CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

August 3, 2018August 3, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Amlogic A311D Media Processor Features Cortex A73/A53 Cores, an Arm Mali-G52 MP4 GPU

As far as processors are concerned, it’s been pretty quiet in the TV box space in this year with for example, devices based on Amlogic S922 yet to launch, and new TV boxes are normally launched with processors such as Amlogic S905X/Z/W or S912, as well as Rockchip RK3328 or RK3229. But this morning, I’ve been informed that Amlogic is working on a more powerful media processor based on info from buildroot release notes Amlogic A311D is an hexa-core processor featuring four Arm Cortex A73 cores, two Cortex A53 cores, and an Arm Mali-G52-MP4 GPU. Amlogic A311D specifications known so far: CPU – 4x Arm Cortex A73 @ TBD GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 GPU – Arm Mali-G52 MP4 Memory I/F – DDR3/4; LPDDR3/4 Storage I/F – eMMC, SD/SDHC/SDXC Video Output – HDMI Tx up to 4K2K @ 60 Hz with CEC & HDR support, CVBS Video Processing Unit (VPU) […]

August 2, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Want Long WiFi Range? This $10 Directional Antenna Should Help

A typical WiFi router range is limited to around 50 meters, and even less in a building with walls and competing WiFi routers. But it’s also possible to use WiFi for longer range communication, and for example, CNLohr managed to get an ESP8266 module answering ping requests over 4km away with a powerful antenna that is supposed to allow for up to 20km range and costs around $80 (NB-2G18 model). But if you’re budget is more limited, Banggood has started to sell a “10dB directional antenna” for $9.84 shipped. It is said to be for TTGO ESP32 board, but I don’t see why if would not work with other WIFI boards with a u.FL or SMA connector. Specifications listed for the antenna: Frequency – 2400~2500MHz S.W.R.: <=1.5 Antenna Gain – 10dbi Radiation – Directional antenna Polarization – Linear Impedance – 50 Ohm Wire distance – 1m Connector: IPEX The main cable features an SMA […]

August 2, 2018November 21, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 38 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero Board Combines PoE, Camera Interface, and Allwinner H2+ Processor

Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor has enabled some of the cheapest Arm Linux boards on the market with products such as NanoPi Duo or Orange Pi Zero with the latter now selling for about $9 and up. SinoVoIP also had their own inexpensive – and Raspberry Pi Zero compatible – Allwinner H2+ board with Banana Pi M2 Zero, and the company has now been working on another model dubbed BPI-P2 Zero which includes support for PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) as well as a CSI camera interface. Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero specifications: SoC – Allwinner H2+ quad core Arm Cortex A7 processor with Mali-400MP GPU. System Memory – 512MB DDR3 SDRAM. Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot Video Output – mini HDMI port Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet with PoE support WiFi & Bluetooth via AP6212 module Camera I/F – CSI camera interface USB – 1x USB OTG port Expansion […]

August 2, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Lanner NVA-3000 Machine Vision Computer is Equipped with 8 PoE+ Ports

Lanner Electronics, a company headquartered in Taiwan, and specializing in network appliances and rugged industrial computers, has recently introduced NVA-3000 embedded computer powered by Intel Pentium N4200 or Atom x7-E3950 “Apollo Lake” processor, and targeting video surveillance & machine vision applications with 8 PoE+ ports. Lanner NVA-3000 specifications: SoC Model NVA-3000A – Intel Pentium N4200 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 / 2.50 Hz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505; 6W TDP Model NVA-3000B – Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.60 / 2.00 GHz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505; 12W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 2400MHz via 1x SO-DIMM slot Storage 32Mbit SPI Flash for BIOS, 2x SATA ports, 1x 3.5″ SATA/SSD drive bay, eMMC flash Model NVA-3000A – 8GB capacity Model NVA-3000B – 64GB capacity Network Connectivity Ethernet controller – Intel I210IT, I210IS, Marvell 88E6390 Ethernet Switch, 88E1512 PHY 2x […]

August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GAPUINO GAP8 is a $229 RISC-V MCU Developer Kit for A.I. Applications

GreenWaves GAP8 is a low power RISC-V “MCU class” processor with eight compute cores optimized for artificial intelligence applications, and its main selling point is the ability to do tasks like computer vision or audio processing at very low power, even good enough to run on batteries. When we first covered GAP8 RISC-V processor at the beginning of the year, the company also mentioned a development kit comprised of GAPDUINO Arduino compatible board, a sensor board, and a QVGA camera module to experiment with the solution. The board and development kit are now easier to purchase as the devkit is sold on SeeedStudio for $229. GAPuino board specifications: SoC – GAP8 IoT Application Processor with 8x RISC-V compute cores, 1x RISC-V fabric controller core delivering up to 200 MOPS at 1mW and >8 GOPS at a few tens of mW Memory / Storage – HyperBus combo DRAM/Flash with 512 Mbit […]

August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

OpenWrt 18.06 is the First Release Since OpenWrt and LEDE Projects Merger

LEDE (Linux Embedded Development Environment) was forked from OpenWrt project in 2016 due to disagreements among developers, and this lead to LEDE 17.01.0 “Reboot” release the following year. But eventually, developers must have realized that running two separate and similar projects in parallel was not the best way to go, and OpentWrt and LEDE projects were re-merged right at the beginning of this year. So I’m pleased to announced the developers have now introduced the first release out of the new partnership with OpenWrt 18.06. OpenWrt 18.06 is actually the first major release since LEDE 17.01, as the previous OpenWrt release was version 15.05. It focuses on support for network flow offloading and modernizing Atheros AR71xx target, brings updates to kernel and package, as well as other improvements and fixes. You’ll find the binary packages for your hardware on the rtargets page, and the source code is hosted on Github. […]

August 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Xiaomi Mi A1 Android One Smartphone Sold for $159.99 (Promo)

Xiaomi Mi A1 was the first Android One smartphone by Xiaomi. It’s been my main phone for nearly a year, and with a Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a decent 5.5″ full HD display, I’m pretty satisfied with it, especially I’m getting firmware updates nearly monthly, including security updates and new version of Android. But an updated model, Xiaomi Mi A2 (Lite) has just been launched, so it should come as no surprise that Mi A1 is getting some discount, and that’s exactly what Banggood has done by offering Xiaomi Mi A1 phone for $159.99 shipped with coupon BGA164BMY. Here’s a quick reminder of the specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor up to 2.0 GHz with Adreno 506 GPU @ up to 650MHz; 14nm FinFET process System Memory – 4 GB RAM Storage – 64 GB internal storage, micro SD slot up to […]

July 31, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Geekbes BR30 WiFi RGB Light Bulb Delivers 900 Lumens

We’ve previously covered two smart RGB light bulbs with AI Light and Sonoff B1 models, and they are especially interesting since they can work with open source firmware like ESPurna or Sonoff-Tasmota. However, their brightness is limited, and in the case of Sonoff B1 it’s especially true when using colors other than white. A brighter WiFi RGB LED light bulb might be Geekbes BR30 which is said to be rated 9W and delivers 900 lumens against the 6W / 600 lumens for Sonoff B1, and does not cost more much at $19.99 on GeekBuying. Geekbes BR30 specifications: Color – White: 2700K-6500K + RGB (16 million colors) Brightness – 900 lm Light emitting angle – 120 degrees E26 plug Connectivity – WiFi Supply Voltage – AC100-240v 50-60HZ Rated Power – 9W Standby Power – <= 0.3 W Service life – 20000 hours Temperature Range – -20 to +40°C Ingress Protection Rating […]