Category: Development Boards

Coffee with Toradex CEO, COO and CMO

Posted by – November 18, 2021

I had the pleasure of an impromptu chat with Toradex’s CEO (Samuel Imgrueth), COO (Stephan Dubach) and CMO (Daniel Lang) set against a gorgeous locale close to the Toradex headquarters in Switzerland. We talked about Toradex’s history, key focus and offerings and a lot more.

Geniatech IoT TV Box, Zigbee Gateway with OpenWRT, LoRa Gateway, Zigbee Dongle, HDMI Capture


Geniatech shows their new IoT integrations for their TV Box market expertise, adding Smart Home functionality in the TV Box, introducing their Zigbee Gateway, Industrial IoT LoRa Gateway based on their Snapdragon 410 Dragonboard 96Boards Developer Board 4 Hub to do the edge computing, Zigbee Dongle adds IoT Smart Home to any Set-top-box such as the Geniatech ATX598Max and other that supports it in the software. Geniatech HDMI Capture

NXP i.MX 8X, CODESYS, EtherCAT, OPC UA, Android, RIMAC at the Toradex Booth

Posted by – July 9, 2019

Toradex’s NXP i.MX 8X based System on Module. The i.MX 8X SoCs comes with up to 4x Cortex-A35 and 1x Cortex-M4. The Cortex-A35 is an extreme power-effective 64bit Arm Core, the M4 is used to offload real-time tasks, check for errors to increase safety, and check for errors to further lower the power consumption.
The RAM and cache on the 8X can be protected with ECC (Error Correction Code) which make these SoMs ideal for critical applications such as Industrial Automation, Medical, Railways, etc.
Toradex shows the Colibri iMX8X running a GPU accelerated Qt application. The Apalis iMX8X with ECC will be available soon The Industrial 4.0 demo shows a Real-time Time Motion Control Application. A Toradex Apalis iMX6 powers the Midi-Eagle Computer from Diamond Systems featuring dual ethernet interfaces A CODESYS Soft PLC Stack is running on top of real-time Linux with a motion controller software. The motors are connected via EtherCAT. The system also utilizes an OPC-UA Server from Matrikon The demo was put together by the experienced Toradex Partner BE.Services.
RIMAC, famous for its insanely fast electric cars, demonstrates how the pin-compatibility of the Toradex SoM allows them to simply upgrade from an Apalis iMX6 to an Apalis iMX8QM.
Kynetics is providing Android support for Toradex modules. They show off Android on the i.MX 8 QuadMax but also on the i.MX 7 utilizing the integrated Cortex-M4 Core.
This allows it to run on the Cortex M4 Core an RTOS such as FreeRTOS and offload tasks.
Kynetics also provides an over-the-air (OTA) solution called Update Factory for IoT applications based on Eclipse hawkBit.

Toradex https://www.toradex.com/
Diamond Systems Midi-Eagle Computers http://www.diamondsystems.com/products/midieagle
Matrikon OPC UA https://www.matrikonopc.com/
BE.services https://www.be-services.net/
RIMAC and Toradex https://www.toradex.com/applications/automotive-infotainment/rimac
Kynetics https://www.kynetics.com/android-bsp/toradex

Torizon industrial Linux software platform from Toradex


At Embedded World 2019, Toradex shows off its brand new Linux Platform called Torizon, for the first time. Torizon is an open source project based on the Yocto Project, it comes free with Toradex System on Modules (SoMs) including NXP i.MX 6, 7 and 8 SoCs. Torizon is ideal for developers who like to take advantage of the extensive Linux ecosystem, but don’t like to spend time on low-level Linux development. Torizon is built for the requirements of modern industrial embedded/IoT applications in mind. It uses Docker for software containerization, features an Automotive Grade Remote Update Client, supports real-time and has built-in security features. In the video, Samuel, CEO of Toradex, shows the integration with Visual Studio and highlights how it simplifies life for those moving from the Windows and Windows Embedded Compact ecosystem. In the second demo, you can see Debian running in Docker Containers. The last demo shows off the safe and secure over-the-air (OTA) updates and a possible backend to manage a fleet of devices. The update client is Uptane-compatible.

If you’d like to know more about Torizon, you can join Toradex’s Webinar:
https://www.toradex.com/webinars/introducing-torizon-easy-to-use-industrial-linux-platform

If you’d like to learn more about the AI Wall at the end, see my previous video here.

