CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

December 22, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Industrial 5G/4G Base Shield supports Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano, other SBC’s (Crowdfunding)

Akari, a start-up based in Japan, has designed an industrial base shield for Raspberry Pi 4/3/Zero, Jetson Nano, Rock Pi 4, and other compatible single board computers. The board allows users to create industrial gateways integrating wireless modules (5G, 4G LTE, WiFi 6 and/or LoRa), a neural compute stick, relay module, and digital inputs, RS232/RS422/RS485, and more. Industrial 4G/5G Base Shield specifications: Compatible SBCs – Raspberry Pi 4, Raspberry Pi 3, Raspberry Pi Zero, Jetson Nano, Rock Pi 4, UP Board, and probably other SBCs with a similar form factor I/Os Build-in relay module and digital input (also reserve dry contacts and wet contacts) Digital input / digital output RS232, RS485, RS422 Internal headers USB host port for connection with Raspberry Pi Expansion M.2 socket for 5G Mini PCIe socket for 4G LTE, WiFI6, or LoRa SIM card socket Internal bay for Intel Neural Compute Stick Misc – RTC module […]

December 21, 2020April 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

DIY project creates Zigbee to Ethernet bridge with WT32-ETH01

We previously wrote about Ebyte E180-ZG120B-TB an inexpensive ($9.90) Zigbee 3.0 evaluation board based on Silabs EFR32MG1B Arm Cortex-M4 wireless MCU and the equally cheap ($7.78) WT32-ETH01 ESP32 Ethernet board. What do they have in common? Absolutely nothing! But GitHub user tube0013 decided to connect both boards over UART to create a Zigbee to Ethernet DIY coordinator/bridge running open-source firmware. The hardware also includes a Micro USB adapter for power, several 10cm jumper wires, and he/she also designed a 3D printed case. EZSP-Firmware is used for the Ebyte Zigbee 3.0 board, and ESPHome open-source home automation firmware for the ESP32 board. You’ll also need serial to IP code and ESPHome config. Note that flashing firmware to the Ebyte requires a programmer, and the developer used a J-link EDU Mini together with Silicon Labs’ Simplicity Commander. As mentioned above, a 3D printed case has also been designed, so everything is neatly […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

December 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$100 thermal insert heat press ease the installation of threaded brass inserts into 3D printed parts

One method to install threaded brass inserts into a 3D printed part is to use a soldering iron. But you need to make sure to keep it vertically aligned and slowly press the insert into the plastic. A more reliable and safer method is to use a professional heat staking machine, aka thermal press machine, that typically costs over $2,000 according to the speaker in the aforelinked video. So people have come up with DIY solutions based on an off-the-shelf soldering iron and costing less than $50. Another way if you’d rather not built your own is to get NH Design Works’ thermal insert heat press sold for $99.99 on Tindie. NH Design Works explains the heat press has some advantages including adjustable temperature, a spring return insert arm that rotates for easy alignment, tee slots for mounting tooling, and tooling for #4-40 and M3 inserts. The Thermal Insert […]

December 21, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

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 […]

December 20, 2020 by Abhishek Jadhav - No Comments

AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN launched with asset tracking and smart building kits

With increasing connectivity issues on low-power devices, which transmit data over long-range, work on batteries that can last several years without replacement, LoRaWAN is one of the major solutions to address these issues as it has support in Zephyr OS as well. A couple of days back, Amazon Web Services announced AWS IoT support for LoRaWAN, which means that it will enable you to connect and manage low-power wireless devices that use LoRaWAN connectivity with the AWS Cloud. Now the enterprises can set-up a private LoRaWAN network by connecting the devices to the AWS Cloud. AWS Cloud basically accelerates IoT application development by acting on the data generated by connecting LoRaWAN devices using AWS services. “The rapid acceleration of growth in both private and public LoRaWAN networks has been key in the expansion of LoRaWAN deployments worldwide. AWS’ launch of AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN offers an innovative solution to […]

December 20, 2020January 11, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

ESP32-C3 WiFi & BLE RISC-V processor to launch at ESP8266 price

[Update December 2020: While we first reported ESP32-C3 would be pin-to-pin compatible to ESP8266 based on the tweet mentioned in the post, the datasheets show both are clearly not pin-to-pin compatible, and instead it looks like the goal is to provide pin-to-pin compatible modules] When we reported about ESP32-S2-MINI modules last September, we also noted Espressif teased us with ESP32-S3 and ESP32-C3 with close to no details. ESP32-S3 is expected to be a multi-core WiFI & Bluetooth processor with AI instructions/accelerator, but there were no details about ESP32-C3 at all, and we only found out it would be a RISC-V processor several weeks ago. But Twitter user Johnny Wu posted a screenshot in Chinese and its translation claiming ESP32-C3 was finally released by Espressif Systems. [Update: The datasheet has been released. See comments.] ESP32-C3 WiSoC is pin to pin compatible with ESP8266, works with ESP32 development framework (e.g. ESP-IDF), supports […]

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

December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

TerraPi modular case system for Raspberry Pi supports multiple SSD’s, DIN rail, horizontal & vertical mounts

TerraPi modular mounting system Raspberry Pi

We already have many cases for Raspberry Pi SBC’s. Besides the official one, we already have third-party enclosures such as a KKSB compact fanless metal case for Raspberry Pi 4, Argon One enclosure brings all ports from the SBC to the side, as well as a variant for M.2 SSD’s, and even DIN rail enclosures. But here are more options as INUX3D, a design studio and 3D printing facility based in Slovakia, decided to create its own 3D printed modular case system for Raspberry Pi. The TerraPi module enclosure system supports passive and active cooling, up to two 2.5-inch SSD’s or HDD’s, as well as horizontal or vertical mounting, and there’s also a DIN rail option. Apart from the fanless model targeting uniquely the Raspberry Pi 4 SBC, all TerraPi enclosures also work with Raspberry Pi 3 B/B+ models and are especially suited for people wanting to use the board […]

December 18, 2020December 18, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Picovoice supports custom wake word, offline voice recognition on Raspberry Pi

ReSpeaker 4-mic array is a Raspberry Pi HAT with four microphones that can work with services such as Google Assistant or Amazon Echo. It was launched in 2017. So nothing new on the hardware front. What’s new is the expansion board is now supported by Picovoice that works much like other voice assistants except it allows people to create custom wake words and offline voice recognition. Picovoice is described as an end-to-end platform for building customized voice products with processing running entirely on-device. It is cross-platform, is said to be more resilient to noise and reverberation, and thanks to running offline, it offers low-latency and complies with HIPAA and GDPR privacy regulations. The platform is comprised of two main engines: Porcupine lightweight wake word engine that supports custom wake words trained through PicoVoice console. The engine can listen to multiple wake words and is cross-platform with support for Raspberry Pi, […]