Page 441 – Electronics-Lab.com

Ampere debuts 80-core ARM server processor

Posted on 4 March, 2020 by mixos

Ampere Computing LLC has announced a 64-bit ARM-based processor for servers comprising 80 cores and targeting 7nm manufacturing process technology. By Peter Clarke @ eenewseurope.com

Altra is a follow-up to the 32-core Skylark processor, otherwise known as eMAG, which has been manufactured in TSMC’s 16nm FinFET process. Even as that product came to market in 2018 the company was advising of a 7nm processor to follow (see Startup Ampere prices ARM server chips ).

Altra is an 80-core processor based on Neoverse N1 license, designed for predictable high performance, security isolation, scalability and leading power efficiency. It comes in single socket and dual socket versions, which are sampling to customers.

The device is scalable up to 80 cores per chip with a power consumption footprint of up to 210W. The cores are specificed up to 3.0GHz clock frequency. The core is a four-instruction wide superscalar out-of-order processor based on the ARMv8.2 instruction set architecture. Each core is single-threaded to provide reduced performance variability and increased security against system-level side-channel attacks.

There are 64kbyte level-one instruction and data caches per core and 1Mbyte level 2 data caches per core. There is also a processor-wide 32Mbyte system-level cache.

There are 8 72bit-wide DDR4 interfaces per chip and 128 lanes of PCIe Gen4 for highest IO bandwidth.

Altra is Ampere’s cloud-focused product, and first in a new class of CPUs rolling out on an annual basis from Ampere’s roadmap. The increased performance and power efficiency will make Altra suitable for many workloads including data analytics, artificial intelligence, database, storage, telco stacks, edge computing, web hosting and cloud native applications.

Jeff Wittich, senior vice president of products at Ampere, said that for some intensive training loads arrays of GPUs or some more specialized tensor processors or neural network accelerators could possibly provide superior power efficiency. “Training on TPU, IPU or GPU can make sense, but inference we can do. In other circumstances we will be the host node for an accelerator,” he told eeNews Europe .

“Our team’s attention is on solving customers’ needs and ensuring execution that delivers an annual cadence of new capabilities to the market. It is an exciting time for our young company as we work diligently to invent the future of the server CPU business,” said Renee James, Ampere founder and CEO, in a statement.

It is estimated that data centers are currently utilizing 3 percent of the world’s electricity and that is projected to grow to 11 percent by 2030, Ampere said. Ampere has benchmarked Altra against Epyc processors from AMD and Xeon processors from Intel and found significant improvements in performance and power efficience.

Wittich said Ampere intended to introduce a processor each year. The processor ‘Mystique’ is developed and aimed at 7nm manufacturing process and introduction in 2021. This will provide more cores and direct compatibility. ‘Siryn’ is in development and intended to come in 2022 and is defined for 5nm production.

Mount Jade and Mount Snow are two- and single-socket servers, respectively, from Gigabyte Technologies Inc.

Related links and articles: https://www.amperecomputing.com/

FTDI Launches Dual & Quad Channel USB-to-UART/MPSSE Bridge ICs with Built-in Type-C/PD Controllers

Posted on 4 March, 2020 by mixos

Always at the forefront of embedded connectivity innovations, FTDI Chip’s latest series of multi-channel USB interface ICs. These have the capacity to deal with next generation power requirements, as larger items of hardware start to make use of the protocol.

Available in both 2-channel (FT2233HP) and 4-channel (FT4233HP) versions, the new Hi-Speed (480Mbits/s) devices have serial UART (RS232, RS422 or RS485) and MPSSE (JTAG, I2C, SPI or Bit-Bang) interfacing capabilities. Furthermore, they are fully compliant with Rev 3.0 of the USB power delivery (PD) specification. Each features a Type-C/PD controller for taking care of all negotiation and power gauging, then deciding on the appropriate course of action (thereby offloading work that the system microcontroller would otherwise have to perform). This will enable any equipment that these ICs are integrated into to either draw or provide power as the situation dictates – with power levels of up to 100W being supported.

Based on a 32-bit RISC processor core, with 8kB of data RAM and 48kB of code ROM embedded, the PD Policy Engine manages the respective PD ports. The PD1 port can act as either a power sink or power source, while the PD2 port only acts as a power sink. Since all USB protocol handling can be accomplished directly on chip, there is no need for USB specific firmware programming to be embarked upon – which significantly streamlines the whole implementation process. Furthermore, access to FTDI’s royalty-free USB drivers (for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android) negates the need for engineers to create their own drivers from scratch.

The FT2233HP and FT4233HP ICs are available in 76-pin QFN packages, as well as 80-pin LQFP packages. An extended operational temperature range of -40°C to 85°C is supported, in order to allow deployment in harsh industrial environments. Among the key applications for these devices are domestic appliances, test instrumentation, factory automation systems, power tools, lighting equipment, barcode readers and consumer electronics products.

SEH Technology launches new dongle servers for virtualisation and outsourcing in the digital age

Posted on 4 March, 2020 by mixos

Advancing digitalisation continues to produce huge challenges for businesses across all industries. Businesses want to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive. System houses, data centers, consultants, and vendors demand solutions that can handle the increased data volume. To fulfill these market demands and adapt to new working conditions, SEH Technology has introduced its next generation dongle servers with USB 3.0. With its extensive capabilities, the next generation dongle servers will satisfy customer demands for increased performance and functional product design.

Flexible chassis channels data streams in data centers

SEH replaces both models of the USB Dongleserver family with brand-new versions: the dongleserver Pro replaces the myUTN-80 while the dongleserver ProMAX fills the shoes of the myUTN-800.

The updated hardware combines the best of the previous generation with innovative improvements, which have been identified in detailed customer interviews as well as market analyses. Leading dongle manufacturers have pushed the first USB 3.0 dongles onto the market. Thus in order to fulfill customer requests and be future-proof, the new SEH models feature USB 3.0 SuperSpeed. Completely new CPUs assure that this standard can be used to the fullest potential, meaning USB 3.0 dongles with integrated storage can now be embedded perfectly.

The RJ-45 network connectors have been moved to the back, to ensure installation in office environments as well as in data centers is much easier. This design change assures that the new dongle servers fit perfectly into rack wiring management and changes are no longer required. The new rack mount kit allows for optimal installation of the dongle server Pro into a rack and its “push to open” technology provides easy access for regular handling and maintenance. The dongleserver ProMAX can also be installed into a rack immediately and extended with the RMK3 for ultimate usability.

Low-maintenance bodyguard for maximum security

The entire USB communication between client and dongle servers can now be encrypted. Whereas before only payload was encrypted, control and protocol data are now protected from illegal access as well. In addition, it is easier to configure the encryption—previously it had to be activated for each port individually, now it’s one click. The USB port key feature has also been redesigned. Formerly, only one key could be assigned to a port and then had to be entered in order to unlock the port and use the connected USB dongle. Now not only two keys can be assigned to one USB port, but each key also supports a time slot. This feature accommodates mainly Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers who use them to provide automated time restricted access to dongle-based applications such as demo versions or accounting software.

Increased control with monitoring and logging

Monitoring and logging are essential for centralised management and secure supervision in server and data centers. Therefore, the new monitoring and logging features can trace all dongle server activity, automatically and with a timestamp. For example, the connection or removal of a dongle can be verified as a logged event, in addition to new system error warning. (De)activation and changes to the configuration setup are recorded as well, alongside the SD card status. The logged data are stored locally on the dongle servers and they can be sent to a syslog-ng and/or WebDAV server.

New hardware with a single software package

The next generation solution from SEH will also boast one single software. The frustrating separation into firm and software is a thing of the past, meaning updating the new dongle servers will be easy.

The new dongle servers are available through SEH’s UK subsidiary and partner Bechtle UK. For more information, please visit https://www.seh-technology.com/uk/products/usb-dongle-servers.html

SEGGER AppWizard Enabling Advanced GUI Design in Next Generation Embedded Applications

Posted on 3 March, 20203 March, 2020 by mixos

SEGGER has released AppWizard, presenting engineers with a powerful new tool for creating complete, ready-to-run applications for the company’s popular emWin embedded graphics library. AppWizard is intuitive to operate and comes with its own built-in resource management capabilities. It facilitates the use of all of emWin’s core functions, such as the rendering of animations, language management, widgets, etc.

One of AppWizard’s notable features is the ‘What You See is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) editor. This allows engineers to design application interfaces, along with their related interactions and events, and immediately see what these applications will actually look like. In addition, AppWizard integrates a play mode for easy testing of created applications in a simulated environment. Simply pressing F5 runs the current state of the application, just like debugging in an IDE.

The construction of embedded GUI applications with AppWizard is made very straightforward, requiring little to no prior experience with emWin or even C-programming. By applying signals and slots/interactions, the application’s behavior can be defined with ease. For example, creating a button to change a value is done with just a few clicks.

