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Three RK3399 open-spec SBCs launched including AI capability Model

Posted on 12 November, 201813 November, 2018 by Tope Oluyemi

Three open-spec SBCs have been launched on Indiegogo. They are the RK3399-based Khadas Edge SBC, a new Edge-1S model that uses the AI-enhanced RK3399Pro SoC and an Edge-V model that replaces the Edge’s MXM3 connector with 40-pin GPIO and adds MIPI-DSI and -CSI. Shenzhen Wesion’s Khadas project exhibited the Khadas Edge SBC in July, which runs Linux or Android on Rockchip’s hexa-core RK3399 SoC. Now Khadas is in business with Indiegogo with a $50K flexible funding campaign for the Khadas Edge and two new models. The Edge-V version has a similar footprint to the Amlogic based Khadas Vim and Khadas Vim2. There’s also an Edge-1S model that runs on Rockchip’s new neural chip enhanced RK3399Pro SoC.

The Khadas Edge-V is built for general purpose hacking and home theater applications. The Edge and Edge-1S are designed for professional embedded development and deployment, like applications for computer clusters, drones, and augmented reality gear. Initial packages for the Khadas Edge and Khadas Edge-V are of similar price and includes a free accessory bundle. The Edge initial package gives you a free Edge IO debugging daughter-card and Edge heatsink while the Edge-V package offers a free Khadas Vim-style heatsink.

Other extra-cost accessories include a $9 bundle that gives you a heatsink and an Edge IO daughter-board, which enables serial debug and easier GPIO expansion. Other accessories include a fan with USB-C adapter ($14), a camera with LiPo battery ($19), and the Khadas Captain carrier board option, which is designed primarily for gaming console configurations. The Captain Carrier costs $39 with a free, 5-inch, HD multitouch screen, and seems to work only with the MXM3-equipped Edge and Edge-1S models, not the Edge-V. The Edge Basic and Edge-V Basic are available for $99 with 2GB LPDDR4 and 16GB eMMC 5.1. There’s also a Pro (4GB/32GB) model for $149 and a Max version (4GB/128GB) for $199. Once the initial packages. are exhausted, the price remains the same, but without the free accessories.

An experimental version of the AI-enhanced Edge-1S model is available for $299 and includes free Edge IO and Captain Carrier boards, a 24W USB Type-C adapter, and a 3705 Cooling Fan. This “high risk” board is set to ship in January just like the other models, but only if the campaign reaches $200,000, if not it will be delayed. Another stretch goal ($350K) is for a NextC Case, and if the campaign reaches $500K, Khadas will give away the NextC case free with every Edge and Edge-1S, and offer a free DIY Case for the Edge-V. The Edge boards will ship with schematics and other open source files just like the Khadas Vim boards.

They all support Android P, mainline Linux (including Ubuntu), and LibreELEC. The Edge board also has softer pushbuttons and a new fan header that supports the “cooler and quieter 3705 cooling fans. There are 4x new PMOS logic chips for bi-directional power input and output.

It could power the Captain Carrier Board via USB-C PD, or the Captain could power the Edge via the 12v barrel jack and battery module,

says Khadas. There are also improved heatsink and 3705 cooling fan options. The Edge-1S is similar to the Edge except for the new RK3399Pro SoC, which inputs a Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) with 8- and 16-bit processing.

The NPU offers up to 2.4TOPS performance according to Rockchip’s original announcement, and up to 3.0TOPS, 800MHz performance according to Khadas. The NPU supports Tensorflow, Caffe, MLlib, and other deep learning models for AI applications such as face recognition, object detection and tracking. The Edge-1s board adds 1GB (Basic) to 2GB (Pro and Max) of dedicated RAM for the NPU. The Captain Carrier has a real-world GbE port and dual gamepads, as well as several features that the Edge-V model has . These include an APDS-9960 sensor module, a microSD slot, and a storage-ready M.2 2280. The Captain Carrier share other features with the Edge-V, like the eDP interface and MIPI-DSI and -CSI connections.

The Captain Carrier is fitted with an audio jack, touch-panel interface, IR, buzzer, RTC header, Li-Po battery charging circuit, and more. The Edge-V has a different layout from the Edge and Edge-1. The Edge-V has new four-lane MIPI-CSI, MIPI-DSI, and eDP 1.3 interfaces. The MIPI-CSI connector supports dual 13-megapixel cameras. The Edge-V adds a touch-panel connector, an RTC, an IR receiver, a sensor module with gesture control, and 6x-axis motion tracking. It’s unknown if there’s a real GbE port, or as with the Edge, only the PHY, as listed in the specs. The photos show an empty RJ45 socket.

More information may be found on the Khadas Edge Indiegogo page and the Khadas website.

3D TLC NAND Flash technology enters the Industry

Posted on 12 November, 201812 November, 2018 by mixos

3D TLC NAND flash based products are already dominating in SSD for consumers. Sophisticated NAND FLASH manufacturing technology, new advanced FLASH controllers and firmware now allow using 3D TLC NAND in industrial grade SSDs.

Apacer introduces a new ST170 series in 2.5″ SSD, M.2, mSATA, MO-297, CFast and uSSD form factors.

To make products reliable and simultaneously provide high performance, they use:

Error Correction/Detection
Power Failure Management
Flash memory Bad-Block Management
Global wear levelling – all spare blocks in all ﬂash chips in the product are managed together in a single pool. Controller tries to distribute the writes evenly to all flash memory blocks. You can judge the efficiency of algorithm from SMART attributes Max. erase count and Avg. erase count.
End-to-end data protection – a feature that extends error control to cover the entire path from the host computer to the drive and back, and ensures data integrity at multiple points in the path to enable reliable delivery of data transfers
SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)
Thermal sensor – regularly check SMART attribute Temperature and decrease SSD workload to avoid rising SSD temperature above 70°C
Page-level flash translation layer
Hyper cache technology – portion of the available capacity is used as SLC (1bit-per-cell) NAND flash. Only two values are written (0, 1) instead of eight.
Over-provisioning – certain portion of the SSD capacity is reserved exclusively for increasing garbage collection (GC) efficiency, especially when the SSD is filled to full capacity or it is under heavy mixed (sequential-random) workload.
TRIM support – the command enables the operating system to inform the SSD flash controller of blocks that contain unnecessary data, typically data that the operating system has deleted. The controller then erases the unnecessary blocks and releases them for use.

Error Correction/Detection

When application writes data to SSD, flash controller writes the data, firmware information and ECC (error correction code) to flash memory. Controller writes 40-bit BCH (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquengham) ECC per 1KB of data for SSD from SM210-25 series, for example. When controller reads the data from flash memory, it uses ECC to check the data validity and correct errors.

ST170 series uses low-density parity-check (LDPC) as ECC code. For normal reading that doesn´t modify reference voltage connected to memory cell gates (hard decoding), it provides slightly better error correction than BCH code. If controller can’t correct errors in data, soft decoding mode is used. In this mode, the controller reads the data from the flash multiple times with different reference voltages connected to memory cell gates. Soft decoding has a much better error correction capability, but multiple readings mean slower read performance.

You can check Error Correction/Detection status by reading the SMART attribute Bad Cluster Table Count.

Flash Memory Bad-Block Management

When a flash memory chip leaves factory, it contains a minimal number of initial bad blocks. There is no currently known technology that produces flash chips free of bad blocks. In addition, bad blocks may develop during program/erase cycles. Since bad blocks are inevitable, the solution is to keep them under control.

To check the current bad block count, the user should read SMART attribute Total later bad block count.

Power Failure Management

The best way to prevent damage to data during a sudden power outage is to prevent its occurrence. It is not always possible, and therefore ST170 series provides several protection mechanisms to avoid data corruption.

1. Mapping Table Protection

The mapping table contains records that map logical addresses to the physical address of flash memory pages. Page-level mapping provides excellent random write speed but requires a lot of RAM to store mapping table. During the write operation, the controller writes data and mapping information to flash and then it updates the table in RAM.

In case of power loss, there isn’t enough time to write mapping table to flash, so it is lost. After power resume, the controller sequentially reads every NAND flash block, retrieves the logical address mapping and rebuilds the mapping table. If the mapping table is not successfully rebuilt in the initial reading, the controller keeps reading until the mapping table is recovered.

2. Last Write Protection

Flash memory can’t be overwritten, so to update page P1 in block B1 firmware writes new version P1’ to block B2. If a power failure occurs during the writing of the page P1’, operation may or may not finish successfully. After power resume, the ECC firmware detects and if possible, corrects the error in page P1’. If correction is impossible, firmware previous version P1 is used and garbage collection algorithm takes care of the invalid P1’ page.

3. HyperCache

Series doesn’t use DRAM cache which, in case of power blackout, losses data because there isn’t enough time to write data from cache to flash. Hyper cache is used instead of it.

Check if bad block count increases (SMART attribute Total later bad block) when attribute Unexpected Power Loss Count increases. If so, you should make precaution to avoid power loss occurrence.

SMART

SMART is an abbreviation that stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. It monitors the important SSD parameters for taking proactive measures to prevent its failure.

Full list of supported parameters are provided in datasheets. The meaning of some important attributes was described above. The other important parameters are:

Lifetime left – value in percentage, 100% means a new SSD, 0% fully utilized – such SSD should be replaced immediately. ST170-25 doesn’t provide this information, however attribute Avg. erase count can be used to estimate lifetime left.

Lifetime left = (1 – Avg. erase count/PE Cycle) x 100, PE Cycle=3 000 (the same value as for MLC flash based products)

SSD Protect Mode

• 0: R/W – normal status
• 3: Read Only
• 7: Unusual Read Only (Occurs when free blocks are insufficient or encountering excessive later bad blocks)

SSD protects itself by setting to read-only mode to avoid data corruption, if Avg. erase count exceeds 3 000 PE cycles or event described for parameter value = 7 occurs.

SATA PHY Error Count – indicates problems with communication. They can be caused by defective cable or connectors for example.

$6 C-SKY Linux Development Board Features GX6605S Media SoC

Posted on 12 November, 201812 November, 2018 by mixos

C-Sky Linux development board is capable of playing HD video and costs only $6. As said it’s sold for about $6 (39 RMB) on Taobao, and $17.36 shipped on Aliexpress, and features Nationalchip GX6605S processor for DVB-S2 HD set-top boxes using C-SKY architecture, independent from RISC-V, although C-SKY is also a member of the RISV-C foundation.

C-SKY Linux development board key features and specifications:

SoC – Nationalchip GX6605S C-SKY ISA V1 CK610M 32-bit processor @ 574 MHz with 64MB DDR2 RAM, built-in DVB-S2/S demodulator
Storage – 4MB SPI flash for bootloader and media player program
Video Output – HDMI output up to 1080p; framebuffer resolution (for UI): 1280×720
Video Playback – H.264 up to 1080p
USB – 2x USB2.0 host ports
Expansion – 5-pin header with 3x GPIOs, 3.3V, GND
Debugging
- JTAG via XX32F103C8T6 USB-JTAG chip (micro USB port)
- UART console via CH340g USB-UART chip (micro USB port)
Misc – 5 user buttons, reset button, 4x LEDs
Power Supply – 5V/1A via micro USB port (JTAG or UART)

There’s no network connectivity nor large storage on the board – everything runs from the 4MB SPI flash, but you can add Ethernet, WiFi, and/or storage via the USB ports.

Documentation – mostly in Chinese – is available on Github.io, and support provided via Github issues tracker. Their Linux 4.16 based firmware is build with buildroot + uClibc-NG, and you can run it in qemu if you don’t have the board.

[via]

Prestissimo Uno+: Arduino with more I2C UART SPI ADC IO PWM

Posted on 12 November, 201812 November, 2018 by mixos

All the simplicity of the Arduino Uno plus extra I2C UART SPI ADC IO and PWM channels. A development board for the new ATmega328PB MCU.

The Prestissimo Uno+ is a platform for rapid electronics development and prototyping that brings us the simplicity, ease of use and reliability of the Arduino Uno but with extended functionality.

Despite numerous other options, the Arduino Uno has remained the most popular electronics prototyping platform for makers, engineers and hobbyists alike. At the heart of its success is the simplicity, ease of use and reliability of the AVR microcontroller. Unfortunately the Arduino Uno has an extremely limited feature set. Many times makers and developers are forced to compromise their design or to move to more complex platforms increasing time-to-market and making DIY projects less doable.

The Prestissimo Uno+ uses the new ATmega328PB microcontroller – an updated version of the Arduino Uno’s ATmega328P microcontroller. The “PB” version of the MCU builds on pre-existing functionality to include more SPI, UART and I2C ports (two of each instead of one), 9 PWM channels instead of 6, 8 ADC channels instead of 6, and 24 IO instead of 20 among other improvements. As the micro-controllers are so similar, full Arduino Uno compatibility is maintained meaning you get increased functionality while preserving the Arduino Uno experience.

Prestissimo Uno+: Arduino with more I2C UART SPI ADC IO PWM – [Link]

DevKit supports AI on laptops, smartphones

Posted on 8 November, 20188 November, 2018 by mixos

Gyrfalcon DevKit Simplifies Edge AI, Providing a complete suite of hardware and software tools for AI Model Creation.

Gyrfalcon Technology Inc. (GTI), the world’s leading developer of low-cost, low-power, high-performance Artificial Intelligence (AI) processors from Edge to Cloud, today announced its DevKit, a set of development resources which makes it possible for smaller companies to achieve AI acceleration on existing devices such as smartphones, computers or industrial equipment. The cost-effective kit includes self-guiding online resources and two PLAI™ (“People Learning AI”) accessories that can run applications created to deliver Edge AI in devices using GTI’s first-generation chip, the Lightspeeur® 2801S.

Our DevKit is GTI’s response to companies and developers creating offerings for Edge AI. From large, household-name electronics manufacturers to small companies looking to use the right technology to create AI models independently, everybody can “Plai’ with AI,” said Marc Naddell, VP of Marketing & Sales, GTI. “With today’s launch, we are now able to offer a more diverse and flexible ecosystem of AI solutions.

The PLAI accessories are designed to be simple enough to use by non-experts:

The PLAI™Plug is a USB3.0 dongle that plugs into laptops and other devices running a Windows, Linux or Android operating system. The PLAI™ Plug provides the AI accelerator to support applications developed by third parties that would run on a compatible laptop. Some examples include improving image resolution, transferring the style of a photo into that of a famous painter’s style or classifying images.
The PLAI™ Wifi is a small, wireless accessory that provides 14GB of secure storage, pairs with Android or iOS smartphones, and supports image classification, low-light image enhancements and other AI capabilities to demonstrate the power of GTI’s accelerator chips running locally on existing smartphones. The companion demo app (AI Buddy) includes several AI experiences such as the “Night Vision Filter,” which enhances dark photos with brightness and color.

Developers can write applications for the two PLAI™ accessories, which, when embedded with an AI model, can enrich existing devices with Edge AI-based experiences. This means users don’t need to upgrade their laptops or phones to a new, high-end model to experience Edge AI.

Along with the PLAI accessories, the DevKit provides access to online resources to facilitate AI model creation. These include documentation, a forum and the PLAI™ Builder, a lightweight AI training and modeling platform. Together, these assets provide users with everything needed to create commercial-grade AI models for GTI chipsets.

The DevKit is available directly from GTI. The PLAI™ Wifi device will also be made available as a standalone to be sold by a partner retailer (sign up to get notified).

TrigBoard – Ultra low power ESP8266 IoT platform

Posted on 8 November, 2018 by mixos

The trigBoard is an IoT project that does one thing – it pushes you a notification triggered by a digital input. Well, it’s much more than that, but this is the inspiration. I wanted to design a WiFi board that essentially sleeps most of its life, but when that door switch, flood sensor, motion sensor, etc.. gets triggered, I just want a notification immediately on my phone. And that’s about it… a perfect IoT device in the background doing its job.

Features

Simple IoT development board that was designed to trigger “Push Notifications” on a smart phone/tablet based on a trigger event.
Unique low-power front-end to enable sub 1uA sleep current – uses a pulse to trigger wake-up, so even if door/window/etc is opened, the same ultra low currents can be maintained. Compare to standard pull-up/down resistor based digital input designs with significantly higher leakage current.
The board will wake itself up once an hour to check the battery voltage – if running low, a push notification is sent to warn the user. This timer can be used to check other things as well – temperature changes, accelerometers, or other environmental sensors.
Based on ESP8266 WiFi Module (ESP-12S) – all source code is available for download and developed in the popular Arduino IDE.
Battery Input can be any Lithium Polymer 3.7V – standard micro JST connector jack is used (please double check polarity),any of these would work nicely.
Sensor input to trigger the “Wake Up” is a simple passive switch. Typically a standard magnetic door/window switch is used and the board can be configured to wake on the “opening” (Normally Closed) or “closure” (Normally Open) of the contact. Solder jumpers set this – Normally Closed is Default, so standard door/window switches wake the board up when opened.
Battery Charging On-Board via MicroUSB – set for 4.2V at 500mA. 5V input pads broken out for energy harvesting experimentation.
Dimensions only 0.8″ x 1.6 ” (20.32mm x 40.64mm)

The board is currently on sale on Tindie for $20.

SAMD21 LoRa Development Board with GPS

Posted on 7 November, 20187 November, 2018 by mixos

Michael Krumpus designed and built a SAMD21 development board with LoRa radio module and GPS receiver, that is available on GitHub:

I’ve been doing some LoRa projects lately in order to learn as much as I can about this exciting new radio technology (see this LoRa mesh networking project and this LoRa weather station). ATmega328-based Moteino modules work great for a lot of projects, but I wanted a LoRa node with more processing power, more memory, and an onboard GPS receiver. The ATmega328 is just too constrained with memory — I’ve outgrown it. I really wanted a LoRa board with an ARM Cortex microcontroller like the SAMD21. This is the microcontroller used on the Arduino Zero. So, my ideal board is a SAMD21 with LoRa radio module and GPS receiver, all programmable with the Arduino IDE.

SAMD21 LoRa Development Board with GPS – [Link]

Sensirion Announces Its New Liquid Flow Sensor – SLF3S-1300F

Posted on 7 November, 20189 March, 2020 by mixos

Sensirion presents its latest liquid flow sensor, the SLF3S-1300F, at the Electronica and COMPAMED 2018 trade fairs. By combining Sensirion’s excellent 20-year track record in low and lowest flow rate sensing with a radically optimized mechanical design, the SLF3S-1300F takes the well-established functionality to the next level in price-performance ratio. The sensor provides maximum safety, stability and long-term reliability for a wide range of applications, including the fields of diagnostics, analytical instruments and life sciences.

The SLF3S-1300F liquid flow sensor is based on Sensirion’s proven CMOSens® Technology and optimizes costs by simplifying the design without sacrificing the easy fluidic, electrical and mechanical connections. The straight and unobstructed flow channel has no moving parts; inert wetted materials provide outstanding chemical resistance and excellent media compatibility. In measuring flow rates up to 40 ml/min bi-directionally, the sensor allows monitoring the entire system operation and detecting common failure modes.

The SLF3S-1300F enables applications in the fields of diagnostics, analytical instruments and life sciences to reach unparalleled fluid control, system reliability and thus new heights in performance and end-user satisfaction. Its compact form factor and cost-effective design permit system designs with one or more sensors that were previously unfeasible.

Samples of the SLF3S-1300F liquid flow sensor are available now for testing. Please contact Sensirion for further information at info@sensirion.com.

Features:

Highly integrated: Linearized, temperature-compensated and fully calibrated digital output signal (I²C) from a single chip
Full scale flow rate for water-based liquids: 40 ml /min
Turn down ratio 200:1 or better
High speed measurement: Response time below 20 ms
Bidirectional measurement and real time failure detection
Easy fluidic and electrical integration via ¼″-28 flat bottom ports and a standard connector
Straight, unobstructed flow channel without moving parts
Media isolated sensing principle: no direct sensor contact with the fluid
Compact and light-weight form factor
Chemically resistant wetted materials

Commercial release of the sensor is planned for 2019.

