped with a 4.3-inch color LCD display and a touch panel. ESP32-S2-HMI-DevKit-1 specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S2-WROVER module with ESP32-S2 Xtensa single-core 32-bit LX7 microprocessor, up to 240 MHz with 128 KB ROM, 320 KB SRAM, WiFi 4 connectivity, 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM Storage – Micro SD card slot Display – 4.3-inch display with 800×480 resolution, I2C capacitive touch panel Audio – Audio amplifier, built-in microphone, speaker connector USB – 1x USB-C OTG (DFU/CDC) port, 1x USB-C debug port […]

March 19, 2021March 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Raspberry Pi case embeds 192 programmable LEDs, speaker, microphone, and sensors (Crowdfunding)

Most Raspberry Pi enclosures are designed to protect your board from dust, provide easy access to ports, and in other cases, ease the installation of hard drives or SSDs. But Abstract Foundry’s LumiCube does much more, and just calling it a case or enclosure is an understatement, as while it does house a Raspberry Pi, it also comes with 192 programmable LEDs placed over 3 panels, a speaker, a microphone, as well as several optional motion & environmental sensors, and a small 2-inch LCD display. LumiCube specifications: Acrylic base 3x RGB LED panels with 64 programmable LEDs each Audio – 2W speaker and microphone Display (optional) – 2-inch 320×240 IPS screen for system parameters or other info (e.g. sensor data) or images. Note that it can now show the Raspberry Pi desktop Sensors (optional) – Light & gesture sensor, BME280 temperature, humidity and pressure sensor, BNO055 IMU (accelerator and tilt […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

March 18, 2021March 18, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

$7 ITEAD Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle features Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 MCU

ITEAD is known for its Sonoff home automation products that started with ESP8266 WiFi and/or RF connectivity several years ago, but more recently the company started to offer Zigbee compliant products including Sonoff BASICZBR3 smart switch, Sonoff ZBBridge WiFi to Zigbee Gateway, or a cheap $4 CC2531 Zigbee USB Dongle compatible with Zigbee2MQTT open-source firmware. The company has now launched a more powered Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle, yet still affordable at $6.99, based on the same Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 wireless MCU as used in the Sonoff ZBBridge with a faster core, more RAM, and a more powerful radio. Key features and specifications: Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ up to 80 MHz with DSP and FPU, up to 1024 kB flash, up to 96 kB RAM, 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 for Zigbee or Thread Host interface – USB port Expansion – 7-pin IO header with programming […]

March 18, 2021March 19, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Camera equipped Android TV 10 box supports Tiktok, video calls via Google Duo

Five or six years ago we started to see Android TV boxes with a built-in camera meant to be placed on the top of TVs, and used with Skype to Google Hangout for video calls, besides the usual video streaming features of TV boxes. The concept never really took off, as few people were interested in making video calls via a big screen TV. But with the lockdowns in the last year, there may be renewed demand as more people are stuck at home, and MECOOL Now, a Google certified video calling & media streaming device aims to fill that void, and it can also be used for business needs, for example in a conference room when connected to a video projector. MECOOL Now specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X4 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Video Output […]

March 18, 2021December 19, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ADLINK launches SMARC Short Size Module, Devkit with NXP i.MX 8M Plus

We had seen many i.MX 8M Plus modules with built-in AI accelerator announced at Embedded World 2021, including two SMARC modules from Congatec and iWave Systems. ADLINK has added another of i.MX 8M Plus module compliant with SMARC 2.1 “short” standard with LEC-IMX8MP system-on-module equipped with up to 8GB RAM, 128 GB eMMC flash, as well as a development kit called I-Pi SMARC IMX8M Plus prototyping platform. LEC-IMX8MP module specifications Specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX8M Plus with quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, Vivante GC380 2D GPU and GC7000UL 3D GPU, 1080p60 video decoder & encoder, optional 2.3 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU) System Memory – 2/4/8GB LPDDR4L-4266 Storage – 16, 32, 64, or 128GB eMMC flash (build option) Wireless – Optional 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n WiFi 5 2X2 MIMO and Bluetooth 5.0 module 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector Storage – 1x SDIO (4-bit) compatible with SD/SDIO standard, up to version 3.0 Display – […]

March 17, 2021March 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Flow Browser, a Raspberry Pi optimized web browser for HMI

Flow Browser Raspberry Pi Optimized web browser

Most people will use Chromium on Raspberry Pi boards simply because it’s now the default browser in Raspberry Pi OS. But the performance may not be optimal, and UK-based Ekioh has developed the Flow Browser optimized for performance on Raspberry Pi with multi-thread support and 3D accelerated graphics. There’s a caveat though, as the Flow Browser has been developed from the ground up, i.e. not based on Webkit or Mozilla Engine, with human-machine interfaces (HMI) in mind, rather than individuals browsing the web, and that means that while performance will be better, site compatibility does suffer at this point in time. Key features in Flow Browser Before going into benchmarks and other tests, let’s check some of the key features listed for Flow Browser: HTML & CSS3CSS – Animations and Transitions, CSS Transforms (2D and 3D), CSS Flexbox, Bi-directional text layout Graphics – Web Fonts – Canvas, SVG & WebGL […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025

March 17, 2021March 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ClearCore – An Arduino compatible Industrial I/O and Motion Controller

Teknic, a US-based manufacturer of servo motion control components, has designed ClearCore, a Microchip SAME53 Arm Cortex-M4 based industrial I/O and motion controller that can be programmed with the Arduino IDE for quick prototyping, or Atmel Studio 7 with a more advanced C++ API for more complex projects. ClearCore offers four motion axes, 24-volt compatible analog and digital I/O, support for I/O expansion modules, as well as serial and/or Ethernet connectivity via RJ45 ports. Multiple ClearCore can also be daisy-chained for larger applications. ClearCore key features and specifications: MCU – Microchip SAME53 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller clocked at up to 120 MHz, with 512 KB flash, 192 KB of SRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Connectivity 1x 10/100M Fast Ethernet RJ45 port Support for Xbee modules for wireless communication (WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, DigiMesh, 802.15.4, etc.) I/Os 2x RJ45 serial ports for SPI or UART devices (5V output) 3-pin terminal blocks with […]

March 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ECS LIVA M300-W industrial mini PC is powered by Rockchip RK3399K SoC

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) is mostly known for its x86 motherboards and mini PCs, but earlier with year, ECS LIVA Q1A Arm mini PC was introduced with either Rockchip RK3288 or RK3399 SoC, and support for Linux and Android operating systems. But the Taiwanese company has now unveiled a new Arm-based industrial-grade mini PC with LIVA M300-W powered by Rockchip RK3399K processor that allows for either higher 2.0 GHz frequency at commercial temperature range, or the usual 1.8 GHz frequency in a wider (-20°C to +85°C) temperature range. ECS LIVA M300-W specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399K hexa-core processor with two Cortex-A72 up to 1.8GHz/2.0GHz, four Cortex-A53 up to 1.4GHz, Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB/4GB DDR3L Storage – 32GB or 64 GB eMMC flash, internal Micro SD slot Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60, CEC support 1x DisplayPort 1.2 port up to 4Kp60 Audio – 1x […]