Microchip Microsemi PolarFire Low Power FPGA Series from 100K to 500K Logic Elements


Microchip PolarFire FPGAs deliver the industry’s lowest power at mid-range densities with security and reliability. The product family spans from 100K logic elements (LEs) to 500K LEs, features 12.7G transceivers and offers up to 50% lower power than competing mid-range FPGAs. The devices are ideal for a wide range of applications within wireline access networks and cellular infrastructure, defense and commercial aviation markets, as well as industrial automation and IoT market

Collabora shows Radxa ROCK Pi 4 running Panfrost open source Mali GPU driver


Collabora is at Embedded World 2019, showing their infrastructure for end-to-end, embedded software production, their work on software platforms with reproducible continuous builds, automate testing on hardware to increase productivity and quality control in embedded Linux. They demonstrate Debian-based platform creation with debos and testing on a Virtual Machine – for early identification of issues and regressions, Hardware automated testing of application development through video playing on a Rockchip platform (Chromebook Plus) with VPU decoding and GPU rendering using the Panfrost Open Source driver, Graphics stack development with automated testing, to show how Graphics enablement can be integrated on a Continous Integration pipeline. They also demonstrate two NEW Open Source GPU drivers, etnaviv for Vivante GPU running on an RDU2 Inflight Multimedia Entertainment Device (based on the i.MX6 series SOCs), provided by Zodiac Inflight Innovations, and Panfrost for ARM Mali Midgard & Bifrost GPU, running on a ROCK Pi 4 SBC, provided by Radxa.

Foundries.io Zephyr microPlatform (ZmP) at Embedded World 2019


Foundries.io demonstrates OpenThread on Zephyr with Blockchain data publishing controlling Smart Lights and Candy Dispenser – Foundries.io showcases their Zephyr microPlatform (ZmP) using OpenThread and 802.15.4. Providing an OpenThread gateway which acts as a smart speaker enabling users to issue voice commands like “Hey Google, turn it on” to turn on a light, or “Hey Google, start it” to dispense candy. The connected lights will be running ZmP with OpenThread, and the candy dispenser will using 6lowpan over BLE.

The Zephyr Project at Embedded World 2019


The Zephyr Project joins some 1,000 exhibitors at Embedded World in Nurnberg, Germany, with Zephyr Project members including Antmicro, Foundries.io, Intel, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP and SiFive, with offer interactive IoT demos powered by the Zephyr RTOS, which supports multiple hardware architectures and is built with safety and security in mind.

The Antmicro and Renode demo showcases how the open source Renode simulation framework that can be used to test multi-node Zephyr setups, including ARM and RISC-V based platforms. Using human-readable scripts and configuration, Renode allows you to easily create complex CI installations, enabling better testability of real products. You will see how to test production-ready code without the hassle of connecting multiple pieces of hardware together against corner-case conditions unachievable in testing rigs.

NXP i.MX 6SoloX (UDOO Neo) with RPMsg Protocol, a Multicore demo with Linux running on A9, Zephyr running on M4 – This demonstration shows how to leverage asymmetric co-processors of modern SoCs on the example of i.MX6SoloX and Udoo Neo board. The embedded Cortex-M4 core is running Zephyr RTOS which implements various low speed serial peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C) in software using GPIO. Cortex-M4 communicates with the embedded Cortex-A9 core running Linux Kernel using the RPMsg protocol. On the Linux side a kernel module is used to present implemented serial peripherals to the user space as regular serial, SPI or I2C interface (e.g. /dev/ttySx). The benefits of such approach consist in the possibility of extending existing set of peripherals without any additional hardware cost and the possibility to place selected peripheral at virtually any available GPIO pin. Thanks to exporting the interfaces to the user space, it can be accessed for example by a Python script.

Intel S1000 Speech Kit showcases basic Alexa functionality

Nordic Semiconductor Gaming Mouse, Zephyr on an nRF52-based low-latency, high report rate gaming mouse prototype

Zephyr on the Nordic nRF91 Development Kit, including a BLE to LTE gateway

SiFive Demo, Zephyr Running on a SiFive HiFive1 Development Board

Zephyr running as a guest on ACRN Hypervisor

Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 ARM Cortex-M33 SiP with LTE-M/NB-IoT


The Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 is a compact, highly-integrated Low power System-in-Package with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GPS for cellular IoT (cIoT) designs, featuring ARMv8-M Arm Cortex-M33 application processor solely for applications, a full LTE modem, RF Front End (RFFE) and power management system. Nordic Semiconductor claims that the nRF9160 is the most compact, complete and energy-efficient cellular IoT solution on the market. The integrated modem supports both LTE-M and NB-IoT and can operate globally removing any need for regional variants. All power saving features including eDRX and PSM are supported as is with IPv4/IPv6 support up to transport and security (TCP/TLS) level. The modem firmware is upgradable via secure, encrypted Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) updates. The Arm Cortex-M33 application processor is supported by 1MB of flash and 256kB RAM making advanced application development possible in a single device solution. A GPS receiver is integrated into the radio offering various modes of operation to suit a wide selection of applications that employ location-tracking functionality. A broad selection of general interfaces and peripherals and are included on nRF9160 including 12-bit ADC, RTC, SPI, I²C, I²S, UARTE, PDM and PWM. Security is best-in-class with Arm TrustZone technology for isolation and protection of normal and secure zones for firmware and elements of hardware including memory and peripherals. Arm TrustZone helps build solid and secure ioT applications that feature secure boot, trusted firmware updates and root of trust implementations without performance compromise. Arm CryptoCell enhances security still further by offering cryptographic and security resources to help to protect your IoT applications from various attack threats. CryptoCell is designed for high performance cryptography solutions optimized for energy-constrained devices. The nRF9160 supports both SIM and eSIM for connection and authentication with mobile network operators. The nRF9160 hardware and development kits are now in production and is suitable for full end-to-end sensor to cloud development.

Shiratech 96Boards Sandwich = Dragonboard 410c + LTE Mezzanine + Bosch Sensor + FPGA Mezzanine


Shiratech and Arrow 96boards Mezzanine sandwich features the DragonBoard 410c with 3 mezzanines and an arduino shield with the DragonBoard 410c as the base board, a Shiratech LTE Mezzanine, a Bosch Sensor Mezzanine and a Shiratech FPGA Mezzanine.

Open Source Android Kernels with Todd Kjos of Google and Bero


Todd Kjos of the Android Kernel team at Google, and Bero of the Linaro Mobile Group, talk at Linaro Connect Vancouver, they talk about running Android on the mainline kernel, trying to get closer to mainline, enabling test boards and devices to run mainline Linux. Getting some of the Android specific things that were kept out of the tree into the Linux tree.

Toradex shows Deep Learning Accelerators, Edge AI with Gyrfalcon, Xnor.ai, Movidius and More


Toradex shows their deep learning inference solutions at Embedded World 2019, using power-efficient, Arm-based System on Modules, as machine learning and deep learning using neural networks progress is accelerating with successful new applications in computer vision for the embedded world. Toradex simplifies the integration of these technologies into products with its System on Modules, training deep learning models on high-performance computers with frameworks like TensorFlow, with optimizations needed to improve performance on low-power embedded Linux devices such as the ones Toradex partners with Au-Zone, Xnor.ai and Antmicro and others to bring to the embedded market. Implementing these dedicated neural network accelerators can boost the performance of embedded devices while keeping power consumption low, as shown in Toradex’s solutions with Intel Movidius Myriad and Gryfalcon Lightspeeur. Toradex partners with Allied Vision to showcase the brand-new Alvium industrial MIPI CSI-2 camera as a crucial component in the pasta detection demo which uses an Apalis System on Module featuring the NXP i.MX 8 QuadMax SoC with Cortex-A72, Cortex-A53 and dual OpenCL-capable GPU. To learn more about the demo, see CNX-Software’s blog post. A real-world application example of deep learning is Manta, a camera-based drowning detection system from Coral Detection Systems which is solar-powered, and the video analytics are done on a Toradex Apalis module featuring a Nvidia TK1 SoC with a CUDA-enabled GPU. If a person is at risk of drowning, the system can alert its user acoustically or via smartphone.

TechNexion shows i.MX8M Mini, Intel Apollo Lake, Qualcomm QCA9377, QCA6174 at Embedded World 2019


