Cubbit Aims to Crowdsource the Cloud for Improved Privacy (Crowdfunding)

Cubbit Cell

Storing data in the cloud is convenient since you have access it from anywhere with an Internet connection, but there are privacy concerns, and you may have to pay a monthly fee if you exceed you storage limit. Cubbit aims to reinvent the cloud by not  storing files in corporate datacenters, but instead relying on a swarm of “Cubbit Cells” to deliver fully private and reliable cloud storage without monthly. You’d just need to pay for the boxes and potentially extra local storage, and then it’s basically free to use afterwards. Cubbit Cell hardware specifications: Processor – Dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz (possibly Marvell Armada 3700) System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – Built-in SATA drive Networking – 1x Gigabit Ethernet port USB – 1x USB 3.0 port Power Supply – 12V Dimensions – 160 x 142 x 56mm The hardware looks like a basic […]

Beelink GT1-K TV Box Features Amlogic S922X SoC, Android 9.0 OS

Beelink GT1-K

Amlogic S922 processor was first shown in roadmaps in early 2018, and since then we know there are at least two variants with Amlogic S922X and S922D processors both coming with Cortex A73 & A53 cores,  and an Arm Mali-G52MP GPU, but the latter adds a Neural Network co-processor.  So far the only hardware announced with Amlogic S922X was ODROID-N2 SBC, but since most Amlogic processors are primarily designed for TV box, it was just a question of time before we see some Amlogic S922X TV boxes hit the market, and the first model to surface is Beelink GT1-K “King” TV box running Android 9.0 OS. Beelink GT1-K specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.9 GHz, Arm Mali-G52MP GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage […]

AI Core XM2280 M.2 Card is Equipped with two Myriad X 2485 VPUs

AI Core XM2280

AAEON released UP AI Core mPCIe card with a Myriad 2 VPU (Vision Processing Unit) last year. But the company also has an AI Core X family powered by the more powerful Myriad X VPU with the latest member being AI Core XM2280 M.2 card featuring not one, but two Myriad X 2485 VPUs coupled with 1GB LPDDR4 RAM (512MB x2). The card supports Intel OpenVINO toolkit v4 or greater, and is compatible with Tensorflow and Caffe AI frameworks. AI Core XM2280 M.2 specifications: VPU – 2x Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU, MA2485 System Memory – 2x 4Gbit LPDDR4 Host Interface – M.2 connector Dimensions – 80 x 22 mm (M.2 M+B key form factor) Certification – CE/FCC Class A Operating Temperature – 0~50°C Operating Humidity – 10%~80%RH, non-condensing The card works with Intel Vision Accelerator Design SW SDK available for Ubuntu 16.04, and Windows 10. Thanks to the two […]

Amlogic S922D, A311D, and A311X AI Processors Feature a Neural Network Coprocessor

Amlogic S922D

We already know Amlogic is preparing to launch a few new processors with Amlogic S922X Hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor found in the upcoming ODROID-N2 board, as well as Amlogic A311D processor with a very similar features. At the time, I had been told A311 would include an NPU (Neural network Processing Unit) but with zero details. I still don’t have much details about the NPU inside A311D processor, except for performance of up to 5 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second). So it appears the same NPU will be found in Amlogic S922D processor that, based on the table above, has the exact same specifications as Amlogic S922X except for the extra Neural Network AI co-processor that delivers up to 2.5 TOPS (16-bit?) and 5.0 TOPS (8-bit?) A.I. performance. I’ve also been informed that another Amlogic A311X processor would also be introduced with the NPU. Both A311X and A311D are said to […]