With its integrated resource management, all resources (such as fonts and images) are automatically converted to internal formats and added to the project. Resources can be stored in internal memory or offloaded to external media.

Support for board-level packages enables AppWizard to generate ready-to-use target applications. These packages include the setup of the target hardware and display for a seamless start, as well as SEGGER’s comprehensive emFile file system to make placing of resources on an SD card or some other form of external memory simple.

AppWizard outputs a bundle of C source files to work with any target system that has at least 32kByte of RAM and 128kByte of ROM. A MS Visual Studio simulation project enables debugging of the application and the adding of custom code to be carried out even if the final target hardware is not (yet) available.

“The new AppWizard streamlines the whole process of constructing even complex graphical applications, without the need for solid knowledge of how emWin works,” states Jörg Ehrle, Product Manager for emWin at SEGGER. “Our emWin PRO customers will now be able to benefit from a complete turnkey solution.”

“We have collaborated with SEGGER for many years to make emWin a key component of our software strategy for microcontrollers,” says Joe Yu, Vice President and General Manager of the Low-Power MPU & MCU Product Line at NXP® Semiconductors. “emWin’s easy-to-use API, efficiency and documentation are outstanding and easy to use within our MCUXpresso SDK packages. The introduction of new AppWizard makes it easy and fast to create stunning graphical user interfaces on our Arm® Cortex®-M microcontroller devices, from the lowest cost devices to our high-performance i.MX RT crossover platforms.”

“Renesas Electronics highly values SEGGER as a strategic partner that offers fantastic human machine interface solutions based on their emWin embedded graphics user interface,” says Daryl Khoo, Vice President of Marketing, IoT Platform Business Division at Renesas. “emWin reaches across our widely scalable RX microcontrollers and recently became a part of our Flexible Software Package (FSP) for the Renesas Advanced (RA) Family of 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M microcontrollers. We are excited about SEGGER’s new, intuitive AppWizard GUI design tool for emWin, which offers an even greater out-of-the-box experience for our customers.”

For more information about emWin and AppWizard, please go to: https://www.segger.com/emwin (under Tools)

e-con Systems Launches Camera Support for Google Coral Development Board

Posted on 3 March, 2020 by mixos

e-con Systems Inc., a leading embedded camera solutions company, today announced the launch of e-CAM50_CUCRL, a 5 MP camera board for Coral development kit from Google. e-CAM50_CUCRL houses e-con’s popular e-CAM55_CUMI0521_MOD camera module and can be directly plugged on to the Coral development kit using the supplied accessories. The camera software driver is V4L2 compliant and is available in open source.

e-CAM55_CUMI0521_MOD is based on AR0521, a 5 MP, 1/2.5″ optical format, 2.2-micron pixel size CMOS image sensor from ON Semiconductor®. The on-board high-performance Image Signal Processor (ISP) has been tuned to produce best quality images of up to 5 MP in both uncompressed YUV422 format and compressed MJPEG format. The camera module is interfaced directly to Coral i.MX8M SOM through the 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 interface supporting the maximum frame rate capabilities of the sensor.

The camera is supported by e-con’s open-source V4L2 compliant camera driver which customers can modify as per their requirements. The firmware running on the camera module configures the CMOS image sensor and ISP and communicates with the processor using e-con’s standard command control protocol. e-con’s software package contains some sample applications allowing our customers jumpstart their application development on Coral development kit immediately. e-CAM50_CUCRL is a perfect solution for customers to start their prototyping and e-con is committed to supply any volume of 5 MP camera module when our customers advance from prototyping stage to mass production stage.

e-CAM50_CUCRL is capable of streaming HD (1280 x 720) at 70 fps, FHD (1920 x 1080) at 60 fps and 5 MP (2592 x 1944) at 25 fps in uncompressed (UYVY) format. The camera produces excellent quality images consistently which is an important requirement for edge inference applications. e-con also helps our customers to choose the optics as per their application requirements.

“When combined with embedded camera technologies, AI can truly be a transformative force – whether they are deployed in smart cities and security programs or parking lots and medical devices. Being an early advocate for AI-on-edge, especially on image inference, e-con Systems combines its expertise in embedded product development and imaging to bring the best out of Coral for edge inference applications”, said Ashok Babu, President of e-con systems. “e-con is excited with the launch of first camera for Coral development kit and will come up with ready-to-deploy smart cameras powered by Edge TPU in the future”, he added.

Availability

The e-CAM50_CUCRL is currently available for evaluation. Customers interested in evaluating the product can order samples from e-con Systems’ webstore.

For more information, please visits 5MP MIPI Google coral camera. Also watch the demo video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc_jlzzcB0o

Raspberry Pi 4 gets a major price cut and a USB-C upgrade

Posted on 3 March, 2020 by Ayo Ayibiowu

Raspberry Pi Foundation is responsible for the arrays of Raspberry Pis SBCs that have flawed the single board computer market and the launch of the Raspberry Pi 4 last year, shows the continuing growth for the Raspberry Pis and doesn’t seem to back down anytime soon.

The first Raspberry Pi 1 (Raspberry Pi 1 Model B) was launched in February 2012, and February 2020 marks the eight-year of innovation in a row. The goal of the Raspberry Pi was to build quality single-board computers that can be used for STEM education, computing, electronics, and even industrial at a low price point, which was something achieved throughout the years. Unfortunately, the Raspberry Pi 4 change all that with the Raspberry Pi 4 4GB RAM version priced at $55, and even the 2GB model costing $45, with only the 1GB version remaining at $35.

Raspberry Pi 4, Your tiny, dual-display, desktop computer

The Raspberry Pi foundation has now made an exciting announcement that drops down the price of the Raspberry Pi 4 2GB to the customary $35 without any loss in quality or performance. The previous $45 priced Raspberry Pi 4 will now cost $35 only. One question that might come up is what will now happen to the 1GB version, which cost $35, according to the Raspberry Pi foundation, nothing is going to happen to it.

In line with our commitment to long-term support, the 1GB product will remain available to industrial and commercial customers, at a list price of $35. As there is no price advantage over the 2GB product, we expect most users to opt for the larger-memory variant.

With both 2GB and 1GB of the Raspberry Pi 4, it’s only a matter of time before the poor 1GB version goes into oblivion.

RPI 4 Type-C issues fixed

That’s not all, there is good news for prospective buyers of the diminutive Raspberry Pi 4 as the USB-C issue that stopped the device working with some power supplies has been fixed has published on The Register. After the launch of the RPi 4 in June of last year, it was observed that some of the devices complain about errors in the detection circuitry on the Pi causing certain unofficial power adapters to mistake the SBC for an audio device, and therefore not shove the expected power down the line.

Raspberry Pi co-founder and Raspberry Pi Trading CEO Eben Upton confirmed to the publication after an inquiry that the update had been rolled into a PCB Design for Manufacturing (DFM) process and it’s expected the next RPi 4 purchased will already have this new fix. Accompanying the fix is an update on the WLCSP SD card voltage switch, the new release also moved “the WLCSP SD card voltage switch to the top side” to protect it from damage, and also implemented “silkscreen tweaks to reduce solder bridging in the manufacture.”

More information about the announcement is available on the Raspberry Pi blog page, and the Raspberry 4 Model B with 2GB RAM is now available for purchase for $35 here.

SoM based on Microchip’s low-power PolarFire RISC-V SoC FPGA

Posted on 2 March, 2020 by mixos

The M100PFS is based on the PolarFire SoC FPGA architecture by Microchip and combines high-performance 64-bit RISC-V cores with outstanding FPGA technology. The platform integrates a hardened real-time, Linux capable, RISC-V-based MPU subsystem on the mid-range PolarFire FPGA family, bringing low power consumption, thermal efficiency and defence grade security to embedded systems.

The RISC-V CPU micro-architecture implementation is a simple 5 stage, single issue, in-order pipeline that doesn’t suffer from the Meltdown and Spectre exploits found in common out-of-order machines. All five CPU cores are coherent with the memory subsystem allowing a versatile mix of deterministic real time systems and Linux in a single multi-core CPU cluster.

Features:

Microsemi PolarFire SoC FPGA
- - MPFS025T
    23KLE, 68 math blocks, 4x SERDES 12.5Gbit/s, 2x PCIe root port/end point
  - MPFS095T, available on request
    93KLE, 292 math blocks, 4x SERDES 12.5Gbit/s, 2x PCIe root port/end point
  - MPFS160T, available on request
    161KLE, 498 math blocks, 8x SERDES 12.5Gbit/s, 2x PCIe root port/end point
  - MPFS250T
    254KLE, 784 math blocks, 16x SERDES 12.5Gbit/s, 2x PCIe root port/end point
Quad 64-bit RV64GC cores, 667 MHz
64-bit RV64IMAC monitor core, 667 MHz
Processor I/O
- 2x Gigabit Ethernet
- 1x USB 2.0 OTG
- 1x MMC 5.1 SD/SDIO
- 2x CAN 2.0 A and B
- Execute in place Quad SPI flash controller
- 5x multi-mode UARTs
- 2x SPI, 2 I2C
- RTC, GPIO
- 5x watchdog timers
- timers
Processor to FPGA Interconnect
- 2 64-bit AXI4 processor-to-fabric interfaces
- 3 64-bit AXI4 fabric-to-processor interfaces
- 1 32-bit APB processor-to-fabric interface
1/2/4 GByte LPDDR4 RAM dedicated to the HMS
1/2/4 GByte LPDDR4 RAM dedicated to the FPGA
32 Mbit NOR Flash
4 – 64 GByte eMMC memory
Clock distribution
default configuration:
- Gigabit Ethernet
- UART
- CAN
- SPI
- I²C
- USB
single 3,3V supply
size 74mmx42mm
2 x Samtec QSH-090-01-F-D-A board-to-board interconnect

Schedule & Availability

The M100PFS are currently under development, first boards are to be expected appr. in Q3/2020

More information may be found in the Aries Embedded announcement and product page.

NIXLER: limited edition nixie tube clock

Posted on 2 March, 2020 by mixos

The NIXLER is being built as an open-source project and designed with the DIYer in mind. I’ve included a USB to UART chip directly on the board making the NIXLER easy to reprogram. This together with the onboard ESP32 microcontroller with wifi/bluetooth, enables full customization. Hook up the NIXLER to your computer, open up the ARDUINO IDE and start modifying the code in order to realize your own version.

Use it as a super cool up/down counter or display values pulled from the web etc. I can’t wait to see what you might want to use it for. An example code will be released together with the NIXLER.

Features:

4x IN-12 Nixie tubes – cycles through hours, minutes and seconds
Two buttons interface – set time(12/24h)/date/year and other functions
4x RGB backlight LEDs
USB-C connector
Powered from a typical 5v USB wall adapter
Max 6-watt power consumption

The project is live on kickstarter and has 26 days to go. Pledges start at $199

OSD32MP1-RED – A Full Featured Development Platform

Posted on 2 March, 2020 by mixos

The OSD32MP1-RED is a full featured Reference, Evaluation and Development platform for the STM32MP1 based SiP, the OSD32MP15x. It provides access to a number of standard communication interfaces like WiFi and Bluetooth, 1Gb Ethernet, and CAN. It supports HDMI or DSI displays and has a connector for a camera. The OSD32MP1-RED expands easily by providing connectors that are compatible with Raspberry Pi, MikroElektronika mikroBUS™ Click, and STMicroelectronics Motor Control Header.

The on board eMMC comes preloaded with an Opensource Linux Distribution allowing you to begin development straight out of the box.

With its communication interfaces, peripherals, and expansion capabilities, the OSD32MP1-RED is a perfect platform for quickly developing IOT, high-end HMI, or real time control applications.

Features:

Full Featured Reference, Evaluation, Development Platform
OSD32MP157C-512M-BAA
- STM32MP157C Dual Arm® Cortex® A7 + M4
- 512MB DDR3 Memory
- STPMIC1A Power Management
- EEPROM
- Oscillator
- Passives
Connectivity
- WiFi/Bluetooth
- 10/100/1000 Ethernet
- CAN FD
- USB Host
- USB-C OTG
- UART
- JTAG (STLink)
Memory
- µSD Card
- eMMC
Display
- HDMI
- DSI
Camera
Expansion
- Raspberry Pi Compatible Header
- MikroElektronika Click Header
- Motor Control Header
4 Layer Design

more information: octavosystems.com

Measuring Water Flow Rate and Volume using Arduino and a Flow Sensor

Posted on 2 March, 2020 by mixos

Flow rate and volume helps tell the amount of fluid going into, or through a particular vessel. For certain process automation applications, this simple-sounding fluid measurement task is so critical to the success of the project that, failure to get it right, could bring the entire process to its knees. This is why for today’s tutorial, I thought it will be cool to look at this nice water flow sensor; the YF-S201, and its use in an Arduino based project.

The YF-S201 water flow sensor consists of a pinwheel sensor that measures the quantity of liquid passing through it.

The sensor uses the principles of electromagnetism, such that, when liquids flow through the sensor, the flow action impacts the fins of a turbine in the sensor, causing the wheel to spin. The shaft of the turbine wheel is connected to a hall effect sensor so that with every spin, a pulse is generated, and by monitoring that pulse with a microcontroller, the sensor can be used in determining the volume of fluid passing through it.

Measuring Water Flow Rate and Volume using Arduino and a Flow Sensor – [Link]