Page 361 – Electronics-Lab.com

The Gameduino 3X Dazzler

Posted on 22 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

By now, you are probably familiar with Arduino and have probably done some interesting projects. But have you ever consider developing a game for Arduino and got underwhelmed with a limited amount of options? Then you might want to check out the Gameduino 3X Dazzler!

The Gameduino 3X Dazzler is a shield compatible with the Arduino that delivers HD picture and sound to any HDMI display or TV, considered by the developers as ideal for game designers using Arduino or CircuitPython who want rich, responsive data and text visualizations and anyone who wants stunning visuals in their Arduino project. The shield is based on the BT815 EVE embedded GPU, powering its graphics and sound. From the outside, you can also find an FPGA and the HDMI output. It also incorporates two Wii Classic ports, so that you can plug the controllers and get right into action! It states itself as “the most powerful Arduino games system” available to this day, gifting the developers with an easy to use drawing API and dozens of samples and demos to help you get started. Besides the shield, an adapter board is also available for purchase, if you desire to use the Dazzler directly, which does not come with the controller ports.

Regarding the specs of this interesting shield:

BT815 embedded GPU (1.1 gigapixel/s with 8 MB flash memory) with 32-bit internal color precision, OpenGL-style command set, among other features
Xilinx Spartan-6 LX9 FT256 FPGA with 8 MB flash memory
HDMI 24-bit video output at 1280×720 (720p) with 48 KHz stereo audio
Micro-SD slot
Ports for 2 Wii Classic controllers
SPI (up to 36MHz for arduino communication) and UART (up to 1Mbps for FPGA communication) interfaces
JTAG header for FPGA reloading
Gameduino library for Arduino and CircuitPython programming
180 mA typical current consumption
83 mm x 53 mm x 20 mm dimmensions

The system itself is open source and hackable, allowing you to tinker with the PCB design, the verilog code for the HDMI output and the J1 CPU running on the FPGA and the its firmware, that drives the extra features of the shield. The board contains some addicional interfaces for you to play with, including a JTAG port to reload the FPGA and UART header to allow direct communication with the FPGA itself.

Great graphics with your Arduino — Who said it was impossible to have great graphics in your Arduino?

You can also take advantage of the Terminal Mode it incorporates, in order to debug or display useful information, which does not require any graphics programming at all or even play videos at 720p 30fps, and I’m not even getting started on the many cool things this design allows you to.

Right now, the Gameduino 3X Dazzler is in funding at Crowd Supply, with, ending in 41 days. It comes in 3 different packages: the shield itself ($39), the Dazzler Python Game Pack ($89), with the shield, an Adafruit Metro M4, 16GB SD card and two Wii Classic-compatible controllers and the Dazzler Core Pack ($99), with 3 Dazzler Core modules and a 0.1″ adapter board, for easier prototyping.

Tell me what you think about this shield. Will you pick it up and turn it into your next home-brewed console?

Crowd Supply Gameduino 3x Dazzler Link: https://www.crowdsupply.com/excamera/gameduino-3x-dazzler

Single-chip low power 802.11n WLAN and BLE Module

Posted on 22 September, 2020 by mixos

The CDW-B78720C-XX series from Cdtech and available from Tecona are highly integrated single-chip low power 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) network controllers.

Measuring a mere 22- x 15- x 2.5-mm, the CDW-B78720C-XX series combine a KM4 MCU, WLAN MAC, a 1T1R, WLAN baseband, RF, and Bluetooth in a single chip. Bluetooth covers BLE4.2, BLE5.0 and BLE Mesh specifications, while the 1T1R WLAN encompasses 802.11b/g/n.

The chip also provides a bunch of configurable GPIOs which are configured as digital peripherals for different applications and control usage.

The CDW-B78720C-XX series integrate internal memories for complete WIFI protocol functions. The embedded memory configuration also enables simplified application development.

The devices carry FCC and WiFi alliance certifications. Both DIP and SMT assembly methods are supported.

more information: www.telcona.com

Axiomtek’s UST200-83H-FL – A Palm-Sized, Cost-Effective Fanless IoT Gateway for In-Vehicle Applications

Posted on 22 September, 2020 by mixos

Axiomtek – a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency – is proud to introduce the UST200-83H-FL, a palm-sized in-vehicle IoT gateway powered by the low-power consumption Intel® Atom™ x5-E3930 processor (codename: Apollo Lake-I). It is certified with CE and FCC and is in compliance with ISO 7637-2. With the function of the Smart Ignition power control, the rugged embedded system can arrange a power on/off schedule to protect the vehicle battery from unstable voltage. This high-performance IoT gateway delivers an excellent price-performance ratio for in-vehicle applications.

“The Axiomtek UST200-83H-FL offers a power-efficient design to maximize operational efficiency. This well-developed in-vehicle box PC is equipped with Smart Ignition power control to meet various in-vehicle application needs. By switching the power mode, it supports 12 and 24 VDC typical automotive power input or wide-range 9 to 36V DC power input. The flexible IoT gateway is designed for all kinds of in-vehicle applications from the shuttle bus, police car, ambulance, cold chain truck, and forklift to heavy-duty vehicles,” said Eason Yang, a product manager of Product PM Division at Axiomtek. “Thanks to its ruggedized design for harsh environments, the UST200-83H-FL is able to operate under a wide temperature range from -40°C to +70°C and vibration of up to 3 Grms. This IoT gateway supports both wall mounting and DIN-rail mounting. Its ultra-lightweight and compact design is ideal for space constraint environments.”

The fanless UST200-83H-FL comes with one DDR3L-1866 SO-DIMM slot with up to 8GB of system memory. It has one full-size PCI Express Mini Card slot (USB/PCIe interface with SIM socket) and one half-size PCI Express Mini Card slot (mSATA/USB/PCIe interface) for a wide selection of modules. It has a half-size mSATA shared with its PCI Express Mini Card slot for storage. Its I/O options include one DB9 RS-232/422/485 or CANBus 2.0 A/B supporting SocketCAN, one VGA port, two USB 2.0 ports, two RJ-45 LAN ports with isolation and one DB9 8-bit programmable DIO. This cost-efficient in-vehicle PC is compatible with Windows®10 IoT and Linux. Besides, it supports Axiomtek’s exclusive AXView software to fulfill the requirement of remote monitoring.

Advanced Features:

CE, FCC certified; ISO 7637-2 compliant
Intel® Atom® x5-E3930 processor (code name: Apollo Lake)
Extremely cost-effective with fanless and cableless design
Smart Ignition for power on/off schedule, vehicle battery protection and different power mode
Wide operating temperature range from -40°C to +70°C
Supports 12 & 24 VDC typical in-vehicle and 9-36 VDC power input
Supports SocketCAN, 1 COM or CAN, 2 USB, and 2 GbE LAN
8-bit programmable DIO for transportation IoT gateway applications

The UST200-83H-FL is now available for purchase. For more product information or customization services, please visit our global website at www.axiomtek.com or contact one of our sales representatives at info@axiomtek.com.tw.

RV32E Floating-Point library offers 72% code size reduction

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

SEGGER announces a new version of the RISC-V Floating-Point Library with full support for RV32E – the embedded variant of the RISC-V core. The new library leads to a massive reduction in code size for RISC-V applications using floating point.

With all arithmetic functions hand-coded in assembly language, the memory footprint of RISC-V applications using floating-point code is minimized. The Floating-Point library complies with the RISC-V ABI standard and can therefore be easily used as a plug-and-play replacement for any other floating point library.

Replacing the GNU floating-point library used by most toolchains with the SEGGER assembly optimized equivalent results in an over 72% code size reduction of the benchmark application. The library supports RV32I, as well as the newly introduced RV32E embedded variant of the RISC-V core with the assembly-level code.

“This new release is much smaller than anything available to us for comparison and, at the same time, is incredibly fast,” says Rolf Segger, Founder of SEGGER. “In the world of Embedded Systems, every byte counts. The SEGGER Floating-Point library delivers high performance and uses the architectural advantages of RISC-V to close the code-density gap to comparable Arm Cortex devices. We are convinced that our software is market-leading and – unlike some of our competitors – we facilitate and encourage comparing and benchmarking it.”

The library can be licensed by end customers and toolchain suppliers. Just like the SEGGER Runtime Library, it is integrated into SEGGER Embedded Studio for RISC-V. Using Embedded Studio, benchmarking for both floating-point and runtime libraries can be done quickly and easily. It is readily available at no cost for non-commercial usage under SEGGER’s Friendly License.

For a detailed look at SEGGER’s Floating-Point Library for RISC-V please visit: https://blog.segger.com/profiling-and-code-coverage-on-risc-v-using-simulation/

For more information on SEGGER’s support for RISC-V please visit: https://www.segger.com/risc-v/

STMicroelectronics STM32H723-733 725-735 & 730 Arm® Cortex®-M7 core

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

The STM32H723/733, STM32H725/735, and STM32H730 lines are leaning on the STM32H7 DNA

The STM32H723/733, STM32H725/735, and STM32H730 lines are leaning on the STM32H7 DNA. They provide maximum performance up to 550 MHz, high integration with embedded Flash memory of 128 KB (for STM32H730 family) and up to 1 Mbyte (for STM32H723/733 and STM32H725/735 family), advanced security features, ECC on all embedded memories, while maintaining support for high operating ambient temperature, up to 125 °C. This new series of microcontrollers brings the highest Cortex M7 performance in the market, and allows customers to execute from external encrypted flash memories, hence avoiding exposing their sensitive SW IP even on external memory.

Key features

Fast 16-bit and 12-bit ADCs
LCD-TFT controller with Chrom-ART Accelerator™
On-the-fly decryption of code stored in external memory
Ethernet, FD-CAN, USB 2.0 HS/FS

Additional features

Max Frequency up to 550MHz
Octal-SPI support with On-The-Fly-Decryption for increased perf vs Quad-SPI, more security and Octal-RAM support
Math acceleration (Trigonometric and Filtering) to off-load the core
ITCM RAM re-map capability for more flexibility in the code partitioning
Fast 12-bit ADC (in addition to the 16-bit ADC) for more flexibility
Parallel synchronous slave interface (PSSI) for more connectivity
New VFQFPN68 introduced for a more aggressive entry price and integration

STM32H730 Value Line :

Reduced Flash size down to 128KB mainly for user Bootloader storage and adjust to external memories environment
Secure services/Crypto/On-The-Fly-Decrypt by default on the STM32H730xxx and STM32H730xxxQ part numbers

more information: www.st.com

SGP40-D-R4 Indoor Air Quality Sensor

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

Sensirion’s SGP40 VOC sensor is designed for air purifiers or demand-controlled ventilation

The SGP40 is Sensirion’s digital volatile organic compounds (VOC) sensor designed for easy integration into air treatment devices and air quality monitors. Based on Sensirion’s CMOSens® technology, the SGP40 offers a complete sensor system on a single chip and features a digital I²C interface, a temperature-controlled micro-hotplate, and a humidity-compensated indoor air quality signal. In combination with Sensirion’s powerful VOC algorithm, the sensor signal can be directly used to evaluate indoor air quality for applications such as triggering the gradual fan control of an air treatment device. Both the SGP40 chip and VOC algorithm feature unrivaled robustness in the final application over their lifetimes. Pushing the multi-pixel and multi-hotplate approach to the next level of individual control of each sensing element, the SGP40 enables a drastic reduction in power consumption, making it suitable for battery-driven applications as well. Sensirion’s state-of-the-art production process guarantees high reproducibility and reliability.

Features

Interface: I²C
Supply voltage range: 1.7 V to 3.6 V
Current consumption: 2.6 mA to 3.5 mA (at 3.3 V or 1.8 V, respectively)
Measurement range: 0 ppm to 1,000 ppm of ethanol equivalents
Sensor output: digital 16-bit raw signal
Processed output: digital VOC index signal
Response time: <10 s (tau 63%)
Limit of detection: <0.05 ppm of ethanol equivalents or <10% of concentration setpoint (whichever is larger)
Switch-on time: <60 s
On-chip humidity compensation: yes

Applications

Air purifiers
Kitchen hoods
Demand-controlled ventilation
Thermostats
Indoor air quality monitoring

more information: www.sensirion.com

RISC-V-based System-on-Chip (SoC) FPGA Development Kit from Microchip for PolarFire SoC

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by mixos

Microchip Technology Inc. has introduced a RISC-V-based System-on-Chip (SoC) Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development kit for PolarFire® SoC FPGA. The Icicle Development Kit allows the designers who need a programmable RISC-V based SOC FPGA to develop and evaluate the broad network of RISC-V ecosystem products such as Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), debuggers, compilers, System On Modules (SOMs), and security solutions.

The Mi-V RISC-V Partner Ecosystem provides an extensive set of tools and design resources from Microchip and numerous third parties for better RISC-V designs.

Microchip’s Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC and Mi-V ecosystem enables PolarFire SoC FPGAs with:

RISC-V processor complex from SiFive and embedded trace macro from UltraSoC
Development tools from Adacore, Green Hills Software, Mentor Graphics, and Wind River
Commercial RTOS solutions such as Nucleus and VxWorks that complement Microchip’s Linux® and bare-metal solutions
Middleware solutions from DornerWorks, Hex Five, Veridify Security and wolfSSL
SOM and design services from organizations such as Antmicro, ARIES Embedded, Digital Core Technologies, Emdalo Technologies, Sundance DSP, and Trenz Electronic

The Icicle Kit acts as a full-featured platform for development as the kit is centered around 250K Logic Element (LE) PolarFire SoC device and includes a PCIe® connector, mikroBUS™ socket, dual RJ45 connector, Micro-USB connector, CAN bus connector, Raspberry Pi® header, JTAG port, and SD Card interfaces. The board is also supported with reliable power management and clocking devices, an Ethernet PHY (VSC8662XIC), USB controller (USB3340-EZK-TR), and current sensors (PAC1934T-I/JQ).

The PolarFire SoC FPGAs can deliver up to 50% lower total power than competing devices. The Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC FPGAs is best suitable for smart embedded imaging, IoT, industrial automation, defense, automotive, and communication applications. For more information about the Icicle Development Kit for PolarFire(SoC) FPGAs, visit the official website of Microchip Technology, Inc.

Availability

Microchip’s Icicle Kit for PolarFire SoC FPGAs (MPFS-ICICLE-KIT-ES) is available today starting at $489.00. PolarFire FPGAs are in production today with early samples of the SoC FPGA available today. For additional information, or to purchase the kit, contact a Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor.

Seeed Studio Makes Design for Assembly (DFA) Review Free for All PCB Assembly Orders with Seeed Fusion

Posted on 21 September, 202021 September, 2020 by Tope Oluyemi

Good news! Seeed Studio is now including the highly acclaimed Design for Assembly (DFA) review with every PCBA order – 100% free! They say

“No prices have been hiked up or additional fees squeezed in anywhere, go ahead, check. We simply cannot understate the value of this service, and we recommend it so much that we are throwing it in completely free from now on.”

This is the first among many of a new series of developments outlined, with an emphasis on their most comprehensive offering at Seeed Fusion, small batch PCB assembly (PCBA). Each month for the next few months, they will be announcing a new upgrade or offer for the community, whether it’s special offers or easier access to their best value-added services. About the reason for the DFA, Seeed studio says

“With the increasing popularity of outsourcing manufacturing, faster prototyping and more frequent but smaller batch runs, verifying a design at the earliest stage becomes more and more important, if not necessary. It is no longer sufficient to wing-it and just hope things turn out for the best on the production floor, where mistakes are the most destructive.”

For those who don’t know how a DFA works, A PCBA Design for Assembly (DFA) review utilizes the information contained in the PCB Gerber files, Bill of Materials, X-Y file, and other available information to verify the successful production and optimal yield of an electronic device. The Seeed Fusion DFM review service gives your design a thorough check from our own expert engineers to ensure a smooth and punctual production run. The Seeed PCBA DFA review checks for problems pertaining to the final assembled PCB. We do this by looking at the compatibility of the constituent parts (PCB and components) with each other and the intended assembly method. Therefore, unlike a PCB DFM review, a DFA review calls on the combined product development expertise of an electrical engineer with shop-floor manufacturing experience. After the review, you will be sent a Design for Assembly report with any findings, suggested changes, and their level of importance.

About the success of DFA, Seeed says

“Admittedly, digging up datasheets to check the pads and positions of hundreds of parts is tedious and laborious work. No one wants to do it. But the DFA service has consistently proven itself and saved many a backside. Since it’s first introduction late last year, Seeed’s DFA engineers have consistently detected problems in over 80% of PCBA orders – 80%! Even the most meticulous of designers are not immune, one tiny hiccup can lead to weeks of delays and expensive re-runs.”

Seeed Fusion offers you the opportunity to Power-Up your PCBA experience. You can utilize the unique online quoting platform that fetches complete turnkey PCB Assembly quotations, including parts procurement and PCB manufacture in seconds. All you need to do is to add functional testing or programming services, then await your personalized DFA report from our in-house engineers. Seeed Studio has gotten a lot of positive feedback regarding the DFA service despite the large engineering cost, and they are delighted to offer this unique service for free for Seeed Fusion PCBA customers.

“We are confident you will not be disappointed.”

You can visit the announcement page for more information.

$10 System-on-Module Drives Full HD Smart Displays via SigmaStar SSD201 SoC

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

Are you looking for a cheap Full HD display driver? Then you may have come to the right place! SigmaStar, one of the cheapest camera processors manufacturer on the market, just released the new low-cost module IDO-SOM2D01, built upon their own SSD201 SOC, a Smart HD Display Controller.

The SSD201 itself is a highly integrated SoC. It is based on a dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, integrates H.264/H.265 video decoder, 2D graphics engine and TTL/MIPI display with adjustable picture quality engine, among with other peripherals that make it useful for smart display applications. The full list of specs are:

ARM Cortex-A7 dual core up to 1.2GHz (32kB I-cache + 32kB D-cache + 256 kB L2-cache, Neon and FPU, MMU for Linux support and DMA engine)
64MB embedded DDR2 and 128 MB flash (with support for 2GB) memories, with support for SD card
H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC decoders (supports up to Full HD resolution with 60 fps decode)
JPEG decoder (supports JPEG baseline encoding in YUV422 or YUV420 formats, up to Full HD resolution with 15 fps)
Display subsystem with built-in contrast, brightness, sharpness and saturation control, TTL output up to HD 60fps, MIPI TX DSI 4-lane output up to Full HD 60fps and max speed 1.5Gbps
Integrated 2D graphics hardware accelerator
Audio processor supporting 1 micropohone input, two stereo DMIC inputs and one stereo DAC for lineout
NOR/NAND flash, SDIO and USB 2.0 interfaces (two high speed USB 2.0 hosts) and support for 2 ethernet ports
Built-in RTC with ultra low power mode (<3uA) for long battery operation
Dedicated GPIOs for system control, 4x PWM outputs, 3x generic UARTs and 1x fast UART with flow control, 1x SPI, 2x I2C, 1x IR input, 3-channel SAR ADC
Support for secure boot and AES/DES/3DES cypher engines, to help encrypt compressed audio/video files for privacy

When you take a look at the features, it takes a while to realize the size of this module, coming at an area of 2.95cm x 2.95cm and weighing only 8 grams! But how can you get your hands on one? Well, I would say that’s a tad bit complicated since the company is Chinese and so is the majority of the information you can find online, such as a promising Linux BSP that supposedly boots in one second. But if you are feeling quite adventurous, you can get the module itself for around $10 and a development board with the IDO-SOM2D01 is also there for around $200.

Aside from the possibly difficult development, there is a wide range of applications suitable for this module, with smart home displays, HMI interfaces, and medical electronics being some of them. And you, what use would you give to the module, or is it just too mysterious for you?

Module Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.3-c-s.w4002-22922295230.31.f8c42026gQQiF7&id=626360917782

2-channel USB thermocouple sensor using STM32

Posted on 21 September, 202021 September, 2020 by Micael Coutinho

A thermocouple is one of the most utilized sensors nowadays when measuring temperature. From the tip of your soldering iron to your gas oven, its value is undeniable, so if you are not integrating one in your projects, then you should! They are cheap and extremely useful. If you are, you probably wanted to test a thermocouple or wanted to take quick temperature measurements with the aid of your computer. Well, now you can!

The maker Richard Klinger developed a convenient and quite simple to use 2-channel thermocouple sensor that works via USB. It is composed of a small 60mm x 80mm PCB that connects to your computer via USB and reads out the temperatures of two type K thermocouple sensors via a MAX31855 ADC. The ADC is then connected to an STM32F070CBT6 microcontroller, powered by the popular ST platform and easily configured and tinkered by the STM32CubeIDE.

When the device is powered from the USB port, it starts sending out the measurements from the sensors as CSV values. It can also receive commands, to set the RTC clock and the interval between measurements (which can be on a relative interval or a specific time). The device runs in USB CDC mode, making it possible to work in any terminal program since the device registers to the host computer as a serial interface. It can also be set into DFU bootloader mode so that a different firmware can be flashed by you. Lastly, in case of errors, caused for instance by a defective sensor, the according to channel won’t output values, which makes sense when only one channel is used. If both are unavailable, then you get an error.

Besides the PCB, the project is accompanied by a PyQt based interface, containing a plot of both sensor measurements over time and allowing you to configure the timings. Unfortunately, if you are uncomfortable with using a command-line interface, you will have to, at least to convert the interface python script into an executable. Apart from the interface, there are also STL models for the front and back panels, but the casing ends there, where the casing around the PCB would be deeply appreciated and give you another reason to make and support this project.

The PyQt interface that accompanies the PCB project

You may have realized it from all the files involved, but if you didn’t, the project is completely hosted on Github, so you can access the STM32 files, the PyQt interface, the KiCad PCB, and the OpenSCAD files for free, which is insane, considering the completeness of it. Overall, this is quite an interesting project and should be worth your time.

Github of the project: https://github.com/richardklingler/usbthermocouple