CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 17, 2018November 19, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Allwize K2 IoT Board Supports 169MHz Wize LPWAN Protocol (LoRa alternative)

LoRa, Sigfox, and NB-IoT are probably the most popular low power long range wireless protocols for the Internet of Things, but there are several others, including one I had never heard of: Wize. The Wize Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) protocol has been created in late 2017, leverages the “old and refurbished” 169 MHz frequency, support up to 20 km range, 20-year battery life, and is managed by the Wize Alliance with members including STMicroelectronics, Suez, Sagecom, Renesas, Analog Devices, Silicon Labs and many others. Despite being a recent protocol, the table below claims 3 millions of deployment for Wize, and showcases some of differences against LoRa, NB-IoT, and Sigfox. You may be confused as how the standard was created in at the end of 2017, but there are so many deployments, and 13 years experience. It appears Wize is derived from the older EN 13757 standard for gas […]

November 16, 2018November 22, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 23 Comments

Black Friday 2018 – International Deals

November 11.11 is now behind us, but that means Black Friday and Cyber Monday are soon approaching and as usual I’ve gathered some deals or events geared towards an International audience, mostly through various China based online shopping websites. GearBest Black Friday activity has already started with the run-up stage on November 14-21 with deposit expansion and lucky draw, followed by the main event taking place on November 21-26 with $100-$200 coupons and 24-hour flash sale, and finally Cyber Monday event from November 26-31 with activity details to be determined. There’s also a Black Friday coupon that works sitewide: BlackFriday-GB. The coupon provides 10% discount on order of $10 or more on items located in the Chinese (CN-099) warehouse, and not yet discounted. The coupon is valid until November 26, 0:00 UTC+8 Beijing Time (unless more than 20,000 units are sold with the coupon) GeekBuying’s promise of up to 80% […]

Graperain Samsung, Rockchip RK3588, and Qualcomm CPU modules, SBCs, and carrier boards

November 16, 2018November 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Intrinsyc Open-Q 605 SBC is Powered by Qualcomm QCS605 IoT Processor

Qualcomm QCS603 / QCS605 “Internet of Things” processors were announced last spring as the first “Qualcomm Vision Intelligence Platforms” from the company and designed for artificial intelligence and computer vision applications. Both SoCs are octa-core processor with two performance Kryo 300 Gold cores, and six efficiency Kryo 300 Silver cores, but QCS605’s big cores are clocked at a higher 2.5 GHz frequency, and the processor comes with better 802.11ac Wave2 WiFi, support for up to 32MB camera, and 4K video capture. However so far, there was no development platform publicly available, and this has just changed with Intrinsyc announcing Open-Q 605 single board computer (SBC) and development kit featuring Qualcomm QCS605 vision intelligence platform. Open-Q™ 605 SBC Specifications SoC – Qualcomm QCS605 octa-core processor with 2x high-performance Kryo 300 Gold cores up to 2.5 GHz, 6x low-power Kryo 300 Silver cores up to 1.7 GHz, Hexagon 685 DSP with Hexagon vector […]

November 16, 2018November 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Gateworks Newport GW6100 Miniature Networking SBC Comes with one GbE Port, one mPCIe Socket

Nearly exactly one year ago, Gateworks announced Newport family of networking SBCs powered by Cavium Octeon TX 64-bit Arm SoC, and earlier this year launched the higher-end GW6400/GW6404 boards with multiple network interfaces and mPCIe sockets. The company has now introduced the entry-level GW6100 mini Network SBC with just one Gigabit Ethernet port, one mPCIe socket, and a USB 2.0 type-C port. Gateworks Newport GW6100 specifications: SoC – Cavium OcteonTX CN8120 dual core ARMv8 processor @ 800MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR4 SDRAM Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash, mSATA via mini PCIe socket, serial configuration EEPROM Networking – Gigabit Ethernet Port Compliant with 802.3 10BaseT/100BaseTX/1000BASE-T USB – USB Type-C DFP featuring USB 2.0 up to 480Mbps and 1.5A Power Delivery Expansion High power (up to 8W) mini PCIe socket supporting PCIe or mSATA with USB 2.0 and Nano-SIM socket Application Connector with serial I/O, Digital I/O, I2C, and SPI Misc […]

November 16, 2018August 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Toradex Colibri iMX8X SoM Features NXP i.MX 8X Dual / Quad Arm Cortex-A35 Processor

Designed for infotainment and dashboard in automotive applications, industrial control, robotics, healthcare, mobile payments, handheld devices, and more, NXP i.MX 8X Arm Cortex-A35 processor was first spotted in 2016, before being formally announced in March 2017. But it took quite longer to see actual products launched, and several vendors announced i.MX 8X modules in the last week while NXP also released documentation. One of them is Toradex with their Colibri iMX8X system-on-module with up to 2GB LPDDR4 memory, 8GB flash, a built-in 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi + Bluetooth 5 module, dual channel LVDS, MIPI DSI display interface, a quad-lane MIPI CSI-2 camera interface, etc… Toradex Colibri iMX8X specifications: SoC (one of the following options) NXP i.MX 8QuadXPlus quad core Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.2GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 MCU @ up to 266MHz, HiFi4 DSP, Vivante GC7000Lite performance optimized GPU, 4K video support NXP i.MX 8DualXPlus dual core Cortex-A35 processor @ […]

November 15, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Hailstorm Device Scaling Program To Enable Netflix Support on Amlogic and HiSilicon TV Boxes

If you’ve ever bought a random TV box you may have found out Netflix does not always work optimally, for example, HD or 4K UHD may not be available due to the lack of DRM, and/or Netflix certification even if you’re paying extra for the service. So you need to make sure you get a certified device and there aren’t that many. But thanks to Netflix Hailstorm – a program aiming at scaling the number of device officially supporting Netflix – we should see more and more TV box running Android TV with full Netflix support. I found about the Hailstorm program via an Amlogic press release, but the photo above shows some TV boxes based on HiSilicon processors will also be supported, and TV boxes manufacturers such as SDMC, Skyworth, and Himedia have joined the program. Amlogic explains they have now achieved pre-certification for its Android TV set top […]

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

November 15, 2018November 15, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

Compact Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ Launched for $25

The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is likely the most popular maker board available today at $35, but it just got a little brother – Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ – that should also enjoy good popularity with a $25 price tag. The new model features the same BCM2837B0 quad core processor @ 1.4 GHz, and dual band WIFI connectivity, just in a smaller form factor. Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2837B0 64-bit ARMv8 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4GHz with dual core VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 512MB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 and 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.2 LE (via Cypress CYW43455 based module) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x micro USB port for power Expansion 40-pin GPIO header MIPI DSI for Raspberry […]

November 15, 2018November 16, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Arduino PRO Gateway for LoRa Features Raspberry Pi 3 Board

Arduino has just introduced the Arduino PRO Gateway for LoRa based on Raspberry Pi 3 development board, a LoRa gateway mPCIe module, and a metal enclosure. The strange thing about this product is that it does not feature any Arduino MCU, so why did Arduino design it? That’s because it works as a LoRa gateway for their Arduino MKR WAN 1300 IoT nodes. The gateway is sold as a kit with a LoRa gateway Embit EMB-LR1301-mPCIe card with SX1301 baseband chipset, an adapter for Raspberry Pi, an aluminum enclosure, a Raspberry Pi 3 model B+, a 5V power supply, an Ethernet cable, and an external antenna. Specifications for the LoRa part of the gateway: Chipset – Semtech SX1301 Modulation – LoRa Spread Spectrum, FSK, GFSK 868MHz (EU) / 915MHz (US) Number of Channels – 8 LoRa Channels Operating Frequency – 868MHz (EU) / 915MHz (US) Frequency Range – 860MHz to 1020MHz Operating […]

Boardcon LGA3576 Rockchip RK3576 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications