CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

ModBerry M500 Industrial Computer Gets Upgraded to Raspberry Pi 4

We first wrote about Modberry M500 industrial computer when it was upgraded from Raspberry Pi 3 to Raspberry Pi 3 B+, and added PoE support. With the launch of Raspberry Pi 4 model B, it should come as no surprise that Techbase has now announced Modberry M500 would be available with the latest board from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Modberry M500 RPI 4 preliminary specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2711B0 quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 processor @ 1.5 GHz with VideoCore VI GPU System Memory – 1GB, 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 4GB eMMC flash (TBC), and/or 8GB micro SD card Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz and 3.5mm jack for CVBS (composite + stereo audio) Connectivity True Gigabit Ethernet, up to 2x optional 10/100M Ethernet ports Dual band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 LE Optional Zigbee, LTE/3G, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth cards USB – […]

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 by Stephen Vicinanza - 1 Comment

GAPPoc AI development boards based on the GAP8 RISC-V Chip

GreenWaves has developed a development board based on the GAP8 chip which can be evaluated from a GAPuino board, a generic board that can run off a low power external power source or USB and is compatible with the Arduino ecosystem. Recently the company moved beyond the generic board to the GAPPoc, platform which stands for GAP8 Proof of Concept. The GAPPoc is focused on a class of applications which can be embedded on a single board and able to carry hardware such as crystal or external memory, sensors, a radio fit, and a battery. The board will be geared towards a set of low power functions for a particular class of applications. This is a family of boards designed to increase the range of abilities in edge Artificial Intelligence. At this time there is only a single board with a platform to enhance AI, targeting Computer Vision in the […]

July 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

S+ Camera Basic Combines Raspberry Pi 3 Board and LTE Shield for Edge Applications

Soracom is a company that provides global IoT network cellular connectivity for businesses in smart IoT agriculture, energy, consumer, manufacturing, transportation, and medical industries, and even provides free IoT SIM cards for evaluation (US/Canada only). The company has just announced the S+ Camera on its Japanese blog. The camera looks to features several off-the-shelf components including a Raspberry Pi 3 board and SixFab Raspberry Pi 3G-4G/LTE Base Shield V2 connecting to Soramcom network. It’s a little confusing as to why a cellular IoT company would develop an LTE camera since streaming video requires bitrates not normally associated with IoT. The blog post does provide a few more details however, as S + Camera is said to run SORACOM Mosaic software which enables “algorithms for edge processing cameras and management and operation of cameras”. That means it’s quite possible the video will not be streamed, but edge processing/computing usually means AI is […]

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Sonoff MINI & R3 Smart Switches Support a DIY REST API

ITEAD Studio’s Sonoff are low-cost wireless switches based on ESP8622/ESP8285 WiSoC, and supporting WiFi and/or 433 MHz connectivity. They usually come with a firmware that allows users to control them with eWelink app for Android or iOS. But many people will install alternative open source firmware such as Sonoff-Tasmota or ESPurna to get more flexibility such as the ability to use MQTT. But the company’s latest models, including Sonoff MINI and R3 series, implement a “DIY” REST API that allows you to control the device, or flash the firmware over a LAN connection. Sonoff MINI two-way Smart Switch Sonoff MINI is designed to be installed behind existing wall-mounted light-switches and wall-mounted power-sockets. Specifications: Terminal blocks with 6x inputs/outputs: N/L Inputs – AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A Max N/L Outputs – AC 100-240V 50/60Hz 10A Max S1/S2 – Designed to optionally connect a standard on/off switch Connectivity – Wi-Fi 4 – 802.11 […]

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Google Fuchsia Operating System Gets its own Developer Website

Google has been developing Fuchsia open source operating system based on Zircon kernel for several years. It’s still unclear what’s the end goal. Will it replace Android or/and Chrome OS, ditching the Linux kernel for Zircon in the process? We don’t know, and Google claims its an experimental endeavor. Only the future will tell. We’ve had access to the source code since 2016, but Google has now launched a dedicated developer website for Fuchsia: fuchsia.dev This is year 2019, and Google being a Western company it should not be surprising the first part of the documentation is a Code of Conduct, but there’s also plenty of technical documentation with a glossary, getting started guide, building instructions, an overview of the OS, code samples, and instructions to contribute either by testing or submitting changes to Gerrit. Fuchsia is strictly a 64-bit operating system at this stage with support for Arm64 and […]

July 2, 2019February 16, 2020 by Stephen Vicinanza - 2 Comments

Programmable USB Hub Power Adjustable with Built-In Dev Board (Crowdfunding)

Capable Robot Components has launched its Crowd Supply campaign for the Programmable USB Hub in June of 2019. The hub is a feature rich and component rich USB hub that has a dev board built-in. The entire system is housed in an extruded aluminum case, with all the numbering and lettering and port attachments in brilliant white. Control power and data flow, directly through the unit. The first 40 units are sold out. There seem to be good reasons why these USB Hubs sell out fast. There was an in-depth article written on a similar hub some time ago. Inside the enclosure is an array of functionality packed neatly onto a small board. There are 4x USB 2.0 ports that are High-Speed downstream ports and 1x upstream port, a 5th endpoint on the USB hub exposes 2 12C buses via Sparkfun Qwiic connectors, the UART and 2X GPIO. The input power is […]

July 1, 2019October 20, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Khadas VIM3 Review – Part 1: Kit Unboxing and Assembly

We started to read about Khadas VIM3 in May of this year as an Amlogic S922X development board with an M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, and 802.11ac WiFi 5 & Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module. Eventually, Shenzhen Wesion decided to change the processor to Amlogic A311D before the launch last month, since it does not cost much more, but includes a 5.0 TOPS neural processing engine. The company has sent me a Khadas VIM3 kit for evaluation and review. Before going through the software part, and especially the tools for the NPU which will be one of the highlights of the board, I’ll check out what I received today, and show how to assemble the kit. Khadas VIM3 Kit Unboxing The package is rather boring… But what’s really important is what’s inside… We’ve got an enclosure, a smaller package with the board itself, a USB-C power supply, a thermal pad + […]

July 1, 2019December 4, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

96Boards RK1808 & RK3399Pro SoM & Devkit Now Available for Purchase

Back in April, we covered the very first 96Boards SoM’s (Systems-on-Module) which were based on Rockchip RK3399Pro or RK1808 processors, and targeted applications leveraging artificial intelligence acceleration. There were not quite available at the time, but Seeed Studio now has both BeiQi modules for pre-order for $119 and $59 respectively, while the carrier board goes with $125 with antennas, and power supply. Note that the RK3399Pro SoM and the carrier board are basically available now with shipping schedule for July 4th, but you’d had to wait until the end of the month for the RK1808 module. BeiQi RK1808 AIoT 96Boards Compute SoM Module specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK1808 dual-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.6 GHz with NPU supporting 8-bit/16-bit operations up to 3.0 TOPS, TensorFlow and Caffe frameworks; 22nm FD-SOI process System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 (I also read “4GB LPDRR3” (sic.) in other places, but the capacity is likely […]