TechNexion shows their lineup of new devices based on the ultra low-power NXP i.MX8M Mini in their ultra-small PICO form factor combining ARM Cortex-A53 and an M4 microcontroller at embedded world 2019, it supports Android, Linux, Yocto, Ubuntu OS is only 37 x 40 mm and at a low cost. The SoM integrates a fully certified wireless module PIXI-9377 based on Qualcomm QCA9377. They also show their Qualcomm QCA9377, QCA6174 devices and more. TechNexion announces two new SoM families: AXON and FLEX. AXON is a product family of small form factor (58 x 37 mm) modules designed for specialized embedded applications requiring another dimension of I/O flexibility. AXON-IMX8M-MINI is also based on NXP i.MX8M Mini applications processor and features AXON Fabric programmable logic, a specialized IC that provides additional functions including nearly infinite pinmuxing, allowing for true pin-to-pin compatibility between SoC versions. FLEX series, on the other hand, is a low-cost family making use of low-cost LPDDR4 SO-DIMM connector. FLEX-IMX8M-MINI (69.6 x 35 mm) offers HD multimedia streaming and integrated 3D graphics at a price point for the cost sensitive market. TechNexion launches several products based on Intel Apollo Lake processor family (Intel Atom x5-E3930, x5-E3940 or x7-E3950) that can be easily deployed in diverse industrial applications ranging from manufacturing robots and machinery, to radar and sensors on ships, trains and automobiles, to in-vehicle experience, video systems and more. TC-1010-APL and TC-1560-APL Multi Touch HMIs come in 10.1” and 15.6” sizes. On the other hand, TCK3-APL is a ruggedized box PC fully customizable to handle your projects with IoT integration. TechNexion also shows their expanded lineup of fully certified (CE / ETSI / FCC / IC / RCM / TELEC) PIXI and STIX series combo wireless communication modules based on Qualcomm QCA9377 and QCA6174 solutions. The modules are available in several M.2 and in the mini-PCIe form factor.

Microchip Mi-V RISC-V CPU with Microsemi FPGA

Posted by – March 11, 2019

Microchip acquired Microsemi, and with it comes their new Mi-V RISC-V ecosystem, a suite of tools and design resources developed by Microsemi and third parties to support RISC-V designs using RISC-V Soft IP Cores available for RTG4, IGLOO2 and PolarFire FPGAs, introducing the industry’s first RISC-V SoC FPGA Architecture, PolarFire SoC which brings deterministic real-time performance to Linux in a coherent multi-core RISC-V CPU. The RISC-V Mi-V Ecosystem consists of various design tools such as the Libero SoC FPGA Design Suite, Eclipse based IDE SoftConsole enabling quick C and C++ development, a Firmware Catalog consisting of numerous drivers, and third party platforms for development, simulation and debug.

$449 Qualcomm Robotics RB3 Platform Snapdragon 845 Development Board, Embedded World 2019 booth tour


Qualcomm and Thundercomm launches the Robotics RB3 Platform 96Boards development board (available for $449 at Thundercomm), supports the development of smart, power-efficient, and cost-effective robots, uses heterogeneous computing and Qualcomm Artificial (AI) Engine to support on-device machine learning, computer vision, robust security, multimedia, Wi-Fi, and cellular connectivity capabilities, based on the Qualcomm SDA845/Qualcomm SDM845 SoC. It includes hardware, software, and development tools, the Qualcomm Robotics RB3 platform is designed to help manufacturers and developers create robotic products, ranging from large industrial and enterprise robots to small battery-operated ones with challenging power. This video also features a tour of the Qualcomm booth at Embedded World 2019, featuring all the LTE for IoT modems such as the MDM9206 and the MDM9205 LTE IoT modem, and development boards available from Qualcomm’s partners including Geniatech, Intrinsyc, eInfoChips, Altek, Inforce Computing, Keith and Koep, Shiratech, Basler and more.

ST booth tour at Embedded World 2019 (Part 2) STM32L5, STM32G0, FOTA over LoRAWAN, Stellar


This video is Part 2 of the booth tour at the STMicroelectronics booth at Embedded World 2019, featuring STM32L5 ARM Cortex-M33, STM32G0 and USB-C, FOTA using LoRaWAN, STM32WB mesh + LTE, STM32WB BLE Dual + Multilink, Maker moment, Stellar and Asset Tracking.

You can jump to the different parts of the video by clicking on these time codes here:
STM32L5: 00:05 ARM Cortex-M33
STM32G0 and USB-C: 04:40
FOTA using LoRaWAN: 09:08
STM32WB mesh + LTE: 11:26
STM32WB BLE Dual + Multilink: 14:31
Maker moment: 18:01
Stellar: 23:49 ARM Cortex-R52
Asset Tracking: 27:06

STMicroelectronics playlist of all ST Embedded World 2019 videos you can find here.

ST booth tour at Embedded World 2019 (Part 1), STM32MP1, STM32Cube.AI, ST60


Welcome to the Embedded World 2019 tour (Part 1) at the STMicroelectronics booth, featuring ST Maker Lab Apple 1 and Sega 1000 emulator, the new STM32MP1 heterogeneous single or dual ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 cores architecture, the Cortex-A7 core provides access to open-source operating systems (Linux/Android) while the Cortex-M4 core leverages the STM32 MCU ecosystem. Featuring partners on the STM32MP1 such as Kontron, Octavo Systems, Timesys and Shiratech. Then featuring STM32Cube.AI Artificial Intelligence on STM32, ST60 60GHz RF link.

Here you can jump to each part of this video:
ST Maker Lab: 00:41
STM32MP1: 03:42 heterogeneous single or dual ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 cores architecture, the Cortex-A7 core provides access to open-source operating systems (Linux/Android) while the Cortex-M4 core leverages the STM32 MCU ecosystem.
STM32MP1 Kontron (System on Module): 10:00
STM32MP1 Octavo Systems (System in Package): 13:03
STM32MP1 Shiratech: 16:03 96Boards Avengers96 and IoT Cube
STM32MP1 Timesys: 18:48
STM32Cube.AI (artificial intelligenc on STM32): 21:38
ST60 60GHz RF link (sparclink): 25:48

STMicroelectronics playlist of all ST Embedded World 2019 videos you can find here.

$100 Lapdock on Indiegogo

Posted by – December 23, 2018

Now crowdfunding the Lapdock project on Indiegogo at http://igg.me/at/lapdock starting at $100. The future of Laptops will not have a powerful CPU in them but will be modular when you buy them, they can be powered by your phone, or you can buy a small compact ARM Powered internal or external Type-C Stick to run them off of. Laptops are all about getting a great keyboard, mouse and display, but the CPU, Memory, Connectivity, those things can be swapped according to progress in the industry. I will be posting updates on this project at http://Lapdock.net and on the Updates tab at http://igg.me/at/lapdock if this project gets funded by at least $100 thousand, then the suppliers in Shenzhen China will be able to deliver the Lapdock at this price. If Lapdocks can become a larger success with a lot of demand then prices will be able to reach sub-$100 for high quality components, high quality keyboard, mouse pad, display and batteries also that last at least 20 hours on a charge. With a lot of support, this concept will also bring high performance and affordable USB Type-C Sticks to run all sorts of productivity user interfaces based on Android (such as the OXI UI) or Linux OSes or even Microsoft can bring Windows support to the Lapdock. This form factor could also bring the developers who use development boards closer to the mass market consumers, as all work done around the development boards of the future (very compact and affordable USB Type-C Sticks) will directly be able to impact also how end consumers can use devices for actual real work and productivity. The Lapdock will also move Smartphone market more towards their “PC Mode” as Samsung and Huawei already support each their PC Modes, and that is great because Samsung and Huawei are the two biggest Smartphone manufacturers in the world, yet most consumers don’t even know that the PC Mode is there. With Lapdocks, the performance of latest 7nm ARM Processors in phones will be tuned further for multi-window, multi-tasking and for running more advanced productivity apps on Android. 2019 will hopefully be the year where ARM Powered productivity finally reaches mass adoption and the mass market and I think that the Lapdock will be at the center point of that major electronics industry upgrade.

Chromium OS on Snapdragon 845


At Linaro Connect Vancouver 2018, some engineers are showing the Open Source Chromium OS running on the 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. With some talk on the status of using Freedreno for hardware accelerated GPU support in that Chromium OS demo. Over the past few months this solution has been upstreamed into the mainline kernel, display driver, audio driver, wifi driver, all the connectivity and periferal storage drivers, all to make Chromium OS work on that chipset. Running the 4.18 kernel with very few additional patches, it has hardware accelerated video playback using the open source freedreno driver. This could be a clue towards what I think could be an ultimate ARM Powered Laptop, a Snapdragon 845 Powered Chromebook would be so awesome, with Gigabit LTE, with good ARM single thread and multi-thread performance, with smooth Android and Linux apps supported, perhaps even it would be nice if Microsoft could contribute full x86 and ARM compiled Windows 10 apps support directly on this device.

Ultra96 Xilinx FPGA Development Board with Avnet

Posted by – November 25, 2018

Ultra96 is an ARM-based, Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC development board based on the Linaro 96Boards Consumer Edition specification. The processor is a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MP ZU3EG A484 and the RAM is a Micron LPDDR4 memory provides 2GB of RAM in a 512M x 32 configuration. The Ultra96 includes 40-pin 1x 96Boards Low-speed expansion header and 1x 60-pin 96Boards High speed expansion header. The 96Boards’ specifications are open and define a standard board layout for development platforms that can be used by software application, hardware device, kernel, and other system software developers. Ultra96 represents a unique position in the 96Boards community with a wide range of potential peripherals and acceleration engines in the programmable logic that is not available from other offerings.