SolidRun i.MX 8M Mini SoM Includes Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S AI Accelerator

Solidrun i.MX 8M Mini SoM

There are already plenty of NXP i.MX 8M Mini boards and system-on-modules, but so far none of those included a neural network accelerator. But that’s now an option as SolidRun and Gyrfalcon teamed up to design SolidRun i.MX 8M Mini system-on-module that combines NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor with Gyrfalcon Lightspeeur 2803S NPU (Neural Processing Unit) in order to speed up AI workloads at the edge. SolidRun i.MX 8M Mini SoM Specifications: SoC (one or the other) NXP i.MX8M Mini S single core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 core up to 400MHz, GC NanoUltra 3D GPU + GC320 2D GPU NXP i.MX8M Mini D dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 core up to 400MHz, GC NanoUltra 3D GPU + GC320 2D GPU NXP i.MX8M Mini Q quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.8 GHz, Arm Cortex-M4 core up to 400MHz, GC NanoUltra […]

FriendlyELEC SOM-RK3399 Development Kit Targets AI & Machine Vision Applications

SOM-RK3399 Development Kit SSD Modem

FriendlyELEC is better known for their low-cost tiny single board computers, but the company has also introduced systems-on-module in the past such as Smart6818 module powered by Samsung S5P6818 octa-core processor. The company has now launched another system-on-module with SOM-RK3399, which as its name implied features Rockchip RK3399 processor, as well as a corresponding carrier board mostly designed for artificial intelligence and computer vision applications. SOM-RK3399 System-on-Module Specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 big.LITTLE hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex-A72 cores up to 2.0GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 cores up to 1.5GHz, Mali-T864 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.0/3.1, OpenVG1.1, OpenCL, DX11, and AFBC, and VPU capable of handling 4K VP9 and 4K 10bits H265/H264 60fps decoding, Dual VOP, etc System Memory – Dual-Channel 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.1 flash Networking 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo module (AP6356S), dual antenna interface Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet transceiver USB – 2x USB-C […]

Intrinsyc Launches Open-Q 212A SoM & Qualcomm Home Hub 300 Development Kit

Snapdragon 212 Home Hub SBC

Intrinsyc has just announced the availability of the Open-Q 212A system-on-module and Home Hub Development Kit based on Qualcomm Home Hub 300 Platform powered by the Qualcomm APQ8009 SoC better known as Snapdragon 212. The module supports multi-mic beamforming, audio canceling, HiFi audio, as well as WiFi 5 and Bluetooth connectivity, which makes it suitable for integration into cost-sensitive home hub, home automation, and smart audio devices featuring voice control, AI, and wireless connectivity. Open-Q 212A system-on- module Open-Q 212A SoM, which should not be confused with the company’s Open-Q 212 SBC released two years ago, features for the following specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor (APQ8009) quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 @  1.267GHz with Adreno 304 GPU, Qualcomm QDSP6 DSP System Memory – 1GB LPDDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB eMMC Flash storage Video – 720p@30fps playback;  up to 720p playback with H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC); up to 720p H.264 […]

Xilinx Arm FPGA, Snapdragon SoM’s, and Wandboard SBC Field Trip to Space

SpaceX Starlink Satellites Falcon Rocket

Most embedded systems are used here on planet earth, but some do take off heading for space, and this week I come accross two separate projects leveraging Arm processors and FPGAs, as well as Ubuntu/ROS and Android operating systems: SpaceX Starlink communication satellites and Astrobee robots roaming in the international space station (ISS) SpaceX Starlink Satellites with Xilinx Ultrascale+ Arm + FPGA SoC SpaceX is about to launch a cloud of 60 Starlink communication satellites that aims to provide internet communication anywhere in the world. That’s just a start as eventually the plan is to get up to 12,000 of those satellites. Usually, we would not know many technical details about the satellites, but as one reader pointed out (Thanks Lawrence!), a Reddit thread about the launch, also pointed to a NASA document revealing the satellites are powered by Xilinx Ultrascale+ quad core Cortex-A53 processor with FPGA fabric. Milestone 2 […]

Fusion for TIVA v8 Development Board Enables Debugging & Programming over WiFi

Fusion for TIVA V8 Development Board

Texas Instruments TIVA Arm Cortex-M4 MCU family was first introduced in 2013, I tested a TIVA Launchpad the following years, and since microcontrollers have usually a long life span they are still in use today, and should still be available for many years. I’m writing about this TI MCU family today because MikroElektronika has just announced Fusion for TIVA V8 development board for TI TIVA, Stellaris and MSP432 microcontrollers with plenty of I/Os including some MikroBus expansion slots, as well as support for debugging and programming over WiFi in addition to the usual USB-UART interface. Fusion for TIVA v8 board specifications: MCU – Socket for MikroElektronika MCU CARD Display Interfaces 2x 20-pin TFT display connector 1x 16-pin LCD connector for 2×16 characters LCD displays in 4-bit mode,  optional PWM backlight driving feature Programming – On-board CODEGRIP programmer/debugger, JTAG connector for connecting an external programmer/debugger Connectivity – Ethernet port, WiFI in […]

BB-400 Neuron Edge Dual Ethernet Industrial Controller Combines Raspberry Pi CM3+ and Arduino MCU

bb-400 neuron edge industrial controller

While the Raspberry Pi boards are mostly promoted as tools to teach STEM to kids and adults alike, they have found their way in a fair amount of industrial products, including ModBerry M500 industrial computer, Janz Tec emPC-A/RPI3 industrial embedded controller,  and Kunbus RevolutionPi RevPi Core among others. There’s yet another option with Brainboxes BB-400 Neuron Edge industrial controller that was announced last year with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3, but recently got an upgrade to Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+. The controller features two Ethernet ports and also includes an Arduino compatible microcontroller to control the system’s eight configurable digital inputs and outputs. BB-400 Neuron Edge industrial controller specifications: SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ with Broadcom BCM2837B0  quad-core , Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2GHz, 1 GB LPDDR2, 32GB eMMC Flash storage MCU – Unnamed Microchip Atmel Arduino compatible microcontroller Connectivity Ethernet Uplink Port – 1x RJ45 jack, 10/100Mbps […]

miriac MPX-LS1028A NXP QorIQ LS1028A SoM Targets TSN Applications with HMI Display

LS1028A System-on-Module

NXP QorIQ LayerScape LS1028A communication SoC was first unveiled in March 2017 with two Armv8 cores, GPU and LCD controller for HMI systems, as well as Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) capabilities useful in industrial settings. As usual it takes a while before the company finalize their design and software support, but LS1028A has started to appear at least in one hardware platform that’s supposed to launch this quarter (Q2 2019): MicroSys miriac MPX-LS1028A system-on-module. miriac MPX-LS1028A SoM specifications: SoC – NXP QorIQ LS1018 / LS1028 single / dual core Arm Cortex-A72 clocked at up to 1.3 GHz with MXC Vivante GPU, Mali Display Processor, configurable cryptographic offload engines (Optional: LS1017/LS1027 without GPU for cost saving) System Memory – Up to 4GB 32 Bit DDR4 with ECC RAM at up to 1600 MT/s Storage – Up to 256MB Serial NOR Flash & up to 4GB Serial NAND Flash; EEPROM MXM 2.0 edge […]

Linux 5.1 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.1 Changelog

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.1: So it’s a bit later in the day than I usually do this, just because I was waffling about the release. Partly because I got some small pull requests today, but mostly just because I wasn’t looking forward to the timing of this upcoming 5.2 merge window. But the last-minute pull requests really weren’t big enough to justify delaying things over, and hopefully the merge window timing won’t be all that painful either. I just happen to have the college graduation of my oldest happen right smack dab in the middle of the upcoming merge window, so I might be effectively offline for a few days there. If worst comes to worst, I’ll extend it to make it all work, but I don’t think it will be needed. Anyway, on to 5.1 itself. The past week has been pretty calm, […]