Discover the SLF3S-1300F liquid flow sensors at this year’s Electronica (Hall B3, Booth 417) and COMPAMED (Hall 8a, Booth H19.6) trade fairs. For more information, please visit: www.sensirion.com/slf3x

Bosch announces industry’s first Position Tracking Smart Sensor BHI160BP

Posted on 7 November, 20187 November, 2018 by mixos

Reutlingen/Munich, Germany – At electronica Munich, Bosch Sensortec announces the BHI160BP, the industry’s first Position Tracking Smart Sensor that utilizes integrated inertial sensors to improve GPS location tracking.

Always-on position tracking

When used with a GPS or GNSS module, the BHI160BP enables users to take full advantage of pedestrian position tracking with up to 80% saving in system power consumption compared with a typical GNSS-only solution, without compromising on accuracy. Users benefit from a greatly extended battery life and longer charging intervals for wearable applications such as smartwatches and fitness trackers and other mobile devices such as smartphones or hearables. This new position tracking approach is set to enable a new class of compact devices with even smaller batteries.

The BHI160BP tracks a person’s position by intelligently applying an inertial sensor based algorithm for Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR). To maintain accuracy, it calculates the user’s relative location based on data collected from the inertial sensors and then re-calibrates itself every few minutes to obtain the absolute position provided by the GNSS/GPS module. This means that the GNSS/GPS module can be kept in sleep mode for most of the time, which drastically reduces a device’s power consumption and extends its operating time.

Pedestrian position tracking is a crucial application for mobile applications; unfortunately, GPS modules can rapidly drain a device’s battery capacity – especially when the battery is as small as in wearable devices,” says Dr. Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO of Bosch Sensortec. “Our new Position Tracking Smart Sensor solves this problem and enables users to navigate reliably while extending the operation of GPS tracking in their devices from several hours up to several days.

Straightforward integration

The position tracking capability provided by the BHI160BP also means that a device can maintain solid accuracy even when the GNSS signal is blocked or weak, e.g. near tall buildings or indoors. This ensures accurate pedestrian navigation at all times, even in shielded indoor areas such as subways.

The BHI160BP is a new member of Bosch Sensortec’s BHI160 family and adds application-specific functionality for position tracking. It provides a ready-to-use solution that can be quickly and easily integrated into a system design without requiring an update to a new GNSS module, thereby significantly cutting time to market.

While the current configuration is optimized for use with GNSS receivers (such as GPS), the BHI160BP can also support most of the common global localization technologies. As well as improving localization, the BHI160BP can also serve to handle gesture recognition and 3D orientation, with 3D calculations performed by the sensor itself rather than by an application processor.

Wide range of features and functionalities

The new BHI160BP draws only 1.3 mA in active operation mode and is the industry’s lowest-power solution that integrates the Fuser Core (MCU) and a 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). Additionally, the Position Tracking Smart Sensor offers a variety of customized virtual sensors, such as a calibrated accelerometer, orientation and wake up gesture, within a single device. Furthermore, the BHI160BP can be extended by connecting additional physical sensors, such as a magnetometer, over a secondary interface.

The new BHI160BP comes in a compact 3 x 3 x 0.95 mm³ LGA-package and is pin-to-pin compatible with the BHI160.

Features:

Ultra-low power position tracking reduces system power consumption by up to 80%
Seamless and more reliable localization than GPS-only solutions
Wide range of features like 3D orientation and gesture recognition
Bosch booth at electronica Munich: hall C3, booth 522

Availability

The BHI160BP will be available via distribution in December 2018.

Solar Powered Beehive Monitor Using Sigfox network

Posted on 7 November, 20187 November, 2018 by mixos

Small temperature/humidity/atmospheric pressure monitor using Sigfox to transfer the data. Powered by solar energy to monitor beehives.

We wanted to monitor beehive remotely and online. You would say it is easy to use mobile data for such purpose. But there are some cons: The coverage is not good enough, not all the people do have mobile data activated, the pricing is quite high for our purpose and last but not least such solution consumes a lot of electricity causing the battery dry in a day or two.

Solar Powered Beehive Monitor Using Sigfox network – [Link]