CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

ConBee II ZigBee USB Gateway Dongle and Phoscon Gateway

Dresden-Elektronik has released a new ZigBee USB dongle/stick called ConBee II (a.k.a. ConBee 2) as a direct replacement the first-generation version, as well as the new Phoscon Gateway Raspberry Pi based Zigbee Hub. Beside new Zigbee hardware, the company has also released a new version of deCONZ graphical user interface used to set up and control any ZigBee network without any programming, as well as a new corresponding “Phoscon App” mobile app for home automation control. ConBee II Zigbee USB dongle The new “ConBee II” ZigBee USB dongle/stick features improved signal amplifier with longer radio range, and is based on a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M0 microcontroller (Microchip ATSAMR21E18A) instead of an 8-bit AVR based MCU. Key features: Connectivity – 2.4 GHz Zigbee USB Gateway Compatibility Philips Hue, IKEA Trådfri, OSRAM Lightify, XIAOMI Aqara and many other Zigbee items Zigbee Home Automation, Zigbee Light Link, Zigbee 3.0 Dimensions – 60 x 18 […]

April 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

SiFive S2 RISC-V Core may be the World’s Smallest 64-bit Embedded Core

Last year, SiFive introduced their first RISC-V cores competing with Arm Cortex-R family of processors thanks to their S7 Series 64-bit RISC-V Core IP providing an answer to Arm Cortex-R7/R8 32-bit real-time processors. The company has now announced the SiFive S2 RISC-V core that it claims to be the world’s smallest 64-bit embedded core, and also the first SiFive IP core without any direct competitive equivalent in the market. For now, there’s only one core in the family with SiFive S21 offering the following key features: RISC-V ISA – RV64IMAC 64-bit AXI Ports Machine and User Mode with 4 Region Physical Memory Protection 3-stage pipeline with Simultaneous Instruction and Data Access 2 Banks of Tightly Integrated Memory (TIM) CLIC (Core Local Interrupt Controller) with 127 interrupts Advanced debug with 4 hardware breakpoints/watchpoints Performance – 1.6 DMIPS/MHz; 3.2 Coremarks/MHz The company compares its to the SiFive S5 cores, which I had […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards

April 11, 2019November 3, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Getting Started with balenaFin Developer Kit, balenaOS and balenaCloud

balena Fin is a carrier board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3/3+ designed specifically for industrial applications leveraging fleet management services provided by Balena. I received balenaFin developer kit last month, and in the first part of the reviewed shows how to assemble the kit. I’m now had time to spend more time with the kit, as well as BalenaOS Linux based operating system optimized for running Docker containers on embedded devices, and balenaCloud services to manage a fleet of devices from a web dashboard. I’ve mostly followed the instructions in the getting started guides here and there, and will document what I had to do to prepare the image, flash it to the board, and load a sample docker application locally, and through balenaCloud. Downloading and Configuring BalenaOS for balena Fin You’ll find BalenaOS in the download page. While we are using hardware based on a Raspberry Pi Compute […]

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Snapdragon 730, 730G & 665 Mobile Platforms Target High and Mid Tier Devices

Qualcomm has announced three new processor / mobile platforms for high and mid-tier mobile devices. Qualcomm Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 Mobile Platforms are designed to improve experiences in artificial intelligence (AI), gaming, camera, as well as general performance. Snapdragon 730 & 730G Both processors share many of the same features: Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine AIE CPU – Octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 470 CPU @ up to 2.2 GHz AIE GPU – Qualcomm Adreno 618 GPU with support for OpenCL 2.0 FP, Vulkan 1.1, OpenGL ES 3.2, DX12 AIE DSP – Qualcomm Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator, Qualcomm Hexagon 688 Processor, Qualcomm Hexagon Voice Assistant, Qualcomm All-Ways Aware technology Neural Processing: Qualcomm® Neural Processing SDK Display On-Device Display Snapdragon 730 – up to FHD+ (18:9), 2520×1080 resolution Snapdragon 730G – up to Quad HD+, HDR10, 3360×1440 External Display up to 4K resolution Camera Qualcomm Spectra 350 image signal […]

April 10, 2019September 1, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Amlogic S905X3, S905Y3 & S905D3 Quad Core Cortex A55 AI Processors Are Coming Soon

I’ve just found out Amlogic is working on S905X3, S905Y3, and S905D3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor, coupled with an AI processor normally used for voice recognition in TV boxes, following the introduction of Amlogic S905X2, S905Y2, and S905D2 processors last year, all based on the older and time-tested Arm Cortex-A53 cores. Arm Cortex A55 was announced together with Arm Cortex A75 processor as the first core compatible with DynamIQ processing, and so far we’ve seen a few Arm Cortex-A55 cores but mostly combined with Cortex-A75. Amlogic S905D3, S905X3, and S905Y3 change all that. We have very few details at this stage, except the new processors will have many of the same features as the S905X2/Y2/D2 models including an Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU, HDMI 2.1 up to 4Kp75 resolution and HDR support, 4K H.265, VP9, and AVS2 video decoding, Full HD H.265/H.264 encoding, as well as PCIe and USB 3.0 support. […]

April 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Makers Friendly Nebra AnyBeam Laser Projector Fits into your Pocket (Crowdfunding)

Nebra Anybeam is a laser pico projector small enough to fit into your pocket. The fanless projector can be powered by a power bank or from the USB port of a computer, and you can play content from your smartphone, laptop or tablet. Beside a consumer devices, the company – Pi Supply – also offers options for makers and tinkerers with a development kit, as well as Raspberry Pi HAT to add the laser projector on top of the popular SBC, as well as a round model powered by Raspberry Pi W Zero board. Nebra Anybeam Projector Nebra AnyBeam key features specifications: Projector Resolution – 720p @ 60 fps Contrast – 80,000:1 Aspect Ratio – 16:9 Brightness – 30 ANSI equivalent to 150 ANSI lumens in a standard DLP projector Video Input – HDMI 1.4 female port Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, 1W speaker Misc – 1/4-20 UNC tripod mount, […]

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

April 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

FCC: That Cheap Chinese TV Box may end up Costing you $147,000

Buying inexpensive TV boxes from China is fun, but in order to provide the lowest possible price, some manufacturers may cut corners, and forgo things like FCC certification. It seems the FCC has noticed an issue an enforcement advisory / public notice entitled “VIDEO TV SET-TOP BOXES, INCLUDING THOSE THAT STREAM INTERNET CONTENT, MUST COMPLY WITH FCC EQUIPMENT AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS” with the threat of fines exceeding $147,000. If you are an individual you may think that you are safe since you are not “marketing” anything, but a footnote explains the meaning of marketing: Importing, advertising and selling are three aspects of “marketing” under the Commission’s rules. The text of the notice further mentions that even just operating the device is a violation, and anyone doing so should stop immediately. The document explains a little more about the fines: Users, manufacturers, importers, and retailers that violate Commission marketing or operating rules […]

April 9, 2019July 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Amungo NUT2NT+ is an Open Source High Precision GNSS Board (Crowdfunding)

Amungo Navigation NUT2NT+ is an open-source hardware four-channel, all-frequency, GNSS RF-to-bits receiver for precision, satellite-based positioning. Connected to the right antennas, the board can achieve centimeter positioning resolution by connecting to multiple navigation satellite systems including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, and IRNSS. Amungo claims that while several startups and large companies already offer proprietary GNSS positioning solutions NUT2NT+ is the only open source option in this class of GNSS devices. NUT2NT+ key features and specifications: Receiver chip – NTLab NT1065 4-Channel RF Front-End IC FPGA – Lattice ECP5 with 12K LUTs + 28 DSP blocks (LFE5U-12) opened for custom design USB – 1x USB 3.1 Type-C port via CYUSB3014 USB 3.0 controller: Clock – 10 MHz TCXO, soldered RF inputs – 2x bands dedicated; – 5 dB referred noise floor ADC – 2-bit resolution up to 99 MHz Samples transfer – Continuous full stream, from 10 to 50 Mbytes/sec GNSS […]