CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 5, 2018March 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

OpenEmbed Launches $99 em3399 Rockchip RK3399 SoM, and a Compact Evaluation Kit

Looking for a system-on-module based on Rockchip RK3399 processor? So far, you had at least four options with either edge connectors or castellated holes: Theobroma RK3399-Q7 (Qseven) SoM, 9Tripod X3399 core, Boardcon PICO3399 CPU module, or Firefly-RK3399 CoreBoard. OpenEmbed now offers another RK3399 system-on-module with their em3399 SoM using board-to-board connectors interfacing with the carrier board. OpenEmbed em3399 system-on-module specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores, 4x Cortex-A53 cores, and a Arm Mali-T860MP4 GPU System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR3L RAM Storage – 16GB to 128GB eMMC 5.1 flash Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet transceiver (Atheros AR8033) Power Management – Rockchip RK808D PMIC 2x 120-pin board-to-board connectors (0.8mm pitch) with: Display: HDMI 2.0 port with audio for up to 4K @ 60Hz DisplayPort 1.2 with audio for up to 4K @ 60Hz MIPI-DSI (dual-channel) at up to 2560×1600 @ 60 Hz eDP 1.3 (4-lane) Camera – […]

March 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

SECO Unveils SM-C12 SMARC 2.0 Compliant i.MX8M Module, CSM-B79 SMARC 2.0 Carrier Board

We’ve already seen several computers-on-module/systems-on-module based on NXP i.MX8/8M processors, most of which use proprietary standards, but so far we’ve covered at least on Qseven 2.1 CoM with Advantech ROM-7720 powered by i.MX 8QuadMax SoC. SECO has now announced their SM-C12 module compliant with another SoM standard: SMARC 2.0. The system-on-module is powered by i.MX 8M dual or quad core processor, supports up to 4GB RAM, offers optional WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and plenty of I/Os thanks to the 314-pin MXM3 connector mandated by SMARC 2.0 specification. The module targets home automation, transportation, digital signage and vending machines, multimedia devices, and others applications requiring real-time processing and/or multimedia capabilities. SC-12 module specifications: SoC – NXP i.MX 8M dual or quad Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Cortex-M4 real-time core, Vivante GC7000Lite GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.1, Open CL 1.2. OpenGL 3.0, Vulkan, DirectX System Memory – LPDDR4-3200 memory, 32-bit interface, […]

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 14 Comments

Sonoff S31 Smart Socket Review – Power Consumption Monitoring with eWelink Android App

Today we are looking at the Sonoff S31. It is another device in the Sonoff line by ITEAD Studio. Similar to the Sonoff POW, you can see power usage but on the S31 you can keep historical data up to 100 days. This time around I am using it with the standard firmware, and will not be flashing the popular MQTT Tasmota firmware. Specifications per ITEAD website: Max. Current: 16A Voltage Input: 90~264V AC, 50/60HZ Wireless Standard: 2.4GHz, 802.11 b/g/n Receive Sensitivity: 802.11b: <-84dBm(11Mbps); 802.11g: <-68dBm(54Mbps) Output Power: 802.11b:16±2dBm; 802.11g:13±2dBm Security Mechanism: WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Encryption: AES/TKIP Working Temp: -20 °C ~ 75 °C Working Humidity: 10%-80% Product Dimensions: 75.7×39.7x32mm Gang: 1 Weight: 135g Certification: FCC (Download) Sonoff S31 Unboxing & Teardown Taking the S31 apart is rather easy but I did not take it fully apart for fear of breaking it. Just pop the power button off the left side. Then […]

March 3, 2018March 3, 2018 by Karl Johnson - 9 Comments

Raiscube A8R 3D Printer Review

Hello Karl here with a look at the Raiscube A8R. If you recall I reviewed the R2 3D printer quite a while ago. I really liked the R2, so when I heard that this newer version came out I reached out to Raiscube directly and asked for a review sample. Raiscube kindly obliged, and I am so glad that they did. The A8R is the upgraded version to the R2. The most prominent differences is the acrylic frame is gone, being replaced with an aluminum frame, and the build time is slashed considerably. Build Volume: 210 x 210 x 225mm Material diameter: 1.75mm Direct Drive Extruder Dual Z 12V/25A power supply Up to 95°C on the bed Up to 250°C on the nozzle Ramps Plus2 Board v1.8.26 Educational Opportunity This review has been in the works since last November. I liked it a lot so wanted to put it through […]

March 2, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

VIA SOM-9X20 Module Powers Smart Recognition and Smart Machine Vision Platforms

At the end of last year, VIA launched SOM-9X20 system-on-module powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with 4GB PoP LPDDR4 RAM, 64 GB eMMC flash, as well as WiFi + Bluetooth module, and a GNSS/GPS receiver. The company introduced two software platform for the SoM and development kit at embedded world 2018: a Smart Machine Vision Platform for manufacturing management and control systems, and a Smart Recognition Platform for facial recognition, object detection, people counting & tracking, etc… VIA SOM-9X20 module specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad- core processor with 2x high-performance Kryo cores up to 2.15GHz, 2x low power Kryo cores up to 1.593GHz, and Adreno 530 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.1/ GEP, GL4.4, DX11.3/ 4, OpenCL 2.0, Renderscript-Next System Memory – 4 GB POP LPDDR4 RAM Storage – 64 GB eMMC 5.1/ UFS 2.0 flash On-module Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ b/ g/ n/ ac + Bluetooth […]

March 2, 2018March 4, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

EveLab 1.0 is an Advanced Breadboard Solution Designed for the Raspberry Pi

While it’s perfectly feasible to connect the Raspberry Pi board to a breadboard it can become relatively messy if your projects needs many I/Os due the wire and extra components like resistors, so “Robot In A Can” designed a circuit trainer for the University of Guelph students to wire projects with the Raspberry Pi’s (26-pin) header in a neater way, and made it durable to to endure years of use in a lab setting. The developer has now started selling the hardware, and called it EveLab 1.0. Evelabs 1.0 specifications: 2x 32×4 breadboards with markings for GPIO pins 1x “standard” breadboard 3x LEDs (pre-grounded) 3x Momentary Switch (pre-grounded) 2x Potentiometers (pre-grounded) 1x RGB LED (pre-grounded) 1x Analog to digital converter (2-inputs pre wired) 1x Light Sensor 1x Temperature Sensor The board also comes with 2 GPIO ribbon cables to connect to various Pi models, and 20 Jumper cables. The target board […]

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

SolidRun Announces i.MX 8M Industrial Systems-on-Module, Cubox Pulse Mini PC and HummingBoard Pulse Board

Solidrun has several products based on NXP i.MX6 processors including i.MX6 SoMs, Cubox-i mini PCs, and HummingBoard Edge development board, which were launched between 2013 and 2015, and still sold to this day. But the company has now launched refreshes for all those products based on the new i.MX 8M 64-bit Arm processors with i.MX 8M industrial systems-on-module, Cubox Pulse mini PC, and HummingBoard Pulse SBC. Solidrun i.MX 8M SoM Three different modules – which differ only by their processor and max memory capacity – are available with the following specifications: SoC SOM i.MX8 Dual – NXP i.MX 8M Dual core ARM A53 @ 1.3 GHz (up to 1.5 GHz), Arm Cortex-M4, and Vivante GC7000 Lite GPU SOM i.MX8 Quad Lite – NXP i.MX 8M QuadLite quad core ARM A53 @ 1.3 GHz (up to 1.5 GHz), Arm Cortex-M4, and Vivante GC7000 Lite GPU SOM i.MX8 Quad – NXP i.MX […]

March 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

NXP Unveils A71CH Secure Element Chip for Secure Peer-to-Peer or Cloud Connections

The industry clearly has an issue at hand with the security of the Internet of Things, and the problem is complex as some devices are easily accessible due to bad configuration (e.g. default username/password), while others may have security flaws at various levels of the software stack from the low level bootloaders to the operating systems, and applications. Nowadays, devices also need to be upgradeable, and communicate with the cloud, and that introduces other attack vectors in case malignant firmware is installed instead, or a man-in-the-middle attack occurs. While some people may claim security can be achieved by software only, we are seeing security evolving towards combined software and hardware solutions, for example with Arm Trustzone built into SoCs, but some companies are also introducing Secure Element chip, which Samsung has already done and integrated into their Artik modules to secure data from the hardware to the cloud. NXP has […]