PYNQ-Z2 Python FPGA Board Adds Raspberry Pi Header, 24-Bit Audio Codec

PYNQ-Z2

PYNQ-Z1 is a board by Digilent powered by Xilinx Zynq-7020 Arm Cortex-A9 + FPGA SoC that’s designed specifically for PYNQ, an open-source project that aims to ease the design of embedded systems with Xilinx Zynq Systems on Chips (SoCs) by leveraging the Python language and libraries. PYNQ-Z2 is very similar to PYNQ-Z1, but it’s made by Taiwanese company TUL, and the board is slightly longer to allow for an extra 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header, and Analog Devices ADAU1761 24-bit audio codec. PYNQ-Z2 board specifications: SoC – Xilinx Zynq-7020 (XC7Z020-1CLG400C) dual core Arm Cortex-A9 processor @ 650 MHz with FPGA with 13,300 logic slices, each with four 6-input LUTs and 8 flip-flops System Memory – 512MB DDR3 Storage – Micro SD card slot, 16MB QSPI Flash with factory programmed globally unique identifier (48-bit EUI-48/64 compatible). Video – HDMI In and HDMI Out Audio – Mic in, Line Out  ADAU1761 codec […]

ESP-WROOM-5C is a Side-Mounted ESP8285 WiFi Module

ESP-WROOM-5C

You’d think by now we’d have enough ESP8266 or ESP8285 WiFi modules, but based on an FCC listing, we now know that Espressif Systems has been working on another ESP8285 WiFi module – ESP-WROOM-5C – designed to be side-mounted. ESP-WROOM-5C specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP8285 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 @ 2412 MHz ~2462 MHz; Station/SoftAP/SoftAP + Station modes WPA/WPA2 security with EP/TKIP/AES encryption PCB antenna Peripheral interface I2C/IR Remote Control GPIO/PWM Operating voltage – 2.7V ~ 3.6V Operating current – Average: 80 mA Minimum current delivered by power supply – 500 mA Dimensions – 19 x 16 x 3.2 mm Temperature Range – -40°C ~ 105°C Reliability Tests – HTOL/HTSL/uHAST/TCT/ESD The module supports firmware upgrade over UART or OTA (Over-The-Air). Software development can be done with the IDF SDK for custom firmware, but “Cloud Server development” is also possible, and an Android/iOS app can be provided for user […]

Allwinner MR133 Processor Targets Robot Vacuum Cleaners

Allwinner MR133

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new processor from Allwinner, so today I got curious and visited the company website hoping to find maybe some news about the first Cortex-A7x processor from the company. But instead I found something else intriguing with the new Allwinner MR133 processor specifically designed for “SLAM/VSLAM intelligent robot sweeper solutions”. In other words, Allwinner has just launched a processor for robot vacuum cleaners… Allwinner MR133 key features and specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ 1.8GHz with 32KB L1 I-cache + 32KB L1 D-cache per core, 512KB L2 cache, low-power CoolFlex power management architecture GPU – Arm Mali 400MP2 with support for OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1, Direct3D 11.1, OpenVG 1.1 Memory I/F – 32-bit DDR4/DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR3/LPDDR4 Storage I/F – eMMC 5.0 flasj, compatible with eMMC 5.1, support Full Disk Encryption(FDE) 8-bit TLC/MLC/SLC/EF NAND flash, supports FDE LDPC/80-bit BCH/1024bytes Video Engine – H264 HP encoder […]

NiteFury Puts Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA into an M.2 Card (Crowdfunding)

NiteFury FPGA M.2 Card

NiteFury is an FPGA development board, but it works differently than most, as RHS Research LLC put a Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA into an M.2 Key M card that you can easily insert into a laptop or mini PC with a 80mm M.2 socket. The board also includes DDR3 memory, and exposes a few configurable I/Os. You can use NiteFury to experiment with Xilinx PCIe IP, but also as FPGA co-processor for example to handle encryption, and encoding/decoding data. NiteFury card specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Artix XC7A200T-2FBG484E delivering up to ~1000 GMAC/s, with 215,360 Logic cells, 33,650 Slices, 269,200 CLB flip-flops, and 740 DSP slices. System Memory – 8 Gbit DDR3 (512 MB x 16) Host Interface – PCIe 4x gen 2 (2 Gb/s) External I/Os Via I/O connectors – 12x I/O including 4x selectable analog or digital – JTAG ready Via PCIe connector – 1x 3.3 V digital I/O (LED), […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC