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Building a Chaotic Oscillator from Common Components

Posted on by mixos

Tim’s Blog writes:

A chaotic oscillator is an electronic circuit that can exhibit “chaotic“, nonperiodic behavior. A commonly cited example is Chua’s circuit, but there are many others. I always regarded these as carefully designed, rather academic, examples. So I was a bit surprised to observe apparently chaotic behavior in a completely unrelated experiment.

A while ago a took an interest in recreating an ancient logic style based on discrete transistors, resistor-transistor-logic (RTL), with todays components. I discussed some of my findings earlier and continued to work on transistor selection and circuit optimization afterwards in collaboration with Yann from Hackaday TTLers. The tool of choice to evaluate the switching speed of different logic gate designs is to build ring-oscillators from chains of inverters.

Building a Chaotic Oscillator from Common Components – [Link]

CHUWI LarkBox World’s Smallest 4K Mini PC

Posted on by mixos

Ultra-small Size/Intel J4115 Processor/6GB RAM/128GB ROM/4K Video Output/Ultra-silence Cooling Fan

Due to its super compact size, Larkbox is fantastic for a desk where space is scarce. What’s more, it can be taken anywhere in your bag, enabling you to work anywhere without the need to switch devices.

To make this even easier, we made Larkbox super lightweight so you won’t even notice you’re carrying it. Unlike a traditional PC that can weigh upwards of 5KG, Larkbox is designed as the ultimate ease of use PC. Ultra-small form factor and lightweight design ensure that Larkbox is never a burden to your daily life.

LarkBox can do more than your everyday desktop PC.

  1. Doesn’t occupy large amounts of space.
  2. Powerful functionality.
  3. Great as an office or home PC.
  4. 4K output for a great visual experience.
  5. Ideal for home theatres, digital signage, projectors, and monitoring.
  6. Less extra heat while lowering operating costs​.

Small, yet with decent power

Despite its size, Larkbox packs a mighty punch. This opens up endless use cases for Larkbox. Due to the form factor, Larkbox is fantastic for POS and digital signage, kiosks, and CCTV systems. The options for Larkbox are endless, small, and powerful enable it to complete all manner of tasks, anywhere, with ease.

The project is live on Crowdsupply and has 29 days to go.

WIN Enterprises Announces Mini-ITX Form Factor with 8th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor for IoT and Process Monitoring

Posted on by mixos

WIN Enterprises, Inc., a leading designer, and manufacturer of embedded x86 motherboards and appliances for electronic OEMs announce the MB-50040. The MB-50040 is a high-performance Mini-ITX single-board computer (SBC) for graphically-oriented factory process monitoring and IoT applications that require high performance.

Features

  • 8th Generation Intel® Core™ Processor Mini-ITX
  • DDR4 2400MHz SODIMM up to 64GB
  • Supports 3 independent displays: LVDS + DP/HDMI + DP/HDMI (Auto-detecting)
  • DP++ resolution supports up to 4096×2304 @ 60Hz
  • Multiple expansion: 1 PCIe x4, 1 M.2 M Key (SATA/PCIe), 1 M.2 E key (PCIe/USB)
  • Storage: 2 SATA 3.0
  • Rich I/O: 2 Intel GbE, 4 USB 3.1, 4 USB 2.0
  • 15-Year CPU Life Cycle Support Until Q1′ 31

Three independent displays are supported for factory-line visualization. One display has DP++ resolution up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz. To meet the requirements of a complete IoT architecture, the unit supports 2 SATA 3.0 for plenty of storage and communication to the Cloud. The 8th Generation processor provides a wide variety of performance-based on 2-, 4- or 8-core processing capabilities. Robust network and device connectivity is provided by 2x Intel GbE LAN, 4x USB 3.1, and 4x USB 2.0 along with multiple expansion capabilities.

WIN Enterprises Announces IoT Gateway mini-ITX Platform with 9th/8th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor

Posted on by mixos

WIN Enterprises, Inc., a leading designer, and manufacturer of embedded x86 motherboards and appliances for electronic OEMs announce the MB-50050 a mini-ITX SBC to serve as the basis for a flexible, general-purpose IoT gateway or factory process-monitoring work station. The board features a 9th/8th Gen Intel Core processor for high performance, factory-process visualization support, and communications from factory line to Cloud. Additional expansibility for device and sensor support is also provided.

Features

  • 2 DDR4 2666MHz SODIMM up to 32GB
  • Dual independent displays: DP++ + DP++, DP++ + HDMI, DP++ + LVDS/eDP, HDMI+ LVDS/eDP
  • DP++ resolution supports up to 4096×2304 @ 60Hz
  • Storage: 2 SATA 3.0
  • Multiple Expansion Capability: 1 PCIe x4 Gen 3, 1 mSATA, 1 M.2 2280 M Key, 1 M.2 2230 E Key
  • Storage: 2 SATA 3.0
  • Rich I/O: 2 Intel GbE, 4 COM, 4 USB 3.1 Gen 1, 4 USB 2.0

Because IoT gateways need to provide rich serial communications capability to handle factory line input and communications, the MB-50050 was designed with robust serial communications that include 4 COM, 4 USB 3.1 Gen 1, and 4 USB 2.0, plus up to 4 expansion interfaces. The MB-50050 supports dual independent displays with one of these being high resolution (i.e., 4096×2304) to enable sophisticated process visualization of the factory-line processes.

Meaningful communications with the Cloud requires robust memory, storage, and connectivity. The MB-50050 provides this with 2x DDR4 to process the raw factory-line data into information, 2x SATA 3.0 for storage, and 2x Intel GbE LANs for communications with the Cloud and other IoT elements on the network.

Energy harvesting PMIC available as samples

Posted on by mixos

Nowi BV (Delft, The Netherlands) has samples available of its NH2 energy harvesting power management IC (PMIC).

The NH2D0245 comes in a QFN package measuring 3mm by 3mm. Including the external capacitor, it has an assembly footprint of just 3mm by 3.6mm. The NH2 is designed to extract the low power output of an energy harvesting source to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as a rechargeable battery or a super-capacitor. It is optimized for Solar PV (indoor and outdoor).

NH2 (NH2D0245) – production ready samples of NOWI high-performance energy harvesting PMIC for low power applications. NH2 comes in the compact QFN package of only 3mm x 3mm. Including the external capacitor it has an assembly footprint of just 3mm x 3.6mm. NOWI PMIC is designed to extract the low power output of an energy harvesting source to charge a variety of energy storage elements such as a rechargeable battery or a super-capacitor. It is optimised for Solar PV (indoor and outdoor).

The NH2 is essentially a dc-to-dc converter that sits between the source and a capacitor. It has maximum power point tracking (MPPT) with an interval of less than 1 second.

more information: www.nowi-energy.com

ODROID-H2+ SBC Features Celeron J4115 Processor Upgrade, and Dual 2.5GbE Networking Ports

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

In November 2018, Hrdkernel announced the  ODROID H2 as a “new generation of single-board computers.” However, despite its success, they could not ship enough of them to satisfy the demand due to the Intel Gemini Lake J4105 CPU supply shortage. Due to the shortage of the ODROID H2, the Odriod-H2+ was introduced, which has a slightly faster CPU, and will ship in large volume, and also has a pair of much faster 2.5GbE Ethernet ports. Intel started early this year to offer a slightly modified chip called the J4115, and the Odroid-H2+ runs Ubuntu on the quad-core J4115. Hardkernel says:

“We therefore expect that most of the existing parts supply problems to be resolved.”

Hardkernel says:

“Beyond the CPU update, we upgraded the Ethernet controllers and RJ45 jacks to support much faster 2.5 GbE networks. The new NIC chipset RTL8125B requires users to proceed with a manual driver installation since the upstream kernel still needs a patch. We have also increased the number of GPIO pins from 20 to 24 to add USB 2.0 and HDMI CEC signals. If you want to use the CEC function, you need to buy a 3rd party CEC adapter board.” They continue “Finally we also changed the 12V SATA power circuit to improve the suspend-resume power control sequence of 3.5” HDDs.”

 

ODROID H2+ Board view

The Intel J4115 clocks at 1.8GHz, and offers a Turbo Boost speed of up to 2.5GHz or 2.3GHz in multi-thread mode. This is a huge difference from the earlier J4105 that clocked at 1.5GHz/2.3GHz when the H2 was launched. The J4115 offers Intel UHD Graphics 600 and a 10W TDP, just like the J4105. The SBC is compatible with Ubuntu 20.04 image, Linux distros, and Windows 10.

Hardkernel says:

“We decided to call this new iteration of the H2 the ODROID H2+ (ODROID H2-plus). Accordingly the board revision code is REV-B+ (while the previous production batch was REV-B).” They continue “The additions described above being put aside the H2 and H2+ are 100% forward hardware and software compatible, including the same board size and overall configuration. Everything you do on the H2 from a hardware viewpoint can be done exactly the same way on the H2+, including converting the M.2 NVMe slot to PCIe2 x4 with a 3rd party adapter cable, connecting the H2+ to a 1 Gbe or 2.5 Gbe switch or other SBC or PC NIC, using the GPIO, etc. The ODROID H2+ just happens to offer more!”

The last year’s RevB model featured some upgrades to the PCIe-to-SATA bridge, SATA power, NVMe I/O, and BIOS. The upgrade is the major difference between the H2+ and the H2. The H2+ enables 2x SATA 3.0, HDMI and DP, 4x USB (2x 3.0), and an M.2 slot for NVMe storage. Additional features include an RTC and a heatsink that supports 70°C temperatures at full load. The Odroid-H2+ is available for $119 plus shipping without RAM, storage, or power adapter. “We hope you understand that the price increases from $111 to $119 due to the hardware components upgrades.” Says Hardkernel. They conclude “We expect to continuously manufacture the ODROID H2+ with no interruption of the CPU production from Intel.”

More information can be found on Hardkernel’s announcement and shopping page.

TinyHVSP – High Voltage Serial Programmer based on ATtiny84

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Stefan Wagner’s EasyEDA profile is definitely the go-to source for all things ATtiny. He’s built 10s of projects, some of which we have covered here, that are based on the tiny microcontrollers, and it only makes sense that one of his latest projects, called the TinyHVSP, is a tool to help with development using the Attiny series of microcontrollers.

The device which is based on the ATtiny84 microcontroller is a High Voltage Serial Programmer (HVSP) and Fuse Resetter for ATtiny 13/25/45/85 microcontrollers.

HVSP is one of the numerous ways through which members of the AVR family of microcontrollers (especially the smaller chips like the ATtiny series) can be programmed. It involves the use of 4 pins consisting of the SCI (serial clock input), SDI (data in),  SII (instruction in), and SDO (data out). Along with these four pins, the RESET, VCC, and GND pins are also used.

Programming a microcontroller using the HVSP approach involves the application of a  “high voltage” (12 volts) to the RESET pin to put the microcontroller in the high-voltage serial programming mode. It is called “serial” because data is sent to the chip serially in a manner similar to what is experienced with SPI.

The fuse resetting feature of the device allows the developer to restore factory default values to the microcontroller. In situations where the RESET pin, for instance, has been configured as an I/O pin in the firmware, programming the board will be impossible unless the fuse reset is done.

The TinyHVSP features a nicely put together enclosure, an OLED display, a pushbutton, and a socket to hold the microcontroller to be flashed. The pushbutton is used to initiate the fuse rest process and the details of the process, including the fuse value, before and after the reset has been done, are all displayed on the OLED.

Consistent with all Stefan’s projects, the ATtiny84 TinyHVSP is totally open source and all resources including the schematics, BOM, PCB designs and firmware are available on the project’s GitHub page.

More information about the project, along with a video showing the programmer in action, can be found on the project’s EasyEDA page.

Meet FontEdit – The Custom Font Editor for LCD, LED and E-Paper Displays

Posted on by Emmanuel Odunlade

Fonts sourcing/creation, usage and management, are some of the major challenges firmware developers face with projects where the display (TFTs, Epaper displays, etc.), is a critical element of the project’s performance. From access to clear and good looking fonts to managing the size of the font files when running on MCUs with limited memory, is an issue that cost developers tons of time during product development, but all of that is about to change thanks to Fontedit.

Developed by as a personal solution to the challenges with fonts for an E-paper display based project, Fontsedit is a software that provides embedded software developers with an easy way to import, preview, edit and export a font for use in embedded systems’ displays.

It is capable of opening any general-purpose fixed-width desktop font and gives users the freedom to use custom fonts (although, for now, it has to be a font registered in your operating system). The software automatically imports font glyphs for characters in the ASCII printable range (32…126 or 0x20…0x7e), and list all the available glyphs with an edit view that allows users to fine-tune individual glyphs.

Font glyphs can be edited by interacting with the editor using the mouse and the keyboard. For example, Clicking and dragging the mouse can be used to set pixels (making them black), while holding Alt or Ctrl (⌘) can be used to erase. The touchpad scroll (or mouse wheel) with Ctrl (⌘) can be used to zoom (in or out)  the editor canvas.

Asides editing existing imported font glyphs, new glyphs can also be added to existing font documents by copying an existing glyph, starting from scratch with a blank canvas, or adding a glyph from a character you put in (useful for adding non-ASCII characters to your font).

Once the font edit/creation is completed, it can be exported either as a C file (also suitable for  C++), an Arduino-specific C file (using PROGMEM), or as a Python list or bytes object (both compatible with Python 2.x/3.x and MicroPython). The export screen allows users to switch between MSB and LSB mode, invert all the bits, and conditionally include line spacings in font definition.

The software is written in C++17 with UI in Qt and it has been tested on MacOS, Linux (Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.10), Windows 10, and Raspbian Buster, so it’s pretty flexible and works with most Operating systems.

The compiles software packages are available on the project’s GitHub Releases page. While the source code is available under the conditions of GPL v3 on the project’s GitHub page.

Dominik has reiterated his desire to continue improving the tool and users/community folks who are interested in contributing to the project can report bugs and request features via GitHub Issues or as a pull request.

Vecow Launches MTC-7000 Series All-in-One Multi-Touch Computer

Posted on by mixos

Vecow Co., Ltd., a team of global embedded experts, announces the release of the latest Industrial Multi-Touch Computer, MTC-7000 Series. With various LCD sizes from 10.1″ to 21.5” widescreen multi-touch computer, MTC-7000 Series is powered by 8th Gen Intel® Core™ U-series processor (Whiskey Lake) and is ideal for Machine Vision, Telemedicine, Factory Automation, Smart Retail and ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) or any AIoT/Industry 4.0 applications.

Vecow MTC-7000 Series features 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor that delivers a 40% improvement in CPU performance and enables more powerful system performance than 7th Gen Intel® Kaby Lake processor. Vecow MTC-7000 Series provides projected capacitive touch technology with 10-point multi-touch function for highly responsive sensing, zoom in/zoom out function for improving the ease and efficiency of data and information processing and user-preference settings. It also meets the durability requirement by supporting up to 7H hardness anti-scratch touch surface to elevate longevity on the touch screen.

Vecow MTC-7000 Series supports a various set of I/O configurations, including 4 10G USB, 2 GigE LAN, 2 COM, 1 2.5” easy-access SSD/HDD kit, and a full-size mSATA, providing a higher level of customization. For example, it features 2 Mini PCIe slots that allow the user to install the 3rd party wireless modules such as WiFi/4G/3G/LTE/GPRS/UMTS for seamless communications. With 9V to 48V DC-in and 500V Surge Protection, Vecow MTC-7000 Series not only prevents overvoltage but keeps the system stable.

“Vecow MTC-7000 Series comes with a widescreen design that provides a 40% increased viewing area compared to traditional 4:3 display, delivering optimized visualization of information,” said Alan Chou, Senior Product Manager, Embedded System & Platform Division at Vecow. “Vecow MTC-7000 Series is powered by 8th Gen Intel® Whiskey Lake platform with outstanding system and graphics performance. Besides, the fanless design and the support for operating temperature of -5°C to 55°C make it the perfect solution for AOI as a control panel, machine vision applications or Panel PCs for retail Kiosk and recognition applications”

“We are glad to introduce this new series All-in-One Panel PCs to our customers,” said Joseph Huang, Sales Manager, Sales & Marketing Division at Vecow. “It features thin and light with an elegant ID design and supports Panel Mount and VESA mount kit that can be easily deployed in diverse industrial applications and is a good fit Panel PCs for AIoT applications.”

Powered by 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor, All-in-One integration, industrial-grade reliability and smarter manageability, Vecow MTC-7000 Series is available at LCD sizes from 10.1”, 15”,15.6” to 21.5” and can be implemented as control Panel and Kiosk, from Machine Vision, Telemedicine, Factory Automation, Smart Retail and ITS or any AIoT//Industry 4.0 applications.

To learn more about Vecow Industrial Multi-touch Computer, please visit the MTC-7000 Series product page or www.vecow.com for more details.

  • MTC-7021W  21.5″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
  • MTC-7015W  15.6″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
  • MTC-7015    15″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer
  • MTC-7010W  10.1″ Fanless Multi-Touch Computer

New 6 mm Potentiometer for High Temperature Lead-free SMD Production

Posted on by mixos

Piher Sensing Systems has re-designed its popular PT-6 Carbon Potentiometer for high temperature lead-free SMD production.

High-temperature plastics, flat suction areas for vacuum pipettes optimum assembly and a new pad design enables PIHER’s customers to employ automated placement of this components on their circuit board using reflow solder and thus simplify their manufacturing processes.

A wide range of options, including the unique stop positions (detents) that provide users desirable tactile feedback on each position setting and selection. Detents not only add a crisp “click” sensation for each position but also offer significant savings in both cost and space; and are particularly advantageous in industrial, home automation and domestic power tool applications to prevent accidental movement.

“The detent feature for 6mm potentiometer lines is a complete market breakthrough, says Jose Luis Macía, Commercial Director. “With the re-engineered 6mm potentiometers, PIHER now provides a reliable rotary ‘click’ sensation into its smallest line of rotary controls on both standard mounting versions (through hole and SMD).”

The new detents, which include as standard up to 10 equally spaced positions, have a spring feature that is incorporated into the product’s rotary action. This creates a resistance to rotation at predetermined angles that gives the user a ‘click’ action, alerting of the current position of the control. For maximum design versatility, the detents can be set at custom angles to suit specific requirements.

PIHER’S 6mm potentiometers, already popular in hundreds of white goods, motor control, power supply, appliance panel control, and automotive sensing applications, now offer product designers the full features of PIHER larger products in a miniature package.

The 6mm family features flame-retardant plastics (meets UL Standard 94 V0), a carbon resistive element, dust and waterproof enclosure (IP54). The new pot is supplied in reels for easy automatic insertion and is available with a variety of options including rotors, standard knob and shafts and long-life versions.

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