CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Arrow Shield96 Arm Linux Board Focuses on Hardware-based Security

Powered by a Microchip SAMA5D2 SiP integrating a Cortex-A5 processor and 128MB DDR2 memory, Arrow Shield96 board has been designed for secure IoT application development with on-board hardware security. Two versions of the SBC are offered: Shield96 Standard reference platform Shield96 Trusted Platform preloaded with the EmSPARK Security Suite software by Sequitur Labs. Both versions come with the same hardware specifications: SiP – Microchip ATSAMA5D27-D1G Arm Cortex-A5 processor @ 500 MHz with 128MB DDR2 Storage – 128MB DDR2 Storage – 128MB (1Gbit) flash, MicroSD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet port, 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 via ATWILC1000 “IoT link controller module” USB – 1x USB 2.0 port HW Security – ATECC608 secure element Expansion – 96Boards Mezzanine connector Debugging – JTAG header, serial console via Micro USB port Power Supply – 5V via Micro USB port Dimensions – N/A (CNXSoft note: it’s supposed to be 96Boards compliant, but with […]

February 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

ESP32 JTAG Debugging can be done through a MicroSD Card Socket

Found in most microcontrollers and processors, JTAG is an industry standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture, and that is also often used for low-level debugging or reverse-engineering. Espressif ESP32 also has a JTAG interface, but interestingly it’s shared with the SD card interface, and in ESP32 LyRaT audio development board where both MicroSD card slot and JTAG header are present selection is made by jumpers. The extract from ESP32 LyRaT schematics above shows IO’s 12, 13, 14 and 15 can present on the SD card and 4-pin JTAG header. Some boards may not come with a JTAG header but may feature a MicroSD card slot, but you don’t have to solder wires to the board to access JTAG, and instead, you could simply use a custom MicroSD card adapter to insert into the MicroSD card socket of the board and access JTAG as explained by […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM

February 12, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AAEON PICO-WHU4 Whiskey Lake Pico-ITX Board is Designed for AI and Edge Computing

AAEON has just launched a Whiskey Lake Pico-ITX SBC made for AI and edge computing with PICO-WH4 featuring a 15W Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or Celeron processor combined with up to 16GB DDR4 memory, The board offers dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, dual display support with HDMI connectors, USB 3.2 ports, SATA storage, as well as mPCIe and M.2 expansion slots. AAEON PICO-WHU4 specifications: SoC (one or the other; all Whiskey Lake U-series processors) Intel Celeron 4305UE dual-core processor @ 2.00 GHz (no turbo frequency) with Intel UHD Graphics 610 @ 300 MHz / 1.0 GHz (Turbo); 15W TDP Intel Core i3-8145UE dual-core/quad-thread processor @ 2.2 GHz / 3.9 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 620 @ 300 MHz / 1.0 GHz (Turbo); 15 TDP Intel Core i5-8365UE quad-core/octa-thread processor @ 1.6GHz / 4.1GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 620 @ 300 MHz / 1.05 GHz (Turbo); 15 TDP Intel Core i7-8665UE […]

February 11, 2020February 11, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

KKSB Raspberry Pi 4 Aluminum Case Review – Benchmarks at Stock Clock and Overclocked to 2.0 GHz

KKSB is a Swedish company designing and manufacturing metallic products for various open-hardware products such as single board computers including Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ODROID, Orange Pi and others, as well as mobile phone and tablet stands, and they also have a mini-ITX case planned for March. The company approached CNX Software to review their latest Raspberry Pi 4 case, and I was interested to find out how it would handle cooling. KKSB Raspberry Pi 4 Case Aluminum Unboxing So I recently received the enclosure in a mostly white package. The case comes in two parts as well as a thermal pad for the processor, mounting screws, rubber pads, and two plastic bits for the LED. Aluminum Case Assembly First, peel over the plastic film on one side of the thermal pad, and place it on the extrusion for the processor on the top part of the enclosure. Remove the second […]

February 11, 2020June 21, 2021 by Stephen Vicinanza - No Comments

miriac SBC-S32G274A Dev Kit Features NXP S32G Vehicle Network Processor

MicroSys Announces Automotive miriac SBC S32G274A Dev Kit MicroSys is showcasing its latest automotive and industrial SBC & development kit, the Miriac SBC-S32G274A, powered by NXP S32G Quad-core Cortex-A53 vehicle network processor. The development kit runs Linux and is aimed at the automotive industry. The Components of the SBC The miriac SBC-S32G274A was developed specifically with the NXP’s S32G274A Vehicle Network Processor for automotive connectivity. A SoM, the MPX-S32G274A, is mounted almost at the center of the carrier board and comes with the purchase. High-speed interfaces include: 2x Flexray 4x LIN 16x CAN 2x CAN FD The NXP S32G Safe and Secure Vehicle Network Processor Made for high-speed calculations and communication, the miriac SBC is built on the NXP’s S32G Arm Cortex-A53 Safe and Secure Vehicle Network Processor. Introduced at CES 2020 earlier this year, the NXP S32G processor is designed with security and functionality in mind. Utilizing ASIL D […]

February 11, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

MikroTik wAP LoRa8/LoRa9 LoRa Gateway Kits Launched for $169

Last year, MikroTik announced they had worked on several LoRa products including R11e-LoRa8EU mini PCIe LoRaWAN Gateway/concentrator card, wAP LoRa8 kit (LoRa & WiFi gateway) with the mini PCIe card, as well as a 6.5 dBi Omni antenna kit to extend the range provided by the 2 dBi internal antenna. All three products are now available with R11e-LoRa8EU mini PCIe selling for $89, wAP LoRa8 kit going for $169, and the optional antenna kit adding $49. The company also introduced wAP LoRa9 kit with R11e-LoRa9 mini PCIe card geared towards markets (like the USA) using the 902-928 MHz frequency band and selling for the same price. MikroTik wAP LoRa8 kit (RBwAPR-2nD&R11e-LoRa8) specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Atheros QCA9531 MIPSBE (Big Endian) processor @ 650 MHz System Memory – 64 MB RAN Storage – 16 MB flash Connectivity Wired – 10/100M Fast Ethernet WLAN – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 @ up […]

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

February 11, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Arm Introduces Cortex-M55 MCU Core, Arm Ethos-U55 microNPU for Cortex-M Microcontrollers

Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things often go hand in hand with AIoT being a new buzz word that came up last year or so. But for AIoT to scale we need ultra-low-cost, low-power solutions capable of doing inference at the sensor node level, and this is only possible with microcontrollers. To achieve this goal, Arm has just unveiled the Arm Cortex-M55 microcontroller core optimized for artificial intelligence workloads that delivers up to a 15x uplift in ML performance and a 5x uplift in DSP performance with greater efficiency, as well as Ethos-U55 microNPU designed for Cortex-M microcontrollers that need even more AI performance (up to 480 times faster), while consuming as little power as possible. Arm Cortex-M55 Key features and specifications: Architecture – Armv8.1-M Bus interface – AMBA 5 AXI5 64-bit master (compatible to AXI4 IPs) Pipeline – 4-stage (for main integer pipeline) Security – Arm TrustZone technology […]

February 10, 2020February 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Coronavirus Update: Many Chinese Companies to Stay Closed at Least until February 17

About 10 days ago, I wrote a post about the impact of the coronavirus on manufacturing and shipping from China. At the time, we knew the Chinese New Year “holiday” was extended until February 10 in order for the authorities to contain the outbreak. That meant manufacturing would be impacted, and not much will ship from China during that time period. At the time, we were also told packages shipped from China were safe as it took several days and the virus would just die off on the way. But there have been some updates since then. First, a new study shows the coronavirus may stay alive on surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to 9 days at room temperature. So I’m not sure what that means for packages sent via courier services like FedEx or DHL. The previous link offers some solutions: … but can be efficiently […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications